Windows Weekly 558

The case against the New York Time's "The Case Against Google"

They write:

"Consider Microsoft. The government spent most of the 1990s suing Microsoft for antitrust violations, a prosecution that many now view as a complete waste of time and money. When Microsoft’s chief executive, Bill Gates, signed a consent decree to resolve one of its monopoly investigations in 1994, he told a reporter that it was essentially pointless for the company’s various divisions: 'None of the people who run those divisions are going to change what they do or think.' Even after a federal judge ordered Microsoft broken into separate companies in 2000, the punishment didn’t take. Microsoft fought the ruling and won on appeal. The government then offered a settlement so feeble that nine states begged the court to reject the proposal. It was approved.

What eventually humbled Bill Gates and ended Microsoft’s monopoly wasn’t antitrust prosecutions, observers say, but a more nimble start-up named Google, a search engine designed by two Stanford Ph.D. dropouts that outperformed Microsoft’s own forays into search (first MSN Search and now Bing). Then those two dropouts introduced a series of applications, like Google Docs and Google Sheets, that eventually began to compete with almost every aspect of Microsoft’s businesses. And Google did all that not by relying on government prosecutors but by being smarter. You don’t need antitrust in the digital marketplace, critics argue. 'When our products don’t work or we make mistakes, it’s easy for users to go elsewhere because our competition is only a click away,' Google’s co-founder, Larry Page, said in 2012. Translation: The government ought to stop worrying because no online giant will ever survive any longer than it deserves to."

Alex Kipman on the future of Mixed Reality: "What does 2018 look like for the MR, AR, and VR industry?"

Windows 10 to the future - Fall Creators Update hits 85 percent usage share! Windows 10 on ARM to launch with 3 PCs on 14 Carriers; Oh, it has limitations. Microsoft is adding a lot of nonsense to each version of Windows 10 but there are signs of life. Always Connected PC: Hits at core usage scenarios like uptime and connectivity. Recovery tools - too many of them, but they're evolving too. Longer term, the deprecation/removal of Win32 and various legacy tools/File Explorer etc. Microsoft has been shipping Surface firmware updates to various devices to fix Spectre/Meltdown. First Redstone 5 build is out, but there's nothing to see there yet. Xbox: Yes, 1440p support is coming, but it's coming to Xbox One S too! Microsoft is adding keyboard and mouse support to Xbox One, but maybe not the way you think.

• Tip of the week: EA games on sale
• App pick of the week: Microsoft Photos Companion app for Android/iOS
• Plus: Age of Empires Definitive Edition for Windows 10
• Enterprise pick of the week: Visual Studio Code is now part of the Anaconda Python distribution
• Codename pick of the week: ProjFS
• Beer pick of the week: Revolution Brewing Cafe Deth

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Links

• The Case Against Google
• What to expect for Mixed Reality in 2018
• Microsoft touts HoloLens rentals, business uses for mixed reality
• Fall Creators Update Surges to 85 Percent Usage Share
• Windows 10 on ARM to Launch with 3 PCs on 14 Carriers
• Qualcomm, Microsoft 'Always Connected' PCs to hit store shelves
• Microsoft Finally Documents the Limitations of Windows 10 on ARM
• Windows 10 on ARM: S versus Pro, emulation and 64-bit app support
• Always Connected PC is a Counter to All the Nonsense in Windows 10 (Premium)
• Windows 10 Recovery Succumbs to the Tyranny of Choice (Premium)
• Surface Pro 3 Updated to Protect Against Spectre and Meltdown
• Microsoft releases first Windows 10 'Redstone 5' test build; adds new app preview program
• Microsoft Is Bringing 1440p Support to Xbox One Family
• Thinking About Keyboard/Mouse Support on Xbox One (Premium)
• EA is Having a Big Sale on Xbox Games (Updated)
• Microsoft Photos Companion for Android and iOS is Now Available
• Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Arrives on Windows 10
• Microsoft Visual Studio Code tool is now part of the Anaconda Python distribution
• WalkingCat: 17604 ships projlib.dll (ProjFS user mode API) and gvflt.sys
• Beer pick of the week: Revolution Brewing Café Deth