Ask Paul: February 2 (Premium)

Happy Friday! Let’s kick off the weekend a bit early with another great set of reader questions and pretend for a moment that it’s not earnings season.

Nothing is certain anymore

will asks:

What do you think the chances of Microsoft releasing a bigger AI update for Windows 11 later this year and then holding off on the next big Windows update until next year? With Panos out, and AI being the focus so much, is a major OS overall something that could be pushed a year? The fall update could still bring some big updates to Windows 11 as well as deeper Copilot integrations, but a larger visual/UI update for Windows could come in 2025?

There is literally no way to predict what will happen with Windows releases or schedules this year. This team spent the past year ignoring their own release guidance and rapidly shipping features with little or no testing at whatever time they wanted. There are rumors about a major Windows release that may or may be called Windows 12 that may be released in the Spring or maybe in the Fall as usual. No idea.

But since you ask, I do expect a major Windows 11 update this year that will not be called Windows 12. I believe that Microsoft’s current release schedule, with one major H2 milestone each year, is the wrong schedule for PC makers, and that it would do better to ship that release by mid-year so that new PCs can meet the back-to-school and holiday selling periods, but have no opinion about their ability or desire to do that. (It could still be called Windows 11 24H2, though.)

I don’t really think there’s a major Windows 11-style visual update coming. Instead, I expect an evolution of the current design, potentially one that makes it even more Mac-like, with a floating, centered taskbar that looks like the Mac Doc and maybe even a top toolbar that resembles the Mac’s system-wide menu. But we’ll see. I don’t have any insider info on that.

Copilot will be improved every month this year, I bet, and those improvements will land in Copilot in Windows, of course. The feature set specific to Copilot in Windows will be updated less frequently, I think, and it’s likely that the updates we’ve seen in the Insider Program—with options for multiscreen, a floating window, and so on—will be what constitutes this year’s big Windows update.

I keep waiting for any sign of maturity, planning, and sanity from the Windows team. But it’s been mostly radio silence for years.

Browsing worries

Christian-Gaeng asks:

Hi Paul, I’m currently experimenting a lot with enterprise solutions in the hope of reducing tracking. In your opinion, does it actually make a difference to use special versions of browsers and others adapted for the business world? I’m thinking of Google Chrome Enterprise or Edge for Business. On the one hand, I honestly don’t want to be without Chrome. On the other hand, I want to make it as difficult as possible for Google and Microsoft. Not necessarily because I’m afraid of my data, but to tell them both: Not like that!

Right.

This is a tough one. You can add a handful of anti-tracking and ad blocker extensions to any Chromium-based web browser—I use Privacy Badger and AdBlock, but there are other good options—visit the EFF’s Cover Your Tracks website to ensure that your browser is blocking trackers, ads, and fingerprinting effectively, and … what? Are you really safe? Or is there something about the interaction of Chrome with Google and your Google account that allows this company to get its advertising tendrils into you regardless?

I think there is. And I think that Google’s behavior depends on whether you pay it and what type of account (consumer/business) you have. And that to find some semblance of the truth, one needs to carefully review Google’s privacy policies for Google consumer accounts, Google One, and Google Workspace. And then trust that this company abides by its own rules and/or conforms to whatever local privacy laws or regulations exist where you live.

I’ve not done that work, not fully. But when I started examining Google Drive in Google Workspace and then moved to that solution, some readers expressed concern that Google was reading my email and/or examining my data in Drive. And neither is true, according to the Google Workspace privacy policy. So there is some amount of privacy protection there compared to, say, a Gmail user who doesn’t pay the company for Google One. (Google doesn’t read anyone’s emails, regardless, not for tracking, training AI, or anything else.)

Google Chrome has some user experience advantages, I guess, and I actually really like its recent UI makeover, it’s pleasant and looks natural in Windows 11. But can we really trust it? I don’t. And I don’t lose a thing, functionally, by using Brave, which I know is safe from Google (assuming I don’t use Google Search). So without knowing the full truth here, I can only advise what I do myself, which is to not use Chrome and use a safer browser.

I’ve been meaning to do more research. I hope to figure this out soon.

Which password manager?

MichaelMDiv asks:

As I have been reading your experiences with third party password managers (thank you BTW), I wondered if Google Password Manager is good enough now for most people. I know they held passwords in plain text in the past, but they have changed that a while ago, and GPM runs on both Chrome and Android. So why pay for a third-party solution that is one more thing to manage? Perhaps it is not the best, but it might be the easiest for most. Would love to hear your thoughts and others.

The makers of third-party password managers tout various advantages over the password managers built into web browsers and/or mobile platforms, but most of them aren’t all that compelling. The best reasons are related to lock-in and portability, but it’s not hard to import/export passwords and other data, which sort of nullifies both arguments. And Google Password Manager is the only native password manager that is, in fact, truly portable: You can use it on any desktop computing platform and on mobile, where it can provide autofill capabilities on Android and iPhone/iPad.

Yesterday, I published Tip: Use Your Microsoft Account Properly, but I have similar follow-up articles for Google and Apple accounts on the way as well. Assuming you trust Google and/or are paying them in some way and that fact helps prevent tracking (which, as above, I’m not fully clear on), you can use Google Password Manager safely. I am literally testing this configuration on one set of devices for one of those coming articles.

Partners but also competitors

helix2301 asks:

I have been using Copilot on GitHub for a while and it has gotten MUCH better since the beginning I see it mostly as a tool for a coder. My question is as I have been messing with this one is cost. Git hub Copilot is $10 dollars per month Microsoft got one for $20 and one for $30. Do you see them bundling?

Microsoft and OpenAI are partners, but their agreement explicitly states that both can and will create competing paid offerings, and Microsoft has been surprisingly aggressive in marketing how its offerings are superior. So they compete as well. It’s more likely that Microsoft will raise the price on its three Copilot GitHub tiers: $10 per user per month for individuals is literally the best deal in paid AI right now, given the value.

Semi-related, I will try to compare Microsoft Copilot Pro and ChatGPT Plus while we’re in Mexico over the next five weeks. But from the outside, I don’t see how Copilot Pro isn’t the better value.

If you’re asking whether Microsoft would bundle GitHub Copilot with Copilot Pro and/or Copilot for Microsoft 365, no, I don’t see that happening.

My next question is if I am using copilot on github is it the same Copilot that is built into Office and Windows? If so would it be easier for them to build and sell a plug-in that works everywhere?

Copilot GitHub predates Microsoft’s other Copilot-branded solutions, and it’s never been part of the conversation as Microsoft evolved its go-to-market strategy for Copilot over the past year. So my guess is that they are in no way related aside from the brand: Copilot GitHub is a very specific thing that would require a very specific set of training, and while that could be applied to more general-purpose AI models (and is), the reverse is unnecessary. Copilot GitHub only needs to know about software development. And this all likely explains its much lower pricing.

Why not just resell chatgpt why the name change to copilot?

Microsoft is competing with OpenAI, and it is correct to use its own brands. There will be a point where that partnership is ended legally, and Microsoft can’t rely on a third party like this in the long term. So their agreement is very specific about what they each can and cannot do, and Microsoft was smart to demand autonomy in this way.

Cloudy, the future is

Brianahodges asks:

With your recent article about tribes, are you rethinking the Mexico apartment?

As soon as I saw this question, I knew exactly how to answer it. And it goes like this:

There are two sides to this. First, I always doubt myself, so I’ve been questioning this purchase since we first made an offer on the apartment. And second, no. Not at all.

That seems contradictory, but it’s not.

As you probably know, I routinely test alternatives to the products and services I use and I’ve written about how magical it can be in those rare instances in which I actually discover something new and switch to that. 2023 was a bonanza for that kind of thing for whatever reason. Well, that need—or defect, or whatever it is—isn’t isolated to tech products. I’m like that about everything. And I question ever decision my wife and I make, and I raise those questions repeatedly over time. This is just my nature, and as I often point, the worst thing that comes out of doing this is that you just keep doing/using the same thing, but with the added benefit that it’s been battle-tested and withstood a challenge.

The Tribes article you mention came out of my unexpectedly mixed feelings about spending so much time in Mexico on this coming trip. I mentioned this to my wife, who agree and told me she felt the same, and I later drew that connection between this experience and what had happened with her parents in retirement. But mixed feelings aren’t the same as negative feelings. I will miss seeing our friends and family, and visiting some places that we visit routinely here. But I am also very much looking forward to seeing friends and places we love in Mexico City. (And I’ve been texting back and forth with two of them regularly as the flight gets closer.)

These things are not mutually exclusive. They’re just part of the human condition.

And as my wife pointed out, and several readers commented, there’s no better time than now to try and split time between these two places because eventually, everything is going to change again: Our kids will get new jobs, move to new locations, and/or get married and then maybe have children of their own, and any of those things will trigger a rethink, a debate about how and where we spend our time. And we’re getting older and could face physical challenges later in life that make traveling or splitting time less workable. It will only get harder to do what we’re doing now in the future, no matter what happens.

So yes. And no.

Docked laptops

SarahDuguay84 asks:

Do you dock your work laptop? If yes, do you use an external monitor, if so, what monitor are you using?

You weren’t around when I started my More Mobile series, but the short answer is yes. And the longer version is yes and no.

It will be worth reading at least a few of those articles in chronological order, but I started thinking about using a docked laptop configuration in late 2021 and was successful in making that shift. I had separate configurations for home and travel, and then we bought that place in Mexico, so I have a separate docked laptop setup there, with a stand, a Thunderbolt dock, a keyboard and mouse, and an external (albeit portable) display. At home, I had been using something similar, but with a 27-inch desktop display. But in early 2023, I shifted back to a desktop rig because I have specific performance and reliability needs related to recording podcasts and screencasts and wanted something more permanent. (I switch between several laptops each month.)

I exclusively use HP displays. There are two attached to my desktop PC now, an HP E27m G4 QHD USB-C Conferencing Monitor (which has an integrated webcam, though I use a higher-quality external camera) and an HPHP Z27n G2. Both are 27-inch models with a 1440p resolution, and both are business-class displays with matte screens and no HDR, which I prefer for writing.

I love high contrast, bright whites, and deep blacks. I am not a gamer and my media consumption is mostly done on my living room TV.

I’m not a display expert and don’t usually review displays, but perhaps someone else has some good advice here. My needs and likes are kind of boring.

Note: We fly to Mexico on Saturday and will be there for five weeks. See you on the other side.