Newsletter Archives

• I installed Windows 11 24H2

  Posted on April 7, 2025 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  24H2 has been running on my laptop for some time so I can check things as required by my editorial duties. Last week, I decided that 24H2 needed to be under my fingers all the time, so I updated my daily driver, Obsidian.

  It went pretty well. I did break one of Susan’s rules; the result was at least a doubling of the time the update should have taken because I had to manually fix an unexpected problem.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.14.0, 2025-04-07).

  Windows 11 Drivers, File Explorer, Graphics Cards, Newsletters, Windows 11, Windows 11 24H2

• Microsoft wants to hear from you

  Posted on April 1, 2025 at 12:19 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  I received this in an email from Microsoft this morning. It does not appear to be an April Fool’s joke. Take the company at its word — if you get this survey request, tell Redmond what you think.

  I was struck by two things about the mostly multiple-choice survey. First, most of the available choices tended to favor Microsoft. For example, in a set of five choices, three could be construed as favorable to the company while only two were unfavorable. That’s not balanced.

  The other was the following question: “How long have you used Copilot for?” I’m no English savant, but this would not have escaped my attention while editing an article for AskWoody. It would certainly have been rewritten by Roberta Scholz. I decided to ask Copilot to copy edit the sentence and it provided “How long have you been using Copilot?”

  This suggests that the survey was written by a human, albeit one whose English-language skills are slightly below average.

  AI Copilot, Feedback Hub, Microsoft

• Revisiting Windows 11’s File Explorer

  Posted on March 24, 2025 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  Have there been any recent improvements?

  In a word, no. The new File Explorer is not getting any love and continues to suffer from major problems.

  This is highlighted by my ongoing study of macOS. I will eventually write about the two world views of file management, comparing Microsoft’s File Explorer with Apple’s Finder.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.12.0, 2025-03-24).

  Windows 11 File Explorer, Newsletters, OneDrive, Performance, Software Quality, User Interface

• Woody Leonhard (1951–2025)

  Posted on March 17, 2025 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 22.11 • 2025-03-17

  EDITORIAL

  Woody Leonhard (1951–2025)

  

  By Will Fastie

  Woody Leonhard, né Gregory Forrest Leonhard, passed away on Saturday, March 8, 2025.

  He is survived by his wife Addie and their son Andy; son Justin and granddaughter Angel; brothers Scott, Corey, Dustin, and Brent; sisters Trudy Rosler and Lisa Chappa; numerous nephews, nieces, grandnephews, and grandnieces; and Jasper, the dog.

  Woody was born Gregory Forrest Leonhard on October 20, 1951 …

  Read the eulogy in our Plus Newsletter (22.11.0, 2025-03-17).
  It also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Editorial Eulogy, Newsletters, Woody Leonhard

• AskWoody at the computer museum

  Posted on March 10, 2025 at 02:42 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HISTORY

  

  By Will Fastie

  In January, I invited AskWoody Plus members from this part of the world to join me at the System Source Computer Museum near Baltimore.

  Many Plus members responded, enough that I could set a date, make appropriate arrangements with the museum, and send formal invitations.

  It proved to be a delightful event. Our guests were uniformly impressed by the museum, and all seemed to enjoy themselves. It was great to meet our Plus members in person, and I am especially grateful to those who came from farther away than I expected.

  I thank all who attended. If you are a Plus member, expect an invitation to our next tour soon. It will probably be scheduled in late April. Those from the previous list who could not be accommodated will be first in line.

  
  Plus members in the IBM room at the museum, with an IBM 360/20 in the background.
  Photo courtesy Plus member Dr. David Peisner.

  See more photos in our Plus Newsletter (22.10.0, 2025-03-10).

  History Computers, History, Museums, Newsletters

• Apple silicon just got confusing

  Posted on March 5, 2025 at 12:40 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  Today, Apple announced several new products without fanfare: the iPad Air, MacBook Air, and Mac Studio. In a related announcement, Apple unveiled the M3 Ultra chip.

  This is not the progression I anticipated. I thought 2025 would be the year of the M4, expecting general upgrades to M4 and a new M4 Ultra. Instead, the iPad Air got an M3 chip, the MacBook air an M4 (expected), and the Mac Studio in two models, one with the M4 Max (expected) and the other with the new M3 Ultra (completely unexpected).

  

  Image courtesy Apple, Inc.

  The progression for the Airs makes sense. But the Studio? Now the entry model has an M4 and the tricked-out model has an M3. That will confuse the buying process. It also makes me wonder where the M4 Ultra is.

  Apple Apple, Apple M-series chips, Apple M3 Ultra, Apple M4 Max, Apple Silicon, iPad Air, Mac Studio, MacBook Air

• Mac mini setup — KVM update

  Posted on March 3, 2025 at 02:43 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  APPLE

  

  By Will Fastie

  Reconfiguring the Mac mini so it would be a part of my KVM arrangement went without a hitch.

  I more or less expected that because the KVM box is a rather simple thing, although my use case is odd. I’ll explain that below. For now, I’ll just describe the slight differences that showed up when I made the KVM connection.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.09.0, 2025-03-03).

  Apple Adapters, Audio, DisplayPort, KVM, Mac mini, Mac setup, macOS, Newsletters, PC setup, Thunderbolt

• Skype to shut down

  Posted on March 2, 2025 at 03:00 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  On Friday, February 28, Microsoft posted The next chapter: Moving from Skype to Microsoft Teams to its Microsoft 365 blog (recommended reading). There are two important things you need to know.

  First, Skype will be gone sometime in May, including paid plans. Second, Microsoft Teams will be free to all, and those with existing Skype accounts can use those credentials to log in, preserving chats and contacts.

  This was inevitable. Despite owning Skype for 14 years, Microsoft clearly wanted its own collaboration tool to become even more widespread. Zoom is a formidable competitor. Also, Microsoft’s messaging around Teams has been confusing, partially because of the existence of Skype. “Free” may prove compelling.

  Microsoft Microsoft 365, Microsoft News, News, Skype, Teams
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