Happy weekend everyone. Here’s another edition of “Ask Paul,” and as you might expect, there are several questions about PWAs this week.

Xbox Game Pass

dave.erwin asks:

Microsoft is bringing “new” exclusive titles to Game Pass. Will they also bring “current” exclusive titles? I’d subscribe if they’d put Forza 7 on it.

This is a great idea (and a great question). I don’t know about “will” but I am positive on “should”: Obviously, they should do so. But I will ask Microsoft about this.

Photo backup and sync

dave.erwin also asks:

How are you syncing photos from your NAS to Google Photos? Backup & Sync don’t appear to work with mapped network drives and the desktop uploader is no longer available. I’ve been thinking about copying our existing photos to Google Photos but it looks like I’d have to move them to a local drive to do it. I could setup a VM on the Synology and run Backup & Sync from there but that seems like a real hack for something that should be simple.

I did a one-time sync from the NAS to Google Photos but this isn’t something I do on an ongoing basis because it’s not necessary. Instead, all new photos are automatically synced to Google Photos (and to OneDrive) from the phones. And they are copied to the NAS from time to time as well.

How did I do this? I believe I just mapped the NAS’s Photos folder as a drive on my desktop PC and then configured the Google Photos app to sync that location. This was some time ago though. So I tested it again this morning and it works fine: I mounted the Photos folder on the NAS as drive P: and configured Backup and Sync (the new client) to sync only from a folder in that location. It noted that this kind of sync would only work while the folder was mounted on the PC, but it works.

Over-promise, never deliver?

rojorojo asks:

Whatever happened to Cloud Clipboard?

It has never materialized and will not be included with Windows 10 Redstone 4 (RS4) unless it is a surprise, last-minute add. Brad asks about this all the time, and it’s fair to put this into the “over-promise and under-deliver” complaint I voiced last year.

Will timeline or the ability to “pick up where you left off” ever happen between Windows and iOS/Android?

Yes. In fact, that’s the only way Timeline makes any sense. Not that many people use multiple PCs.

It seems that we have the ability to send an Edge browser tab from a phone to a PC (which is great btw) but when will we be able to go from PC to phone/tablet?

You are asking all the right questions. One-way browser tab sync is only half the story. I expect this in the next Windows 10 release (RS5). In fact, everything you’re asking about will likely happen in that time frame.

Office text selection behavior

maethorechannen asks:

Is there anyway to get Office apps to stop “helpfully” adding spaces after a selection of text? I know how to use a mouse and that extra space is always unwanted and often causes me extra work. I’ve looked online for an answer, but all I’ve found is a Microsoft “Support Engineer” going on about mouse drivers and other assorted useless suggestions.

This may fall into that bucket of problems we’ve been dealing with for decades. I don’t know of a fix, however, sorry. It happens when you select text with the keyboard too (position the cursor, then CTRL + SHIFT + RIGHT ARROW).

When this happens, I just type SHIFT + LEFT ARROW and then move on to what I was doing, like CTRL + C for copying it to the clipboard (or whatever).

Mixing accounts in Windows 10

GeekWithKids asks:

I have two Microsoft Account, both standard account (not business), one is my personal account, the other is for work. I use the work account to sign into windows, but my personal one for my photos.

When I go into the Photos app it opens using my Work account. When ever I try to sign out from it and sign into my personal account, it messes up. Sometimes it shows my work profile picture but links to my personal photos, other time it just fails. Either way it reverts to my work account. Have you seen this before?

I don’t use two different Microsoft accounts actively, so I’ve not run into this per se. I have spent a lot of time, however, experimenting with two different sign-in behaviors in Windows 10: Using a local account to sign-in to Windows and then signing into individual apps with an MSA, and then just signing in to Windows (and thus all apps) with an MSA.

To test what you are describing, I launched Photos and signed out of my MSA in that app (on a current, non-Insider build of Windows 10). I experienced a lot of problems: It will show me the other login but never actually logs into it, even when I select it. It just signs in to the account I’m using to login to Windows.

That’s not a lot of testing, but it matches what you are seeing. So I can only conclude that this thing is broken. Unfortunately, that means you pretty much just have to report this to Microsoft via the Feedback Hub in Windows 10. (You can use the “Send Feeback” link from within the Photos app menu too.)

That is terrible.

Fitbit durability

davidD asks:

I’ve had a Fitbit Alta since Christmas 2016. I got a new wristband (actually from the Alta HR, which has a different clasp design) in July because the original peeled off. This second band has done the same, at both ends of the tracker. (I think the glue has worn off, sellotape is keeping it together without issue). I previously had a Flex, and had to the replace the wristband every 6-ish months due to it breaking (not in the same way though). [So far, all replacements have been FOC through customer services, whom I cannot fault, but still annoying that it keeps happening,, the only bad thing about Fitbits in my experience].

I know someone else who has experienced the same, although their replacement band hasn’t broken.

Have you experienced this at all with yours? Any advice on what I may be doing wrong?

I got my Fitbit Alta in May 2016 and one of the many things that attracted me to this device was its easily removable and replaceable bands. While in Barcelona in August 2017, one of the bands broke, and I bought a replacement there at a FNAC (basically a French version of Best Buy). But that’s the only time I experienced this.

My takeaway is that the bands are inexpensive to replace and, in my case, I experienced well over a year of daily use with constant dings and hits. I’m OK with that. 6-months-ish is not OK, of course, but it sounds like Fitbit has done right by you.

Progressive Web Apps

mabennett3 asks:

What do you think will change as a result of PWAs being introduced to the Microsoft Store? For example, would MS change any of its own offerings to utilize this technology so they’re cross-platform?

Yes. Microsoft has already announced that Teams will transition into a PWA this year, and I expect other Office applications to follow.

Will it help their marketshare to finally get decent apps in their ecosystem from some of the major players?

This move won’t help Microsoft improve its standing against more popular rival app stores; if anything, those stores will also be able to provide PWAs to their users. But what this will do, and this is super-important, is put the Microsoft Store over the top for users of Windows 10. Today, the store is a wasteland aside from a few games and a handful of Desktop Bridge apps. PWAs are how we finally get a mass volume of high-quality apps in a store that, today, few are using.

Is MS uniquely advantaged to have the better platform offering to work with PWAs given their ink support? etc.

Each platform can offer unique features to PWAs or, put another way, PWA developers are free to use unique platform features on each platform. Will they? I hope so. There’s no reason that a PWA shouldn’t be “better” on Windows 10 thanks to this ability. But our experience with Desktop Bridge apps, which can likewise optionally take advantage of native UWP features, is mixed: Only a few basic features (notification support, live tiles, etc.) are used by a few apps.

I understand we can only speculate at this point, but I’m trying to better understand the implication and have realistic expectations of what’s inevitable to happen and what the opportunities are to seize.

The way I look at this is that Job One is getting a lot of high-quality apps in the Store, and this will literally happen on day one: In its announcement post, Microsoft noted that it has “reviewed nearly 1.5 million [PWA] candidates on the web [and] identified a small initial set of Progressive Web App experiences which [it will] be indexing for Windows 10 customers to take for a spin over the coming weeks. Over the coming months, [it will] be ramping up automatic indexing in the Microsoft Store from a few initial candidates to a broader sample.” In other words, you can expect a flood of new apps as RS4 hits the market.

Beyond that, the question is open as to whether developers will take the time and effort to fine-tune PWAs to offer native features on Windows 10. I think many will do so because this task is far less onerous than creating a native UWP app from scratch and then maintaining it alongside their other code-bases. Here, I can only be hopeful, as there is no way to know how this will pan out.

Longer term, Windows 10 could change dramatically as a result of PWAs, and this where my contention that “PWAs are the future of all apps” comes into play: Microsoft has literally promised to stop using and improving native Windows 10 features as the PWA equivalents mature to offer the same or better functionality. For example, if PWA notifications surpass the capabilities of native Windows 10 notifications, then Microsoft will simply switch over to the PWA implementation. The impact that PWAs have on Windows 10, thus, might ultimately be more profound than the reverse. It’s kind of interesting to speculate about that bit.

First Ring Daily

kherm asks:

Just curious, what happened to First Ring Daily? I noticed that for about a week, Brad has been doing the scene transitions and running the Intro / Outro, with the quality of the show decreasing, if only very slightly. Has ‘sunkast’ been removed from the equation, or is he just on hiatus?

Our boss—remember, I’m only a minority partner here a do not in any way control how/where money is spent—decided that it would be less expensive for us (e.g. Brad) to do this work than to pay an outside partner. So we’re doing this in-house now. This isn’t a dig against Sunkast, as both of us love the guy. It’s just a business decision that wasn’t made by Brad or I.

Also, is there any update on if/when you’re going to build a podcast studio at Thurrott Manor?

Now that First Ring Daily is a free feature of the site (in other words, is not a Premium feature), I don’t feel the need to do so. Also, the home I’m in is a temporary (3 to 5 year) thing, and I don’t want to build something like that knowing that I’ll be leaving. (If I had known that I would move from Dedham, I would never have built the previous studio walls into that basement. But I didn’t know.)

I’m vaguely willing to create a nicer space for FRD in this house, I guess. But I never saw the need for a studio, even when FRD was Premium: I’ve recorded almost 1000 podcast episodes just fine without the complexity of a studio. Anyway, since I’m footing the bill for whatever this eventual space will be, it will happen on my own schedule. Which, given how much money we’ve spent on this house so far, will not be anytime soon. Sorry.

Polaris

Sprtfan asks:

Does Polaris fit some where into the Windows 10 Roadmap? It seems like it could potentially be a fit for educaton and first line workers.

We don’t know very much about Polaris at the moment, but I think it’s safe to say that Microsoft’s moves this year with S mode, Windows 10 on Qualcomm, Progressive Web Apps, and, eventually, Andromeda are all part of a broader strategy to modernize Windows. And that, yes, Polaris is part of that. Will Polaris be the shell in some future Windows version? Yeah, I believe it will, assuming that the work pans out. It’s nowhere close today.

Star Wars

StevenLayton asks:

From favorite to least favorite, please rank the Star Wars films….

1. A New Hope
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Rogue One
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. The Force Awakens
6. Return of the Jedi
7. Attack of the Clones
8. The Phantom Menace

I am embarrassed to say that I have still not seen The Last Jedi. This is unprecedented and will be rectified.

Surface reliability

Yman71 asks:

I have a question in regards to Microsoft Promotes Survey That Shows Big Preference for Macs (Premium). In your experience, how has the reliability of the most recent generation Surface devices been compared to the previous generation? Anecdotally, many of my colleagues who have been in the market for new PC’s this year have turned away from Surface due to the highly publicized reliability issues.

It’s been night and day: If my experience is any guide, then Microsoft’s late 2016 and 2017 Surface models have been much more reliable than the initial run of Skylake-based devices (Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book). I’ve never had any issues with the newer devices. Not once.

In November, I wrote something about whether we can “trust” Surface. “I can’t say with any degree of proof that the 2017 Surface PCs are more reliable than their predecessors. But I do believe they are. I do trust that they are.” That still rings true to me.

Office to PWA?

hrlngrv asks:

In all seriousness, which do you believe more likely: that full desktop Office or the web version becomes a PWA? Are PWAs practical for software packages weighing in at over 1GB disk storage? How about DRM: wouldn’t PWAs which provide some form of DRM be relatively easy to reverse engineer and thus bypass? Or would there need to be network connections to DRM validation services, in which case what’d be the point to running locally using service workers rather than running as a web app?

In Microsoft Wins Today, but Google Wants Productivity’s Future (Premium), I raised the issue that Microsoft has far too many Office applications. Not just individual apps, but different versions of the same apps. This needs to change.

As to which code-base Microsoft might use to create PWA versions of the core Office applications, the answer is clear: Microsoft would have to start with the web-based Office Online apps. Today, those apps site somewhere in the middle, functionally, between the full Office 2016 versions and the Office Mobile versions. So they would need to be improved, of course.

But I see no reason for these imagined new PWAs to ever have to achieve the same level of functionality as Office 2016/2019: Those desktop apps can continue for the tiny subset of people who need the full range of features. But the PWAs should/could become the mainstream Office apps for most people.

I don’t have any opinion about DRM/whatever. The point of PWA, for Microsoft, is to create a single code base that can work across platforms. So they could support Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, and the Web with a single code base for each app, and those apps could use native platform features everywhere too. It’s a huge win.

Xamarin v. PWA?

MartinusV2 asks:

Another question about PWA. Depending on the rapid adoption of PWA on Windows. Do you think that UWP, and now Xamarin, also be another failed technology for Microsoft? I mean, since PWA applications can work on any OS/devices, doesn’t it also replace Xamarin rather quickly?

I think that it will, yes, but over time. I wouldn’t describe Xamarin as a failure, though. Remember, the goal there, which was achieved, was to provide a way for .NET/Microsoft stack developers to be able to bring their skills and experiences to a new world of mobile app development and not force them to learn new languages, SDKs, and technologies.

More broadly, Microsoft’s developer vision is consistent and two-fold: To provide ways for Microsoft-focused developers to expand to new platforms (as above, with Xamarin) and to provide ways for non-Microsoft developers (e.g. most of them) to more easily bring their existing code bases (and skills and experience) to Microsoft platforms like Windows.

PWA speaks to the latter group. It is a more inclusive technology that targets the single-biggest market there is (the web) and the single-biggest developer base. And it brings that group to Windows in a frictionless and nearly effortless way. It’s brilliant. But it doesn’t “compete” with Xamarin. It makes UWP obsolete.

The question here, really, is what, if anything, Microsoft will do to bring .NET/Microsoft stack developers to the PWA world. One can only imagine—-a way to help transform UWP apps to PWAs, perhaps?—but given Microsoft’s history, they will do something. And Build 2018 is just two months from now. Interesting timing.

Do you know if Microsoft is even using Xamarin internally? Does the Android/iOS applications made with Xamarin? Or they used the OS native development tools?

I do not believe there is a single high-profile example of Microsoft using Xamarin for its own apps, no. I do know that Microsoft has separate teams for iOS and Android apps pretty much across the board, and I believe they use native software development tools like Apple Xcode for iOS/Mac.

But again, this doesn’t mean Xamarin is a failure. Xamarin is there now for that one-way transition to mobile for existing .NET/Microsoft developers. PWA is for new apps, or for transitioning existing web apps into something better. So it hits that other (web -> Windows) direction from Microsoft’s perspective.

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