It’s official: The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is hitting your local computer on October 17th, 2017. We’ve known about the update for a few months, but now we know exactly when we can expect it on our machines. Windows updates are usually exciting (as long as they don’t start downloading in the middle of a Counter-Strike game), but what does the Fall Creators Update have in store for gamers?
Well, the most exciting parts of the update for most people will probably be the mixed-reality features. Manufacturers like HP and Lenovo are working on mixed-reality headsets and controllers to be ready for the launch, and supposedly they’ll be much cheaper than the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The update will also include a View 3D app which will let you use a webcam to “merge digital objects with the real world”, whether or not you have a mixed-reality headset.
There are a few other things that are pretty cool, like built-in ransomware protection and a few design touchups, but the main things I want to point out have to do with the task manager and the Bash shell.
The most exciting new feature for most gamers will probably be the task manager update. For the first time, Windows task manager will show you how much of your GPU each program/process is using. That’s right, just like it tracks your CPU usage, Windows will finally track your GPU usage. This could seriously upgrade your computer’s game-playing capabilities if you have a hidden GPU vampire somewhere, since you’ll finally be able to keep track of GPU usage natively.
The other update which might not be relevant to as many people but is still exciting is the introduction of new Linux distributions to the bash shell. A recent update added a bash shell running Ubuntu to Windows if you were able to figure out how to activate it. The Fall Creators update will now make it much easier to activate the Linux for Windows subsystem straight from the Windows store (which will also make it available for poor, poor Windows 10 S users). Most excitingly, though, it will allow you to use distributions other than Ubuntu, as the update will add support for openSUSE and Fedora. Linux lovers rejoice!
There will be plenty more updates than those mentioned above (you can see those here), but those two should be the most exciting for the gamers out there. Now that the launch date is out, we know it’s only a matter of about six weeks now. It’ll be hard, but the wait should be well worth it.
