Ask Paul: December 21 (Premium)

Happy holidays! Here’s the final “Ask Paul” for 2018, with another great set of reader questions.

Outlook.com and Go Daddy: Microsoft responds

Two weeks ago, SherlockHolmes asked:

Hi Paul, could you ask around if it will be possible to use outlook.com Domains without have to move to GoDaddy? Thanks.

At the time, I explained that that was not possible and that people who had previously configured a custom domain for Outlook.com Premium could still use that domain with whatever registrar. But I said I’d ask Microsoft whether it planned to offer more choices in the future.

They’ve responded with:

Existing Outlook.com Premium customers can connect to a domain they own from any registrar, not just GoDaddy. Customers using custom domains via the new Office 365 Home/Personal experience can connect only to GoDaddy.

Which is almost identical to what I wrote. So, unfortunately, it appears that you’ll need to use GoDaddy for whatever domain you wish to use with Outlook.com.

Sets, the new Edge, and you

smackfu asks:

How do you think the changes to Edge impact the Sets feature? We have not really heard anything about that feature for 19H1 so far.

It is perhaps not coincidental that Microsoft has not started testing Sets again in the next Windows 10 version (19H1) despite having released many builds. If you’re wondering whether the move to a Chromium-based Edge is part of the reason why, I’m inclined to agree. But as you note, we’ve heard literally nothing about this feature in 19H1 so far.

Windows Sandbox and the future

Nic asks:

How far do you think sandboxing will go? It seems that limiting it to Pro/Enterprise editions pushes it out of the hands of the general public (arguably the people who need it most). Do you think that adoption will be strong among those that can use it?

Windows Sandbox requires the hypervisor functionality that makes Hyper-V Client possible, and that explains why it’s not available in Windows 10 Home. The hypervisor is only accessible in Windows 10 Pro or newer.

I didn’t write this in my post about Sandbox, but I am wondering if Microsoft will further differentiate Windows 10 Home in the future, or simply replace it with Windows 10 Lite. And that this more consumer/simplicity-focused version will drift further from “traditional” Win32 desktop computing.

But theories aside, Windows Sandbox as currently implemented is really only for app testing purposes. And that is a very limited use case, one that would make sense only to IT or developers, both of which would be using Windows 10 Pro or better. If Sandbox does evolve, it is possible that it could simply be made available on Windows 10 Home too. (Since the hypervisor limitation is an arbitrary differentiator that Microsoft decided on and not some technical limitation.)

New Years resolutions

RawkFox asks:

Since this is the last Ask Paul for this year, what are your New Year’s resolutions (if any)?

I have many things I’d like to fix. I’m still wrestling with the weight/health stuff, though I’ve now undergone an unbelievable battery of tests and am mostly just fine, from a health perspective. I’ve started working out, for example. And I would like to less easily be dragged into pointless arguments online, especially on Twitter. Work-life balance is always an issue.

One thing I did work on this past year was attention span. I read a lot, but thanks to web content, I think, I have trouble reading longer works like books. So I worked on that this past year. I will probably write about that soon.

On a related note, what should be Microsoft’s New Year’s resolutions for next year?

If I could pick just one thing for Microsoft in 2019, it would be to focus on quality. There are some nice indications that this work is underway, however, and while the October 2018 Update was obviously a huge problem, maybe that will emerge as an anomaly that 2019 will put behind us.

I can dream.

Settings vs. Control Panel

Belralph asks:

Any thoughts on the split of functionality between Control Panel and Settings? Settings seems to get prettier but not much in the way of useful content. Anything useful to change settings is always a shortcut on the right side of the form to open the control panel tool.

Settings is like Microsoft Edge: Microsoft makes big improvements with each release of Windows 10, but more always has to be done. I feel like it’s in a pretty good place now, however, and that those shortcuts you mention mean that Settings can really be seen as the one place to go for configuring Windows. Over time, I bet more and more of that disappears—meaning functionality from Control Panel is moved to Settings. But that we’ll never really get rid of Control Panel entirely because third-parties add on to it and there are legacy control panels that simply don’t need to be modernized.

Thurrott.com in 2018

Chris_Kez asks:

How was 2018 for Team Thurrott.com? And what can readers expect in 2019?

From a money perspective, I believe we’re in-line with the previous year (it’s not over yet), but I wouldn’t describe that as a huge win. You want to see growth, of course. Or business model is somewhat new and unproven, and we keep trying to evolve it.

From a personnel perspective, I’ve really enjoyed working with Brad and Mehedi on a daily basis. This was something I didn’t have at the SuperSite, which was more of a one-man show.

From a content perspective, “what is and what is not Premium” continues to be an issue. As is the right mix of content. Someone suggested last week that I do more industry interviews and story telling, basically, and I think that’s a fine idea. I’m already plotting a Microsoft campus visit, and would like to do more of that in 2019.

I’ve never talked to Brad, Mehedi, or anyone else at work about this, but what the heck. I’m also wondering whether my central focus should be Microsoft and maybe not as broad as it is now. More and more I find mobile, in particular, to border on the inane, and I simply don’t have the inroads at other companies that I do with Microsoft. I just like Microsoft better. I don’t know. I’ll start having a discussion about this and see what comes of it.

Misinformation about Microsoft’s move to Chromium

Sprtfan asks:

I read this article and was left a bit confused.

It says “Microsoft is committed to shipping and supporting whatever proprietary tech Google wants to develop, whether Microsoft likes it or not”

I was under the impression that Microsoft would be a contributor and an influencer for Chromium. I didn’t expect them to have as much pull as Google maybe but to still have some influence in the project. Can you explain how you think Microsoft roll in the Chromium Project will play out?

That article is incorrect, and is sadly typical of the FUD we see around Microsoft’s decision. It’s driven by fear, a fear of Google and a fear of change. Both are understandable.

Your understanding of what’s happening is correct. Microsoft hopes to become a major contributor to Chromium and, in doing so, have a big influence over any browser that uses Chromium, including Google Chrome. And Microsoft does not have to use everything that Google adds to Chromium. Look to the Brave web browser for an example: Brave pulls out all of the Google code for Google account sync and tracking.

More Windows 1809 fails

cheetahdriver asks:

Any thought on Timed Screen Saver and Timed Power Down failure on 1809? Is this another “just not finishing the details” problems Windows is famous for?

Yes.

🙂 Sorry, not trying to be glib. But … yes.

Chris Capposela and tough questions

MartinusV2 asks:

On Windows Weekly this week, you had Chris Capossela on the show. I had the feeling that you and Mary Jo refrained to ask him some really tough questions. If you could ask him anything tough, what would you had asked? In my case I would had asked about the UI mess Win10 is at the moment. And what Microsoft will do in the near future to fix that.

So, I actually came away from that thinking that we did ask some tough questions. 🙂

But let me at least communicate how this works. This isn’t a Reddit AMA. This is a senior-level Microsoft executive agreeing to come onto a podcast, talk a bit, and answer some questions. We need to be both respectful and on-point.

More specifically, Chris asked if he could discuss his picks for Microsoft’s highs, lows, and hidden gems for 2018 and then open up for our questions. We agreed. So Mary Jo and I worked up several questions, which we never fed to Chris or Microsoft ahead of time. Nor did they ever ask, which I appreciate. And we asked all the questions that we did come up with. I don’t feel that he was evasive or whatever in answering them.

Here’s the most important point, though: Debating a specific feature in a certain Microsoft product with the guy that runs the company’s entire marketing organization is pointless. Chris can’t walk down the hall, or into another building on campus, and direct the Windows team (or whatever) to make a specific change. That’s not how this works. And our job isn’t to badger him about a product choice that, again, is not his responsibility.

Honestly, I’m very happy with the way this episode turned out. Chris was, as he always is, honest and transparent. And his central messages—that Microsoft is listening and, to address your point, that the senior leadership team was very concerned with what happened to Windows 10 this past year—were right appreciated and on point.

Spammers

simont asks:

Do you know any specific reason why your site is suddenly so popular with the forum spammers or what benefit they get from spamming your site specifically?

No. And this is a personal thing for me, since I’m the one who deals with about 90 percent of it. There are good days and bad days. But it’s a pain in the butt, for sure.

Windows 10 on ARM support

matsan asks:

Windows on ARM is touted as the saviour of Windows (but as always it is the NEXT generation ARM hardware that will bring hope to the galaxy).

Yep. That said, assuming that Qualcomm’s performance gains with the Snapdragon 8cx are even remotely correct, it does seem like that will be a major leap forward.

My question is – do we know how much each manufacturer needs to support installation and re-installation. Do they need to bake special images for their hardware, much like the PocketPC versions? Would an Windows on ARM device be possible to reinstall from an USB if needed?

My understanding is that this works exactly as it does with x86/x64-based versions of Windows 10. And while I have not actually created Windows 10 on ARM recovery media recently, I know that you can. And I did upgrade the Lenovo Yoga C630 to 1809 using Microsoft’s web-based tool. So this is something that Microsoft just provides, as it does for other Windows 10 variants.

I can verify this. I will try to experiment with this over the weekend.

If you’re worried about ongoing support—like Windows 10 version 19H2 or whatever comes out and you can’t get it on a particular Snapdragon-based PC—I don’t see that happening in the short-term. This isn’t Windows RT all over again.

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who has participated in these columns this year. I’ll be taking next week off because of travel, but Ask Paul will be back in the first week of 2019.

Happy holidays!

–Paul