Newsletter Archives

• Windows 10: Looking back at 2020 — and looking ahead to 2021

  Posted on December 20, 2020 at 21:05 CST by Richard Hay • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 10

  By Richard Hay

  2020 sure didn’t turn out like anything we anticipated on New Year’s Day — not by a very long shot.

  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown that started in March, working from home or other remote locations has become the norm for millions of people. Moreover, IT managers and support staff really earned their pay, setting up work-from-home connections. This service required new solutions for common tasks, such as onboarding new employees — remotely.

  And it didn’t hit just IT. Consider the challenges of landing a new job and learning the ropes in a new environment. Now imagine doing all that over the phone or online!

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.50.0 (2020-12-21).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 10 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 10 updating, Windows Insider program, Work-from-home

• The inevitable OS: Windows 10 at five years

  Posted on October 18, 2020 at 21:10 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 10

  By Richard Hay

  This past July, Microsoft’s flagship operating system, Windows 10, reached its fifth anniversary.

  Over the past half-decade, Microsoft has put a lot of work into Win10, aggregated into the current Version 2004, released this past May. (The next release, Version 20H2, is due out this month. But we haven’t gotten a good look at it, and it’s reportedly a minor upgrade.)

  Arguably, Win10’s evolution has made it a better OS. But it still gets a mixed reception from users. Some people love it, others hate it — and then there’s the mass of users who have simply learned to live with it.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.41.0 (2020-10-19).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 10 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows Insider program, Windows life cycles

• Born: “Recently, Microsoft has been plaguing its Windows 10 users and subscribers to the Windows Insider program.”

  Posted on September 1, 2019 at 12:06 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Excellent essay from Günter Born.

  If you’re beta testing Windows, you know he’s right on.

  Following the motto: Every day a new confusion, different names are used for Windows 10, the rings in the Insider program are shaken up, and there are A / B tests where few people get new features.

  The Insider program’s a mess. There are far, far too many people in the program for it to be a software beta test bed. Rather, it’s a marketing beta, grown wildly out of hand.

  I’m not optimistic.

  Windows News Windows Insider program

• Woody’s Windows Watch: Windows 10 patching improves

  Posted on January 28, 2019 at 03:28 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  

  Hard to believe that Win10 patching will get any better, but there’s reason for hope.

  Microsoft seems to be genuinely interested in delivering more reliable Win10 patches — and willing to put money and time into improving the execrable quality of the offal that’s been shoveled in the past few years.

  Will the improved patching method work? Remains to be seen – and the patchers are working against an insane release cycle.

  Details in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.3.0, now available FREE online.

  Windows Patches/Security Release Preview Ring, Win10 patching, Windows Insider program

• 10 million Windows Insiders makes the beta test program the best marketing move yet

  Posted on March 27, 2017 at 16:24 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Laurent Giret at OnMicrosoft nailed this one. The Windows Insider program – the beta testing program that includes two rings of next-version testing and one ring of current-level patch testing — now has 10 million registered users.

  Per Giret:

  The program reached 1 million members a couple of weeks after the release of the first Windows 10 preview build on October 1, 2014. From there, the number grew to 3 million Insiders by March of 2015, then to 7 million a year ago. It was about time for an update, which Microsoft exec Yusuf Mehdi recently provided in a blog post on LinkedIn.

  Mehdi said:

  We count over 10M Windows Insiders today, many of them fans, who test and use the latest build of Windows 10 on a daily basis. Their feedback comes fast and furious, they have a relentless bar of what they expect, but it so inspires our team and drives our very focus on a daily basis.

  Of course, Microsoft doesn’t know how many fans they have. But the 10,000,000 nose count for Insider accounts is impressive by any measure. Mehdi was emphasizing Xbox fandom in his post, but the number’s still a sizable fraction of the 400 million monthly active Win10 devices. (That 400 million number is six months old, and I haven’t heard any updates.)

  Mary Branscome – one of my favorite Microsoft observers – notes in her comments on the LinkedIn post:

  how do you make sure you’re not being overly influenced by the vocal minority?

  Any way you slice it, though, the Windows Insider program has been a resounding success for Microsoft marketing. Giving beta testers a feeling that they’re changing the course of Windows 10 development is an outstanding achievement.

  Thanks to fp for the heads-up!

  Windows News onmicrosoft, Windows Insider program

• What’s wrong with the Windows Insider program

  Posted on September 28, 2016 at 08:14 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  A list of my pet peeves. Any suggestions?

  InfoWorld Woody on Windows

  Windows Patches/Security Windows Insider program