Category: Microsoft

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Time to switch?

I was reading that Ed Bott had switched from Windows Phone to iPhone, because Verizon didn’t push out the Cyan update. I have never had a problem with getting Windows Phone updates from 3, but my problem is not so much the carrier but rather the core functionality in the OS. Or, put another way, it seems to me that updates to Windows Phone are few and far between.

These things take time, I am fully aware of that. But over the last couple of months it looks like Microsoft is focusing more on iOS and Android, while forgetting about the few the proud, who actually buy the phones.

My trusted Lumia 920 is about to kick bucket after one too many drops, and I will soon be on the look out for a few phone. Addingn insult to injury, my Lenovo Ideapad is getting slower by the day, so now might the right time to make that switch to another platform to see if the grass really is greener on the other side.

That being said, Windows 10 is looking pretty good so far, and hopefully the UI will still receive a some serious updates. It might be a good idea to hold the horses for a second and see what will happen with the Windows ecosystem. Heck, I might even be able to buy a real Windows tablet.

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Surface Mini coming on May 20th?

There have been plenty of rumors concerning the alleged Surface Mini, which Microsoft has been working on for the past two years. However, there might some more substantial news surfacing on the interwebs today. The Verge reports that there will be an event on the 20th this month, which is most likely the announcement of this smaller Surface.

I have been thinking about switching to Mac/iOS for the better part of my hardware collection since I am not a huge fan of the offerings from the various PC makers, however, if the Surface Mini is a really good device that might even be affordable, I might change my mind.

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Fixing Onedrive Sync Engine Host

logo_onedrive2014_heroLike many others I have had a ton of problems with OneDrive after I updated to Windows 8.1. Right before I was going to reinstall the entire OS, I did one last deep dive and actually found a fix from Microsoft.

It’s basically a little application that resets your OneDrive configuration, and since I have messed around with mine to no end, it was pretty messed. Anyway, running this little utility seemed to do the trick, even though it took a few tries.

Check out this link from Microsoft and download the utility to get your OneDrive up and running again.

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Rockin Windows 8.1

imageI was one of the lucky ones who was able to update to Windows 8.1 before the installer was pulled from the store. To be honest I just started the update and left the machine, so I am not totally sue how long it took. An educated guess would be between 30 to 45 minutes.

So far the verdict is pretty positive. The performance is very good, despite me using old hardware, and curiously I lost none of my apps.

The two things I enjoy the most is boot to desktop and the ability to set my wallpaper as background when I am in the metro environment. Boot to desktop is pretty self explanatory, so I will not dwell on that.

imageThe wallpaper functionality really works for me. Normally I can’t wrap my mind around switching between the two environments – it just seems unnatural somehow. However, now that I see something recognizable the heuristics of it makes it more natural and easy to make the switch. I probably use the metro environment a lot more now compared to earlier. As I am looking into getting my grubby hands on a Lenovo Yoga, I think I might actually use the metro environment on a more regular basis.

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Windows phone: Sync experience

CaptureI really like my Nokia 920. I really like Windows Phone 8. I really don’t like the desktop sync experience on Windows 8 though.

In the Windows Phone 7 days, I was very happy with the Zune appliction used to sync music, podcasts, pictures etc. However, Microsoft killed of the Zune with the release of Windows Phone 8, replacing it it with “Windows Phone app for desktop”. Seriously? Be that as it may, the new app syncs a little differently, making the user experience very different, and in my opinion much worse. Hopefully we will see an updated version soon (zune?) that will give us a better user experience.

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Outlook.com: Send from address

CaptureOne of my favorite features in Outlook.com is the ability to add a POP3 mail address to send from. I use my domain mail a lot, and even though I could use custom domains to manage my mail, I have decided to keep my original Outlook.com address.

You can now send through your domain provider’s servers, meaning you get the annoying “Sent on behalf of” in the email header. So, I set up my domain mail as my default mail address, and it turns out that Outlook.com will always use this, even though you use Outlook.com on your Windows Phone. When I open the mail app, which is associated with my Outlook.com address, it will actually send from me@mydomain.me, which is a really nice detail.