Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft Photos, Photos Legacy, and Windows 10

  Posted on December 4, 2023 at 02:42 CST by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Ed Tittel

  An investigation into the backport of the new Microsoft Photos app into Windows 10 raises some interesting questions. Not all have answers.

  A funny thing happened to Windows 10 late this summer. Microsoft proclaimed in April that no new feature upgrades would happen for this older but still vigorous Windows OS, an unexpected feature release for Windows 10 silently upgraded the Photos app. This “new” version turns out to be the same as the Photos app in Windows 11. At the end of October, yet another Photos app, called Photos Legacy, appeared in the Microsoft Store; it supposedly matches the original version bundled with Windows 10.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.49.0, 2023-12-04).

  Windows 11 Newsletters, Photos App, Photos Legacy, Windows 10, Windows 11

• Introducing Microsoft PC Manager

  Posted on October 23, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS

  

  By Ed Tittel

  Not many people know about the Microsoft PC Manager application, despite its being available in English since October 2022.

  One reason you might not be aware of PC Manager is because it is still in beta. It also began as a Chinese-language app in early 2022, which in all likelihood would not have caught the immediate attention of English speakers.

  However, it’s clear just from the URL of PCM’s microsite, https://pcmanager.microsoft.com/, that Microsoft has plans for the program. (It even has its own logo.) You can download the program from that location.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.43.0, 2023-10-23).

  Windows Beta, Newsletters, PC Manager, Settings, Utilities

• Apps vs. applications

  Posted on October 16, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS

  

  By Ed Tittel

  In Windows 10 and 11, there are two parallel architectures for building executables.

  Let’s call the older and more familiar architecture “applications.” It uses traditional, more conventional development tools and frameworks and results in programs that typically run as .exe files.

  The newer alternative was introduced with the debut of Windows 8 in 2012 as “Metro-style apps,” using tiles in the Windows Start menu with a variety of executable formats based on what is called .appx technology.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.42.0, 2023-10-16).

  Windows Development, Newsletters, UWP, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Store

• Thunderbolt

  Posted on October 2, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ed Tittel

  Not many people know this, but Thunderbolt originated as an optical networking technology. Apple and Intel worked on its initial design.

  Known as Light Peak, it was based upon optical components and fiber-optic cables at Intel’s Silicon Photonics lab. When it turned out that copper cables could deliver the same 10 Gbps bandwidth as the more expensive and finicky optical elements, the cheaper, less demanding technology won.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.40.0, 2023-10-02).

  Hardware Docking stations, Newsletters, NVMe, Performance, Thunderbolt, USB, USB Implementers Forum

• Working with USB 3 and 4 in Windows

  Posted on August 21, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ed Tittel

  The Universal Serial Bus, most commonly known as USB, has been a basic staple of computing since it first arrived on the scene in 1996.

  It’s a widely used computing-industry bus standard that’s overseen by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), an industry consortium that publishes and maintains standards for USB4, USB 3.2, USB 2.0, USB ports, cables, connectors, and more. I haven’t seen a PC that didn’t include multiple USB ports since the early 2000s.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.34.0, 2023-08-21).

  Hardware Newsletters, storage, USB, USB 2, USB 3, USB Flash Drives, USB-C, USB4, Windows

• Working with the Intel Driver & Support Assistant

  Posted on June 19, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.25 • 2023-06-19

  WINDOWS

  

  By Ed Tittel

  Intel’s share of the x86 processor market at the end of 2022 came out at nearly a two-to-one ratio for Intel vs. AMD.

  The Statista survey ascribes 62.8% of that market to Intel and 35.2% to AMD; the remaining 2% presumably belongs to ARM and “other CPUs” sometimes found in PCs.

  But other Intel devices, including PC chipsets and controllers, show up in PCs of all kinds. And that means Intel also supplies drivers to connect devices to Windows and allow them to do their jobs.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.25.0, 2023-06-19).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows Hardware, Hardware drivers, Intel, Newsletters, Software, Utilities, Windows
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