Ask Paul: March 2 (Premium)

Welcome to March! Here’s a new batch of Ask Paul questions…

Office 365 vs. Office 2016/2019

Norboii asks:

Today I noticed that the loading screen of the Office 365 applications have been changed. Now it no longer shows “Word 2016”. But is shown as Office 365. With the Microsoft Logo in the top left, which I also noticed on the iOS Office apps.

Is this change part of Microsoft wanting to further differentiate Office 2019 with Office 365 in the future?

This is part of the February 2018 updates to Office 365, so if you’re not seeing it yet, you can update Office manually from any Office 2016 app by navigating to File > Account and selecting “Office Updates.” I am seeing it as well, but it disappears so quick I’ve had trouble capturing it.

What this is identifying, really, is a fragmentation in Office, since there are really now two “versions” of the Office 2016 desktop applications (as there will be for Office 2019): The version you get if you buy Office (or any individual application) outright, or what Microsoft calls a “perpetual license,” and the version you get if you subscribe to Office 365. Actually, it’s even worse than that: There are different capabilities available in these apps depending on which type of Office 365 subscription you have. For example, some features are only on commercial versions, and not consumer.

If you go back and look at the article about the February 2018 updates to Office 365, you’ll see what I mean: The new Word features all require an Office 365 subscription. If you don’t have such a subscription, you won’t get these features. That new Editor overview pane, for example, replaces the old spell check pane … but only if you have an Office 365 subscription. In this case, consumer or commercial.

In many ways, this is the modern version of “lipstick on a pig,” where Microsoft used to subtly update the Office UI with each release so that someone looking over the shoulder of a user could tell which version it was. Here, someone looking over your shoulder can tell the same, but at app launch time.

BBS

wolters asks:

Were you active in the BBS days and if so, do you sometimes miss those interesting days? Did you ever run your own BBS?

I was active on BBSes back in the day, and I was a contributor. But I never hosted my own.

My big memory here was that when we moved to Phoenix in 1993, I wanted to become active in the developer community there so I found a great developer-focused BBS. But before that, I was on Amiga-focused BBSes like Fidonet as well. This was 1989-1993 or so. My first modem was for my Commodore 64, and I’m sure that was pretty BBS-based stuff, but I can’t remember. Mid-1980’s, I think.

Outlook.com Premium re-subscription

Simard57 asks:

I received the renewal notice for outlook.com [Premium] but I am unsure the need to renew. I do have a custom domain from MS that I use but I am unsure what MS plans are for the future use of this as I do not recall receiving any notice of how to secure its use for the coming years. I do not believe I can move it. What are MS plans for their outlook.com customers that have a domain?

I wrote a bit about this in last week’s Ask Paul. Am wondering same.

Regarding Microsoft’s plans, I recall that they said that they would hand off domain support to a third party at some point. Personally, I do not trust them to keep custom domains working over the long term, which sucks. I kind of rely on this myself.

Microsoft Edge password management

How can I clean up the stored username/password entries that Edge manages? I wish to eliminate some of the clutter and I do not see how to do so.

Open Edge and navigate to Settings and more (“…”) > Settings > View advanced settings > Manage passwords. You can remove stored usernames and passwords there.

PWAs vs. Android

Finley asks:

Could PWAs have an impact on Android’s OS market share? For example, could Samsung free itself from Google and make a legit go with Tizen?

That is an interesting question. I do see a conspiracy there on Samsung’s part to eliminate Google/Android from the equation in stages, with an ultimate end-goal of ending its reliance on them in the long-term. And on that note, yes. That could help make that happen.

But I am not aware of any plans by Samsung to support PWAs in its own browser. And I do feel like retaining Android app compatibility is a key part of this (imagined, on my part) Samsung strategy for the future. Dropping Google first and then maybe Android is one thing, but dropping Android apps might not be possible.

Build has not sold out

will asks:

As of this post tickets for Build 2018 are still available. That seems very odd. Is the new higher price to blame or is it that people are just not excited about Windows?

I’ve been told it’s not related to Google I/O or lack of interest. I can’t say too much, but what I was told is that Microsoft changed the way it allotted tickets to the public this year. In the past, it used a waiting list and added people over time. I was also told that interest in Build has not declined year-over-year.

Secure phones

hrlngrv asks:

Assuming there’s a market for secure phones, why haven’t any of the larger players bought Blackberry and used that to become the premier secure phone maker/vendor? Is there not enough market for secure phones to bother? Does Blackberry play way to hard to get?

I think that security needs to be a feature, not a special kind of phone. And that attempts to add special security features, as Blackberry and Samsung have done, will have only limited appeal in special markets like governments and the military. Note, too, that Samsung’s Knox technology has been adopted by Google for Android fairly broadly.

I don’t see a future for Blackberry. The best we can hope for there is something akin to what HMD has done with Nokia.

Samsung Galaxy S8 today?

rvanallen asks:

With the pending release of the Samsung Galaxy S9, the pricing for the S8 has dropped at least $125 (Amazon) today. My research seems to indicate the S8 is still a very valid selection. Other than the finger scanner placement, and wiz bang camera features, would the S8 still be a good buy or still go with the latest and greatest for other reasons? Thank You.

The Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ is a fantastic phone, still, and will be for quite some time. You do note the downsides, but these are not major. You would get used to the fingerprint reader location, and I found that adding a case, with more delineated holes, really helped. And while the S8/S8+ camera is not as good as today’s top-end iPhone/Samsung/Google offerings, it is still excellent.

My wife has a Galaxy S8 and her photos are stunning. I put one of her recent photos at the top of this article, and several at the bottom, as examples.

Put simply,I see no reason to ignore this phone today. But I would shop around and even wait a bit. I bet you can do better than $125 off pretty quickly.

Intel v. Qualcomm

spacecamel asks:

You have talked a lot on what Intel thinks of Microsoft’s recent support of ARM chipset. What does AMD think about this?

So I have spoken to Qualcomm about Intel and they don’t see the company as a threat. Which makes sense when you consider the core market for each company: Qualcomm owns the non-Apple mobile space, where Intel is just a bit player and is years behind.

I did ask about the “why” of even bothering with PCs, too. Given the 1.5 billion smartphones that shipped last year, and the fact that about 1 billion of those were Qualcomm-based, it seems like owning a tiny share of the PC market won’t move the needle much.

But Qualcomm’s entry into the PC market is more about keeping other ARM chipset makers at bay. Microsoft chose Qualcomm because they are the biggest ARM vendor and are big enough to offer Intel some competition (and to scare the bejeezus out of Intel too). Had Qualcomm said no, Microsoft would have chosen NVIDIA, or Samsung, or Huawei, or whatever. And it is better to own a small market than let your competitors have it.

Even if ARM-based designs somehow conquer the PC market, which is unlikely, we’re looking at a maximum of a couple of hundred million units per year (which is impossible). And Microsoft has pledged to bring other ARM chipsets on-board over time, too. So the likely impact of Qualcomm on the PC market overall is low, even over time. But more business is always more business.

A few more Galaxy S8 photos…