A Microsoft-y week
Pretty good week if you're a Microsoft fan or use of their services. Seems like a new Windows Phone build may be in the pipeline based on the chatter, new build of Windows 10 on desktops and Xbox Music gets OneDrive integration. There are smaller nit picking points in there as well. But overall positive.
Firstly with the speculation. Nothing hard on the Windows build for phones, but Gabe Aul and others internally are now actually mentioning builds for phone more frequently on Twitter. When they are far from a build there is either outright denial or complete silence. The fact builds are being acknowledged and talk of device testing is going on, it seems feasible that we are a week or so away from a new build and new devices supported. May just be wishful thinking, but even getting news is better than total silence even if not as good as actual builds.
Window 10 Fast ring users also got a new build. Definitely good news for those who want to provide feedback and good for MS if they are serious about soliciting it and it seems like they are, even when it is a bad idea.
And that is the first nit picking point... the transparent start menu. Apparently a huge feedback item. And it looks... appalling. Well, actually it looks good, except when it doesn't. It is HIGHLY transparent, so if you have a bunch of apps open in the background the screen is an unmanageable clutter and if you have lots of white space it can become very hard to read white text. Not sure why they went so extreme on the transparency level. Think this needs to be configurable and defaulted off in the final version. Ideally, degree of transparency would also be configurable.
The next nit pick point is that some really seem to HATE the new fly-out for selecting a WiFi connection. I personally love it. My WiFi card had a tendency to disconnect at random in the last Tech Preview, and clicking a button that brought up a completely separate screen with the options I needed on the extreme opposite and needed to be manually dismissed was TERRIBLE. New fly-out means settings are right where I clicked to initiate selecting a connection, and the screen dismisses itself when I click on something else. Astronomically better in my opinion. But proves that people will complain about anything.
New install process is also pretty. But it highlights the fact that MS still hasn't figured out progress indicators. Was slightly worried when both of my machines sat at 2% for 15+ minutes. There is no details or even an indeterminate progress indicator to let you know that the computer hasn't completely frozen. And 100% *should* mean 100%. I sat staring at a screen saying it was 100% complete for well over a minute. And THEN I had to watch that stupid slow motion seizure screen telling my it was installing apps. But, at least the install screen looks nice :)
Next up, Xbox Music + OneDrive = Sweet! I have very little music that I listen to actively that I can't get on Xbox Music with my subscription, but there are certainly some which fit the bill. Mainly old stuff, especially British stuff, like The Beatles. But the nice bit is, even if you don't have a Music Pass, this functionality still applies. Upload music to OneDrive in a Music folder in the root and voila! You can stream or download to just about any device that supports Xbox Music. Prior to this, I saw no need to upload my music collection to OneDrive. It is big and would take a long time, and while it is a huge part of my backup strategy, there was no benefit to having it in the cloud. The extra 100GB of space will also be nice for some if you also have a Music Pass... for me it was laughable. I have 10TB already from my Office 365 subscription.
All in all, a good week if you buy into Microsoft's ecosystem, especially if you're running the Win10 Beta.
Firstly with the speculation. Nothing hard on the Windows build for phones, but Gabe Aul and others internally are now actually mentioning builds for phone more frequently on Twitter. When they are far from a build there is either outright denial or complete silence. The fact builds are being acknowledged and talk of device testing is going on, it seems feasible that we are a week or so away from a new build and new devices supported. May just be wishful thinking, but even getting news is better than total silence even if not as good as actual builds.
Window 10 Fast ring users also got a new build. Definitely good news for those who want to provide feedback and good for MS if they are serious about soliciting it and it seems like they are, even when it is a bad idea.
And that is the first nit picking point... the transparent start menu. Apparently a huge feedback item. And it looks... appalling. Well, actually it looks good, except when it doesn't. It is HIGHLY transparent, so if you have a bunch of apps open in the background the screen is an unmanageable clutter and if you have lots of white space it can become very hard to read white text. Not sure why they went so extreme on the transparency level. Think this needs to be configurable and defaulted off in the final version. Ideally, degree of transparency would also be configurable.
The next nit pick point is that some really seem to HATE the new fly-out for selecting a WiFi connection. I personally love it. My WiFi card had a tendency to disconnect at random in the last Tech Preview, and clicking a button that brought up a completely separate screen with the options I needed on the extreme opposite and needed to be manually dismissed was TERRIBLE. New fly-out means settings are right where I clicked to initiate selecting a connection, and the screen dismisses itself when I click on something else. Astronomically better in my opinion. But proves that people will complain about anything.
New install process is also pretty. But it highlights the fact that MS still hasn't figured out progress indicators. Was slightly worried when both of my machines sat at 2% for 15+ minutes. There is no details or even an indeterminate progress indicator to let you know that the computer hasn't completely frozen. And 100% *should* mean 100%. I sat staring at a screen saying it was 100% complete for well over a minute. And THEN I had to watch that stupid slow motion seizure screen telling my it was installing apps. But, at least the install screen looks nice :)
Next up, Xbox Music + OneDrive = Sweet! I have very little music that I listen to actively that I can't get on Xbox Music with my subscription, but there are certainly some which fit the bill. Mainly old stuff, especially British stuff, like The Beatles. But the nice bit is, even if you don't have a Music Pass, this functionality still applies. Upload music to OneDrive in a Music folder in the root and voila! You can stream or download to just about any device that supports Xbox Music. Prior to this, I saw no need to upload my music collection to OneDrive. It is big and would take a long time, and while it is a huge part of my backup strategy, there was no benefit to having it in the cloud. The extra 100GB of space will also be nice for some if you also have a Music Pass... for me it was laughable. I have 10TB already from my Office 365 subscription.
All in all, a good week if you buy into Microsoft's ecosystem, especially if you're running the Win10 Beta.
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