Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10 Internet of Things. New and upcoming features include improved ink support, expanded Assigned Access, support for hosting Nano Server containers and more.

Windows 10 IoT provides developers with a complete platform to bring IoT solutions to market faster, Microsoft said in its blog post.

The announcement comes after the recent rollout of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update on Oct. 17. The rollout of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update by Microsoft is happening at a faster pace than its predecessor and was already on 5 percent of Windows 10 machines by Oct. 27, according to AdDuplex. However, it hasn’t been smooth sailing for all users, with some experiencing installation problems.    

Here’s a look at the new and upcoming features for Windows 10 IoT Fall Creators Update:

New features for Windows 10 IoT Fall Creators Update

Increased language support

Windows 10 IoT Core now supports Chinese (Simplified, China), English (U.K.), English (U.S.), French (France), French (Canada), Spanish (Spain, International Sort) and Spanish (Mexico).

Improved ink support

Microsoft has added support for DirectInk APIs for highlighter, pencil, and vector-based ink, as well as XAML ink controls for UWP, including InkCanvas and InkToolbar, which provides developers access to stencils like rulers and protractors. On compatible hardware, developers can make use of multi-modal interactions that allows simultaneous pen and touch use.  

.NET Standard 2.0 compliance

The Universal Windows Platform in Windows 10 IoT is now .NET Standard compliant, which brings support for thousands of additional APIs.

Expanded Assigned Access

Microsoft has expanded Assigned Access, which restricts usage to a single UWP app, to now include multiple UWP and Win32 apps that can be configured from the cloud.

Device Management client

Microsoft’s Device Management client connects to Azure IoT Hub to provide a cloud-based device management solution.

Emergency Management Services

Without relying on the operating system, Emergency Management Services is able to perform low-level hardware checks and basic troubleshooting tasks.

User mode bus access on Windows 10 IoT Enterprise

Previously only available on the standard version of Windows 10 IoT, this functionality is now available on the enterprise version and allows IoT devices to interact with other hardware devices or the physical world via standard buses like GPIO, I2C, SPI, and UART.

Improved support for low-power line displays

Windows 10 IoT now has extended support for controlling customer-facing 2X20 line displays on devices like point-of-sale terminals. Microsoft has enabled customization of the cursor style, brightness, blink rate and character sets, as well as support for custom glyphs, transaction descriptors and marquee mode for scrolling text.

Upcoming features for Windows 10 IoT Fall Creators Update

Upcoming features for Windows 10 IoT Fall Creators Update include support for hosting Nano Server containers at the edge, as well as support for Windows Device Health Attestation, which leverages a trusted service to verify a device’s health state. Both of these functionalities are available in preview.

At its Build conference earlier this year, Microsoft announced its aim to make “Windows 10 IoT the best platform for connecting to Azure IoT.” To assist with the integration between the two platforms, Microsoft has announced Azure IoT Edge on Windows 10 IoT, which coordinates intelligence between the cloud and edge devices, as well as the Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service. Both of these functionalities are available in preview.

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