Ask Paul: April 10 (Premium)

Happy Friday! Thanks for all the kind words, and please stay safe. Here are some questions to ponder for the weekend.

Microsoft on mobile

longhorn asks:

Isn’t it time for Microsoft to realize they have lost the casual market to mobile and focus on traditional Windows and let the sysadmins handle the security aspect? Those who use Windows privately/at home probably need the open nature of the platform to accomplish their work. Productive and creative people want their plug-ins, gamers want their mods and so on. I would say the only reason people use Windows at home is because traditional Windows offers possibilities that you won’t find in a locked down OS.

I’m not 100 percent sure what you mean by the casual market, but Microsoft’s stance—to go where their customers are—makes sense to me. More important, Microsoft is a really big company, and I don’t see how whatever resources it spends on mobile could impact Windows one way or the other. They can certainly do both.

But Microsoft understands that Windows isn’t the future. It’s a capable platform, but it’s also an aging, legacy platform. And more modern alternatives like iPadOS and ChromeOS are perhaps better positioned for a future in which a phone is the primary device for most users and they only need a larger display and real keyboard occasionally. In many ways, Windows and the PC are still around today more because of inertia and familiarity than suitability.

The future of Windows 10X

will asks:

I agree with your recent post on the Windows 10X delay and Microsoft not shipping any dual screen devices this year. It feels like the COVID reason is more of a scapegoat as the software just going to be ready this year. Curious if you think a year from now Windows 10 and Windows 10X will really be one in the same, or very similar?

I’ve always felt that Windows 10X was just a dry run for what Microsoft hoped to bring to “real” Windows 10. And Brad mentioned today that we could soon be testing Windows 10X in the Insider Preview. I hope that’s true: If Microsoft is serious about this becoming mainstream Windows, as I think they are, it needs to be tested and used on traditional PC form factors. Maybe this is a positive change.

Favorite video conferencing solution?

rossfinnie asks:

To me it seems that video conferencing and web meeting tools are not ready for those who don’t have an IT department to email or call for help. It also seems that the systems are very fragile and it takes half of the meeting time just to get microphones and sound working. What is your favorite video conferencing software?

Honestly, I don’t have one, and they’re all terrible in some ways. I think most of the issues that people are having right now—aside from the never-ending Zoom-style security and privacy issues—are just unfamiliarity. I experience this when I use a web-based video conferencing solution in a new browser because the AV defaults are always wrong.

But no one was really prepared for this pandemic. It’s no wonder we’re scrambling to figure out stuff like this.

Microsoft hardware

Daishi asks:

What do you think the combined announcements of the Neo delay and the cancellation of all in person events until July next year portends for Microsoft’s hardware family? I’m wondering whether they might not take the opportunity presented be the current situation to do a complete review and refresh of their whole lineup, rule a line through everything they were going to do in the next 12 months and come back reinvigorated for the second half of 2021.

I was wondering the same, and especially with Surface Neo. Panos Panay took the unusual step last fall of publicly stating that he had not wanted to announce and show off the Duo and Neo so far ahead of their availability. And those comments, combined with the delay, might now be seen to indicate that he is not particularly excited by a special dual-screen version of Windows running on a special new kind of device. Certainly, rolling Windows 10X into Windows, or at least making it available on normal PC hardware, makes sense. A portable dual-screen PC never made sense (to me).

Short term, however, I don’t see any reason why PCs like Surface Go 2 and Surface Book 3 can’t be launched virtually, similar to Microsoft’s recent (and press-only) Microsoft 365 event. That kind of thing would be easy to stage so that everyone could watch, live or otherwise.

Skypepocalypse

Daishi also asks:

How did Microsoft manage to mess up with Skype so badly that it has gone from being the verb to voice or video chat with someone over the internet to now, when online video chats are finally having their breakout moment, seemingly not even being in the conversation for most people?

Skype suffered from the same basic problem that hurt Windows phone: They kept moving the cheese on their underlying platform, and in Skype’s case, this hurts their chances to capitalize on its early success. Skype should be all anyone is talking about right now. It’s a shame.

Also a shame: This may be what kills the Skype brand. With Teams racing upwards, Microsoft has a new darling brand that they can latch onto. That it will basically be Skype for individuals with some additional services is, of course, ironic.

Chrome vs. Chromium vs. …

SherlockHolmes asks:

Hi Paul, since we all agree that Chrome is a bad browser regarding privacy and I keep having some problems with Edge, how save is it to use Chromium? Is it any better then Chrome when it comes to privacy?

I don’t recommend using Chromium because it still has Google hooks built-in to it. The advantage of other Chromium-based browsers (Brave, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, and probably others) is that they can remove the Google integration and tracking, and do, to different degrees. Any of these would be better/safer than Chromium or Chrome.

Edge questions

Lewk asks:

Hi Paul, it was disappointing to see that Microsoft didn’t announce a password manager at the event last week. The new password management features they did announce do look nice though and I do like the Edge password management the way it is currently. But I wish it weren’t just tied to Edge. I understand the future of Microsoft is in some ways making Edge the central platform over Windows, but do you see them adding an auto-fill service to Windows like iOS and Android have?

Will they ever allow the Edge Mobile app be selected as the auto-fill service on Android? How hasn’t this happened yet? It seems like such a no-brainer to me.

That is very necessary. And yeah, I was hoping to see that as well. I do hope that they add password auto-fill to Windows, but also make it available on Android and iOS. (You can use third-party password auto-fill on both.)

And with Duo coming out this year, are they really going to release it with Google as the default password management app and auto-fill service? That seems crazy to me.

I agree.

Also, do you think they’ll bring the new Microsoft Editor Extension to Edge Mobile?

Interesting. Yeah, that certainly makes sense, though maybe it will just be part of the mobile browser.

Windows 10 version 2004

ggolcher asks:

I wanted to follow-up regarding Windows 10 2004. It’s April already and this build is still in the Slow ring; it hasn’t even reached the Release Preview ring much less get close to release. Also, looking at the change logs for the different Slow-Ring builds, it’s not clear they’re fixing that many bugs, just the normal amount from the monthly patches it seems to me. I wanted to ask you: what’s going on with this build? Any news?

No, news per se. I do wonder about this a lot, and as I speculated today, with Patch Tuesday just days away, it’s possible that this is now a May release. Since it’s already done, I don’t see any good reason to really delay it, beyond perhaps just consolidating it with 19H2 and making that the one Windows release this year. It would certainly solve some problems.

Is it really going to be more stable than previous ones?

Without broad distribution, it’s hard to say whether 2004 will be more stable than the previous release, but I feel like the extra testing time and bug fix releases can only help.

Improving Wi-Fi outside

Shane asks:

Since being stuck at home. Have been outside a lot around my home. The problem is the wifi signal is weak or non-existent. Your best ideas of improving it.

We use a mesh networking system and it happens to be pretty weak at the far end of the sunroom, where the door is leading out to the back patio. If I were going to try and use Wi-Fi out there, I’d get an access point and put it right there. It wouldn’t reach the edges of the property, but it’d be fine for the patio, I think.

But it looks like there are various Wi-Fi range extenders designed specifically for outside use too.

I could also see just running a wire out there. 🙂

Dedicated conferencing systems

christian.hvid asks:

Now that videoconferencing is all the rage, do you think the market for dedicated conferencing devices like the Lenovo ThinkSmart Hub 500 – or the Surface Hub for those who want to go big – is going to explode? Have you tried any of these?

I haven’t, but I feel like dedicated conferencing systems like those you mention could be big in the near future when there are more people working at home who need to meet virtually with groups at a particular work location. Those at home can continue to use individual PCs (or other devices), and there will be a lot more of them. But there will still be many going into work too, so sure.

Xbox disc trade-in program

simionda asks:

There were rumors awhile back that Microsoft would start a Physical-to-Digital trade-in program for XBox games. I can’t find anything about this since then – have you heard anything? Is the concept dead?

This was rumored at the same time as the disc-less Xbox One S console that Microsoft did finally release as the Xbox One S All Digital Edition. But that version of the console flopped, and we know that the next-generation consoles will have optical disc drives, so I suspect that the disc trade-in program will never materialize as a result.

Project xCloud

kshsystems asks:

Watching Apple, Google, and now even Amazon release their mobile gaming platforms, makes me wonder. Didn’t Microsoft start working on xCloud significantly earlier? What does this say about xCloud?

Honestly, I don’t think it means anything: Unlike Amazon, Apple, and Google, Microsoft has an existing console business that it cannot afford to cannibalize or destroy until its game streaming service is truly ready for primetime. For Project xCloud to make sense, it has to be a viable alternative to the offerings it already has.

Looked at another way, neither Sony nor Nintendo have officially announced their plans for post-console game streaming services. So Microsoft is arguably well ahead of them, at the least.

Serviceability

With the trend of many manufacturers to aim their laptop offerings to the high end, it seems that they are reducing the serviceability of them in the name of thinness and aesthetics. In essence, making them disposable. Do you think that at these price points, serviceability should be something that we demand? These devices are certainly capable of lasting for many years beyond the warranty.

So, you’re right about why modern laptops and other portable PCs are so non-serviceable. And everyone’s doing it for the same reason these companies do anything: Apple envy. They would look stodgy and old-fashioned if their PCs were still as serviceable as they were a decade ago.

The good news, however, is that consumers have finally started pushing back, and we’re starting to see PC makers—including Apple—making their products more serviceable again. Part of this is probably just the natural evolution of technology/manufacturing; these companies can make products that are both attractive and thin, and serviceable. But part of it is absolutely feedback from customers.

I see this continuing to improve. Microsoft’s latest releases were notable for their serviceability improvements, especially Surface Laptop. Future releases will be even better.