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 o...