Yes! Wow, it’s been a minute since I saw that!
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There was at least one 3rd party utility which did this — you had to click a taskbar icon to enable the writing/recognition, then again I think to turn it off.
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They’ve definitely tested this feature before in previous versions of W10. It didn’t work correctly then either. (From what I can remember it had the same limitations that this version has.)
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This is not only in Windows 11, but actually in Windows 10 as well apparently, but I was unaware of it until this article this morning.
Regardless, it does work and is potentially quite useful.
Microsoft Windows has a secret emergency restart button | PCWorld
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More changes to Explorer. Some power user options will apparently no longer be available via Folder options UI, instead moving to registry settings.
Supposedly they may have backtracked on that File Explorer thing.
https://twitter.com/thurrott/status/1672227774549962754
Also, I continue to not understand why Microsoft would waste their resources with a “split screen” window in Edge. I mean, crazy idea, if you want two views at once, then open a new window and use Windows to arrange them?
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Just saw this at The Verge - Windows 11 in the cloud for consumers:
Does that mean as an alternative, or replacement for desktop? Users want to know - any idea @Desertlap?
And what about the times you can’t get access to the cloud. This is a stupid direction for Windows.
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All subscriptions all the time, I suspect. @Desertlap @Bronsky
IP owners seem to only want temporary licenses out in the wild anymore.
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I noticed this part:
Intel and Microsoft have even hinted at Windows 12 in recent months, and Windows chief Panos Panay claimed at CES earlier this year that “AI is going to reinvent how you do everything on Windows.”
Do they really think they need AI assistance in screwing up a new version of Windows? Regardless, along with the cloud thing it’s more reason to not look back after leaving Windows. :vb-wavey:
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I’m having this same thought - almost can’t believe they are thinking this way - all subscriptions all the time? But I have to agree with you and @Bishop - but is it safer to go hide in the walled garden? At least they have a plan and aren’t just throwing tons of spaghetti at the wall like a bunch of drunk partyers…
Safer in the medium run. For long run safety go Linux if possible.
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Medium run will et me through my law practice career - what I’m really pondering would Windows 11 get me through the next 4-5 years - after that an iPhone and iPad will do all the rest for me…Linux will be just too tough of a transition (if I can’t handle MacOS heaven help me with Linux).
But Panos seems h@ll bent for leather to drive the herd over the cliff, I meant cloud…
UPDATE - of course the easy answer is just stick with Windows 11 until it is my turn to jump over the cliff…into the walled garden…
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I just heard about this late yesterday. We are due for our quarterly briefing next week and I most definitely will follow up on it.
I most definitely think they are pursuing this as a consumer option though likely not the only option. In other words this may look like what they do with Office 365 versus Office student and home where they essentially only do bug fixes and security updates for home and student versus the ongoing feature adds to 365.
It also helps with an ongoing issue both with security and with OEMS shipping systems with old OS versions which require a lengthy day one update before the system can even be used.
FWIW this is also an old idea/dream for MS as a “core” OS based on Windows CE would come on a system, but get additional features and functionality via downloadable updates.
PS: Apple has long toyed with this as well and allegedly one of the core design ideas behind the ability to cloud download the OS was also to provide only the most skeletal OS on the system itself and provide much more via subscription entitlement. This is very much in line with the idea of the PC as appliance which both Jobs and Cook were/are ad =vocates of.
TLDR like it or not, we are rapidly headed towards everything IT as service/subscription regardless if users want it or not IMHO.
And even Linux won’t be immune as RedHat is also doing similar with select customers with their enterprise Linux offerings
If it comes with actual hardware independence (given enough processor and RAM), running Windows on an iPad could happen before the MacPad.
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I think that’s another goal as well. and FWIW the Windows 365 app works remarkably well on the iPad Pros and feels (with a good internet connection) as responsive as the WOA Surface Pro 9
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So urban dwellers have a legit option, while those of us in the hinterlands are SOL for the most part. There are times here in Midland, downtown, I have trouble with web pages loading…the new algebra for Microsoft:
$ubscription + AI = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Every accountant saw how the graphic design/printing industry rolled over for Adobe, so every company wants the guaranteed on-going revenues of the subscription model.
The problem of course, is that anyone who doesn’t want mainstream form-factors is going to be left by the wayside and won’t have the same sort of choices as other folks.
For me, going forward, the only long-term option I can see is a Wacom Cintiq (or other graphics screen w/ stylus support) and a small computer running Linux — need to get a Raspberry Pi 4 to try this out w/ a Wacom One screen.
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Of course it’s at it’s core about the bottom line though I think it’s also another “bet on the future” which companies also have to do as well, to further their long term survival.
I agree with what you are experiencing in Midland (though parenthetically New Mexico and Utah are even worse) but conversely there are many places (the lower peninsula of Michigan, Indiana) where connectivity is rapidly becoming a non issue (albeit with some costs).
I’m currently all over the place on this subject and can easily see both benefits (security first and foremost which it cannot be overstated how big an issue it has become) as well as downsides (higher costs and less direct control by the consumer.
That being said, I think this will take a long time to become “standard” and also that this is as much as anything a “stake in the ground” and what we actually end up with is going to look significantly different
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I guess I need to pick my “ground” then. Windows 11 has a pretty long shelf life by the looks of it, so whether it’s my SP8-LTE, or hopefully an 11" 2023/24 Intel Surface Pro with 5g, that will last me through the nearly retired business career. Maybe by then, either with Apple’s snail-paced improvements to iPadOS, or my declining need for productivity firepower, I can slink off into the sunset with iPhone and iPad in hand…
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