Ask Paul: May 10 (Premium) (Updated)

Happy Friday! And welcome to the post-Build hangover edition of Ask Paul.

UPDATE: Apologies: I inadvertently left off some questions when I originally posted this on Friday. My mistake. I’ve added the four missing questions to the top. —Paul

Future Surface Pro

briantlewis asks:

Surface Pro with USB-C all around. Inevitable or a booze-induced haze?

Inevitable, as is Thunderbolt 3 support. I’m surprised Surface Pro 5 didn’t have both USB-A and USB-C.

The future of UWP

Corey_McCowan asks:

With Build wrapped up, I feel like there is an argument in the Microsoft world of whether UWP is dead or alive. It appears from what I have seen that its more like the initial idea of UWP is dead and it has instead evolved into something else. I see parallels to Microsoft’s comment of we will go where our users are. In this case, they are going where the developers are. We can see this with moving UWP components back to win32 and embracing PWA. So does it matter if UWP is actually dead or is it just semantics especially if Microsoft starts to containerize everything to allow it to run everywhere?

Yes, it still matters. But I’ve learned from a highly-placed source since returning home from Build that UWP is literally dead. So, my educated guess about the platform based on the evidence is correct: Microsoft will not invest further in UWP and will no advance this platform.

Additionally, what do you think about the store evolving to include everything that can run in Windows from PWA’s to win32 apps to maybe Android Apps?

Not sure about Android apps, but the Store will expand to include more types of apps, yes. And Microsoft will allow apps that were packaged for the Store to be distributed to users from outside of the Store as well. This doesn’t mean the Store is “dead,” but it does mean that it is less essential going forward, as I openly wondered about recently. As it turns out, users on Windows expect to install apps from the web, not from a Store. The opposite is true on mobile.

Lite OS

Eric_Rasmussen asks:

Microsoft has talked a lot over the past week or two about bridging the UWP-Win32 divide and bringing full platform features and support to Win32 applications. I agree with the speculation that UWP and the Microsoft Store are on the way out regardless of what the executives say. I don’t think they will admit that the initiatives are cancelled, but I would not be surprised if the Store got the Windows Phone treatment. Even the Office apps are no longer available to download directly from the Store.

See above. UWP has been killed.

My question is: Have you heard anything about Windows 10 in “S Mode” recently? It’s great and fine that Microsoft wants developers of all folds to build “Windows apps” but the rub is that none of these Win32/WPF/WinForms apps will work on a machine in S Mode, which is basically all consumer-level hardware sold over the 2018 holidays.

No. My expectation is that S mode quietly continues but that few PC makers even offer it as a default option on first boot. Even education and most businesses can’t use it. That said…

My hope is that the upcoming “Windows Lite” will not be advertised as having anything at all to do with Windows 10, the desktop OS will just be full Windows 10, and all of the confusion consumers (and developers) have about “S Mode” will just go away.

That is my feeling as well. That the future of Windows is essentially two major products, “big” Windows, which is full-featured but complex, and Lite OS (or whatever), which is essentially Microsoft’s Chrome OS and could become the mainstream choice over time. When you think about it, S mode is a sort of way to bridge the two worlds, albeit one that I don’t think makes any sense as currently configured.

Sprint + T-Mobile

karlinhigh asks:

It sounds like T-Mobile is in the process of buying Sprint. Both are Google Fi carriers; does this mean anything for the service?

In the short term, no: T-Mobile is a GSM-based carrier, while Sprint uses CDMA, so the cross-networking switching capabilities wouldn’t change. The big question is whether that means T-Mobile starts offering its own cross-network switching capabilities—which would require handset makers to sign-on with special hardware—or whether it winds down the weaker of the two networks. (Which I assume to be Sprint.) In that case, Fi would just be switching between T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular in the United States. But that’s sort of a small story compared to Sprint basically shutting down.

That said, I’ve not heard what the integration plans are there. Perhaps the respective 3G/4G/LTE networks would be left up for as long as necessary until the consolidated company switches to a single 5G network infrastructure. I suppose that is the most likely scenario.

To-do lists

Tiny asks:

Do you use a to-do list? Microsoft has said for years that they will incorporate Wunderlist into Microsoft To-Do. Will this ever happen, or will neither app be worth users time?

I don’t, personally, no: I just put to-dos in my calendar.  But we all work different ways, and I do follow Microsoft To-Do, in particular, closely. I get it.

Regarding the integration, yes, it will happen: Microsoft To-Do is being developed in Microsoft’s offices in Berlin, Germany, the former home of Wunderlist, and most of that team is still working on the new app/service.

Build thoughts

Lewk asks:

Was there anything at Build this year that surprised you in a positive way? Also, was there anything at Build that surprised you in a negative way?

After making my case that Build wasn’t boring—as many have said—I talked to a lot of friends at Microsoft and came away with a consistent story: Build is on the ropes and may be canceled after this show or the next due to political problems. Apparently, there are powerful people inside of Microsoft that would like the firm to have only one massive conference each year. And that conference would be Ignite.

I also heard that the product teams were scrambling to find anything interesting to announce and that this was the reason they announced Fluid Framework now even though it was really early for that reveal. There just wasn’t a lot of excitement internally.

So that’s the big negative stuff.

From a positive perspective, I’m excited by the Edge announcements, and in what I learned speaking to that team. But even better is the reception that Edge got more broadly: Many I talked to regarded it as the hit of the show. Maybe that’s a low bar, but that is certainly my key takeaway.

More generally, Microsoft continues to do a great job of giving Microsoft stack developers a road forward. And its decision to not only resuscitate Win32, WinForms, and WPF—and to open-source the latter two—really seals the deal. Those guys had been twisting in the wind since Windows 8, and most were not interested at all in UWP. Now they don’t have to bother, thankfully. The road forward is better for everyone.

None of these are major deals, I guess. Maybe that says a lot about Build these days. But it’s still my favorite Microsoft show.

Pixel 3a

spacecamel asks:

Can you please make some suggestions on who should upgrade when you do your article on the Pixel 3a? I have a Pixel2 with “only one” RMA so I am unsure if it would be worth the upgrade. Since it seems to be mostly a Pixel 3 and they fixed a lot of the problems, I hope it would be more reliable.

I’m literally working on a post like that now and have ordered a Pixel 3a XL. You can trade-in your Pixel 2 to Google for maximum value—they offered me $263 for my Pixel 2 XL—and that will help put this purchase over the top.

But without giving away my coming article, I advise that you use this page to compare the specs of the Pixel 3a/3a XL with your current phone and with a Pixel 3/3XL. Some of the differences are subtle, but important. For example, everyone keeps talking up how the Pixel 3a has the same camera as the Pixel 3. And that’s true, but the 3a does not include the Pixel Visual Core chipset that is responsible for much of the Pixel line’s photographic prowess (quality/performance). It’s likely that this camera is closer to an original Pixel, quality-wise, than to a Pixel 3. That’s still great, and better than an iPhone. But it’s not the same thing as the Pixel 3.

I will write up something soon.

Satellite radio vs. streaming music services

helix2301 asks:

We got some subscriber numbers from Google this week and SiriusXM and Pandora released numbers siriusxm has 32.7 million and Pandora has close to 6 million subscribers. So my question is where does SiriusXM and Pandora fit into the music subscription landscape and where does iHeartRadio fit into this with 120 Million Active Users not to mention slack music and deezer and Napster. When you look at all music services it at times can be hard to compare all these different services and usage numbers.

I feel like these things all address slightly different audiences. The people I know who subscribe to satellite radio services like SiriusXM spend a lot of time in their cars, commuting or otherwise. And then there are services that are essentially Internet-based versions of that—“Internet radio”—that offer the same basic thing—themed channels but no on-demand play—over IP, typically through a phone. Full-featured streaming music services—Spotify, Google Play Music, Apple Music—are the next step up. And the few remaining services that offer that plus your own music in the cloud (Google Play Music and Apple Music only, I believe) are the full-meal deal.

We’re going to see some consolidation in this market. And you can tell that each service is positioning itself to be on the winning side of this equation: You can access SiriusXM on your phone or smart TV now, for example, and Pandora (traditionally an Internet radio service) has added a full-featured streaming music service as an option.

I agree it’s hard to compare these things. The business models are different, for starters—some are strictly paid services, some are ad-supported, some (like Spotify) offer both—and sometimes scale becomes an issue. Increases in music licensing costs will squeeze out smaller players as well.

The future of Build?

will asks:

You have talked this week about the possibilities of Build changing after this year and I am curious what those changes might look like and if this would include Ignite after this year as well? Ignite was a rebranding of Tech-Ed and combining some of the smaller conferences that happened into a larger event. While I love the knowledge and networking that happens at Ignite, the conference is massive. Curious what changes you thinking might be happening?

As noted above, there is a powerful group at Microsoft that would like the firm to switch to a Salesforce-type model in which there is only one major corporate conference each year. And that conference would be Ignite. There are all kinds of issues with this plan, the most obvious being that there are basically only two places in the U.S. that could handle a show of this size—Las Vegas and Orlando—and neither is particularly desirable.

We’ll see if this group gets its way. One thing to look for, if there is a Build next year, is certain key players—Scott Guthrie, perhaps—not appearing at the show. That’s a signal that the end is near.

Can we think of anyone who was previously a big part of the Build keynote that did not appear this year? 🙂

The new Edge and Microsoft Family

jwpear asks:

Any word on whether the new Chromium-based Edge will support Microsoft Family?

Microsoft has never mentioned this to my knowledge, but the current version of Edge is supported, so it would have to.

The new Edge on the Mac

DanO asks:

Chromium based Edge for the Mac have you tried it?

Yes, Microsoft was demonstrating the Dev version of Microsoft Edge for Mac at Build, and I did play around with it for a few minutes before a meeting. I took this photo:

The new PowerToys

hrlngrv asks:

Re Powertoys, my impression was that the former ones were developed by anyone at MSFT who wanted to on their own time, and the best ones were distributed. Will that be the approach with Windows 10 Powertoys, or will it be more controlled by the Windows team? FWLIW, if MSFT isn’t going to bring back desktop icon spacing in Control Panel or Settings, I have a request for a Powertoy.

You know, it’s not really clear where the new PowerToys are coming from and who can/will contribute. But now that it’s on GitHub, I can imagine the family of available tools really exploding. That said, I have no particular knowledge of the plans there, sorry. They just sort of appeared one day with no explanation.

Why even go to Build?

harmjr asks:

For someone who is not a reporter why would someone want to go to build our ignite in the era of online presentations. I’ve never had the privilege to go to any of these types of conferences so I just don’t get their purpose. Well besides drinking with people who feel my pain of working in the same industry.

Brad and I were discussing this the other day. From our perspective (yes, as press), being physically at Build is valuable because you get facetime with the people at Microsoft who are actually building these products and services. So, in addition to just going to sessions, which, yes, are available online, you can then actually talk to the presenters and the other Microsofties who are always in the room too. (We also have formal and informal meetings, too.) You can also visit the many Microsoft product booths at the show and speak to employees there. Finally, you can network with people who do what you do. For us—Brad and I—Build is one of two times each year we get to see almost all of the people who write about Microsoft. It’s great.

It has to be the same for developers. And for IT pros, Ignite must work the same way.

In our case, we stepped into this conversation that was predicated on going to Build not making sense anymore. And then quickly realized that we have to go to Build. There’s just too much to miss otherwise.

The future of Windows 10 on ARM?

BigM72 asks:

How do the changes being discussed below viz the Microsoft Store and killing UWP (the windows 8 vision) and bringing elements to win32 impact the future of Windows on ARM? UWP could target x86 and ARM. Will this change away from UWP+Store harm WoABooks in the way that Edge Chromium will help ARM-based Edgebooks to come about? If so Microsoft is no longer bringing a hybrid vision – it’s regular windows plus a chromebook copy in the pipeline. Nothing to split the difference (between old-school desktop and web) as the iPad eventually will with local/cloud computing.

Windows on ARM will be supported in this future as well. Remember, even Win32 apps—at least 32-bit Win32 apps—run on ARM, and starting with the Snapdragon 8cx chipset, they should even perform well. In fact, 64-bit Win32 apps should be the only major hole on ARM going forward. But if the platform takes off, developers should be able to adapt their apps for that. Or not, because ARM devices will tend to be more modern and mobile and maybe most of those 64-bit apps are unnecessary anyway.

There is still a hybrid vision, by the way. Windows 10 should evolve into being a workstation-class OS for gamers and for those power users who do need 64-bit Win32 apps. And Lite OS should emerge—in my view—as a Chrome OS-type system based largely on the new Edge. That will be the mainstream platform for users should it actually be successful. We’ll see.