Ask Paul: June 9 (Premium)

After two straight weekends of being out of state, it’s nice to finally be home for a while. And there’s no better way to get the weekend started a bit early than some great reader questions.

Speaking of which, wildfires in Canada created a dangerous situation in my area this past week as the smoke descended into the Lehigh Valley, triggering our worst-ever air quality index (AQI) scores. That explains the weird sun image above.

PC gaming

helix2301 asks:

Just a question I was thinking about being a PC gamer myself and being a PC game pass member myself I like it because I get a bunch of games I like for free. Who do you think Microsofts competition is in this space? Steam? I cant think of any subscription based gaming companies for PC. Maybe that’s why Microsoft doing well with it cause its different?

There are many advantages to PC gaming, and the diversity of choice is high on the list. If you think about Microsoft’s response to the UK CMA trying to block its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it’s really about the misunderstanding that game streaming is in some way a different or new market when in fact it’s just another way to play games. (And more specifically, Microsoft doesn’t actually sell a streaming-only subscription, so Xbox Cloud Gaming is instead a perk of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.)

The relationship of Game Pass to Steam, Epic Games, or whatever is similar: these are just different ways to do the same thing: play games on your PC. And each has its own pros and cons. Steam and Epic Games are what I’d call traditional PC game stores that offer games for sale, so you pay whatever the price and then own that game and can install it on various PCs you may own. PC Game Pass is a subscription service in which you pay a monthly fee and gain access to some library of games, but you must download and install each before you can play. And Xbox Cloud Gaming takes the PC Game Pass piece and adds game streaming. All different means to the same end.

But Microsoft doesn’t have a direct competitor to PC Game Pass, I guess. There are competing services on consoles like PlayStation Plus from Sony, and that offering does offer PC game streaming too (so it’s more analogous to Xbox Game Ultimate). GeForce NOW kind of turns things on their head by offering streaming of PC games you already own, but only multiple device types. Etc.

But to my original point, the nice thing here is that you can mix and match. You might have some game libraries across Steam, Epic Games, and whatever else, and still subscribe to PC Game Pass or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as well. You’re well served no matter which you prefer. (And Microsoft is trying to consolidate access to your games across these services through Xbox Game Bar, which provides links to each.)

Tempted by the Apple

sabertooth920 asks:

Setting aside the hype and hyperbole, do you think Apple will be the one to get VR/AR right?  $3500.00 seems like a pretty serious barrier to entry for potential customers.

It’s so early and it’s so hard to say.

I hate to predict what’s going to happen here because Apple has a way of gaining success in markets in which others have failed. But in this case, it’s unclear what that market is, especially for a $3500 headset that isolates you from the world, has two hours of battery life, and has limited use cases. I’m no fan of any VR/AR/whatever headsets, and see no need to own one, but in a world in which Meta Quest 3 will cost just $500, I don’t see how this thing is competitive. (I know they’re not exactly the same thing.)

Yes. Apple will cost-reduce the device and it hopes to move to glasses-like form factors as quickly as possible. But if you try to slot this into its existing product lines in a sort of price vs. need matrix, the Vision Pro just doesn’t make sense. Products like the Mac Studio are relatively expensive ($2000 and up) but have a clear value proposition and will no doubt sell well. Products like the Mac Pro are too expensive for individuals ($7000 and up) and will sell in tiny amounts, but to professional design houses that need such things because they’re making movies or whatever. Products like Apple Watch are niche at best, but the product line has endured, and Apple can claim that it outsells similar (also niche) products. I don’t see how Vision Pro emulates any of those things.

Apple can command a premium, but not that much of a premium. This feels out of touch to me.

How tempted are you by the new, larger MacBook Air?

A little bit.

I do keep one Mac around for testing purposes, and I’m always interested to see what Apple does with new versions of macOS. But anytime I’m swayed by this platform, which usually involves something Microsoft did wrong, not something Apple did right, I’m immediately reminded of why I don’t use the Mac. I just don’t like using this platform.

What makes the MacBook Air enticing, of course, is the hardware. Apple’s industrial design is impressive and it’s a great looking PC. But if you dig in, you quickly run into blockers. Like that ridiculous notch. The two Thunderbolt 4 ports, both on the same side. (Though MagSafe is interesting as it frees one.) And the base configuration has only 8 GB of RAM, which is ridiculous. So the lowest price for a model with 16 GB of RAM (and just 256 GB of storage) is really $1500. And at that price point, it’s not a runaway success, at least to this PC user. But it will sell very, very well regardless of my opinions. I would not argue with anyone who felt they wanted to buy one. But I would spend my money elsewhere (right now on the HP Dragonfly Pro).

Once my existing Mac ages out, I’ll look to see what’s available and choose accordingly. In some ways, I am more tempted by a 14-inch MacBook Pro in the sense that it aligns better with my wants/needs, but the base price of that with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage is $2000. Yikes. You can get a lot of PC at that price point.

The enduring value of Microsoft 365

jrzoomer asks:

Paul one of my favorite articles you’ve ever written on Winsupersite was The Enduring Value of Microsoft Office. At that time, the traditional office suite was once a set of killer apps and a reason to own a PC (and specifically Windows OS for the best experience). Over time, computing has changed, I’d love to have your thoughts on the value of Microsoft Office today.

I had to go back and find that article and re-read it, as I recall the title but couldn’t remember the timing (2010, 13 years ago!) or the point of it (a publication claiming that Google Docs was somehow competitive with Microsoft Office). And it’s nice to be right every once in a while: Google Docs never seriously challenged Office, and Microsoft made sure of that by launching Office 365 just one year later, in 2011 (which has since evolved into Microsoft 365). Office is now available wherever you want it, including on mobile, the web, and in native app versions on desktop. You can buy it outright or subscribe to the service. They did the right thing. This bit is as true now as it was then: “We’re in the same place we’ve been for 15 years. There’s Office. And then there’s everything else.”

I suppose we can credit Google will, um, inspiring Microsoft to take those steps, but the world of 2010 was a different place: the iPhone was just three years old, web apps were immature, and Windows 7 had just come out and went on to be the most beloved version of the Windows desktop ever. Within a few years, Microsoft would switch to its cloud-first strategy as Windows 8 and then Windows Phone tanked, so one thinks maybe they’d have gotten there anyway.

But with regards to the value of what I call Microsoft 365 now, nothing has changed, though my language has a bit. Now I just call it a no-brainer. And I call it that because you get 1 TB of OneDrive storage per user with every consumer subscription (and with most commercial subscriptions), plus access to the desktop, web, and mobile apps on multiple PCs and device, each of which is improved at what is frankly an astonishing rate given their maturity. The value equation has actually gotten better since 2010.

I periodically review my software/gaming/streaming subscriptions, and trim where I feel like it makes sense. I find that I’ve been keeping my Office subscription around more out of habit and momentum the last several years. I don’t really use a traditional office suite anymore, and though I’ve had some version of Office since version 4.3, I think in 2023 I might save some money here (or put the money to better use–I’m thinking an Audible subscription). This should be a straightforward decision, but my “nostalgic” brain gets in the way of pulling the trigger.

If you are not using the OneDrive storage for some reason, I could see that. But I use it extensively, and it’s a key part of my workflow. So even if I stop using the desktop apps day-to-day—which I’m experimenting with, using Visual Studio Code—it is OneDrive that keeps me paying. And Microsoft is also add new apps, one of which, Loop, I expect to be using daily before the end of this year.

But this is a case-by-case thing. It depends on your needs and your usage.

So I’m curious to know…do you still use use Microsoft Office (and if so how)? And specifically, Excel?

I mostly just use Microsoft Word. I used to use OneNote regularly as well, but its inability to reliably support real-time collaboration triggered a move to Notion (which might become a move to Loop soon). I use Excel only rarely; I create my annual PC sales chart using Excel, for example. (As you can see, I’m not that good at it.) I used to use PowerPoint from time to time, too, but I haven’t had to give a presentation in a long time, thankfully. That’s about it.

OneDrive, not Windows

jimchamplin asks:

After finding solutions to a small handful of remaining pieces of software, I’ve been able to finally move from Windows on all PCs. Now my issue is that I myself as well as two family members – my wife as well as my mom in Georgia halfway across the country – who are reliant on OneDrive as one part of our backup solution. I primarily use it to easily restore all of my documents, images, and my collection of emulators and ROMs, all of which are also backed up in other ways as well.

Transitioning to another service would be the most obvious option, but I receive OneDrive via 365 Family, and personally I find it to be an excellent offer. I use the desktop Office applications on my Macs and the web apps on Linux. I really do NOT want to switch away from Office 365. I know Linux isn’t your wheelhouse, but it may be something that you’ve investigated. Figured I might as well ask.

As you know, OneDrive integrates with the Mac file system just as it does with on Windows, so that integration works well. And as you, there’s no such integration on Linux. (There is some light integration in Chrome OS, but none of the syncing and offline capabilities that, to me, make this service so useful.)

So the question then is whether having deep integration on the Mac and having to use the web on Linux is “good enough.” And if it isn’t, you need to find a third-party service that lets you perform some level of OneDrive integration into the Linux file system. I would need the full meal deal for this to make sense—sync and offline—but your needs might be different.

Someone else recommends a tool called Onedriver that I’ve not heard of, but looking at it on Github, I can see that it works like the ChromeOS solution, meaning it’s not a true sync client with offline capabilities, but is rather a way to access your OneDrive files from Linux while the PC is online. This is likely good enough for a lot of people. But part of my workload involves syncing key folders to each PC I use so that they’re always available and never have to be downloaded when needed. It’s worth looking at.

There are, of course, companies that offer various solutions to this problem, but it’s been a while since I’ve tried one. I noted above that each time I use the Mac, I’m immediately reminded of why I don’t use that platform regularly. Linux (and ChromeOS) are even worse in that regard, and it’s really just a workflow thing: there are just too many apps and too many ways I do things that don’t work there, and OneDrive is a key example. (Maybe the key example.)

So as per the previous question, I think this just comes down to personal preference and need. If you can live with the limitations of using OneDrive in Linux, you’re good to go. I just can’t myself.