article

REVIEW - windows weekly

episode # 374

[subjects-summary]

[00:00] smalltalk

] Paul is checking in from Barcelona,Spain
] Mary Jo is back this week, after judging competitors at the msft sponsored "imagine cup" hackathon last week in Seattle
] both hardware and software, lots of really cool apps and machines..., interesting judges, people from reddit, from facebook,
] winner of competition was medical students who were also programmers, from australia, team of 2
] made an app and a color chart, take a selfie, hold up the color chart to your eye, that can check for "anemia" by taking a photo of your eye
] won over 50k cash and a mentoring session with Bill Gates
] also impressed by 2 women, who built a machine out of a shoe box, nail polish mixer, take a picture of your dress and accessories and machine mixes nail polish

[09:15] Paul's Rant ON the the naming of "the update", it's "window 8.1 update - August", it's NOT "windows 8.1 update 2" says msft

] is their a PROBLEM with the naming of the update
] details about the update in msft blog post,
] blog post calls out "journalists" (aka Paul + Mary Jo), who were saying that this was an update, update 2
] msft is saying this is NOT ummm update 2
] ?????????????????????????
] but it is "update 2", it is called update 2 internally, to deny it in a public blog post is ...
] msft denies things in a very specific manner,
] frustrating Paul ... who gets upset ....
] it doest matter what its called, we know what is, we accurately reported what it is
] then you have the __ to call us out for ...
] this is sooooo the last regime !!
] msft is notoriously NOT good at effectively communicating,
] now there knocking the people who are trying to communicate what they are doing effectively
"] MJF if they would have gone with the plan at the beginning of the year, which was to release the new mini start menu, then they would have likely called it "update 2", because there is really not too much there without that feature
] msft is trying to establish a pattern of serviceability, more regular updates to windows, 2 or 3 times a year
] they are not wanting to call it out as "updates" for whatever reasons "msft" has
] for a period in time, this update was going to include some Major updates
?] bringing back the mini start menu

[16:00] windows 8.1 update august - includes ...

"] LL proproses a new update naming language, if its going to have new features/visual changes you see, call it one thing, if its all 'under the covers' stuff then name it something else,
] what is the "update" going to do?
] not much, 3 things
] touchpad improvements -
] miracast reciever capablities - api's for windows developers, only for desktop
] sharepoint login checkbox - that tells system not to bother you
"] MJF - they dont want us to show people how the sausage is made?
] the dont want the inside information of how there making windows, and what they are making, geting out
] whatever this update is called, its a lame set of updates
] window server is also getting an update
] for a brief moment in time (April Build), they were planning on this update being very big,
] something changed somehwere along the line

[29:00] UPDATE threshold (aka windows 9)

"] LL - threshold is a terrible code name,
"] MJF - name comes from Halo,
"] LL - maybe next version of OneDrive will be named "masterchief",
"] MJF - im gonna have to get an xbox to keep up on all these codenames
] Threshold UI - haven't really known a whole lot about it, to date, we do know about 2 features
] the new 'mini start menu'
] windows 8 metro/modern apps running on the desktop in a window,
] APP modern mix - adds the ability to do this currently,
] APP start8 / stardock - adds the previous generation 'start menu' to windows 8
] msft is undoing some of the changes that windows 8 brought
] mini start menu - a start menu that is DIFFERENT then what they have now,
] will have live tiles in the start menu
] you can maximize the start menu, it will then go full screen and you can use it like the current windows 8 start menu
] an attempt to meet everybody halfway
] neowin reports that threshold will have "virtual desktops"
] the ability to have multiple desktops,
] windows NT was already in the OS but not exposed
] Mark Russinovich(sysInternals) wrote a utility that exposed it
] sysinternals - has mutli desktop cabability,
] really shines when in full screen mode
] winbeta reports that charms bar(as we know it) is going away
] rumour has it that it is gone for everybody
] promise of this, was greater then the reality, the communication around this feature has always been terrible
] where it makes sense is on tablets
] enterprise users will like it, many people couldn't find them, didn't like them
] share - contracts still exist for sharing BUT developer will have to add a share button to their app
] search -
] settings -
] charms may be missed, get ready for the howls, some people liked these things
] you can't right click on a tablet
] "long press and hold", everyone uses it(android, windows phone) and ?everyone? knows how to use it now, because "touch" is the new normal
] msft is alreading working on bringing different windows UI closer together (example windows + windows phone)
] winPhone already has the notion of 'global buttons' that can appear on screen (start, back, search)
] maybe we will see something like that in big windows

[42:30] "Leo Laporte - "this User Interface on windows phone is close to perfection"

"] LL - it doesn't have charms, but is has charm
"] PT - Leo, I am going to use that as my new ringtone
"] LL - so nicely done, its intuitive, its easy to use, they rethought it and i think they did a good job
"] PT if we could just turn back the hands of time, i would give anything for the windows team to have just talked to the windows phone team back then
] example, open app weather, context sensitive buttons appear at the bottom of the screen, unpin, pin, search
] paul elaborates on some of the + things he see's in the windows phone 8 UI
] "pulldown to refresh", rubberband effect, now being used everywhere
] "shelf with hamburger button", consistent way to access settings in other parts of the app
] this is the kind of thing that msft needs to be doing, not just on windows phone but on windows,
"] PT hope that part of the reason they may be getting rid of charms is to make things more consistent
"] MJF another reason, businesses dont want them, want things to be more 'discoverable' to make users more productive, so corps dont have to pay to train employees

[45:30] windows phone 8.1 update - was recieved last week (developer preview version)

] windows phone scrolls home screen live tiles vertically VS horizontally like android, blackberry and ios
] latest update now has "folders" feature, where you can drop 1 live tile onto another live tile and it will then create a folder
] folder addresses space density problem if you have a lot of apps
] tiles can be resized inside the folder
] folder displays up to 4 mini live tiles as its icon
] 8.1 update for HTC 8.x and HTC 8s phone is coming, they are just working on some buts
] consumer VPN -
] internet explorer - significant upgrades -

[55:00] losses surface at msft

] computerworld analyst calculated msft losses of 1.7B on surface over 2 years
] msft previouisly reported a 900M writedown on surface inventory
] this past quarter they didnt release their cost of revenue on the devices
] they are launching a major new hardware product , there will be costs associated with that
] xbox was in the red for a long time, years
] part of it is cost of starting the new business
] also, they have also been having supply problems, were out of stock a lot of times, couldnt even get a surface in many large countries
] now are going to be adding 25 more countries that the surface will be sold in, including UK, Germany, Australia
] still dont have a reseller program, they have distributors, but program is not turned on
] how long will Satya Nadella be willing to lose money, Ballmer was a long term guy, we dont know how long he will support it
] Nadella not talking about Lumia and Surface as part of their 'core dna'

[61:30] surface pro3, new high end models with i7 and i3 processors are now out, should you get one?

] MJF - future proof yourself, buying the highest end machine available can extend lifespan, if its your daily improvements in battery life with these processors
] hard to say at this point, i havent tested them
] i3 - are a bit too restrained, would shy away from it
] i7 - concerns - heat, fan noise, durability, agree with future proofing idea, but would like to know more about these issues,
] have heard about some concerns on i5 version gettting really hot on corner where USB port is
] havent seen it personally, but have heard on the i7 version that it can get "roasting hot"
] docking station is 'really nice' same build quality as surface pro 2 version, more expansion capabilities
"] PT - the surface pro 3 is just a better machine all around
] ONE difference on docking station is that you can use the USB port on the machine while it's docked, prev gen you couldnt
] ALSO you can also use the video out on dock and machine simultaneously -
] you can have 2 external monitors hooked up to the surface at the same time
] you can also daisy chain them,
] theoretically you could have 5 displays(including the tablet) hooked up to this machine,
] All Surface Pro 3 Models are Now Available

[65:00] surface pro coming to 25 more countries

] will they lose even more money OR ???
] theory is to change big
] make money on additional volume
] Surface Pro 3 launching in 25 Additional Markets on August 28th

[66:30] msft problems with chinese government,

] ? msft is a 'proxy' for us government in this case,
] they are doing it to a lot of other companies as well
] its unclear as to what is happening, offices were raided, documents were taken, anti trust is being thrown around
] china is worried that msft is helping the US gov with spying on china
] china publically warns msft to not get the us gov involved in it's defence against these charges
] bizaare behaviour, the have never come out publicly and said "this is what we are investigating you for .."
] interesting, android may be a bigger problem for the chinese gov, especially since mobile device usage will likely outnumber desktop by 10-1
] maybe something to do with windows XP, seems to be where it all started
] hard to take it seriously, msft has to take it seriously, ironic
] msft also had a large layoff at the nokia plant in china
] noted problem boom + bust cycle for workers, employed then laid off, not a problem recognized by chinese gov, only for employees
] in other craziness, msft offering free lumia 630 phone for workers if they take a voluntary resignation package
] msft not pulling out of china
] launched recently in China, Cortana, Surface, Xbox,
"] you would be better off pulling out of the US then out of China

[75:00] TIP OF THE WEEK Get Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 right now

] we are in a bit of a weird space now from a windows phone perspective, for years we never got any updates and starting last year, we started getting updates, we got win phone 8.1 early if we wanted it
] big promises with release was when ] final version becomes available, General Availabilty(GA) version, then you will get ] carrier updates, ] firmware updates
] then windows phone update - was released,
] which is raising a lot of questions - if you havent got the GA version
] msft said - firmware updates have nothing to do with it, whenever carrier releases it, you will get it
] tip is "you will get it" , its just a matter of time

[78:00] SOFTWARE PICK OF THE WEEK

] office Lens - for windows 8.1+ - integrates with oneNote, gives you a scanner, scan documents, whiteboards, into OneNote, corrects the document, previous put a new note into the quicknotes section of your default notebook, but now you can configure it to got to any section in any notebook, awesome, amazing, fun and FREE

[80:00] ENTERPRISE PICK OF THE WEEK

] visual studio 2013 - update 3 - vs team has been releasing regular updates to VS very rapidly(quarterly, ] codelens support for git, ] multi monitor support for windows store app development ] viewsource support in CPU usage diagnostics tool ] the end of 'all caps' for, can now use upper or lower case, default value is all caps, the visual studio team is right on it, there very agile

[82:00] CODENAME OF THE WEEK

] creet - microsoft dyanmic NAV ERP software - coming in 2014-Q4, will be making a tablet version, maybe a modern app as well, already putting people into the beta program

[84:00] BEER PICKS OF THE WEEK

] Sierra Nevada There and Back - in Seattle last week, discovered awesome bar called Browers, was drinking some of the "Collaboration Beers" , this one is an easy drinking, not to high in alcohol, very tasty, english style beer

[objects]

[tech-sw os]

] windows 8.x
] windows 8.1 update
] windows 8.1 update 2
] windows 9.x (threshold)
]

[tech-hw-tablets]

] tablet - surface pro 3

[tech-hw-gaming]

] x-box-one

[tech-hw-smartphones]

] smartphone - lumia 630
] smartphone - lumia 635

[tech-software]

] office-365

[people]

] twit tv - windows weekly

] host - Leo Laporte
] co-host - Paul Thurrott -
] co-host - Mary Jo Foley -

] MSFT - microsoft

]

[events]

[places]

] SHOW - PAGE url - Windows Weekly 374 | TWiT.TV - watch the live video of this episode
] SHOW - audio - twit.cachefly.net/audio/ww/ww0374/ww0374.mp3 - download the .mp3 audio file

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REVIEW - windows weekly

episode # 374

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