Ask Paul: June 1 (Premium)

This week, we have a wide range of questions and a call-back to a 1970’s Christmas present and life lesson.

Surface refresh

simont asks:

Have you heard anything about a possible Surface Refresh (Dates, devices etc)?

I have not, sorry.

Given that this is almost certainly the most frequently asked question I receive these days, I think it’s fair to say that this is overdue. And that whatever plans Microsoft may have for a new form factor are far less pressing than the need to update virtually all of its Surface PCs with at least quad-core 8th generation Intel CPUs. And, preferably, Thunderbolt 3/USB-C expansion and power.

I’ll keep hoping.

GPDR

simont asks:

Is Thurrott.com completely GPDR compliant. I have not received a useless email about GPDR compliance yet from you 🙂

So I did laugh out loud at that. But … I also was wondering the same thing the other day as I was dealing with a flood of emails from every company I’ve ever interacted with. I will forward this question to the powers that be.

Microsoft To-Do

jimchamplin asks:

Is there a roadmap for ToDo beyond what you were able to find out recently? Not necessarily if you know of more specifics, but do you know if there’s a plan in place to make this happen?

Brad was actually responsible for the recent Microsoft To-Do news. I do know Marcus Ash, but I’ve not heard anything personally. I will say that it’s good news Ash is on this and that I believe we’re going to finally see some movement on new To-Do updates. But, again, I don’t have any specific information here, sorry.

Windows 10 release cadence

jimchamplin asks:

Do you think that we’re going to see a major change in the Windows 10 development cycle after RS5?

I’ve always felt that was incompatible with the needs of Microsoft’s biggest customer base. And Microsoft has pushed out its version upgrade requirements for the enterprise at least twice.

But they also seem hellbent on “proving” that Windows as a Service can work. And the past three Windows 10 versions have rolled out much more quickly than their predecessors, damn the many issues that customers are reporting. Microsoft tells me that the problems are no better/no worse than with previous updates. But that’s not what I’m hearing out in the real world.

So, if the question is my opinion about whether they will slow down the release schedule or whatever, I’m honestly not sure. They should. But they seem to obstinate on this topic. I don’t understand the need to update Windows 10 twice a year beyond an artificial internal requirement that this thing somehow match up with the update cadence of other Microsoft 365 offerings. The irony here is that Windows 10 almost wasn’t even part of Microsoft 365: Terry Myerson had heard about it and demanded that Windows 10 be included.

In short, I don’t know what they will do. Just what they should do, at least in this case: Slow it down.

The two stages of two technology acceptance

StevenLayton asks:

What piece of technology (hardware and software) were you most excited about, then felt utterly let down when you actually got it?

I mean, that’s most of life, right? The anticipation is often better than the achieving of a goal.

In the recent past, I was very excited about the Google Pixel 2 XL and was horribly let down by the reality of this lemon. The camera is incredible, but the device itself has really let me down.

Windows 10 is sort of in this category, if only because I was so excited by the return to PC-centricity after years of “touch-first” nonsense. But the subsequent additions of more advertising, in-box crapware, and the various “nonsense” features in Windows 10 have almost ruined it for me. I hold out hope that this could swing back in the right direction given the recent changes. But then Terry getting let go was sort of a kick between the legs too. He was the only thing protecting Windows from the rest of the company.

Historically, the biggest “what could have been” for me, of course, was Longhorn. Microsoft has no bigger defeat, and the excitement they generated in 2003 was only matched by the disappointed in Vista three years later. What a horrible turnaround and the real beginning of the end for Windows as a viable platform. My theory is that Longhorn was where they really lost developers.

Oddly, I have this life-long understanding of what you’re asking about: When I was a kid of perhaps 10, I was eagerly anticipating that year’s Christmas, and I had asked for a couple of gifts, including a crazy inflatable “Six Million Dollar Man” activity center called the Bionic Mission Control Center. By that time, I knew where my parents hid our presents, so I probably went and looked at this thing dozens of times before Christmas. And by the time I actually received the gift, I was already bored with it.

Life lesson learned.

Andromeda

Nic asks:

I have been pondering your statements on the Andromeda device, and thinking about use cases. As I was sitting down to do some college work it hit me that it would be the perfect device for that. Potentially they could implement an all format ebook reader with integration to OneNote so you could highlight items and then automatically be added to a notebook, and that allow you to the annotate that data, and it have a clickable reference pointer back to the ebook. This device would likely not be good for the K-12 market due to cost, but for colleges and technical manuals it could be the most useful thing in years and reduce the pain of carrying giant text books and multiple notepads. Thoughts?

It’s a good idea, but the problem, as always, is the ecosystem: That product makes way more sense if there is a viable ebook platform attached to it, and I think we can all agree that Microsoft’s isn’t it. Now imagine this product as an iOS and Android device. It makes way more sense, if only for their supporting ecosystems.

Anyway, I do agree this is a market they’re shooting for. Not positive it’s in any way viable as a product.

Self-service refunds

Chris_Kez asks:

What ever happened to “self-service refunds”? We’re going on 14 months since Microsoft started testing this with Xbox Insiders and it doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere.

I’ve not actually tried this, but Microsoft says this functionality is available today publicly, albeit not directly from the console. It looks like you need to view your order history on the Microsoft Account website. That said, I don’t see the “Request a return” link they mention. Maybe because I don’t have a recent purchase?

Bluetooth Quick (Swift) Pair

Chris_Kez asks:

Any word on Bluetooth Quick Pair as reported by Rafael back in November? I’d hoped to at least hear about a few Bluetooth peripherals that would support this on Windows.

That feature is available in Windows 10 today, but it’s called Swift Pair. (Google calls this feature Fast Pair in Android.) It’s not clear to me if this functionality needs to be supported, by device, by the hardware maker, by Windows, or by both. Microsoft’s Surface Performance Mouse supports this. (See below.) But the older Surface Mouse does not.

No more fappenings

davidD asks:

Over the past few years, there seems to have been a noticeable amount of hacks of private pictures etc of celebrities, and all articles (at least the ones I’ve seen) mention the pictures were hacked from iCloud. Given this, where is the criticism of iCloud from a) the tech community, b) the security experts and c) where are the competitors (onedrive, dropbox etc) jumping on this fact? Does Apple get a free ride, because, Apple, or have I completely misunderstood the whole situation?

I don’t believe we’ve seen any major examples of this problem in three years or so, and I believe the reason is that Apple finally wised up and now uses (its own peculiar form of) two-step authentication across iOS and its other platforms. Apple certainly came under fire, and justifiably so, when this was actively happening.

Blockchain word on the street

dcdevito asks:

Have you heard any real buzz around Blockchain at/from Microsoft?

No, but I almost completely ignore this space. Mary Jo just discussed Microsoft’s blockchain efforts on the most recent Windows Weekly, coincidentally. But it is perhaps worth mentioning that the public preview of this was actually announced at Build. I bet it got lost in all the tedium around Build this year.

Microsoft market cap

RawkFox asks:

Paul, what do you make of the news that Microsoft is now worth more than Alphabet?

Sorry if this appears lazy, but here’s what I wrote in Short Takes today on this topic:

“This week, Microsoft’s market capitalization—essentially a company’s worth or value, as calculated by multiplying its stock price by the number of outstanding shares—unexpectedly surpassed that of Google parent Alphabet, the first time that’s happened in several years. So what’s the reason for this sudden gain? Some new product release? The success of Microsoft’s cloud efforts? Nope. As many of you know, market cap, like anything stock price related, is black magic hoo-hickey. And Microsoft’s gains in recent years are due to only one thing: A PR charm offensive centered around Satya Nadella’s love of inclusion and accessibility. It’s a weird thing to watch a company like Microsoft for about 25 years and see this nonsense actually work. But after 15 years or so stock price flat-lining under previous CEO Steve Ballmer—who had actual product ideas and wanted to compete, not cooperate, with everyone—it’s still a welcome change.”

That pretty much covers it.

Windows Update awfulness

matsan asks:

How can it be that in this day and age, Windows Update is still the most fragile piece of technology in the known universe?!? During the last week I have helped parents, relatives, friends and myself troubleshoot stuck Windows Update (all kinds of 0x800 errors, but 0x8024a206 was common across four machines), missing updates and reboot loops. In most cases the Windows Update Troubleshooter (the downloaded version, not the version built-in into Settings apps!) solved all problems, but yeez – how hard can it be?!?!

I can’t answer this question, really. Why/how is it so terrible? I don’t know. The sheer number of Windows PC configurations out in the world makes this kind of thing difficult, I bet. And it’s worth remembering that the original vision for Windows Update included all PC makers and software application makers delivering their own updates through this one mechanism. I’m sure there are competitive reasons why that never happened. But I bet complexity is the main reason.

Plex vs. music services

spacecamel asks:

On your article on music locker services going away, I was wondering if you have considered running a PLEX server to store your ripped music? It is a pretty easy way to access your media on any device.

I haven’t, no. But I think I framed that story poorly.

What I am looking for, and what I meant to write about, was that use case where you do want to use a subscription music service for its huge library and other benefits. But it’s missing songs from the collection you ripped from CD years ago. So you want to mix and match them. Groove Music Pass and Amazon Music used to both support this use case. Today, only Google Play Music and Apple Music with iTunes Match do so. (Among mainstream services.) So I use Google Play Music. And recommend it.

The Plex use case is a good option for those who have their own music collections, are not interested in a subscription service, but still want to access that music from anywhere. I did write about a Plex update this week too, coincidentally. And I know it’s a great product. It’s just not what I’m personally looking for.

Windows 10 UI consistency

Pierre Masse asks:

You made a few very well deserved comments about the lack of UI consistency in Windows. Did you hear anything at Build concerning this problem? Or did you meet anybody from the UI/UX team? If yes, what did they say about it?

I didn’t meet with the UX team. Given the recent changes in the Windows organization, they weren’t particularly interested in talking to me. (And probably to others.) I did look through the Build sessions videos and the position there amounts, basically, to more Fluent coming in the next release. This is a UI/UX improvement. But it does not address the consistency issue. And I don’t honestly believe they will ever really get there.

Microsoft Family

jwpear asks:

A question from those of us with kids who are using Microsoft technology and trying to establish some limits on screen time. Why are Microsoft Family time limits and usage windows so unreliable on Windows 10 and Xbox? Is it really that difficult for Microsoft to get this right?

I never really discussed this, but I actually stripped out the Microsoft Family content from the Windows 10 Field Guide because this stuff is so terrible. It’s interesting to me that they are starting to bring this functionality to Android, but you have to think it’s going to be even less reliable there.

Another “why” question that’s impossible to ask. But I’m at least hopeful that this week’s sign of life from that group will lead to improvements.

ARM v. Intel

MartinusV2 asks:

I know it’s way too soon since we don’t have any hard facts / performance tests but, could ARM processors getting more and more powerful each year that it could start replacing Intel / AMD chips by 2020 like the Apple rumor?

Yes. And, unfortunately, I have some inside information that I can’t share quite yet. So wait for Monday for the full story.

Short version: Hardware makers used to use the same Qualcomm chips across multiple devices types, including phones, watches, IoT devices, etc. And now, with Windows 10 on ARM, they’re using them in PCs. And the performance is terrible. But if you pay attention to this company, you may have noticed a string of announcements this year about platform-specific processor chipsets. (For example, this one about smartwatches.) The assumption so far has been that the next-generation WOA PCs will use the Snapdragon 845. But that’s not happening. Something better is happening. And Intel may be in trouble.

More soon. Think Computex.

Merging Microsoft accounts

ommoran asks:

To dredge up an old chestnut – have you heard anything further about the possibility of merging two MSAs?

No, sorry.

Maybe I need a status page. 🙂

Windows 10 “Clean”

ChristopherCollins asks:

With your latest Windows article, do you really think that the new Windows direction will get us a junk free edition or is most of this just cutbacks/coasting? If Win 10 Pro could just get as clean as Mac OS, my deployments would be much easier. Any way our voices on here could influence the proper people?

I don’t know if this will happen or not. I believe that it should, of course, and that a key point of paying for the Pro upgrade from Home should be the removal of that crap.

But given that Microsoft’s recent new strategies to monetize Windows have not worked, why would the company leave advertising and crapware, especially, in the product when it just antagonizes users? And at what point do the success of Chromebooks and Macs, both of which are far cleaner than Windows 10, influence its thinking?

I can’t answer this. I just hope it changes.

Choosing the right email, calendar, and contacts client(s)

jchampeau asks:

What is gained and what is lost when using Outlook for iOS vs. Apple’s built-in email, calendar, and contacts apps? The iPhone mail app can’t perform a search on my Office 365-based inbox to save itself and I’ve considered trying Outlook to see if it improves on that. I haven’t installed it, though, because I’m concerned some functionality will be lost since the built-in apps are presumably deeply integrated with the OS.

So you’ve identified one thing that is gained. 🙂

But I’d open this up a bit more broadly: You should at least evaluate some number of email, calendar, and contacts apps before deciding the right path. We each have our own preferences and needs, but I do not use Apple’s apps on iPhone. I use the same apps I use everywhere (Android, iOS, Windows). Which in my case are Google Inbox and Google Calendar.

And on that note, you may be surprised to discover that Gmail and Google Calendar are curiously good for an Office 365 account. But I’d at least test each of these and see how each meets or doesn’t meet your specific needs. There’s no reason not to test multiple apps at once and see how they differ.