The Admiral Ackbar Thesis – Windows Weekly 608

Leo, Mary Jo, and Paul are joined by Richard Campbell to discuss Microsoft Edge moving to Chromium, plus much more.

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Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Personalize Chrome with new Google themes

Not sure why this didn’t happen seven years ago, but…

Also: You can now buy Google Fi SIMs at Best Buy

App pick of the week: Postbox

I’ve finally found my new email application for desktop. (I’m using Outlook Mobile on phones.) And a recap of my findings on consolidating email.

Enterprise pick of the week: Office Home Use Program

There are some big changes coming to the Office Home Use Program. Office 365 subscriptions will be available at a discount. But Microsoft may be ready to discontinue the ability of volume users to get Office (non-subscription) for a steep discount.

Codename pick of the week: Shimla

Microsoft Forms Pro, codenamed Shimla, is waiting in the wings. And it looks to be using Flow, part of the Power Platform (woohoo).  “Shimla” (thanks Walking Cat) is the capital of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

Beer pick of the week: Perennial Abraxus

In honor of Valentine’s/Galentine’s day this week, here’s a nice, chocolatey, cinnamony stout from Perennial Artisan Ales in St. Louis, Missouri. (and some nice ancho chili to keep things from getting too sappy)

 

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Conversation 9 comments

  • Tedzio Gibonni

    14 February, 2019 - 4:35 pm

    <p>Can't wait to listen, I enjoy Richard Campbells, Run As Radio and Dot net rocks podcasts.&nbsp; If anyone hasn't done so yet, have a peek of his summary of work in documenting the history of dot net.</p><p><br></p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFCn_z7dn_A</p&gt;

  • dcdevito

    14 February, 2019 - 8:18 pm

    <p>Excellent show this week, cheers</p>

  • sandeepm

    14 February, 2019 - 10:12 pm

    <p>To be honest, I was surprised at you four being so utterly clueless around what Microsoft gains with Chromium on Edge. And I bet my theory is true and I hope it works for them. Maybe since none of you have experience in large corporations, it is so challenging. During the days of IE dominance, corporations were able to control everything their employees did on the internet via so called 'group policies'. Don't worry, I know you guys have no clue what that is, but it does not matter… you will get it in a second. Only employees that were allowed to install 'other' browsers on their workstations were web developers and testers who were developing internet facing apps. Then came the age when business critical websites stopped working on IE and Edge and businesses were forced to allow Google browser on all workstations. And the group policies went for a six (cricket term, in case I just sent you North Americans for a six). So, once Edge is on Chromium, workers will have no excuse for demanding Chrome, and corporations can impose the 'dark side' of group policies to their hearts' content… the thing about Windows that big brothers in corporations really love. But that is not all, schools can do that too. Me, I love to boss over my kids, I can block them from doing things on the internet too, with Microsoft family safety – today I am forced to allow Google on their computers since their school uses Google docs and that only works on Google browser.. Nations that practice the politics of the medieval times will be able to have control over their citizens web browsing habits. Where I work, they have already blocked me from saving passwords on Edge with group policy, but that is not enough of a deterrent for them to force me to use Chrome. BTW, they also blocked Skype for Business on Windows 10 Mobile, but that did not stop me from using Windows phones for myself and my family, as you know. Eventually, more than half the world would end up being on that rotating <strong>e</strong> animation, if it is still stuck on the concept of web browsers. Long live <strong>e</strong> and may chrome RIP. But honestly, web browsers are the worst invention of the 21st century and I hope that we can have something else more sophisticated in place sometime soon… I really miss my Windows Forms (I am talking about webassembly).</p>

    • skane2600

      15 February, 2019 - 3:34 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404978">In reply to sandeepm:</a></em></blockquote><p>Which "business critical websites" can't be accessed by IE or Edge? It would be a curious choice both by the vendor and by a business that would choose to use them. </p>

  • skane2600

    15 February, 2019 - 11:55 pm

    <p>If Edge has trouble rendering, could it be because it's a UWP app? Does a UWP app have more limitations than a Win32 program that could affect rendering fidelity? Or does IE have the same problem?</p><p><br></p><p>BTW, I'm not making any claims here, I'm just asking questions that occur to me based on the video.</p>

  • skane2600

    16 February, 2019 - 12:03 am

    <p> I disagree with the idea that the DOJ case made Google possible or that Apple wouldn't be in it's current position if it hadn't occurred. Apple as a direct competitor to Windows is pretty much where it was prior to the DOJ case. It was Apple's entry into consumer devices such as the iPod that started them down the road toward major success. Microsoft was a follower into that business. </p><p><br></p><p>In the case of Google, Microsoft wasn't in the search business. As was the case with Apple and consumer devices, Microsoft followed Google rather than the other way around.</p>

  • skane2600

    16 February, 2019 - 12:09 am

    <p>I get the argument that resources committed to Edge could be wasted, but if that's the case, wouldn't the best solution be to just drop Edge or at least stop updating it except for security patches? Isn't it more likely that integrating the rest of Edge with Chromium is going to take greater resources than the amount Edge work takes now?</p>

  • timo47

    Premium Member
    16 February, 2019 - 4:08 pm

    <p>I'm kinda surprised that Edge on iOS and especially Android (where it's based on Chrome) wasn't mentioned during this podcast. Surely what's happening with Edge on Windows is a direct consequence of the decision to bring Edge to other platforms. EdgeHTML, the current Edge rendering enige, only works on Windows 10. That means that Edge on other platforms (and even previous Windows versions) would all use a different rendering engine. At that point, keeping the EdgeHTML engine up-to-date only for Edge on Windows 10 probably didn't make sense anymore.</p><p>Also, they probably already had a good idea what it takes to create a browser based on Chrome when they brought Edge to Android.</p><p><br></p><p>With regards to Office HUP, since I can use this via the company I work for, I tried it out. Office 365 at a discount price is indeed now prominently featured. "Regular" Office for PC and Mac is shown all the way on the bottom of the page and when you click on those options you arrive at a … "page could not be found" error message. I guess that's one way to force people to go for the subscription version.</p>

  • roncerr

    12 March, 2019 - 8:23 pm

    <p>Re: Postbox The main benefit of IMAP over POP is the ability to access all your email from any device. That's separate from contacts being accessible from any device, Thunderbird uses CardDAV to accomplish that. When reading about contacts in Postbox, the only thing I could find were instructions to export your contacts from wherever they are and import them into the Postbox address book.&nbsp; There is no mention of syncing contacts to a cloud service. Kind of defeats the purpose of IMAP. Am I missing something?</p>

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