Ask Paul: March 4 (Premium)

Feliz Viernes from Mexico City! Here’s another amazing set of questions from readers to kick off the weekend.

Windows Hello preference

jwpear asks:

Paul, are you aware of any way to set the order of sign-in/auth options in Windows 11? I have a Windows Hello capable camera–Logitech Brio–and the Microsoft Modern Keyboard with Fingerprint reader. I much prefer the camera and would like that to be the default, using the fingerprint reader only when the camera is unavailable (e.g. in a video meeting). I do not see a way to set the order or a default. It seems that Windows randomly selects an option. Sometimes is uses the fingerprint reader, even when the camera is available, and sometimes it uses the camera. At this point, I’m considering just removing fingerprint, but then I’ll have to resort to a PIN or password.

I assume you’re referring to those times when you’re already signed into Windows but need to authenticate for some reason? Obviously, if you’re sitting down in front of a PC that’s not signed in, facial recognition would kick in before you could touch the fingerprint reader (unless you’re not directly in front of it, I guess). Maybe less obviously, some newer laptops have fingerprint readers integrated into the power button, and in that case, that form of authentication would happen first because it passes through as Windows loads.

That’s an interesting question. I don’t ever use facial recognition except for testing as I prefer to explicitly sign in, but I’m not aware of any way to specify a preference.

Microsoft Loop

ggolcher asks:

When Microsoft Loop was announced last Fall, I got excited about a product that mixed the power of drafting content in Office with the data flexibility and versatility of Notion. It may be a great substitute to SharePoint for us. Yet, since then I haven’t heard anything. I wanted to ask you if you had heard anything about Loop? Also, just out of curiosity: what’s your take on it? Am I setting myself up to be disappointed?

I think that depends on how you use SharePoint. I think the collaboration functionality of Loop and SharePoint will sort of overlap in the same ways that the internal communications capabilities of Teams and Outlook overlap. Meaning that Loop, like Teams, is sort of a new way of doing this but that companies will continue using both for the foreseeable future. In part because the new thing will never do everything the old one did, and in part from inertia and employees who can’t fully move on.

But given that you’re not a fan of SharePoint—completely understandable—the good news is that Loop isn’t just new, it’s a completely different generation of solution with a completely different set of thinking behind it. And so if Loop doesn’t work for you, it won’t be because it’s just like SharePoint, or shares the same issues, or whatever. (I think.)

Microsoft announced Loop at Ignite 2021. And I think that’s why we’ve not heard anything more about it since then; there are several milestones to come related to the app itself and Loop components for other Microsoft apps and services. And when it comes to Microsoft 365, there is a matrix of thousands of end-user capabilities, and it’s hard to keep track of what’s happening. Given the platform nature of this thing, we could hear more at Build (probably in May), but I bet the release will be timed to the next Ignite. Or because Microsoft announces new Microsoft 365 features literally all the time, it could be tomorrow. There’s no way to know.

I like the idea of Loop, mostly because I like things that are like Loop, like Notion. But I’ve not really used it since the early days of the Fluid Framework. Mary Jo and I talk about replacing OneNote for the Windows Weekly show notes sometimes, because its real-time collaboration features aren’t just broken, they cause data loss. So Loop is one of the things we’re waiting on. But it’s not even in the Microsoft 365 roadmap.

Wither ARM64EC

bschnatt asks:

A short while ago Microsoft announced a way to create hybrid apps for Windows on ARM (half whatever / half ARM-native code). Have you seen any indication that developers have adopted this at all? What apps do you know of that run natively on ARM (besides Microsoft’s stuff)?

This is called ARM64EC and, no, there’s no indication anyone has bothered with it. Which makes sense, as the Windows on ARM user base is non-existent. Why would any developer make this effort?

That said, it’s used by Microsoft—in Office and Visual Studio—and should Windows on ARM ever take off, it will help third-party developers make their apps perform better on that platform. You know, “if.”

Have *you* tried to code an app this way?

No. I don’t have a legacy Win32 app that would need this kind of work.

Oh, Apple

bschnatt also asks:

A couple weeks ago(?), a woman slammed Apple for their practice of changing the employee titles of ex-employees to “Associate” (e.g., Senior Software Developer to Associate) which prevented her from getting a specific job (since the prospective employer couldn’t verify her previous experience at Apple as a developer). I don’t recall if she was planning a lawsuit (but she should be).

I don’t recall you ever reporting on this (but I may have missed it). Thoughts? The only reason I can think of why Apple would do this is to dissuade people from leaving the company. More despicable behavior from this company.

No, I’ve not written about this. I’m not sure we have all the facts yet, but there are two concerns here. One is that the employee you mention claims she was discriminated against and harassed at Apple. But Apple says it is investigating her for leaking private corporate data to outsiders. I’m inclined to believe the woman in this case, and I’m always happy to criticize Apple if they deserve it. But I don’t want to put myself in a position where I’m a little too willing to believe something negative about the company. So I’m going to just wait and see what develops here.

Regarding Apple labeling ex-employees as Associates, that one is weird to me, and Apple—to my knowledge—has never publicly explained why it does this. If it’s truly retaliatory, or if Apple is trying to prevent employees from jumping ship and joining rival firms, we have a problem. For example, it could be trying to prevent potential new employers from understanding how valuable a former employee was to Apple by hiding their true role. That person applies for a job, says they were formerly whatever role, and then Apple tells the new company that wasn’t the case. That sounds illegal.

But again, we need all the facts first.

House Hunters International

anoldamigauser asks:

Are you an international property owner yet?

No, not yet.

For those wondering what means, I wrote about our attempts to buy a second home in Mexico City in this week’s Premium newsletter. Since then, we’ve flown back to Mexico City, have toured the apartment again, and had a long meeting with the developers and a notary (basically a lawyer, here), and everything went great. We’re meeting at 9 am on Monday to sign papers and provide the down payment. Assuming all that happens, we will come back in mid-April to finalize the purchase. But first things first.

Linking Gmail to Outlook.com

anoldamigauser also asks:

If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, then in Outlook[.com], you can link a Gmail account. There is even an icon for it. If, however, you create a MSA that is not associated with a subscription, then the option is not there. This occurs even if the email address used for the MSA is a Gmail address. So, OWA will only display the non-existent email for the oddly formed outlook dot com address created from the Gmail address. Why?

First, I hope I’m getting this right, and given the context, I think I am, but you wrote “Outlook for the web” there, by which I assume you mean Outlook.com and not “Outlook on the web,” which is like Outlook.com for Microsoft 365 commercial accounts. Consumers can do this with Outlook.com. But I don’t believe that business users can with Outlook on the web.

OK, given that assumption, I wasn’t aware of this limitation. Looking at Outlook.com with my primary Microsoft 365 consumer account, I see an “Add Gmail account” icon in the navigation pane on the left. But when I look with a secondary account, that icon is missing, as you say. Supposedly, you can go into Outlook.com settings > Sync email to enable this option. But when I do this, it just says “Unable to load these settings. Please try again later.” And I see that with both accounts, go figure.

If this feature is limited to paid Microsoft 365 accounts, then Microsoft is clearly positioning it as a premium feature. But when you look that up, you will see that Microsoft does not promote this as a premium feature. So I’m not sure what’s up there, sorry.

Making the case for the Galaxy S22 Ultra

crunchyfrog asks:

I know you’ve jumped off of the Android band wagon for the moment but thought I would try to temp you a bit with a new phone I just switched to. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Note edition) is a fantastic device and has surpassed my expectations in nearly every respect. It’s big, yes, but it really is worth a go if you’re feeling an inkling to move back over.

Although it appears to be an incremental update to past phones, I have been very pleasantly surprised at just how much more refined it is and how much faster it can do things like face unlock and even the under-screen fingerprint reader works exceptionally well. Of course, the camera is fantastic and so is the performance and battery life too. I could go on, but I expect you’ve heard enough about it already in the tech media.

Yeah, I did of course pay attention to the Samsung announcement and I also read/watch several reviews of this handset. But it’s very clearly just the Note 20 Ultra form factor with some new chipsets and slightly improved cameras, and that doesn’t move the needle enough for me. I’m not a huge fan of most of Samsung’s customizations—though OneUI does look nice—or software bloat. I’m not sure I’d ever go back. I’ve got some comments about the Pixel 6 Pro below, but the short version is that Pixel is still generally more interesting to me than the Galaxy S stuff. (That said, the Ultra zoom capabilities are amazing.)

Edge go home

bschnatt asks:

I have another question. Have you noticed that the Home button doesn’t work right in Edge? For example, you can open just about any StackOverflow question/answer, scroll all the way to the bottom and then hit the Home button (or Shift-Home or any other variation) and Edge refuses to take you back to the top. But it works fine in Chrome. Do you have this problem?

I assume you mean the Home key (on the keyboard) as that’s not what the Home button does in a web browser. 🙂

I don’t use Edge, but I did try a few StackOverflow posts and it seemed to work normally. And it works fine on some of my long Programming Windows posts. I wonder if there is some extension or whatever screwing with this. Does Ctrl + Home work?

Smartphone battery life

mcerdas asks:

When you travel taking all the nice pictures you share with us, does your phone battery suffice? Or do you carry around a portable battery?

I just use the phone. To date, this has worked fine, but on my recent trips I’ve been using dual SIMs and I’ve noticed that the batteries don’t last as well as I’d like on both iPhone and Pixel. I’ve cut it pretty close a few times, but we usually structure our days so we’re out in the world for half the time and back at the Airbnb/hotel working, when we can charge.

Music services that work with OneDrive

mcerdas asks:

If memory serves me right, you mentioned that there are third party alternatives for the now defunct OneDrive music service. Do you remember any of those? Us old fossils don’t trust this newfangled streaming nonsense.

Microsoft used to offer an excellent Groove app and service that integrated with OneDrive and allow you to stream any music content there to any PC or device. That service disappeared when Microsoft killed the Groove services for some reason. And though I had hoped that Microsoft’s partnership with Spotify would result in that service offering access to OneDrive content, it did not.

I don’t recall recommending other services that can do this, sorry. And this question is complicated by where you want to access that content.

If it’s a PC, the workaround is to sync those OneDrive folders locally and then just use Groove or its Media Player replacement in Windows 11. (If you add a OneDrive-based folder to these apps they will auto-sync, which may not be desirable.)

But if you want to do this on a phone, you’ll need to find a third-party app that supports OneDrive streaming; I’m not aware of a free solution, but there are paid apps like CloudPlayer Pro that do this. Or use YouTube Music, which lets you upload music there for free and then stream it from the client on phones.

Blog and book picks

KidChris asks:

Top 5 daily go-to tech blogs for Paul Thurrott?

I don’t manually visit tech blogs, but I use Google News and The Old Reader (RSS reader) to keep up on what’s happening in the tech space. I’m honestly not sure if I have any favorite tech blogs per se. I’m not sure if that’s weird or not. 🙂

Current books you are reading and enjoying?

My most reach book purchases are “Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955” (which I’m still reading and is excellent), “Unchained: The Eddie Van Halen Story” (audiobook version), “Project Hail Mary” (which is highly recommended, also audiobook version), “Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s” (which I read after watching the “Get Back” documentary), and “Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with the Doors” by Doors guitarist Robby Krieger (also audiobook version). I’m also relistening to “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America” by Erik Larson on audiobook, and just relistened to key chapters of “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson as reference for the Programming Windows series. Both of those are excellent too.

Back to Pixel?

yoshi asks:

I know you’ve switched back to the Pixel 6 Pro for the trip you’re on. How has it felt going back to the Pixel? Does it feel like “coming home”? Or are the frustrations that drove you away still present? I’ve been tempted to give it another try but it seems like the current situation is so mixed about that phone.

As noted in Where the iPhone Falls Short, I temporarily switched back to the Pixel 6 Pro to test whether it would solve the rampant spam call (and, to a lesser degree) text issues I was getting on the iPhone 13 Pro. And that was good timing because I wanted to test dual SIMs on the Pixel as well, and we’re in Mexico City this week where I need to use dual SIMs. Long story short, I’m not going to write a “What I Use” post for this trip, as I’ve just brought a subset of what I brought on the last few trips. But I am going to write about the Pixel experience separately.

I will say this now: the Pixel has absolutely solved the spam issue, as I had expected. Unknown/spam callers aren’t just ignored silently, they’re dealt with automatically, and I don’t need to deal with notifications, etc. It’s excellent. And the dual SIM thing has been mostly positive in that it’s worked fine. I had some issues with texts but that was related to Mint Mobile, not the Pixel.

With regards to the overall Pixel experience, again, I will write that up soon. It’s been mostly fine. When we were in Mexico City in January, I noted that the iPhone battery life was much worse than usual. And on this trip, the Pixel battery life is likewise worse than usual (and worse than iPhone). I don’t like the phone’s bulky size and curved display. The fingerprint reader is still unreliable, and at least twice on this trip, I’ve had to manually enter a PIN because it’s failed so many times. The photos are mostly great. And because of the space-wasting nonsense on the Pixel home screen that you can’t remove, I’ve switched to a third-party launcher, Nova7, that solves those issues but retains the clean Pixel look.

More on all this soon.

Loyalty

helix2301 asks:

This kind of maybe a stupid question but why do you in all the years never miss windows weekly? I know if you miss first ring now big deal but I notice that even when you go away on trips you make it point to do windows weekly. You may skip FRD but you make it a point to do WW.

I very rarely miss Windows Weekly—and schedule trips around the show when possible—for two reasons. It’s important to me, and because Leo actually pays me. I don’t get paid for doing other podcasts, so there’s little incentive to work around them. I’m always happy to do FRD when possible, and I try not to miss it. But I wouldn’t schedule a trip around that. (And Brad and I can reschedule when needed, it’s just us. Twit has a schedule of shows, not just WW.)

As I observed long ago of blogs, but it applies to podcasts too: it’s easy to start one, anyone can do that. The trick is to keep doing it.