Windows Weekly 516: Gong Yourself

Leo, Mary Jo, and I discuss this week’s blockbuster Microsoft event, the Surface Laptop, Windows 10 S, Office 365 for Education, Microsoft’s earnings, and much more.

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Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Games with Gold

This month’s Games with Gold has something for the ladies! No, wait, it’s for Star Wars fans.

App pick of the week: Office Mobile for Windows 10

Yes, Virginia, you can still run these simpler Office apps on your PC if you want.

Enterprise pick of the week: Power BI Premium

For bigger enterprises, Power BI Pro at $10 per user per month adds up fast. Power BI Premium is for companies who have enterprise-size analytics needs.

Codename pick of the week: Lynx

Lynx seems to be the codename of the Surface Laptop (says the ultimate leaker, The Walking Cat) My sources say he is right – yet again.

Beer pick of the week:  Pike Place Brewing Kilt Lifter

If you come to our Build meetup next week and like scotch ales, I’d suggest this.

Mark your calendars

Next week: Windows Weekly meetup at Build!

Pike Brewing Company

http://pikebrewing.com/

Address and Directions:

1415 1st Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101

Enter on 1st Avenue, between Pike and Union, just south of Pike Place Market, or via Post Alley, across from Post Alley Park, down from Gum Wall.

 

Office 365 Engage in Haarlem, Netherlands

We’ll be doing Windows Weekly live on Wed. June 21 from the show (with a meetup either before or after)

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Conversation 5 comments

  • Chris Blair

    05 May, 2017 - 1:12 pm

    <p>Paul… I mostly use Edge but I also use Chrome, mostly just to make sure I'm not missing something. Why? Because I have found several things I prefer about Edge. First, it's not Google (which I know you think…and I agree… is not a good reason to avoid using better tech). And second, I prefer the Edge UI. I use Chrome when I need to open Jupyter Notebooks for Python development. I do this so I can alt tab between Edge and Chrome (I use Edge to keep Python reference sites open). And I find that when I use the touch screen on my Surface Pro 3 for scrolling, Edge sometimes highlights blocks of code or markdown, while Chrome does not. But this, in my view, is an irritant, not a reason to completely avoid using Edge. So my question is this: For users of Microsoft web services, OneDrive/Outlook primarily, what are the significant benefits of using Chrome over Edge? BTW, I know you've mentioned the inability of Edge to pin web apps to the task bar. But for me, anyway, this is not a big objection. I prefer to keep my taskbar lean and put apps, websites, and folders on my Start menu, which I have spent a lot of time optimizing and curating over the past many months 🙂 </p>

  • Patrick3D

    05 May, 2017 - 4:15 pm

    <p>If I remember correctly, Mozilla and Google refused to develop their respective browsers for Windows 8 RT due to Microsoft not allowing them access to all of the API's that the Edge browser was using.</p>

  • JimP

    05 May, 2017 - 7:17 pm

    <p>So, basically, Windows 10 S is Windows RT 2.0 with the option to pay an extra $50 to turn it into a real PC. I can't help but wonder if this thing will still be around in 3-5 years.</p>

  • nbplopes

    08 May, 2017 - 3:53 am

    <p>Its difficult to follow what MS is doing. It seams to be riddled with hoops and loops, both for developers and consumers, into their full stack technology and services.</p><p>For instance, more advanced operating systems, from a technical stand point, an App Store is nothing more than a tech agnostic consumer oriented app repository. The apps are required to enforce some security measures, in particular declaring the resources they need, digitally signed binaries / code etc etc (either we call this containers or sanboxing does not really matter). Tech agnostic, meaning, that it can store and deploy any kind of app that runs in the OS, regardless of the underlying application stack / tech. Furthermore, these security measures can be use by both apps deposited in the App Store and apps that are not. The only difference is that the OS imposes this security measures for apps deposited repository, but these are optional outside. The problem is than reduced to a packaging and deployment issue. In these system apps can be developed using third party tech, for instance Java with no intervention for the OS Vendor.</p><p>MS decided that this was not good enough for consumer and developers and indexed their App Store (Windows Store) to UWP whose objective is much different than most App Stores. An UWP application needs to comply with MS concept of "Universal". That is, initially the apps in this repository where required to be able to run in any Windows device with a screen and some form of user input (windows phones, gaming console, laptop, desktop, hololens…). But as it happens the MS "Universal" concept is quite fluid which becomes even more confusing both for developers and consumers. It started by some apps not running in all devices, some of them only ran on smartphones, other only only laptop desktop, and none in the gaming console as the Windows version there did not support UWP and when it started supporting it, one can easily see that the user experience is pretty bad. So the "Universal" stance is so fluid that I would suggest that Microsoft calls simply "Windows Platform" and drop the word "Universal" out of it. Yes MS is targeting building software tools, frameworks and other stuff, that can potential allow developers build both cross device and cross platform apps. but this is different than declaring that Universal apps run "everywhere".</p><p>So here we are now with Project Centennial that can than be used with the Windows Anniversary Update. This does not seam to be nothing but a x32 packager for the store. There is no conversion supporting that notion that x32 are converted to another platform, UWP. Its just a packager. </p><p>But what is interesting is that in order to support third party tech in this apps, the OS needs to give full access rights to the OS. Meaning that if the user of the app is an Windows admin, the app can run code such as "format c:". So for these kinds of UWP apps there goes the OS driven security measures out of the Window even if deposited in the Windows Store, there goes security "sandboxing" (secured spaces, secured containers or whatever). </p><p>Totally waste of time just because of "hooks and loops".</p><p>So here we are now with Windows S, a Windows version built on the premiss of the App Store. But the all core advantage of using it is still technically limped when it could not have been the case if MS did not indexed the App Store to UWP and simply took the reasonable and logical path to it. In my opinion of course.</p><p>Even more strange with the launch of Windows S, MS packages a "Premium" device with a non "Premium" OS. Sweet. Rationale can only be that MS thinks that whoever payed $1000 to $2300, $50 in the OS license is a high order concern.</p><p>Nice, really nice.</p><p><br></p>

    • nbplopes

      09 May, 2017 - 2:02 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#114065"><em>In reply to nbplopes:</em></a></blockquote><p>Further if this is was not confusing emough MS Windows branch is now promissing that somehow x32 apps will run on Windows ARM due to some amazing magical technlogy.</p><p><br></p><p>Oh lovely, really lovely.</p>

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