Ask Paul: February 9 (Premium)

Happy Friday! Let’s put this incredibly busy and contentious week behind us, and I know exactly how to make that happen, with this terrific set of reader questions.

Advanced Eero

ianceicys asks:

Hi Paul, you mentioned that you upgraded your Wi-Fi to an eero Wi-Fi network.

Yes. We upgraded to a three-node Eero Pro 6E Wi-Fi mesh system in November 2022 when we were still in the house, used it in a one-node configuration in the apartment in March to November 2023, and then re-created the three-node system when we moved into the condo in November, and it’s been stellar: No issues, no need to occasionally turn it off/turn it on, just spectacular. It’s so good, I’m going to upgrade the system we have here in Mexico, in part because I want to mount a Blink outdoor cam (or similar) on the balcony so we can check in on the view when we’re home, and the coverage that far away on the current system, which our Internet provider installed, isn’t great there. Really happy with Eero.

Wondering if you are using the profiles feature and schedules for Wi-Fi? Personally, I’ve found that by using the Eero profile feature super easy to use to disable Wi-Fi between the hours of 1am-5am every day. This has dramatically reduced the number of app/advertisements/updates across all of our digital devices, it’s also been interesting to see the amount of outbound traffic from devices like our peloton, kindle readers, nest thermostats that gets blocked, and honestly it’s improved our digital detoxing (those hours are for sleeping, not doom scrolling, and if either my wife or I can’t sleep we now have actual books on our nightstands). Just wondering if there might be other creative ways you’ve found to have healthier relationships with technology.

Interesting. That sounds like good advice, but no, I’ve tried either. And now I will look. 🙂 Of course, we’re away right now, so it doesn’t make sense to mess with that now (and I’m sure our nephew, who is staying there now while we’re away, wouldn’t appreciate it). This is something to think about, though. Thanks.

Comments on comments

gg1 asks:

You guys introduced the ability to change usernames in the comments which was very welcome (thank you for that!).

Technically, we added the ability to change your username on the site, which syncs into the OpenWeb system we use for comments. But with that as background …

Any chance you guys can enable changing profile pictures in the comments?

As noted, we use OpenWeb for comments, and the management and customization capabilities I have there are mostly limited to moderation. And that means our web team—who I desperately want to promote publicly because they are amazing, and I will ask about this again—can’t do anything about that, as they can with anything directly related to the site. (Which is basically WordPress with whatever custom code and third-party plugins.)

The way this is supposed to work is that you change your profile picture on the site, and it will sync to OpenWeb and thus will appear in the comments (and elsewhere on the site, as well, of course, as with your profile page). Conversely, you’re supposed to be able to edit your OpenWeb profile, which includes a profile photo, and have that sync back in the other direction.

But anyone who has tried this will tell you that this is not what happens. I can’t edit my OpenWeb profile, for example, and when I did change my profile picture on the site, it never synced back to OpenWeb. I have some theories about this, but they’re just based on my personal experience.

All that said, I almost created a forum post this morning before seeing your question, go figure, on this very topic. It was called “What’s your comments wish-list?” and I was going to ask everyone about their issues in the comments so that I could present OpenWeb with a list of issues and see about getting them resolved. But then it occurred to me that putting that out so broadly might not be the smartest idea, and so I was thinking about how I might put this in front of Premium members first.

This isn’t the ideal place for that, but it’s a start. And I have related questions about newsletters, etc. that I wanted to put in front of you folks. But let’s start here, with the subset of Premium members who will read this.

Please tell me the issues you have with comments specifically.

For whatever it’s worth, I did recently (and quietly) make a change to comment moderation that might otherwise factor high on whatever list of complaints we have. And I was likewise going to create a forum post explaining this and then thought better of it for the same reason I didn’t make the wish list forum post noted above: Anyone who can comment on Thurrott.com can now post URLs to external sites and images, and they will go live immediately. Previously, these needed to be moderated first, but the system I thought was in place—where you get moderated once and then are good to go—apparently only works with text-based comments, not comments with URLs or graphics. So we’d gotten complaints about that. Understandably.

On my end, I will still by notified about any comments that have URLs or images. And that gives me the chance to retroactively moderate as needed. But from your perspective, the experience will be better because they will go live instantly. Hopefully, this is the right balance for all of us. I assume the reasons this stuff was locked down before are obvious, but those who have been here for a while know that we’ve gone through periods of spam issues, etc. But OpenWeb has really helped with that, and that makes my life so much easier. I think this new configuration will work well for everyone. We’ll see.

Anyway. Please let me know. I want to go to OpenWeb with these issues and get them fixed. And if there isn’t enough feedback here, I’ll think about making a Premium forum post on this topic and then, if needed, a public forum post.

Kernel/core

madthinus asks:

I have been wondering. Windows Core / Kernel teams, they are still in the Server / Azure side of the business? They used to be on a six-monthly schedule. Is this still true? Do the client side roll those updates out as part of patch Tuesday or do they use the latest version comes 24H2 time? Is there a place that team announces what they have added / changed?

Knowing the answers to these questions requires Microsoft to be transparent in ways that they are not, so what I can do is communicate my understanding of where we’re at on these topics, with varying levels of certainty. So I will try to be explicit about what I know and don’t know here.

I have a high level of certainty about where the Windows Kernel Team is right now: They are in the Azure side of the business, yes. This used to be run by Jason Zander, but he moved into a new team focusing specifically on emerging businesses, and he reports directly to Satya Nadella (and is on the Senior Leadership Team). Interestingly, when Zander moved to the side, so to speak, no one person took over his position. But the Azure Core Team is now led by Girish Bablani. And my guess—this is only a guess—is that the Windows Kernel Team falls under him now.

If you look at this job listing from almost two years ago, you can see that the Windows Kernel Team was then part of Azure. And that they were/are responsible for creating the “platform for Azure, Xbox, HoloLens, and Desktop.” This team used to have a blog, but it’s not been updated in years. There is a Windows OS Platform Blog, however, and that is very much about Azure. So there we go: You can filter the posts to show just Windows, Server, Azure, etc. It’s not totally up-to-date. But I don’t think anything has changed. Again, a guess.

As far as how/when the Windows client team rolls out kernel/core features, that’s anyone’s guess. I would hope that it is as immediate as possible, given the reliability and security implications. But the Insider Program can’t even tie its own shoes, let alone communicate effectively, and the Windows blogs are mostly marketing these days.

I would love to see more communication from this team, especially about the Windows client.

Server just rolled out Sodo, only for it to follow a week or two later to follow in client. That I presume is a kernel feature? and then I got wondering…

Sudo isn’t a kernel/core feature, it’s an app. It’s a front-end for pre-existing permissions levels technologies that reduces the scope of permissions elevation from a process instance (like a specific command line window) to what I’ll call a command instance (Microsoft calls this “inline” elevation), meaning a single command that is run inside a command line window running with non-admin privileges. (i.e. a “normal” command line window.) I’m surprised this hasn’t been a thing in Windows to date, the need is so obvious.

The reason we know it’s not a kernel/core feature is that it’s an open-source GitHub project. It’s really no different from a third-party tool that could accomplish the same thing, in that it must run in user space and can be updated on the fly, whereas (I assume) out-of-band kernel/core updates are rare.

But you do raise an interesting question. Windows Server and Windows Client both added this feature nearly simultaneously, so the hierarchy here is interesting. Obviously, there is still some connection between these teams and the products they make. And you can see that in the build numbers they use: The Windows Server 2025 Insider builds are in the 26xxx range, just like Windows 11 24H2. Below that, of course, they’re using the same and/or forked/similar kernel/core versions. And below that, these products and Azure are likewise sharing technologies/components/etc. (as is Xbox and Xbox in the cloud). My assumption is that the lack of clarity here is at least partially strategic: It may not make too much sense to broadcast what is and is not shared for security reasons.

I would love to know more.

Xbox futures

MartinusV2 asks:

Hello Paul, If Phil Spencer next week announces that some AAA games won’t be exclusive anymore, could this mean the end the Xbox console? Maybe not in the short term, but maybe they will exit the console market since it’s not selling that well?

Next week is going to be big. But I don’t think it will be that big. 🙂 At least, I hope not.

I wrote a bit about this earlier in How Do We Still Not Understand Xbox? (Premium), but the short version is that Microsoft has always lost money on console hardware, despite many years of trying the in-generation cost reduction strategies that have worked well for Sony and Nintendo. And so Phil Spencer has pivoted Xbox to save the business, and it’s now a more diverse ecosystem of products and services with many more in-house game studios than before, and the business makes sense in the modern Microsoft in ways it never did before.

Given this, there is no doubt that Microsoft is working towards a future in which there is no dedicated Xbox console hardware. But it can’t just hard-stop on that now: The user base would rebel and maybe even collapse. And so the interim goal is to expand the Xbox community, to “meet gamers where they are,” whether that is on mobile (the biggest market in gaming by far), on PC, or, yes, on rival platforms.

So next week’s announcements will be interesting, if only to see how far they go with that latter initiative.

Remember: Microsoft has already expanded the definition of “exclusive” from console-only to include the entire Xbox ecosystem, which is console, PC, subscription services, and streaming. Expanding it to PS5 on a limited basis doesn’t move the needle all that much. But it is in keeping with the current strategy.

Here’s what I want to learn: When Activision Blizzard titles appear on Xbox Game Pass and Cloud Gaming, and when. And what the plan is for future titles regarding the day-and-date release of new games on the services.

What everyone seems to be freaking out about is which first-party titles will be ported to PlayStation 5. But that’s silly: Most Microsoft studios (like those from Activision) already develop titles for other platforms already, and Microsoft only has a handful of AAA franchises—Halo, Gears, Flight Simulator—that aren’t already on rival console platforms. And bringing some subset of these franchises, or some handful of big game titles, like Starfield, to PS5 or elsewhere will only improve Xbox’s standing (and revenues). It’s interesting, but minor. When you look at gaming, consoles are the smallest of the big platforms, the other two being mobile and PC.

And on that note, here’s what we should be worried about: What’s Microsoft’s plan for native mobile gaming? I would rather see native mobile versions of Halo, Gears, and Flight Sim than streamed console versions. And this would impact Xbox much more than bringing these titles to PS5. I have to assume this is the long-term play. Are we going to freak out again when this happens?

Anyway, these are the three things I am looking for, in order of importance to me. This is not the same order of importance for the ecosystem.

• Activision Blizzard games on Game Pass/Cloud Gaming
• Mobile Xbox Store, native Xbox games on mobile
• Which games are coming to PS5

Related to this, SilentHero117 writes:

I want to present a different perspective. I know the hardcore fanbase is becoming heated about “exclusive” Xbox games going cross-platform, interpreting it as Microsoft giving up on the Xbox platform. I see it differently, especially in light of the recent merger with ABK, as there were many watchful eyes from regulators around the world.

My interpretation of this possible strategy that if Microsoft turns out to be the company that eliminates the concept of “exclusive” games, this would dispel doubts about potential acquisitions in the future and open up partnership opportunities they never had before. I’m not saying this is the right strategy, but I’m wondering if the motive behind this move could be related to these considerations. After all, I have always felt that Phil Spencer cherishes the idea that everyone should play together, and he’s trying to make Xbox an “open playground”.

This makes sense and I agree.

Granted, Microsoft’s “meet gamers where they are” strategy was well underway before the Activision Blizzard acquisition, and we should view that acquisition in that light. But it is weird to me that many Xbox fans still see this platform as a console when that console is, in fact, the smallest part of the business now by far, and the least viable. Perhaps our mindset needs to shift here. That is, instead of thinking of Xbox as a console and the games it plays, think of Xbox as what Activision Blizzard was/is, a collection of game studios that publishes titles across all consoles, PC, and mobile.

In addition to this, I do wonder if creating an Xbox console even makes sense, considering they lose money by doing so. I am pondering the idea of developing a modular version of Xbox (think Xbox + Framework(ish)) where components are like Legos, allowing players to upgrade a GPU “block” that could be plug and play. This approach would provide upgradeability, enable the resale of old parts, reduce e-waste, etc., and offer gamers choices from different vendors. Microsoft would profit from licensing Xbox to vendors, potentially consolidating Xbox/PC gaming hardware into a viable ecosystem. Just throwing this out there for your thoughts.

I do wonder whether there is a hardware middle ground between the Xbox consoles to date and a future in which there are no Xbox consoles. And what you’re suggesting is similar to an idea Brad had the other day, which involved Microsoft licensing hardware to third parties as they do with Windows and PC makers. It also reminds me of the Framework modular laptops that offer customers incredible unreadability and serviceability value.

The only issue is knowing where to land because this starts to step into PC territory.

But consoles used to be one-and-done, and Xbox has helped lead the charge in changing that. With Xbox 360, Microsoft offered a few interim upgrades but mostly for cost reduction reasons. With Xbox One, there was a cost-reduced version (Xbox One S) and then an actual upgrade (Xbox One X). And with the latest generation, Xbox came out of the gate with two discrete models, Series S and X. So what does the future look like? Modularity is a great idea. It may be the next logical step.

But yeah. This is an interesting concept.

An American S24 Ultra in Mexico

dremy1011 asks:

Now that you’ve traveled a bit with your S24 Ultra, I was wondering if you had any updates on how you’re liking it?

Overall, I do like it quite a bit.

I will almost certainly write more about this before my formal review, but as with anything, there is good and bad. Getting past the bad, which often takes the form of Samsung customizations that I don’t like and/or find useful, can be time-consuming as there’s so much of it. I can’t tell you how many times this thing has made an irritating sound, and I’ve looked down at it and have no idea why it did so. The notifications changes are a major step backward, and it’s clear they’re trying to copy the iPhone Dynamic Island feature to some degree. But then Samsung also has fun additions I like, such as what used to be called edge lighting. I would like to see Samsung and Google work together on UX, and I wish there weren’t so many differences.

In the good news column, the cameras are mostly fantastic. The performance and battery life are both noticeably and notably superior. The AI stuff is a mess, and that will likely be the focus of the next write-up, but some of those features are incredible.

One way to evaluate a product is to go back to using the thing it replaced. And on that note, I charged up my Pixel 8 Pro last night and installed a Nomad eSIM on it, so I could get data out in the world here. I’ve not done many side-by-side photo comparisons yet, but will. But I did notice two things immediately. The Pixel 8 Pro is significantly lighter than the S24 Ultra, and that makes a difference. And I very much prefer the Pixel customized version of Android to the Samsung customized version (with random and usually small exceptions; I like the One UI “squircle” icons, for example).

This phone is dense with features, it’s almost overwhelming. But that is one reason why it requires additional write-ups. I’ll have more soon.

I was also wondering if you were going to have a write up on the Pixel Watch 2?

I was going to write separate Pixel Tablet and Pixel Watch 2 follow-up articles, but I’ve been working intermittently on a combined Pixel ecosystem post that will include the Pixel Buds Pro as well (and probably other related topics). Long story short, these things are not as successful as the Pixel 8 Pro is, and each is hampered, if not hobbled, by issues that I am trying to just deal with.

But I will almost certainly move on from the Pixel Watch 2, it’s the most irritating of the bunch. That will be part of that ecosystem post, but in an interesting, perhaps ironic twist, I have my eye on the Samsung Galaxy Fit 3, which should launch soon and provide that happy middle ground between a tracker and a smartwatch that I’m after. I brought my Fitbit Charge 5 with me to Mexico, just in case my irritations with the Pixel Watch 2 get the better of me. So that’s where I’m at right now.

Next NAS

madpapist asks:

Hey Paul – I think you had mentioned you were planning to replace your old NAS, perhaps with a Synology. Wondering if that’s still planned. My Synology NAS is the only piece of tech that I own that I never have to think about. 🙂

Yes, that will happen. Synology is my top pick right now, though I am going back and forth between a few choices, and UGREEN is planning an interesting new family of NASes that might throw a wrench in those plans, though I suspect they won’t arrive soon enough to factor into my decision.

I’m not sure of the timing of this, but most likely this Spring. (I had hoped to get this done by the end of last year, originally.) And if that goes well, and I think it will, I will likely get an identical NAS for Mexico and keep them in sync.

BTW- There’s a great 3- or 4-part series from a few years ago on the TWIT network entitled “Synology Madness”. Fr. Ballecer is one of the hosts – and I highly recommend it.

Nice, thanks. I love Robert, and will look for this.

Remote meetings

Christian-Gaeng asks:

Hi Paul, what kind of video conferencing system do you and Brad use currently? At work, we are using Zoom, in the private section I am using more and more Google Meet. I have the feeling that Microsoft Teams is on the downside right now.

We are using Google Meet now after testing Skype. Before that, we used Zoom. And before that, we used Microsoft Teams.

Honestly, Microsoft Teams worked great once they moved to the 2.0 version; it was a nightmare of problems before that. But we lost our accounts in the move from BWW, so we had to figure out something else. And while Zoom worked well, there were issues with the software Brad uses for recording and screen-switching. Skype was a nightmare. And Meet seems fine, though I can’t get the web app to join meetings, it just goes to a normal browser tab. It’s not a big deal, and it’s not as serious as some of the issues we experienced elsewhere.

Complicating matters, Brad switched recently to OBS Studio for recording/switching, so there’s been some learning there. But overall, yes, Meet is working well for us. (And we get additional features from our Google One subscriptions, so I may look into using this for Eternal Spring too.)

Games that people play

helix2301 asks:

Paul what’s your feeling on Halo with the show on season 2

I’m starting to wonder if the show is ever going to recover from Helmetgate, even the actor playing Master Chief has complained about that and other aspects of the show. But I like the expansion into more of the familiar plots and characters from the game. And I still feel like Halo is a rich backdrop for storytelling, and that this modern limited series approach suits it well. Gears would be a good option for this too. Half-Life woudl be even better, especially Half-Life 2.

…. and moving the game to unreal engine

This is overdue. 343 had trouble attracting talent because it used its own game engine, and moving to a popular third-party engine will solve that issue. This is like browser rendering engines, where it doesn’t make sense to innovate at that level. It’s the right decision.

Microsoft saying they are bringing exclusives to move platforms do you think Microsoft would ever put halo on ice or in maintenance mode. I still play infinite my fav game I play it a lot it’s just fun but I’ve heard rumblings online that halo is not on top Microsoft priority list. Is it still one of there biggest franchises just wondering

You could argue that Halo Infinite is what that looks like in some ways. I’d love to see actual usage numbers, those, some real-world comparison with previous titles, but my guess is that it’s down big-time. Obviously, there is a loyal user base. I guess the questions are: How big it is, and how much will they put up with?

It’s probably difficult to plan for the right release schedule, and maybe different game franchises need different schedules. Call of Duty’s success was probably tied in part by its annual schedule, but that also introduced issues because of the need to have something all-new and fresh every year, and Activision at one point added a third studio into the mix to help with that. The Halo schedule is perhaps too drawn out. And maybe there is a happy medium. It’s hard to say.

But like Star Wars, Halo would benefit from a fresh perspective and less of the old thing. Halo Infinite was, if anything, too much like the original, and that made its repetitive nature even more tedious (in single-player, at least). Are there smaller single-player games to be had? Broader multiplayer games with battle royale elements, like Call of Duty’s Warzone? I think it’s time to experiment.

True Detective

SarahDuguay84 asks:

Why is True Detective Season 4 so bad? Haha. That series was the pinnacle of the HBO. What kind of TV, nontech Books, Music, and Art are you into? I know you like Star Wars.

Funny, we really enjoyed True Detective season one, though we’ve since rewatched it, and if I have a major criticism, it’s that it wasn’t possible to guess who the bad guy was and what the point of it all was. And the next two seasons, while somewhat diminished, were perhaps better than the criticism they got. The original was created by a guy named Nic Pizzolatto, and he has a story-telling style I like. He wrote a book, Galveston, that I liked quite a bit, for example.

We’ve not yet seen any of Season 4, but we will: We typically wait until a show is completed so we can just binge-watch it back-to-back. Otherwise, we forget half of what happened.

Regarding books, I grew up reading Tolkien and related fantasy books, Asimov, Clarke, Niven, Pournelle, and related science fiction books, and Stephen King. These days, I don’t read much fantasy or sci-fi, but King is still my favorite author.

You probably have written all about that stuff throughout the years, but I’m inquisitive but lack time to read so far back.

I do usually write an end-of-year recap of the books/audiobooks I’ve read, and here are the last three: 2023, 2022, and 2021. Also, apps, etc. But not really music or anything else.

Music is all over the map, but it’s mostly straight-up rock, all eras, some pop. My wife and I typically have a music night each weekend, so I have years of playlists, and the past few years have seen a steady introduction of new music, some of which we discovered here in Mexico (and some of which is Spanish language).

Discovering music—whether it’s literally new or just new to me/us—is always a challenge. But here in Mexico, we’re friends with a bar owner who has an incredible vinyl collection (see the image at the top), and we talk and share music all the time. And I’ve gotten lots of new music while in bars and restaurants here otherwise. Most of my friends are really into music as well, and one in particular has been a good source when he has us over, and he has his own playlists, etc. Perhaps I should share my playlists (I use YouTube Music).

Though I went to art school, I’m not super into art, art history, or art museums. But that’s another curious change here in Mexico because everything here is so inexpensive here, we’ve actually purchased small art pieces here to hang on the walls, and we are coincidentally going to visit two of those artists this weekend and see if it makes sense to get a few more. We’re also about to get our apartment walls painted, they’re just white now, so we’ll be able to hang things up once that’s done.

Cocktails

vernonlvincent asks:

Hey Paul – I remember when you would pass along drink recipes from Stephanie (who could ever forget the Patch Tuesday). Any chance of that coming back?

Yeah, I’m not sure how I can do that formally in a way that makes sense, but let me think on that. I almost had the opportunity to discuss one on Windows Weekly this past week because Richard was going to be out, but he ended up making it for the second half of the show. I’ll ask my wife what she thinks about this.

This is a semi-ideal way to end Friday and start the weekend, really.

 

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