Living with S Mode: Core Apps (Premium)

In the previous article in this series, I focused on my experiences using writing apps with Windows 10 Pro in S mode. This makes sense: I’m a writer, after all. But writing is still just part of what I do with a PC every day. And to better understand what works—and what doesn’t work—with Windows 10 in S mode, it’s helpful to examine the other apps I regularly use.

And it’s a pretty concise list, to be honest. This is partially because I now engage in consumption activities—reading, watching videos, social media, and so on—on mobile devices for the most part. But it’s also because I review different PCs pretty regularly, so I’m often moving on to the next one. I like to travel light.

And like most of you, I’d imagine, I’m also pretty set in my ways. This isn’t necessarily bad: My workflow has become pretty efficient over the years, thanks to my familiarity with the tools I prefer. But it makes switching to S mode more difficult because many of the apps I prefer are not available in the Microsoft Store.

But I keep trying, which entails searching for suitable replacements in the Store and experimenting as new options become available. Frankly, very few Store apps have met my needs to date. But here’s the list of apps I routinely pin to my taskbar, along with the alternatives I’ve chosen when using S mode.

Microsoft Store. I’m not even sure why I leave this app pinned to the taskbar, but I do, and I always place it in the furthest position to the left, next to the Start button. (On portable PCs, I usually remove Cortana and Task View from the taskbar; for now, I’ve left Task View on so I can more easily test Timeline.) Obviously, Microsoft Store is available in S mode, so there’s no change required.

File Explorer. Here, too, there’s no change required as File Explorer is also included in S mode, of course. I usually launch this app using the WINKEY + E keyboard shortcut, but I leave the app in the taskbar because I find it easier to launch a second File Explorer window via this button. (Right-click and then select “File Explorer” from the pop-up menu.)

Google Inbox. This is the first of a handful of web apps that I run via Google Chrome-based shortcuts. But since Chrome is not available in S mode, I instead use the Windows 10 Mail app, begrudgingly. This app has many shortcomings, not the least of which is its inability to configure a persistent zoom level for messages. But I still barely prefer it to using Inbox via an Edge tab.

Google Calendar. Another Chrome-based web app that is unavailable in S mode. So I use the Windows 10 Calendar app instead. This is less onerous than the Mail app, in part because I don’t sit in a calendar all day. But it’s also a pretty and minimalist app.

Google Chrome. Again, this application is not available in S mode, so I (of course) use Microsoft Edge instead. To date, this experience has been more positive than was the case with previous Windows 10 versions, which is heartening. And I will soon write an overview of this experience, as I did with the previous three Windows 10/Edge versions. But I have hopes, too, that the introduction of Progressive Web Apps (PWA) support to the platform will likewise improve matters further.

MarkdownPad. Perhaps my quirkiest app choice, this excellent desktop application is, of course, not available in S mode. So I keep both Appy Text, and middling Store-based Markdown and text editor, and Microsoft Word 2016 (the Store version) pinned to the taskbar instead. I used Appy Text to write this post, but it’s not ideal, and I would still love to find a better Markdown editor. The worst bit is that I’ve not found a way to paste formatted text from Appy Text into WordPress for this site’s articles. It just pastes as plain text, making the app a non-starter for me.

OneNote 2016. Windows 10 includes the Store version of OneNote, but I very much prefer the desktop application. And Microsoft, curiously, does not provide this app via the Store when you download Office 2106. Fortunately, if you have the correct link, you can download it manually. So I do that, and use OneNote 2016 (the Store version) in S mode.

Notepad. I still use Notepad a bit every day, so I keep it pinned to the taskbar. It is, of course, available in Windows 10 in S mode too.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 15. This is the only example of a high-quality Store app that I use every single day, though it’s a bit of a cheat since it’s just the desktop application sold through the Store. But I use the Store version on all of my computers, too, so this doesn’t actually require any change. (Note that this is one version old since Adobe shipped a more recent version in late 2017.)

Paint. Like Notepad, I use Paint every single day—actually, I use it quite a bit more than Notepad—and it is, of course, available in S mode too. So no change here.

Twitter Lite. I use and very much prefer the PWA version of Twitter, which I access via Google Chrome (like Inbox and Calendar). For now, however, I’m stuck using the Store app version of Twitter in S mode. It works OK, but it’s very much out of date. For example, it doesn’t even support Twitter’s new tweet count. Sad.

Skype for Windows desktop. My final pinned app is disappearing everywhere, but I’ve stuck with the desktop version of Skype for as long as I could. In S mode, and soon, everywhere else, I must use the Store app version of Skype (which is included with Windows 10) instead. This app has various shortcomings, but the big one for me is that it does not support multiple windows. Instead, everything—including all conversations— occurs in a single app window. It sucks.

More soon.

Note: I had originally published this as “Living with S Mode: Apps,” but I inadvertantly left off a discussion of other, non-core apps. So I’ll write later about that topic at greater length. –Paul