Ask Paul: April 5 (Premium)

Happy Friday! I’m in Washington D.C. today for a meeting, and I can see from this week’s questions that readers are wondering about many of the same things I am. Love that.

Chromium-based Edge and EPUB

Dan1986ist asks:

With Microsoft no longer selling ebooks in the Microsoft Store come July, will epub support in Edge (Non-Chromium) be removed, and could Chromium Edge get support for reading epub files?

I am wondering the same thing. And looking at the latest Chromium Edge leak, I can see that it does not support EPUB files at the moment. (It does support PDF, but then so does Chrome/Chromium).

Will it? I have to think so, yes.

But it’s also pretty clear that Chromium Edge, at least at first, will offer a subset of the unique functionality available in today’s Edge, especially at first. And with the first Insider Preview imminent, I think we should adjust or expectations accordingly: The quality will be high overall but those who care about unique Edge features today may have to wait. And some of that may never make it over.

Where to buy/rent movies?

simont asks:

What is a good place to buy/rent movies and TV series online that is cross device compatible? Amazon?

I’ve long advised people to never buy content from Microsoft. I just don’t feel they’re in it for the long term. That said, there are a few caveats.

If you’re renting a movie, it doesn’t matter which service you use. Rentals are temporary, so just rent on the device you’ll be watching on, and use whichever service makes the most sense. If you are going to travel with a Surface Pro, or whatever, and want to watch there, renting from Microsoft Movies & TV is fine.

Purchasing movies is another story. But Microsoft, like other services, calls out movies that are in the Movies Anywhere system. And those movies will sync automatically to other services—iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies & TV, and others—so they’re a lot less risky.

As for cross-platform compatibility, Amazon and iTunes are the best choices on Windows, since both do at least have a native app that works, if poorly. But your choice will depend on how/where you watch movies, on PC/Mac/whatever, TV (using a smart TV app or set-top box like Roku, Apple TV, and so on), and mobile.

I suspect Amazon will be the preferred choice for many. I happen to buy movies from Apple because they tend to be of higher quality and offer more in the way of special features. I’d say that 2/3 of my collection is cross-compatible thanks to Movies Anywhere. I hope that improves even further in the future.

It’s kind of a personal decision, basically.

Using the Surface Book as a tablet?

staganyi asks:

Surface Book 2 13″ used as a tablet. I have a Surface Pro 2 that’s getting long in the tooth and would like to replace it with my book 2 for tablet use. I really miss the kick stand and I’m looking for an apple like smart cover that protects the screen which can then fold up to create a “kick stand”. I spent so much on the book 2 that I can’t buy another tablet right now. I haven’t found anything online but hoping others have. Thanks.

I’m not aware of any iPad-like kickstand covers for Surface Book 2’s clipboard tablet display. I suspect the more common usage for that device is as a laptop. Perhaps you should just replace both devices with a new Surface Pro? It is often on sale.

Microsoft’s new webcams

jwpear asks:

Heard any updates on Microsoft’s new line of cams? Is this likely something they’ll target for fall or might they have something sooner?

Nothing new, sorry. As for the timing, I bet we’ll have a Surface Hub event soon, or at Build, and that that might be tied to a first camera announcement. So that would be the earliest: Sometime in the next month or two. But nothing concrete.

Surface Go

Nonmoi asks:

How is Surface Go doing, can we expect a hardware refresh later this year?

That’s a good question. Normally, I’d say no: Microsoft hasn’t revved a Surface model after just a year in a long time. But with Surface Go’s anemic performance and a coming generation of Qualcomm processors coming, it’s possible that Go would be updated by end of year. That would definitely be the earliest timeframe.

Any chance there is going to be a Surface Go mini (similar form factor of iPad Mini) running full windows coming down the pipeline?

Yeah. But it will be a dual-screen or folding screen device.

What is going on with education offering of Microsoft, Lynda has been re-branded as LinkedIn Learning and there was some cert/degree course offered by Microsoft for data science and etc. What kind trajectory is Microsoft on in term of their various in-house education offerings? Are they winding up/down or cast aside at the moment?

I was wondering about this myself, as Lynda.com seems like such a high-quality asset. I will ask.

Flutter v. Xamarin

christian.hvid asks:

After having swallowed its pride with regards to Chromium, do you think there’s a chance Microsoft will get behind Flutter for cross-platform development, as an alternative to Xamarin? While Flutter and Xamarin basically address the same problem, the former seems to have a broader appeal and has already come a long way towards targeting web apps alongside native. And by porting Flutter’s runtime to UWP, Microsoft could offer a modern option for desktop Windows development that would have the added benefit of being cross-platform. I would certainly hope to hear something to this effect at Build, but maybe it’s too soon.

It’s very clear that Flutter has a future whereas Xamarin does not, and Google is expanding Flutter to accommodate both web and native (Windows/Mac) desktop apps as well. So … yes, this would make sense. But I have never heard anything about Microsoft abandoning Xamarin. I don’t mean to punt this, but Build is next month. That would be the obvious time for them to reveal whatever it is they’re doing.

I’m hoping to have a long conversation with Microsoft before or during Build about PWAs as well. It seems like PWAs could solve the Xamarin problem too, especially if/when Apple fully embraces this technology (which I expect to happen at WWDC in June).

Terry v. Windows

madthinus asks:

Is the big Windows Update changes only possible in a post Terry Windows World?

I’m still wrapping my head around the notion that Terry was the blocker on a lot of good stuff happening for Windows and its users but … yeah. Yeah, I do think so.

This troubles me.

My next book

spacecamel asks:

Have you thought about your next book? I think the points you made on the latest “What the Tech” on the CEOs were excellent and I hope you will explore it further.

Thanks … I can’t say too much right now, but I may be able to soon. I’ve never written an industry book—like Brad’s Beneath a Surface or Mary Jo’s Microsoft 2.0—but that could be changing. I’m having a conversation right before Build with someone close to Microsoft about a project that is close to my heart. We’ll see what comes of it. Sorry to be coy.

Site spam

StevenLayton asks:

The amount of spam in the forums seems to have dropped to almost nothing at the moment. Was this something you guys did behind the scenes, or did they just give up?

The way this works is spammers figure out an in, launch site-wide spam attacks, and then we respond, figure out what they did, and fix the hole. And that’s what happened here: We figured out the workaround that was being used to bypass our normal controls, and closed it. Now we just brace for the next one and hope it never happens or that it takes a while. I will say that this last incident was far less terrible than the major event we had last year, which tells me that our responses are improving.

Microsoft Office: Store vs. Web install

rossfinnie asks:

Hello Paul. I think I might be going insane …. have the Microsoft Store versions of the Office 365 apps been removed/killed now that Windows 10 S is no longer a thing? I notice this when I installed Visio 2019 C2R earlier this week and it automatically uninstalled the Store Versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint. When I went to reinstall them the Store link seems to just redirects to the Office365 website to install the click to Run version instead.

In yet another coincidence this week, I was just looking into this. You’re not insane: I’ve experienced this too, where you go to install Office from the Store and are redirected instead to the web installer. But on other PCs, I have successfully installed Office directly from the Store, where you get a separate download for each app.

I’m still trying to sort out why this happens—why it’s different on different PCs—but my theory is that it has something to do with having one or more traditionally-installed (today, Click-to-Run) Office apps on the PC. If you have it, maybe you have to install the suite from the web/Office 365 and not the Store.

I’m curious if anyone else has seen this.

The future of Windows on tablets

Vladimir asks:

Do you think there is any future for tablets running windows? For some reason the best selling surface is a tablet but at the same time Microsoft doesn’t do anything to improve the user experience as a tablet. Killing the book store actually makes a surface pro even less useful as a tablet. I find it very difficult to understand why they don’t do anything to make their best selling product more appealing to the users.

Does Windows have a future on tablets? Yes and no.

When you look at how Microsoft markets Surface Pro today, you can see it’s billed as a laptop and not as a tablet. Even the Surface Pen is optional now. I think this simply reflects the market reality that Windows makes tons of sense as a traditional PC. But not as a pure tablet. (With the understanding that, yes, some people do enjoy or even prefer it as a tablet system.)

I don’t think we’re ever going to see any major pushes for pure Windows tablets, whether it’s full-sized iPad-like tablets or mini tablets. But the whole point behind Surface was to formalize and popularize new form factors. And as soon as this fall, we should see a new tablet-like Surface form factor that may be of interest. Something with a folding or dual screens. So it’s not really over in the tablet space. But it is evolving, much like smartphones are evolving in a similar manner.