Microsoft is once again releasing a new build of Windows 10 to Insiders in the Fast ring, and this week we"re getting build 18980.1. One of the more notable things about this release is that it comes from the new vb_release branch, which is referring to the codename of this update, Vibranium.
The build itself doesn"t have a ton of changes, though the new Cortana app should now be more easily accessible. It also adds support for the Windows Subsystem for Linux on ARM64 devices - that is to say, devices using Qualcomm chipsets.
An update on Cortana
In response to feedback, we are executing a plan to make it easier for all Windows customers to use Cortana. As a first step, starting with today’s build, all Insiders worldwide will see the Cortana icon and the new app. In a future Cortana app update, customers will have the option to use Cortana if they speak a supported language, regardless of their OS display language. The new Cortana app currently supports English (United States)—because Cortana is service backed, we can and will continue to add new languages over the coming months outside the bounds of OS build updates. We expect to support the same set of regions and languages we currently support in retail by 20H1 launch. We will share more details of our language rollout plans as they progress and appreciate your patience during this transition period.
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Improvements
In this build, we’ve added WSL2 support for ARM64 devices! We’ve also added the ability to set your distribution’s default user using the /etc/wsl.conf file. This release also contains multiple bug fixes, including a long-standing issue for legacy Windows symlinks (for example those in the user profile directory.)
For the full details of changes in this latest Insider Preview build, please see the WSL release notes.
Other updates for Insiders
Update on the Optional Features settings section improvements
These changes are now available to all Insiders in Fast! Thanks to those who’ve already tried it out and shared feedback. If the experience is just rolling out to you now, we can’t wait to hear what you think! To quickly recap, amongst other things, we’ve added multi-select, search, and generally done work to make this section easier to use:
As usual with these builds, there aren"t a whole lot of changes with this release. The development cycle for the 20H1 update is much longer than usual, so there"s still a lot of time for more changes to be made before the update is generally available. With that being said, the small changes are starting to add up.
