Ask Paul: January 15 (Premium)

Happy Friday! Here’s yet another great set of reader questions, including a few that probably warrant further discussion separately.

Surface quality

bschnatt asks:

Howdy. Mary Jo’s recent laptop failure made me wonder if Microsoft is still dealing with quality control issues with their Surface devices. (One is reminded of their “hot bag” problem, their Surface Book detaching problem, etc…) Do you think Microsoft is getting a handle on this, or are there signs of continuing problems with this? I guess I’m just wondering if Mary Jo’s problem was just an electrical spike, or a sign of continuing QA problems. I myself have been using UPS devices (when possible) to minimize the former…

It’s always suspicious when any product fails right as it comes out of warranty. But that doesn’t indicate there’s a serious problem. We’re wired to see this kind of coincidence.

What’s the real evidence? I’m not aware of any widespread reports of Surface reliability issues now, though Surface Laptop 3 did have that screen cracking issue that seems to have quietly come and gone. And that’s about it recently, right?

Anecdotally, I’ve not had any reliability issues with any Surface product since the initial Surface Book’s “Surfacegate” issues, and I’ve used Surface Book 2 and Surface Laptop 2 pretty extensively. Mary Jo’s only had the issue with a single PC.

I don’t know for sure. But I don’t think there is a widespread/endemic reliability problem.

Fitbit v. Apple

jwpear asks:

Do you think Fitbit will recover and find a sustainable business model now that it is part of Google?

I don’t personally believe that Fitbit needed Google to find a sustainable business model, though the financial history of the company probably suggests otherwise. It seems like creating inexpensive but high-quality fitness trackers and smartwatches and selling related services should be sustainable.

Will Fitbit field a smart watch that can compete with Apple?

I believe Fitbit already has superior smartwatches. In fact, I bought one for that very reason after evaluating Apple Watch Series 6 and considering Apple Fitness+ (which has since been made available). But “superior” means different things to different people. The Versa 3 I purchased gets about 5x the battery life of an Apple Watch, it works with Android, and it’s focused on literally the only things I care about: health and fitness. It was the right choice for me, and I feel like it should be the right choice for most people.

So why isn’t it?

Apple’s market is over one billion strong, so it’s a lot more diverse than it used to be. And different people have different needs/wants. And many are into the whole Apple lifestyle thing to some degree, which means they’ll either buy anything with an Apple logo on it (if they can afford it) or at least wish they could, and Apple Watch benefits from that. And yeah, some care about health/fitness, and evaluated Apple Watch and decided that was the right way to go.

Will Apple ever consider offering simpler versions of the Apple Watch, or something like it, that’s focused on fitness?

No. That’s not Apple’s business model. Apple will sell older Apple Watches at lower prices to compete with lower-priced competitors like Fitbit.

Lastly, it got me to wondering if Apple will ever offer simpler devices like some of the Fitbit trackers.

Normally, I would doubt this. But in recent years, Apple’s product range has exploded, and it now offers several different headphone models, for example. A lower-cost Apple wearable that works with Fitness+—which is where the real money is—actually would make sense.

We need strong competition in this market. I hope both Fitbit and Apple, at a minimum, are able to compete.

I think there’s room in the market for both, and for others as well. The health/fitness stuff, in particular, is important.

Retro computing

ErichK asks:

For whatever reason lately I’ve sparked a renewed interest in playing with the Apple //gs I bought from eBay about 10 years ago. I actually bought an IDE to CompactFlash adapter, which makes it much easier to swap software in and out. I also bought a card that converts the audio output to stereo (that port in the back is mono, can you believe that?), and I also bought a 4 MB RAM upgrade. (Yeah I’m nuts.) I guess what I wanted to ask was, when you had a //gs, what kinds of things did you use it for? I also feel like asking what happened to it when you moved to PCs, but I don’t know if that was the computer that perished in the fire, so I didn’t want to bring up a sore spot.

Retro-computing is huge right now, and I totally get what you’re doing. I would probably move in a more Amiga 500-type direction at this point. But all of that stuff is still fascinating to me.

With the understanding that this was over 30 years ago, I used the Apple IIGS for all kinds of things, and I spent several thousand dollars on it, various hardware add-ons and peripherals—including some gorgeous white Bose speakers—and software, all in a crazy bid to make it more like an Amiga, I later realized. I added so many upgrades that I kind of forget them all. Several drives, internal and external, a RAM disk for instant-on performance, and more. I had an Apple Imagewriter II printer, various joysticks. Etc.

Anyway. I used the IIGS to write papers for school. I used it to play games. And I used it to learn programming, mostly Pascal by that point. (I had all the official Apple hardcover documentation, which was amazing.) I think those were the big activities.

The IIGS was the computer I purchased after my house burned down. The one I lost was a Commodore 64C.

Privacy

BigM72 asks:

What are your thoughts these days on data privacy and the extent to which, we as individuals or consumers, should take measures to protect our privacy? Clearly, one school of thought seems to be that the privacy war is already lost and we should just enjoy these services (Facebook and Google services).

I’m at neither extreme of the privacy debate, and yet I do feel very strongly that the people who willingly give up their privacy and/or are clueless or unconcerned about Google’s (or Facebook’s) business model are actively working against their own best interests. The good news is that the regulatory world is waking up to this problem, and I think we’re going to see major changes for the better. And for those who really do care, there are solutions today for protecting your privacy to any degree if you want to take those steps.

The steps I take aren’t particularly draconian. I do use and even prefer Android, so I can’t take it too seriously. But I use Edge on both mobile and PC, and not Chrome, which is designed to steal your data. And I use a handful of browser extensions for anti-tracking and adblocking. Kind of the minimum, I guess.

Amazon Fire TV alternatives

SherlockHolmes asks:

Perhaps you know from my comments in the past that Im not a big Amazon fan because of the privacy politics Amazon has. The only thing that I use is an Amazon Fire TV 4k stick but Im thinking of switching. The question is: To what? Roku isnt really popular in Germany and I think there arent any devices specially for Germany. So the logical choice would be an Android TV device. Do you have some thoughts on what to use? I thought about an Xiaomi Mi TV stick. But who knows maybe the US government would put some bans on Xiaomi too like they did with Huawei. Thanks.

The Chromecast with Google TV is kind of the logical choice since it’s the most like Fire TV from a user experience perspective. It does a nice job of aggregating recommendations from across the services you use. (I still have an older Xiaomi Mi Box, but the interface was terrible and it was rarely updated.)

Good call on Xiaomi, by the way.

Third time’s the charm

AnOldAmigaUser asks:

After Windows RT and Windows in S-Mode, do you think that the third time will be the charm for Windows 10X? Despite the current name, do you think the branding will include Windows, or will that lead to the confusion about not running Win32 apps?

So, I asked Brad this question rhetorically today since I’m kind of wondering the same thing: If the plan is for Windows 10X to ship only on new hardware aimed at education (and other commercial markets) for the first version, and Win32 compatibility is added for v2, and Microsoft then makes it available more broadly, does that make it OK to use the Windows brand? I think so. And I do think that’s the plan.

Speaking of Win32 apps, do you think they would be better off running them locally in containers, which would seem more complicated and would increase hardware specs, or would it be better to pair this with Windows Virtual Desktop?

I think both need to happen, since everyone has different needs, and some places don’t have adequate or inexpensive connectivity.

Since Microsoft365 integration is going to be a big use case for these devices, do you think they will improve the PWA experience of the Office Online apps to allow the device to be used without a network connection?

No, I think that needs to happen on the PWA side, where it would benefit everyone, and all compatible platforms. And certainly, Microsoft’s web apps have a lot they could improve.

Another approach for Windows 10X

madthinus asks:

If you could install Win32 apps, but they had to be packaged, curated and in the Microsoft repository, why the need for Windows 32 container? Is this version of the Windows OneCore without the API’s of Win32?

I’m not sure about the latter question. But with regards to the first one, this reminds me of my central complaint against Windows 10 S: That Microsoft should have made it possible to otherwise remain in S mode but allow the user (or their organization) to OK certain desktop applications because they are so necessary. For example, I may want/need to use Photoshop but would like the rest of the system to be locked down in S mode.

So why not just do that with Windows 10X? I think it’s because 10X is a smaller, lighter, simpler system and that using containers lets Microsoft physically separate that stuff out so that those who don’t need it, or those who may only need it sometimes, aren’t bogged down by its presence otherwise. (And by bogged down, I don’t just mean resources, there are security implications to that too.)

In this line of thinking, Windows 10 S was Windows 10, but with Win32 apps locked down. Windows 10X is a smaller platform that’s based on Windows 10, but with Win32 app compatibility removed and potentially added back, as needed, via containers.

Is it fair to say that most of the ideas here in the UI, ie moving things to the action centre is what Sunvalley will bring to normal Windows 10?

I have to guess here, but I assume that familial similarities are part of the plan. And that using the Windows 10X on mainstream Windows 10, at least optionally, is in the cards as well.

Surface peripherals

jwpear asks:

Is it just me or is Microsoft moving away from the Surface branded accessories? … I wish they would give some love to the Surface keyboards, but it seems like they’re just riding them out.

I agree they’ve done little with the keyboards, and that the one Surface-branded ergonomic keyboard they’ve offered is lackluster. But overall, Surface has expanded into more peripheral categories recently, like headphones and earbuds, which are of little interest to me. You have to wonder what drives the decision making there. And hope that the pandemic inspires them to focus a bit more on the basics.

Xbox Series X vs. PS5

sabertooth920 asks:

Can you give some compelling reasons that Xbox Series X is a superior (or inferior) system compared to the the PS5.

Honestly, both seem pretty great overall, and evenly-matched. The Xbox Series X has some small technical advantages that could matter in the long run, plus a superior form factor. But the big one to me is the Xbox ecosystem, with its broad backward compatibility that now extends to Xbox Game Pass and cloud streaming.

Overall, Xbox and PlayStation fans are going to make the choice based on their past and experience. And if you’re a PlayStation guy, going Xbox now might not make a ton of sense.

Finish the job

jchampeau asks:

It sounds like some kind of significant UI refresh is coming to Windows 10, and that they might “finish the job” in some areas. Do you think this indicates a larger initiative to address the systemic issue you’ve raised in the past where little focus is put on the less glamorous, but no less important work, or is this just a lipstick-on-a-pig scenario?

I hope so. Certainly, I welcome any attention to this issue.

But I am worried that it would be even easier and more obvious for Microsoft to make this another “lipstick on a pig” situation, where it’s just a surface-level gloss that doesn’t address the more deep-seated issues. We’ll see.

AMD + Microsoft

AnOldAmigaUser asks:

Do you think that Microsoft might expand the use of AMD chips across the Surface product line, or just use them for the Surface Laptop?

I think so, and I would love to see that.

If you had told me, say, 15 months ago that Microsoft would use an AMD chip in a Surface product, I’d have had some doubts. But if you had told me, too, that they would offer Intel and AMD choices in the same product, I’d never have believed it. So at this point, I suppose anything is possible.

Secure communications

krisarthur asks:

Looking to move to Signal or Telegram? Seems like that might warrant some research!

Probably, but I may not be the person for that. When it comes to chat-based apps, I’ve pretty much gone where my friends and family go for convenience purposes. On the PC, this has been Messenger > Skype > Teams, and on mobile, it’s mostly just SMS with a bit of Facebook Messenger (begrudgingly).

Future person shooter

krisarthur asks:

Latest FPS after the COD Cold War debacle?

This is still an open question. I’ve kept playing the years-old Black Ops 4, because it’s the best in the series and I can prestige over and over, which adds a bit of difficulty. But I’ve been branching out, too, in part through the Living with Game Streaming series. I enjoy DOOM Eternal quite a bit. And I’ve been playing some non-FPS games, like A Plague Tale: Innocence (on Amazon Luna). I’m trying.