Ask Paul: January 5 (Premium)

Happy New Year from the frigid Northeast. Here is the first “Ask Paul” of 2018.

Can Bing be successful?

Chris_Kez asks:

During the last Windows Weekly, Chris Caposella noted that the roll-out of Cortana is dependent upon Bing. This seems obvious, but somehow I hadn’t fully made the connection earlier. I seem to recall previous complaints about Cortana availability being pinned on the challenges of localized language translation. Is that still part of the problem, or is it really more about the simple lack of Bing usage around the world? Or is the issue not just usage but also machine learning/AI (i.e. how “smart” Bing is)? Does Microsoft have a plan to tackle all of these issues, and what is the time-frame? Do they have some kind of road-map for Cortana or is this just something that is being pulled along behind Windows 10?

So, this is a huge topic. And I have opinions and thoughts, and it’s a mess.

I am in that crowd that never quite got Microsoft’s need to continue with Bing. It’s a failure by any reasonable measure and, like Zune, is more a butt of jokes than a serious competitor.

But then Bing for Business happened. And while that name may trigger a chuckle at first, it makes sense. And it makes particular sense given how Microsoft has evolved in the years since it sought to acquire Yahoo. Today, Microsoft is funneling everything through its cloud efforts, and sprinkling AI and machine learning across its product stacks. In this world, Bing goes from being an outlier to being a key component of its future successes. And Bing for Business is the cherry on the top, if you will. It is the part of Bing—really, the only part—that actual users will ever use. And that makes tons of sense.

If you’re looking for Bing or Cortana to be successful with end users, to be used on PCs, or mobile devices, or whatever, my advice is to forget that. It’s never happening. Instead, Bing is what I think of as an ingredient in the services that consumers will interact with directly. It’s part of a broader set of back-end services that Microsoft can offer to the companies that will provide those consumer services.

The exception, of course, is business users. And that’s why Bing for Business is so interesting. It makes Bing as a “thing that people see and think about” viable. Bing as a mobile app or a web destination is a non-starter for mainstream consumers. But Bing for Business makes sense. It plays to Microsoft’s strengths.

I can’t speak to Microsoft’s “plan” beyond what they’ve said and done so far, and my takeaway from that is above. But the other thing you mentioned that kind of resonates with me is Chris Capossela’s contention that Microsoft will not walk away from consumer, and that consumers and business are intrinsically linked in Microsoft’s collective opinion.

He’s right. But maybe not in the way that many technology enthusiasts would prefer.

That is, there are basically no major Microsoft consumer products that act as “halos” for the rest of Microsoft’s product offerings. Small exceptions may include Minecraft, if we accept that students will become excited about software development and/or Microsoft generally as a result of that exposure. And maybe Xbox, which is hampered only by the sad fact that it is seen as a loser. But that’s about it. No one is adopting Microsoft business/enterprise solutions because they loved Groove or whatever as a young person.

(I’m not sure about the reverse either. It sort of hurts Microsoft that most users think of its offerings a “work,” so it makes sense that they would look elsewhere for entertainment or non-work activities.)

But Microsoft can still have a major impact on consumers, albeit an often indirect one. And I think that bit above about Microsoft providing back-end services to consumer services is how that happens. You may never see a Microsoft brand in a smart car of the future, but it could be backed by Microsoft smarts. The future of gaming, I think, is hardware agnostic, with consoles going away and replaced by streaming games. Only Microsoft, and not Sony or Nintendo, is equipped for that future. The potential partnerships there are interesting.

Anyway, Microsoft needs some level of usage for its services to be relevant, and even Bing’s single-digit usage share probably accomplishes that.

Rcandelori adds:

Bing is very bare-bones outside of the United States. The product has been around since 2009 and they’ve not made any meaningful improvements to international markets – particularly comparable tier 1 English markets like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

As he notes, this remains a sore spot with users who do not live in the United States or one of the select companies where Bing (or Cortana, or whatever) is available in first-class form. There’s not much more to be said here beyond, he’s right. And Microsoft needs to fix that. That it’s not just Microsoft isn’t the issue. There’s no such thing as global scale if your offering is US-English only.

Site updates

jr.flynn asks:

Any update on when you guys will be able to share with us a site roadmap? I asked about a bunch of site features on We Help Wednesday a few weeks ago, and I know things don’t develop overnight but it would be nice to know what the dev team is working on (even if you don’t want to commit to timeframes for delivery). That would at least give the user community the chance to provide you feedback on how you may want to prioritize what you have lined up.

Not yet, sorry. We normally have a meeting each Thursday but the holidays screwed that up. I still have your questions from mid-December queued up for the next time we meet. Which won’t be next week either because of CES.

Google v. Amazon

Trickyd asks:

Your thoughts on Google blocking the YouTube App on Amazon fire tv/stick , which is getting more publicity than when they stopped supporting LG smart tv’s a while ago (my Panasonics still work but for how long?). Amazon have offered firefox as an alternative but its very choppy compared with the app which might make a cynic wonder if Amazon hardware is being detected anyway and slowed down!

While I’m always fascinated when big tech companies duke it out, I am not a fan of them hurting their collective customers. And that’s all this is. We don’t know what the back-room machinations are here, and maybe we never will. But with Amazon and Google now competing head-to-head in so many areas, this kind of thing is inevitable. You don’t see Google Play Movies & TV on the Apple TV either.

Silos suck. This kind of thing is bad for everyone.

Spectre and Meltdown

ianceicys asks:

Houston, we have a problem …

So this one isn’t really a question. 🙂

I feel like I’ve said what needs to be said on these security vulnerabilities, the most important point being that Intel has lied to us all about what is happening. As I noted on Twitter this week, this puts Intel in the same place in which I place Google: Hate them. Don’t trust them. Will still use their products.

Cortana v. music

will asks:

Since Cortana can no longer recognize songs with Groove being shut down, and the Invoke not selling like hot cakes, what is the honest future of Cortana? I mean does Microsoft have some long term goal they are working towards with it or is just whatever feels good, add crap along the way, and move on to the next release? In a way is this how Windows is being built as well?
…
I guess my my main question is: Where the heck is Microsoft going!?

One year ago, Brad and I were spun a great story about Microsoft’s plans for Cortana in 2017. But as you noted, all that happened this past year is that one company released one Cortana-powered speaker, and Microsoft shut down Groove Music Pass (and music purchasing), and in the process killed Cortana’s ability to recognize songs.

Aside from the parlor trick nature of that latter now-missing capability, which I don’t think anyone would describe as mission-critical, the bigger issue here is that Cortana has simply gone from being non-essential to being a literal also-ran in the markets for both digital assistants and smart speakers.

But going back to the original question this week, I would just add that maybe this is for the best. Microsoft’s biggest successes will come with businesses and back-end services. And this evolution (such as it is) should perhaps be seen as both normal and expected.

Anyway, “where is Microsoft headed?” (or least my opinion of that) is detailed above. To the cloud and back-end services.

Can the chipset vulnerabilities be designed out of future chips?

superman2 asks:

Will new PCs come without the Intel vulnerability feature? I want to purchase the new Thinkpad T480 whatever the answer will be 🙂

It appears not. Intel continues to claim that the vulnerabilities are not the results of “bugs” or “flaws” and that its chips are working as designed. I can’t pretend to understand microprocessor/SoC architectures, but these vulnerabilities are apparently the result of decades-old and deeply-integrated chip designs that would require a complete rethinking of these products. It won’t happen anytime soon.

Amazon hardware for businesses

Nic asks:

Amazon are movers and shakers, and now looking to get into the data center (as was mentioned on Wednesday’s FRD). Do you see a path where Amazon make their own version of a Chromebook like device? (maybe using the forked version of Android that they already use for their tablet machines). Add in apps that they are rumored to be developing, and it creates a complete suite, on their own hardware and OS as a way to get deeper into business.

I think that is inevitable. Amazon has a lot of experience with hardware devices, and it wants to provide a complete stack of solutions for its business customers. It will probably pad out its services offerings first, but I could see Amazon expanding into business PC/devices for sure.

Surface peripherals

jwpear asks:

Have you heard any rumors of Microsoft providing an updated version of the Surface Ergonomic Keyboard to add fingerprint ID, wired charging/connection?

No, sorry. But I rarely catch wind of Surface peripheral rumors. Looking at what they offer today, I’m surprised that Microsoft doesn’t offer more in the way of fingerprint readers across all of their Surface products. It seems like businesses would prefer that to camera-based Windows Hello, especially given the recent security concerns.

Tech gift disasters

hrlngrv asks:

In line with the forum thread about tech disappointments, what was the tech gift you received which misgauged your tech interests the worst.

I’ve been thinking about this one a lot and I’m having trouble coming up with anything good, possibly because few people would ever buy me a legit tech gift given what I do for a living.

That said, I’ve certainly experienced great regret—buyer’s remorse—in that wake of many tech purchases. This year, the Google Pixel Buds (which I canceled before I received), Google Home Max, and Google Pixel 2 XL were all disappointing in major ways, as was the Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch).

Looking through my Amazon orders from 2017, I see a few dogs: A Polk soundbar for our TV that disconnects randomly, a universal vent mount for smartphones that never stays attached, and a terrible Lenovo Yoga A12 tablet. So nothing major, I guess.

No real Titanics. 🙂

It’s sea change

GlenKilgore asks:

There has been a term tossed around quiet a bit in the last 6 weeks. Pronounced at least two different ways the term is: “sea-change” or “seed change”. Which is correct:?

I’ve never heard “seed change.” But “sea change” is correct, and it dates back (at least) to Shakespeare: It means a change so big that it’s almost a literal about-face, as would happen in rough seas.

Xbox One voice control

naven87 asks

Are there any ways beyond the now obsolete Kinect USB adapter to actually enable voice interaction with an Xbox One X? It was the simplest way to explain to house sitters and visitors how to get the TV to play ABC without them needing to navigate the Xbox interface.

The only way I am aware of is to use a microphone/headset with the latest generation Xbox One Controller; these now feature a microphone jack for this reason.