Ask Paul: October 1 (Premium)

Good morning from a very chilly Lehigh Valley. Let’s kick off the weekend a bit early with another great set of reader questions.

Background processes

erichk asks:

Paul, are you ever overwhelmed at the sheer number of background services and processes that are running on a typical Windows install? Sometimes it frightens me, and I can only hope that each one of them is doing something necessary to keep the system afloat.

This reminds me of the joke:

Man: Doctor, it hurts when I do this.

Doctor: Then don’t do that.

And on that note, no, I don’t obsess over background processes per se, though I do regularly take a look at the Startup tab in Task Manager to make sure there aren’t any applications starting up at boot time without my knowledge. This is important on new PCs, of course—I review a lot of laptops—but also on PCs where you’ve just installed software, especially Adobe’s. The problem is that some of these things are beneficial. But knowing too much about something can be as bad as knowing too little: the more technical will be more inclined to aggressively disable/kill processes that may actually make the PC run more efficiently overall.

Surface vs. ThinkPad

alejandro asks:

I am, what the kids would call a “knowledge worker.” I work a full time job and have a side hustle. I currently have an old MacBook Pro as my personal device (I’m not a huge fan of MacOS…but it was a way to separate work on Windows from pleasure when using computers). Now my side hustle is growing and I encounter issues from time to time with MacOs compatibility that costs me time and money and would like to buy a new laptop dedicated solely for use in my side business.

I am teetering between the Surface and Lenovo ThinkPad line of laptops. Between the two, do you have a preference?

Yeah, I do.

Before getting to that, we had a conversation about Surface overall on the week-ago episode of Windows Weekly that basically boiled down to Mary Jo and both agreeing that we really like Surface PCs for ourselves but that we can’t recommend them to others because of ongoing reliability issues. That Mary Jo’s Surface Laptop 4 overheated while we were recording that episode is both kismet and perfect.

So the way I will answer that question now is that there are things about Surface PCs that I very much prefer over ThinkPads, including the design style and typing experience; ThinkPad is incorrectly still thought to have the best keyboards in the market, that hasn’t been true for years. But that ThinkPad is the better brand, with the better overall PCs, and that’s based on a broad range of criteria that includes, among other things, quality and reliability. It’s the safer bet, for sure.

There’s a lot that goes into what makes a particular PC right/better for any individual. And there are a lot of different ThinkPad models with different attributes/costs/etc. But overall, you would be better off with a ThinkPad. And I would too, really. But there’s something special about Surface, at least to me. I’d have a hard time with this decision.

And I’d probably choose an HP over either, if that matters. HP makes incredible prosumer and business PCs, and they’re almost always my first choice.

Windows shell improvements

hrlngrv asks:

Given your article today on Start11, it’s at least evidence MSFT could have kept a lot more customization options in the in-box taskbar. Where do you believe MSFT will be taking the Windows desktop shell in the next decade, simplifying for the masses, fubarring for long-term users?

The number of functional regressions in Windows 11 is somewhat staggering, and while I support Microsoft making some hard design choices to simplify the UI overall, this will alienate the people who care about and use Windows the most, and surely there is some middle ground to be had. Today or tomorrow, I’ll post an article called “Fixing Windows 11” (or maybe “Let’s Fix Windows 11”) that delves a bit into my thoughts on how Microsoft can/should improve Windows 11 going forward, and almost all of it is UI-based, and most of it is explicitly shell-based.

But to answer your question, I think the Windows 11 shell is the basis for the next decade and that what we’ll see are evolutionary updates over time, each month perhaps in the first year, where Microsoft starts bringing back features based on user feedback. All we really need to do is look to Windows 10 to see what needs to be done. Which is silly, when you think about it.

And not to ruin that article, but my concluding bit of advice to Microsoft is to give Windows a power user switch that would basically move the system globally between the simplified UI of today and one that looks like that but has all the features from Windows 10. It may be too much to literally have a dashboard where we can enable each feature one-by-one, but, honestly, that would be ideal as well, assuming those settings are synced between PCs. Which they won’t be.

Surface Pro 8 for the win

jeroendegrebber asks:

Having read all your previous reviews on Surface Pro’s and its competitors  (the HP Spectre x360 14 comes to mind the most): with the Surface Pro 8, it seems Microsoft has finally done what you said they should have done far sooner: improve the overall design (most notably here are the reduced bezels) and upgrade the ports to modern standards. In your view, has MS done enough with this iteration?

Yes. And the way I know that is that my complaints are minor and nitpicky. For example, why can’t the USB port on the power brick pass back to the PC so you can use it for peripherals or phone connectivity? Other PC makers offer this design, though it’s rare, and there are third-party power bricks for MacBooks that offer multiple ports (HDMI, USB-C, etc.), which is also a great idea.

If not, what’s missing or what are the next steps for Surface Pro ? Has it become a “me-too” product or is there still more to it?

I’m reviewing Surface Pro 8, so I can’t really discuss that experience yet or go into too much depth right now. But I’ll just say that what you wrote is correct, that Microsoft has (if belatedly) finally updated its only truly important, successful, and influential Surface product to be exactly what it should be. This is literally what I’ve wanted them to do for many years, and what I think most Surface fans will want as well: What is basically the Surface Pro X design but with Intel innards that offer much better performance and compatibility.

Merge Surface Duo and … Surface Pro X?

will asks:

This week I was having lunch with a friend from MS and we started talking about the Duo and I asked the question, more out loud than looking for an answer, but why is Microsoft pushing something that has not sold well at all? Excluding the hardware, the device is not something most people really are running to get. So then “What if..” the next version of this device, or a TBD device, was a merger of Surface Pro X and Duo. Basically, Duo X with Windows on ARM OS, able to run Windows and Android Apps on a dual-screen device that then could dock for a full desktop. Think Surface Pro X merged with Duo and add continuum. Possible or just a dumb idea?

The first big hurdle is the dual-display thing. I know some people are really excited about that, but let’s just agree that not everyone is on the same page there. But we can ignore the form factor bit, because the bigger issue you’re raising is really software-based. And that is truly interesting: Could a future phone-like device run Windows 11 on ARM with a simplified phone UI and then be docked a la Continuum and Windows Phone to provide a full desktop experience?

Clearly, yes, it could happen. Should it happen? There are two obvious stumbling blocks: The uncertainty of how well the Windows Subsystem for Android will work and the inferiority of the Amazon Appstore for Android. The first could be a non-issue since it could work just fine. But the latter issue will only be solved by getting the Google Play Store in there. And that’s a big question mark.

Even if you believe both of those issues are solvable, the other problem here is my old “right tool for the job” thing. Sure, you could have a single device that is a phone and, when docked, a PC. But those things tend to not work very well, with compromises on both ends (phone/PC). And when I think about where things are going, there’s another problem: A future Qualcomm chipset will allegedly make Windows on ARM perform well for the first time, but that chipset is for PCs, not phones. So any Microsoft phone running Windows on ARM would have to use a phone chip. And in doing so, the PC experience will suffer.

That’s not a deal-breaker: Many people will only need that PC functionality sometimes, and it will be fine for basic tasks like writing or whatever where you need a big screen and keyboard. But this is the same conversation all over again. There’s going to be some compromise there, and the ideal configuration will always be to have two different devices, a phone and a PC (or something like a PC, like a Chromebook).

Regardless, you may be on to something here. Now that you’ve put this idea in my head, I can’t stop thinking that Microsoft is working towards what you describe.

Essential?

crunchyfrog asks:

I was reading your article about the Fairphone, which is a startup for specialized Android phones and started thinking back about the Essential Phone. Not that they are the same device or company, and certainly Essential did not seem to last long enough to make a second phone but I was astonished to see that the original Essential PH-1 still for sale on Amazon for $699. Apparently new from what I can decipher.

I feel like that device has entered the collectible market and is no longer viable as a smartphone, and that may explain the price. It was worth that much new, it’s gotta be worth more like $200 in today’s market.

I can’t help but wonder if Andy Rubin may resurrect his company at some point and start selling phones again, or do you think he’s pretty much finished?

Unfortunately, Rubin’s personal issues came to the forefront in the wake of him starting Essential. And with the OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei (who left OnePlus) buying the Essential brand for some reason, it’s possible we’ll see the brand reappear. But not Rubin: his influence in this industry is over. I don’t see him ever trying again with phones, and don’t believe he could ever be successful doing so now if he tried.

Does Microsoft even have a strategy?

wright_is asks:

With the recent fiascos around Windows security updates for the printer driver problem (patched 3 (4?) months in a row and still not 100% solved), Autodiscover (a zero-day waiting to happen since 2017, but MS only now sitting up and taking notice) and various Exchange and Windows Server problems, my confidence in Microsoft has dropped off a cliff.

Yeah, I can see that. I certainly go up and down myself.

Then there is the Windows 11 debacle. The unclear words, which makes it look like the hardware restrictions are purely marketing and not, as originally thought, due to hardware improvements that would make the platform more secure (or only partially).

It is very clear to me that the hardware requirements are artificial and designed to drive new PC sales. This is not the pro-consumer stance that I like to see, and I am particularly disappointed that Microsoft is trying to obfuscate that by making false security claims. And has otherwise completely bungled this communication regardless of its veracity.

So what does that leave us with? In the good news department, Windows 10 isn’t a terrible fallback plan and it will be actively supported for 4 or 5 years or whatever the timeframe is. That’s enough time to get us to a place where a 7th-generation or older Intel-based PC (or equivalent) should probably be replaced anyway. And it will give Windows 11 more than enough time to mature past the incomplete product it will be at launch.

Has Microsoft lost the plot? Are they trying to self-destruct their Windows business and concentrate just on the cloud, going forward?

Microsoft has been ignoring Windows for years and pushing a cloud vision and strategy because that’s what Wall Street wants. And this strategy is successful: Microsoft is one of the biggest, richest, and most successful companies on earth.

Having rewatched the Windows 11 intro video (for my Windows 11’s Broken Promises post and a coming “Fixing Windows 11” post), I was struck by what Panos Panay said right up-front: that the pandemic provided a massive uptick in Windows/PC usage, triggering a strategy shift in which Microsoft actually paid attention to the PC again. I feel like this is a temporary thing, however, and that Windows 11 will do nothing to push PC sales higher regardless. And that a year or two from now, we’ll be done pretending otherwise.

I don’t think they’re trying to self-destruct Windows or the PC. I just feel that this thing has a natural level of sales, or influence, or whatever, and that it won’t spike upwards again. We’re pretty much at what the PC industry can be. And from a growth perspective, which is what Wall Street expects, it’s all about the cloud, yes.

And that’s good … for Microsoft. And its shareholders. But for those of us who actually care about and rely on certain products, Microsoft’s ongoing cloud push is of a lot less interest.

Linux

wright_is also asks:

I finally gave up and pulled the trigger on going to Linux on my main PC. I tried it last year, but I had some hardware issues, but this time around it has been pretty seamless and everything “just works”, after selecting the proprietary nVidia drivers over the standard open source versions. How is your selection of a Linux distro going, for a “living with” series?

I’ve been testing various Linux distributions on a specific HP laptop that seems to work very well from a hardware perspective, most recently Zorin OS, which is pretty nice. I keep getting distracted by various things—Windows 11 has thrown a lot of things to the wayside for obvious reasons—but I see Linux factoring into two ongoing efforts (which from your perspective, I guess, are article series): the “to the web” stuff and my more recent switch to a more mobile computing setup.

Oddly, my only big issue with Linux is that the native apps market isn’t particularly compelling. I feel like most people can get by using mostly web apps but that native apps can fill in the gaps. But this works better on Windows than Linux, where the secondary apps I really need—like image editors—are of higher quality. But I will keep plugging away at it, and I probably would have written more formally about Linux by now had it not been for Windows 11.