Ask Paul: September 5 ⭐

Happy Friday! We’re in Berlin, Germany for a few more days and while I’m not sure if I deserve a break, I will try to enjoy a little downtime before coming back to reality. But first…

?‍♂️ A quick note on membership transitions

As I’m sure most of you know, we announced some changes to the memberships we offer at Thurrott.com last week and it went about as well as I expected. Which is to say, not very well at all. Some Alpha members saw a pop-up on the site before we were ready to go live, our mistake, and dozens of them clicked through and inadvertently downgraded their accounts to Thurrott Lite. We tried to fix that through a complex series of  coupon codes that were tied to the timing of those members normal renewal timeframes, but the codes timed out after just a few days and so those who waited a bit longer discovered their code had expired. Those who successfully made the transition, so to speak, discovered they had lost their alpha status (or at least badge). At least one person who paid for Thurrott Lite was still seeing ads. And another was getting a weird comments display that I actually can’t explain, though that seems to have resolved itself, at least.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry for how this happened. I’m sorry for when it happened, if only selfishly because I had to fly to Germany on Monday, didn’t sleep a wink during the overnight flight, and then spent the next two days in a dizzy haze. I’m sorry that I didn’t communicate this better. And I’m sorry this wasn’t done better on the backend.

I’m still in Germany and will fly home on Sunday, thankfully during the day. And then we’ll be home for about 10 days before we head back to Mexico. But somehow, during this trip and then more easily when I get home, I’ll try to sort through this mess and set things right.

I’ve already started some of that work. But part of it is explaining more clearly what’s happening. As Robert (who did all the hard work behind the scenes to make this possible) told me the other day, it’s obvious that many readers assumed that what I described as a transition would in fact be, wait for it, a transition. But for reasons that I now try to make clear, it’s a little more complicated than that.

Without belaboring the point, we had (and still have) this old, complicated WooCommerce-based system for managing memberships and subscriptions, two things I see as being one thing, that is so broken I want to scream. And we’re replacing it with a much simpler membership system that is self-service, meaning that you as a member can manage it easily yourself by quitting, downgrading, or upgrading at any time, and using (what Robert calls) a “single point of truth” for managing how you pay. Once we do move fully over to this new system, things should work much better for everyone. But in the meantime, it’s a mess. And the underlying cause for that is the payment systems.

I’m not sure whether this is obvious on the outside, but let me state plainly that I never see anyone’s credit card numbers or whatever other personal information. We were using PayPal and Stripe (which handles any credit card transactions) with old system, and we’re only using Stripe with the new system. But there’s no way to automatically transfer anyone on the backend from the old system to the new system because that’s not allowed. You have/had a payment method set up for the old system and you have (or will have) one for the new system. And Stripe will not allow us to just migrate anyone over.

Given this, Robert created the simpler new system with a Stripe backend. And we can sort of help guide people to move to the new system. But it’s something they–you–will have to do. In other words, when your subscription is up for renewal, you could let it lapse and then start the new membership on the new system. So there’s a one-time thing to do. And we can’t automate it.

I’m looking for how I described this in that post and can’t find it, so that’s on me. Again, sorry. But I will work with Robert so that we can streamline this as much as possible. My advice for now is to sit on the membership you have as long as you can, in part because it is or might be cheaper. And we will improve things to make the process easier, starting with a notification ahead of a future renewal with links to clear instructions on what to do.

If you’re an Alpha member who clicked through that initial pop-up and screwed up your account, and everything isn’t correct, please email [email protected] an explain what’s wrong. You are stuck on Thurrott Lite. You don’t see your alpha badge/status, whatever it is. This way, we can get this in the queue and get it fixed. If I emailed you a coupon code and it expired, and I haven’t fixed it somehow–I feel like a few might have fallen through the cracks—please email me at [email protected]. And I will set it right.

If you’re having any other issues, please email me or [email protected], your call. I want to get on top of this as quickly as possible, but this week’s travel was a serious case of bad timing. It’s so frustrating. Again, I’m sorry. This is not what I wanted.

Unrelated to this, but sort of related, I started sending out the Thurrott Premium newsletter a week ago Monday, but I suspect none of you have received them. If that’s the case, comment below, but I’ve already asked Robert to investigate this. My test emails all work fine, but when I do the final publish, I don’t get that email. And I should. So should you, if you agreed to receive these emails. (You can do that on your My Account page by checking the box next to “Receive Emails” under “Thurrott Newsletter.”)

If I’m missing some other problem, which I suppose is likely given how frazzled I am right now, please let me know via comments or by emailing me at [email protected].

Did I say I was sorry yet? I am.

Thanks.

–Paul

? Berlin

train_wreck asks:

How’s Berlin?

I love Berlin. I love Germany. But I especially love Berlin. Pre-pandemic, we had plans to visit here more often, and I’ve been lucky to visit twice post-pandemic, both times tied to IFA. And there is a different timeline where the pandemic never happened, my wife and I kept visiting Europe each year, and we would try to split our time between some place in Europe and the U.S. instead of what we’re doing now in Mexico. But we live in this timeline and we’re doing what we’re doing.

I don’t regret that we are splitting time between Mexico and the U.S., but every time I do come to Europe, I feel that pang of loss, or whatever. It happened when we went to Paris, belatedly, for an anniversary a few years back. It’s happened both times we’ve been here in the past year. And now I feel like we need to figure out something where we perhaps come back to Europe at least once a year, just to get this out of my system.

Anyway. Berlin probably isn’t on anyone’s top list of places to go in Europe, but it should be. The history is amazing, obviously. The place itself is gorgeous. The people are incredibly friendly, and Berlin has done an incredible 180 on diversity and human rights since World War II, so we can all sleep peacefully knowing how much this would have pissed off Hitler. The food is underrated. I could live here just for the food. And the wine, too. Really incredible.

I jokingly referenced this on First Ring Daily this morning but there is also this kind of weird over-engineering that’s common in Germany with things like the lights and shower in hotel rooms. But even that is sort of endearing in a quirky way. The weather is probably terrible in the winter, but that’s true of most places. The big issue for me here now would just be the cost. It was bad enough coming to Europe from the U.S., but now that we have a lot of experience in Mexico, the sheer cost of everything here is astonishing. There’s a breakfast buffet at our hotel that costs €44 per person (!), and it’s even pricier on Sundays. We typically spend the equivalent of $3.50 per person on lunch in Mexico City.

The language would be tough. I can barely learn entry-level Spanish, but German is brutal. Visiting, this isn’t an issue, but it would be if I wanted to be here more.

I do love it here. I am happy to come as often as I can.

? Plumbing history

jrzoomer asks:

Paul have you listened to Lex Fridman’s excellent interview with Dave Plummer, former Microsoft engineer, and if so any thoughts or opinions (specifically on the Microsoft stuff)?

Yes, but I’m not quite done with it yet. I subscribe to Plummer’s YouTube channel and am a fan for the most part. His interview with Dave Cutler is incredible, for starters.

Lex Fridman is a bit of an oddball. I don’t quite understand his demeanor, he seems like he’s about to fall asleep the whole time. But I do want to hear what Plummer has to say. I am familiar with most of his stories, know that he created Task Manager, for example, and Pinball 3D, etc. He mentions Laura Butler, who I love, though I know when she left Microsoft and what’s she’s done since, and he has no idea. And that discussion about the best programmers is interesting, if only because the time period he’s talking about—the mid-1990s and then maybe the next 5 years or so—there was such competency at Microsoft, and it’s so sorely missed today. I am amused that he thinks writing C++ code with no pointers and no strings is somehow as safe as using Rust, especially since he then goes on about using encapsulation and polymorphism, which is literally what’s wrong with C++. I appreciate the way he tackled his big legal controversy head-on.

Also, I’d like your answer to one of the questions Lex asked Dave at the 1:15:50 timestamp: What are your top Windows versions? Dave right away answered with W2000 server, and Lex responded with the greatest being XP as #1 and W95 as #2. (I’ll add, I’d say mine was Windows 2000. Glorious.)

This one is difficult because the answer is almost always whatever the latest Windows version is, to me. If the question is literally, what is the best Windows version of all time, it has to be the latest one. But if it’s about which had the biggest impact in its day and so on, then I guess there’s a debate to be had.

The first “great” Windows version was Windows 3.1. Windows 95 was great, it was the first version of Windows where it felt properly designed and up to the UI standards of the Mac, and it was a mainstream phenomenon. Windows NT 4.0 was great in that it combined the look and feel of Windows 95 with superior underpinnings. Windows 2000 is often cited, but this is where Microsoft introduced Active Directory and took a decidedly business-oriented focus, and I kind of reject that bloat out of hand. (It was fine on the desktop, of course, if you were an individual user.) Windows XP, obviously, because it brought the NT kernel to consumers (real human beings). Windows 7, similarly, is often cited, but this was just a clean-up job on Windows Vista, which did all the heavy lifting and is unfairly criticized. Windows 8 is a curiosity for all the obvious reasons, but if you just look at the desktop side, it’s a better Windows than Windows 7, and that was a missed opportunity. Windows 10 is important because Microsoft came back from the abyss and focused on the desktop again … and then screwed it up with a Windows Phone UI that was immediately date, forced telemetry, in-box ads and crapware, and other nonsense. And Windows 11 finally got good, but it also has all those same issues, but worse. So there’s some compromise there.

Obviously, this needs to be whittled down.

As much as I prefer Windows 11, regardless, I feel like no version of Windows that occurred after Microsoft lost personal computing to mobile can ever truly be considered great. So that leaves out Windows 8 and everything since. This is the dark era, in some ways.

I guess I would have to go with Windows 95, if only for the net impact, which was immense and never repeated. Windows XP would be second, then, or perhaps Windows NT 4.0. Those were the golden years. Windows dominated the world, faced down all challengers, and was so successful that it took two humongous antitrust trials and about 10 years to beat it back down. We’ll never see anything like that again.

Windows 95 wins.

✈️ Here but not really here

North of 49th asks:

Paul, I know you are likely invited to specific manufacturer’s presentations at IFA, but apart from the usual suspects what other products have you seen around IFA that have caught your attention? Are their trends (apart from the drinking game you could play every time someone mentions AI as part of their offering… :)?

This is a bit odd, but I’m not really here for IFA and I will not walk around the show floor or even physically go to the convention center. I’m here for Lenovo, primarily, but also other companies, and so I’ve gone to their events as possible. Companies like Acer, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, and so on. But I’m not going to the show, and I’ve ignored most PR outreaches, because most of them are pointless and from companies I don’t care about or even know. And so that means I don’t really go and see every single gadget or whatever.

This is what I always wanted to do with CES but never did. PC makers and other companies have their own events during that show, too, often at hotels around Vegas. But I just find Vegas tiring, so I haven’t been to CES in years. Last year, when I came to Berlin, I was walking and taking Ubers to all these different locations because the companies were all in different places, and just Lenovo had multiple events in different places all over the city. I didn’t think anything about that, but this year, everything Lenovo did was all in the same place. And I have to say, that is vastly preferable. It’s been very convenient.

Anyway, my focus here could be generalized to the PC industry, I guess. That’s what I care about the most. And yeah, there is a lot of nonsense AI happening. That said, there was one incredible AI demo in the Lenovo press conference that I hope they make public at some point. It was during the segment with the guy from AMD, and he was promoting Copilot+ PCs and on-device AI, and he showed a demo where they had created an open world you could walk around virtually, as in a game, but set in a 3D real-time version of the Van Gogh “Starry Night” painting. It was truly impressive, and it points the way to how AI will be used in videogame level designs but also whatever other interactive 3D spaces. I hope we get a video of this sometime soon.4

?️ This is how conspiracy theories start

helix2301 asks:

Can you explain the ruling on Google? I feel like nothing was done, and as you alluded to on FRD the other day.

No. It literally can’t be explained. The central contradiction here is that the judge came down brutally on Google, and deservedly so, for its repeated antitrust abuses. That judge is required to uphold the law by crafting a remedy that stops those abuses. And the remedies he came up with do not do that.

I want to be super clear on this. What I am not saying is anything specific, like he should have stripped Chrome away from Google. That is pretty radical. It may be called for: The DOJ argued effectively that a structural remedy was the only way to prevent ongoing abuses. But there may be other, less radical ways to ensure that.

What I am saying is that what the judge came up with does not address the biggest abuses. And by whiffing on that entirely, he is not doing what he vowed to do. He should be removed from this case at the very least. And he should be sanctioned, disbarred, or impeached/removed for that. This isn’t just a high profile case, it’s an important case, the most important antitrust case in 20 years. It’s breathtaking how irresponsible this ruling is, given what he determined Google is guilty of.

The DOJ should appeal this decision and demand two things. A new judge. And an investigation in Judge Mehta.

Google will have to share data that helped it hold on to its search monopoly.

Google will also be required to provide “Qualified Competitors” with certain search index and user-interaction data, as well as search and search text ads syndication services.

Google is barred from entering exclusive contracts related to the distribution of Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, or Gemini. Google.

None of this will change the dynamics of Internet search, nor will it change Google’s ability to cross-abuse with its many monopolies. These should have been minor remedies alongside the truly devastating remedies that Google deserves.

Google can continue to make payments to “distribution partners for preloading or placement of Google Search, Chrome, or GenAI products. It seems very contradictory. Apple has been butting there nose in to keep its 20 billion dollar a year revenue. It’s good for Mozilla which makes me happy but I feel like not even a slap on the wrist.

I get the nostalgic feel-goods for Mozilla, sort of. But there is no legal basis for allowing an abusive and illegal monopoly to continue because you feel bad for a small company that never figured out a business model that worked and only exists because of hand-out from that abusive monopolist. This is like arguing that a mass murderer shouldn’t be sent to jail because he’s also a father who relies on the money he steals from his victims to feed his innocent children. There is only one job here once you identify, as Judge Mehta did, that Google has an illegal monopoly in search: You prevent the abuses from continuing. But what he did was… nothing.

This thing is so off that it’s hard for me not to go flying down a rabbit hole that I would caution others to avoid. Given the so-called politics of today in our country, one naturally wonders whether there isn’t a quid pro quo going on here. And this is especially true given the news of the day or two before the ruling came out: Google and the U.S. government were reportedly having “productive discussions” about the baseless “deplatforming” charges against Google and then … poof! The antitrust case was swept under a rug. Coincidence? Yes, almost certainly. But it doesn’t feel that way. And in the sense that our current government conducts business like the mob and not a real government, it’s difficult not to wonder what really happened here. Not helping matters, Google CEO Sundar Pichai literally thanked the president for “having a constructive dialog,” with whom is unclear, “and we were able to get it to some resolution.” Did he just say out loud that the administration talked to the judge and that this led to “some resolution,” meaning a remedy so watered down it’s not even a remedy? It reads like that, yeah.

But again. I am trying to not go to this dark place. I would like to think what I just described is impossible, even with the goon squad that’s currently masquerading as our government. That the president told Pichai that it was his predecessor who prosecuted this antitrust case, when in fact it was him, in his previous term, and Pichai did not correct him is, of course, priceless. And all too common for this misinformation-laden administration. Maybe he should Google it. Or read the DOJ press release that repeats this fact at least twice. Actually, everyone should read that press release. It lays out the facts pretty well.