Ask Paul: September 11 (Premium)

It’s a sober anniversary for a sober year, but let’s kick off the weekend on a happier note and another great set of reader questions.
Xbox Series S vs. Xbox Series X
lenh51 asks:

You noted that now that you have seen the specs for the Xbox Series S, you plan to buy that console instead of the Xbox Series X. In so doing, you stated that you did not own a 4k so that you did not currently need that feature. I am wondering - if you already owned a 4k TV, would you change your mind a buy a Series X? Thanks in advance for your response.

I use a 1440p display with my Xbox One X today. It’s really a PC display, made by HP, and it’s pretty big, somewhere in the 30-32-inch range. It has built-in speakers which are good overall, but I particularly like the stereo separation, so I’ve just kind of stuck with that. The thing is, this wasn’t originally my first choice for the Xbox One X, but I accidentally destroyed an expensive Omen gaming display a while back and I just had this sitting around, so it kind of worked out. Maybe I’m due for an upgrade.

On Windows Weekly on Wednesday, I noted that the news about Xbox All Access, by which you can get an Xbox Series X with two years of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $35 a month over two years may have convinced me to just go with the more expensive console. I think I said something like, “In two days I’ve gone from being sure that I was going to get an Xbox Series S to sure that I am going to get an Xbox Series X.” I don’t know. I still have time to think this over.

I’m not sure that having a 4K/UHD display would factor into this decision per se. But if I do go with a Series X, I would seriously consider getting a (smaller) display for the Xbox. Another thing to consider.
History of Windows
OldITPro2000 asks:

Paul, I was looking through my bookshelves the other day and realized I have plenty of books on the history of tech, including books on Microsoft, the IBM PC, Apple, Commodore, Google, processors, gaming, etc. but nothing specifically for the history of Windows outside of Showstopper.

The history of Microsoft is mostly the history of Windows, but … sure. A long time ago, probably 20 years ago, I wanted to write such a book, which I was going to call “Windows Everywhere.” It was going to chart the rise of Windows as a GUI for DOS to the dominant platform in personal computing, and the title was a take on the “NT Everywhere” mantra inside the team that eventually took over for Windows generally. Of course, the antitrust stuff happened, and then Microsoft’s lost decade, and Windows is no longer the only major or dominant platform. So the story is somewhat different now. Maybe I could call it “Windows … Everywhere?”

I know you were considering publishing your Programming Windows series as a book and wanted to know where your thoughts are with that idea. If you do move forward it would be awesome if you included some background about what you w...

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