Since Windows 8 Microsoft is carrying on two "experiences" of Windows within the same operating system: one modern, characterized by a new functional stylistic language on both traditional and touch devices; the other one legacy, designed to give its best with mouse and keyboard. Similarly the Control panel it is divided into two very different experiences, one much simpler and more basic (the Settings app), the other more complete.
If on one hand the app Settings it is more immediate, it is with the Control Panel that the more expert user can go down to the depth by changing options that would otherwise be unreachable. Already with Windows 10 the Settings app is more prominent than the Control Panel, increasingly in the background, and according to some recent discoveries reported on Twitter, Microsoft is thinking of hide legacy Control Panel in future versions of Windows 10.
Rafael Rivera, who reported the news and considers himself a "night reverse engineer", used Mach2 to scan for changes in the Windows 10 preview builds. build 19587 published last week revealed some inactive feature IDs related to the Legacy Control Panel (HideSystemControlPanel, SystemControlPanelFileExplorerRedirect and SystemControlPanelHotkeyRedirect): this means that Control Panel may become a hidden feature on Windows 10.
Over the years, Microsoft has made the Windows 10 Settings app more and more complete by implementing options that previously were only present on the Legacy Control Panel, however for the more experienced users, the latter is the system still preferred today for more changes. deep. The company hasn't announced any changes yet, so the transition is likely (in our view unavoidable) it will happen gradually and will take time.
As seen in build 19587 – New velocity, HideSystemControlPanel (vso / tfs 25175482). Looks like Microsoft is working to kill {BB06C0E4-D293-4f75-8A90-CB05B6477EEE}
Example: pic.twitter.com/RXM4DEu48G
– Rafael Rivera (@WithinRafael) March 19, 2020
In the past, Microsoft tried to replace Paint with the new UWP-based 3D Paint, but was forced to turn around based on user feedback. Legacy apps such as NotePad or Task Manager have also recently been updated, therefore the de profundis for the Control Panel, today, seems premature to us. However, this is a necessary operation: it does not make sense to have two applications for changing the settings on the same operating system, and it is clear that for Microsoft the preference goes towards the Settings app.