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Microsoft released a significant batch of updates to Windows 11 earlier this week, adding tabs to the Notepad app, an AI-powered “New Bing” integration into the taskbar search box, and basic iMessage support. Previewed iPhone pairing with Microsoft continues to test other features through the Windows Insider Program, especially in the more experimental Dev channel. These builds could be the foundation for the big 23H2 update of the operating system later this year.
In this week’s Dev Channel build, in the lower right corner of the taskbar[クイック設定]Introducing a new and improved volume mixer for Windows and its apps, directly from the menu. A new mixer lets you switch between output devices and control the output volume. It also displays per-app volume and mute settings, so you can quiet or mute individual apps. It’s an improvement over the current quick settings control that requires a click.
This build also enhances a feature called “Automatic Color Management” (ACM). ACM is hardware-accelerated, system-level color management that ensures colors in your app look the same on a variety of displays with different capabilities. It is also designed as a replacement for older Windows color management technologies such as Image Color Management (ICM) and Windows Color System. (WCS).
Let’s take a quick look at what color management is and why it’s important. Different displays have different properties. Some support high dynamic range (HDR), some don’t. Some even support extended color gamuts such as DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB instead of the more common sRGB. Some support 10-bit color, others only 8-bit color. If you write software or create images and videos, you want to know that your content will look the same on all types of displays, regardless of the color technology the display supports.
Windows 10 introduced Advanced Color to address this issue specifically for HDR displays, allowing content designed for SDR displays to display correctly on higher dynamic range monitors. Windows 11 2022 Update introduced ACM. This is a version of Advanced Color for “choosing a qualifying and specially provisioned SDR display” like Surface Studio 2+ and Surface Pro 9, where apps designed for sRGB displays can now use sRGB It expands the color gamut while making more colors available to apps that can take advantage of them. This Windows 11 Insider build extends ACM support to all his SDR displays connected to compatible GPUs.
ACM has specific GPU hardware requirements, mostly mild, but AMD RX 400 series GPUs and newer, Nvidia GTX 1000 series GPUs and newer, or dedicated Intel GPUs (including both Arc and the odd DG1 card ) is required. All Ryzen integrated GPUs and GPUs from 12th generation and later Intel CPUs are also supported. You should be running the latest graphics drivers that support WDDM 3.0.
Other changes in this build include always showing the Windows Touchscreen Keyboard instead of the PC automatically showing or hiding the Windows Touchscreen Keyboard based on whether a physical keyboard is attached or not. or not at all, a new searchable help page for voice access commands, and more testing. Ads for other Microsoft services in the sign-in menu (they all take the form of backup reminders, but the cloud where files are backed up is Microsoft’s OneDrive service).
