Ask Paul: May 3 (Premium)

Happy Friday! I’m feeling a certain alignment in thought in this week’s questions, so let’s dive in and get the weekend started a bit early.

But first, some unfinished business

I promised a post about Premium video/interactivity a few weeks back and got distracted sorry. I’m working on that, plus some other Premium feedback I’d like to get around comments, forums, and so on. So I will hopefully get that all done soon. Sorry for the delays.

Virtually in the cloud

Leo_W asks:

Have you been following the changes Broadcom has been making to VMWare since their purchase? At first glance it looks like the cost of running ESXi is soon going to be much higher. I wonder if that will be the nudge to get companies to migrate to other virtual services.

and wright_is asks:

With the Broadcom takeover of VMware, we are seeing a lot of movement to people looking at Proxmox, for example, and other open source solutions as a replacement to VMware. I really don’t understand Broadcom, they buy a market leading product and, before the deal is even through, they start alienating as many customers and partners as they can… I just don’t see the business logic behind their actions.

I almost view Broadcom as a kind of plumbing (i.e. infrastructure) provider so I guess VMWare sort of makes sense in that way. But I also feel. like VMWare to doomed to bounce between various corporate parents. Not sure what’s going on there. Surely an independent, standalone company might make more sense for its customers at this point.

Regardless, there is always a debate about pricing when it comes to valuable services like that. (Even in my tiny corner of the world, we debated raising prices, and that was one of the last things George left me with. I don’t see it.) Anyway, Microsoft has predictably responded to this price hike by offering a VMWare Rapid Migration Plan with discounts aimed at getting those workloads on Azure.

Microsoft has all kinds of anti-competitive issues, of course, and perhaps most notably in the cloud these days. But this is a good example of why competition matters. These companies can work off each other and compete not just on features but on price. And now that moving from cloud to cloud is fairly seamless and low-cost—a neat benefit from the consumer subscription world—that benefit is even better.

And related to this, wright_is asks:

Have you ever looked at HyperV (the full HyperV, as opposed to the cut down version in client Windows) and ESXi/vSphere?

Not in years. I shifted to a productivity focus when I moved to Thurrott.com, and while that obviously includes all the Microsoft 365 solutions that impact end users and can intrude into the admin/prosumer space a bit, I don’t pay too much attention to the servers anymore or their cloud analogs.

That said, I have one general bit of understanding and one specific recommendation: Microsoft pretty much let Hyper-V languish for several years on the server, no doubt because of its focus on Azure. But that’s changing. The coming Windows Server release will include a lot of improvements to Hyper-V, many which are, of course, based on Microsoft’s experiences with Azure-based VMs. And there is suddenly a lot of documentation and discussion about these changes. I strongly recommend starting with Richard Campbell’s interview of Jeff Woolsey on this topic in Richard’s RunAs Radio podcast. I’ve known and loved both guys for decades and Jeff’s enthusiasm for this update is palpable.

Paul Thurrott puts the PT in PTSD

madthinus asks:

Hi Paul, with 24H2 rolling out in two waves, I have “Creator update” PDST kicking in.

That is a beautiful and concise description of something I suffer from as well. Those were the days. The days when Windows seemed to be struggling to figure out its place in the world and some well-meaning but in the end ineffectual people decided that that place included superfluous nonsense like Paint 3D.

On that note, I’m working on two updates to my book Windows Everywhere, the first of which is just a set of spelling/grammar/overall fit-and-finish improvements to the existing book and the second of which is an expanded/improved second edition that will include new content both past (DirectX, Office, etc.) and present (Windows 10, Windows 11, AI, etc.). And in working through that, I’ve come to understand that the Windows 10 era is defined by this type of superfluous silliness at every level, from the end user features to the developer initiatives like the bridges, all of which went nowhere. This was, in essence, the Phone team given the chance to shine on the big stage. And they whiffed it.

(To be clear, there’s no maliciousness there. Just a lot of well-meaning, starry-eyed kids who had no idea what they were doing. It’s a story, at least.)

Fun side note: What of the key features from the Creator updates are still left in 24H2?

This is an excellent question. Obviously, I remember the demotion and then removal of Paint 3D (which, gasp, was going to replace Paint at one point) and the related 3D Essentials, File Explorer integration, and Remix3D.com website. But this inspired me to actually look. And if you rewind the clock to 2017, by which I mean look at the Microsoft announcements for the original Creators Update and the Fall Creators Update that followed it, it’s easy enough to make a list of the failures that are now long gone from Windows 11 (I didn’t check this against Windows 10, I’m sure there are vestiges of some of this there, still.)

The key features on that list include all the 3D features noted above (Paint 3D, Remix3D.com, etc.), Beam (game streaming), the bookstore, Tab preview bar, and Set tabs aside in Microsoft Edge (and Microsoft Edge itself, since this was the old Trident-based version), books in Windows Store (related to the Edge feature noted above, plus the Windows Store was replaced by the unified Microsoft Store and fully redesigned at least twice), Cortana integration, various Maps features, Groove, 360-degree videos in Movies & TV, mini-view (an app capability I don’t recall at all), Windows Mixed Reality dev kits, and Skype (the “best Skype ever for Windows PCs,” lol).

And that’s just the first one. The Fall Creators Update added Windows Mixed Reality and the Mixed Reality Viewer app, a reimagined Photos app (since reimagined twice), My People, voice-activated Cortana, and Mixer (game streaming).

That’s a lot of wandering in the wilderness to no good end. It almost puts Windows 11 in perspective.

Almost.

Are we going to see again a bunch of nonsense added to Windows because of the Ai craze? Or are some of this going to be useful. I just feel so bad for Windows.

I hear that, though I would frame it in terms of the real victims. Us, the users. The customers who pay for this product and now realize we’re involved in an abusive relationship. But yes.

To your question, we’re going to see both. And the best way to frame that would be to look at those Creator Update and Fall Creator update announcements and pick out the features they added that are valuable and/or still with us today.

So what the heck.

In the original Creators Update, we got Game Mode (manual at first, now automatic), learning tools in Microsoft Edge (since defanged a bit, but there’s still some there), Dolby Atmos, Night light, and Dynamic lock (which was always iffy, but since replaced by Presence sensing, which is superior). And in the Fall Creators Update, the unified Microsoft Store, ransomware protection, the beginnings of PC/Android integration, OneDrive Files on Demand, advanced PDF capabilities in Edge, lock screen-based PIN and password recovery, numerous Accessibility advances (Eye control, Narrator improvements, etc.), a Performance/Power slider for power management (now in Quick settings), and GPU in Task Manager.

Notably, it’s a shorter list than the mistakes. But still a good list.

I see AI following a similar trajectory, but in this “fake it until you make it” era of software development in which features just ship with little or no testing and then often fail or never gain traction, we’ll be victimized earlier and more often than a decade ago. The hits and misses are hard to predict. But to be fair, the app-specific AI-based updates we’ve seen so far in Paint, Photos, Snipping Tool, etc. are, to a one, quite good. So we’ll see. (And maybe soon: We should get a nice 24H2 preview at Build later this month.)

A platform or a feature? It’s a platform and a feature!

TheJoeFin asks:

As AI products continue to hit the market, what is your general take on the quality and usefulness of new products coming out? Are they getting better, more of the same, or worse?

This is related to the last section of that prior Q&A, but more general—i.e. not specific to Windows—and worth pondering on its own.

Aside from the obvious—there will be a lot of chaff with the wheat when it comes to AI, of course—the central question is whether AI is itself some kind of platform or whether it is features delivered to existing platforms (including apps and services)

I think it’s both. There will be awesome (and ridiculous) new AI products and services. And awesome (and ridiculous) AI-based additions to existing products and services. And that’s been true of any personal technology transition, of course. It’s just that AI is making this happen at a speed and scale we’ve never experienced.

It’s sort of like death by a thousand cuts. There’s no one killer app. There are instead a million new features and capabilities that will make a range of impacts, from tiny to profound in existing platforms, apps, and services, and via new platforms, apps, and services.

But there are also going to be victims. In the same way that the rise of the web and then mobile victimized Windows in the sense that it is no longer the focus, the place where we spend most of our time (once, all our time) engaging in personal computing activities, AI will victimize existing platforms because something new will take their place.

The most dramatic possible example is Google Search. Google has long argued that its monopoly there is under constant threat, in part because it’s so easy for users to switch. There’s truth to that, and this is roughly the same defense Microsoft made in antitrust court with Windows. But the ease of switching from one web service to another is exponentially easier than was (still is) the case with a PC. This is why Windows hasn’t fallen harder, frankly. If switching to a Mac was so obvious, more people would have done that by now.

But Google Search could easily be disrupted, and I think we will be surprised when that happens, and with the speed at which it happens. (Google could, of course, improve Search with AI such that it retains users, too. No outcome is a given. The point here is only the ease at which this can happen.)

Today alone, there are two new stories that speak to potential Google Search disruption, and while neither is a given, both are the types of things I think about in this area. OpenAI will reportedly announce ChatGPT Search next week, and The Browser Company just updated its Arc Search mobile app with home screen widgets, iPhone Action button voice search, and other features. Each in its on way points to a future for search, which, when you think about it, is about search.

I know. That sounds obvious. But think about it, you’re doing what you do now, watching TV, out in the world, whatever, and you want to know something. So you use what you have at hand—your PC, perhaps, the search box or an app on your phone, and you try to find the answer. Google Search has the answer. But Google Search is also the byproduct of a monopoly that has business interests. And oftentimes, you need to hunt and peck to find that answer.

These other things, and other solutions like them, are made by non-dominant companies with no business to protect. This is where innovation—disruption—comes from. They can look at a problem and provide a solution that the market leader either purposefully ignores because of business concerns, or literally never thought of. And if these things can give us that answer we want better than Google Search—no hunting and pecking, etc.—then we will switch. Because, again, this is easy to do. And with AI, it could happen overnight.

That’s just one example. But you get the idea.

To be clear, I approach the world from the user’s standpoint, not from the standpoint of some Big Tech monopoly. And that’s why I preach portability and openness when it comes to choosing personal technology products and services. There are big benefits to integrated ecosystems (Apple being the obvious poster child), but also real concerns to lock-in. I try to make sure that as much of what I use is easily replaced, can be used in as many places as possible, creates content in open formats, and so. It’s like a go-bag for technology. I’m in this for me, not for Apple, Google, Microsoft, or whatever other company.

ADHD organization

Anlong08 aks:

Softball question, what are your thoughts on packing cubes/organizers? I scoffed at them for years but got some for my daughter this year and now I’m a fan. The Rick Steves ones do fit his bags nicely.

I’ve probably traveled more than most, but I use every trip I take, long or short, to evaluate how efficiently I do things and then make adjustments as necessary. And I’ve developed a set of habits aimed at making travel as bearable as possible. There’s high-level habits (and advice) like “travel light,” “always carry-on,” and so on. And then very specific habits. Many of which a related to packing.

And I’ve (really, we’ve) tried it every which way from Sunday. And while I do use Rick Steves bags, still—the rest of my family has moved to the highly-regarded Travelpro carry-on bags, as per The Wirecutter and others—I don’t like that style of bag at all. (No one asked, but I typically use a Ravenna Rolling Case, which I left in Mexico City since we can travel there more lightly now. I just bought a Ravenna Mini Rolling Case on sale to see if I can get by with that.)

Anyway, with regard to packing cubes, no. I’ve tried several and I don’t personally see the benefit. All bags have some form of nooks and crannies, and I find it more advantagenous to tightly fold underwear and socks (which are unballed) to fit into those spaces, and then fold other clothing and layer that on top. In extreme cases, I have and will use vacuum seal bags that let you fit more clothes into the same space, but these have their own challenges as they don’t typically result in perfectly formed shapes, etc. Plus, I travel light and don’t normally need that.

These things are subjective, of course. Use what works for you: Half the problems with travel are stress related, and I feel like these little habits that work can make you feel better about things and hopefully offset some of the terrible.

Value in the mid-market

digiguy asks:

I was a bit hesitant to ask, since I received some insider information from a person I know that works at Google, but since most stuff has already leaked and the release is close I don’t think it’s a big deal. I know you are a Pixel fan and wanted to know your opinion about the Pixel 8a that is going to be presented next week.

I just wrote this up because Evan Blass leaked a ton of Pixel 8a content. As noted, I see nothing but good news in this release.

Sounds like huge value in that price range if you are fine with (or even prefer) the size and are not linked to a specific brand (like Samsung or Apple). I would even say it’s very competitive with some pricier flaghips devices.

I agree. This has always been the promise and reality of the A-series Pixel phones: The best of the flagships at a fraction of the price. I think the Pixel 8a lands exactly where it needs to be, where the whole equation (features + price = value) adds up. (This doesn’t always happen with the Pixel flagships, mostly because of weird quality issues, but also some boneheaded feature decisions; this seems to have been largely fixed with the Pixel 8 series, fortunately.)

I don’t know if Samsung will react in some way to this, but I think this might lead it to extend the 7 years of updates to more than the Galaxy S line and maybe some other brands could do better too on this front…

Samsung is heading down this path with its flagships, so it is perhaps inevitable it will get there with its volume-selling smartphones too. But also maybe not so quickly: For all the obvious value of the Pixel 8a and previous A-series Pixels, Google hasn’t really moved the needle on marketshare that much. I suspect Samsung doesn’t feel too threatened, and that it can and will make smaller advances in coming middle- and low-end phones. Because it doesn’t have to do otherwise, at least not yet.

I am a bit confused that Apple hasn’t more aggressively updated the iPhone SE. This came up when I wrote my Apple Doesn’t Need a $250 iPhone (Premium) editorial. What Apple does need, I think, is to update the iPhone SE, and sooner than next year. But whatever, the current version is competive in this space and is a great value: It’s the MacBook Air M1 of the smartphone market, with a $429 base price. It’s all the phone most people realistically need, with the caveat that I write that knowing I could never use this device personally (mostly because of the small screen, but also because I care about the camera capabilities so much). I assume the next SE will land around $500, but given its expected improvements, it will justify that price. And deliver the same type of value we see with the Pixel 8a.

Xbox play anywhere but Nintendo

helix2301 asks:

Paul is there a reason or a way to play xcloud on the Nintendo switch this seems like it should be really easy thing but never has happened that I know of.

Not that I’m aware of either. Microsoft has exlicitly expressed interest in bringing Xbox Cloud Gaming (which today requires an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription) to Nintendo Switch and elsewhere, and I wonder if the first step is a standalone service. So that might be something to look out for, a standalone Xbox Cloud Gaming subscription, hopefully closer to $5 per month than $10, but I’m probably dreaming on that front. This would be a big step toward an “Xbox everywhere” future.

AI all the things

gg1 asks:

I wanted to thank you for the video recommendations last week on how to approach AI functionality. It did change how I perceived and approached it. I tried a variety of options besides Copilot Pro, including Gemini Advanced and others.

You bet, it made a big difference for me, so much so that I had my wife watch it, and it changed how she approaches AI as well. I’m in this weird place now where I’m literally paying for Copilot Pro, Gemini Advances, and Copilot Plus, and that’s obviously unsustainable. But these things change so fast, and each service is better at some things than the others.

Here’s a weird example: I’ve wanted to update the cover design of the Windows 11 Field Guide for a long time, and I’ve repeatedly prompted Copilot Pro, which mostly works well for me for images, to create something that is like the Windows 11 “Bloom” wallpaper but also not that exact wallpaper. Different types of flowing material, different colors, etc. I used such a thing for the first cover design—a kind of bland purple take on Bloom—but I never found a new design I liked.

Randomly, I tried this in Google Gemini and was happily surprised that it delivered what I wanted. Not exactly what I wanted, in that the images it came up with or not obviously inspired by Bloom. But these images are exactly what I need, in that they are unique, attractive (I think), and provide the book with its own identity. I’m so happy with how these came out that I saved a bunch. And in addition to switching to a new cover design for what I now called the “23H2 edition” of the book, I’ve already already deigned the cover for the coming “24H2 edition” too.

I went down so many unsatisfactory wrong directions before this.

I was very impressed by the image generating and editing capabilities of Adobe Firefly. Have you tried it?

No, not yet. I don’t pay for Adobe CC and won’t, and I’m sure this is great and is (or will be) made available elsewhere. But I will get to it. I need to hone down the services I’m already paying for first, and experiment more broadly.