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  1. M

    News: Microsoft's future in mobile?

    MSFT has done many stupid things in mobile but *that* would be the dumbest thing ever! Let other companies suffer with the low hardware margins and associated hardware hassles. MSFT should focus on making money selling software and services that run on Android and iOS.
  2. M

    News: Microsoft's future in mobile?

    Forget it, he's on a roll!
  3. M

    Microsoft Besting Apple?

    What's funny is that we also have an iPad Air but don't like it as much. It's a little too big for extended usage (or something, we can't pin it down to a single issue). Of course, this is totally subjective. I would hate being a hardware designer for consumer products!
  4. M

    Microsoft Besting Apple?

    Interesting anecdote. I have a neighbor/friend that has been a big Apple fan for a long time. Showed off his iPhone when they first came out, has Macs at home, etc. He was in the business side of a high tech company that used Apple and did well for his family. I've always been an MSFT guy and...
  5. M

    The Windows 10 "I'm Installing" Thread

    Signed up for the free upgrade on my daughter's HP Spectre x360 this afternoon and almost immediately was able to upgrade her 8.1 to 10 (I don't know if the upgrade files, around 6 GB, had been downloaded previously but it didn't take very long to see them on her machine). Upgrade went well and...
  6. M

    Font Size not scaling right on every device

    You need to make either make the font smaller or textblock wider to allow for variations in the width of the rasterized text on different PPI devices. In the 920 image the first line is wrapped at the "-", which causes the second line to wrap and be pushed halfway off the bottom of the textblock.
  7. M

    Dell XPS 13 2015 or HP Spectre x360?

    I've had the HP Spectre x360 for a couple of weeks now and am a very happy camper. Bought it at my local MSFT Store (i7 with 8GB system memory and 256 GB SSD). I've had no problems with the trackpad, palm rejection, etc. My only long-term concern are the two mechanical hinges. They're spaced...
  8. M

    Dell XPS 13 2015 or HP Spectre x360?

    The only thing that makes me hesitate on the Yoga 3 14" are the negative reviews I've seen on Lenovo.com and bestbuy.com. That could be just trollers or a few bad units but even on positive reviews some users note excessive fan noise. The other complaints are getting bad screens or units that...
  9. M

    How are "Universal Apps" going to get us "these" apps??

    Re: How are "Universal Apps" going to get us "these" apps?? I'm to the point where I'd almost prefer a mobile website version of some apps. One "app" that I use on multiple platforms is the FlyDelta app. On Windows Phone it appears to be a complete program...
  10. M

    How are "Universal Apps" going to get us "these" apps??

    I've thought about this one for quite a while. You're talking about taking your "computing node" with you all the time. Is that really superior to using some sort of cloud storage that links separate tailored devices together? One problem is that a small mobile device significantly restricts the...
  11. M

    How are "Universal Apps" going to get us "these" apps??

    No, there are significant improvements in WinRT10 compared to WinRT81. For example, I can use a single source tree that will run on WP, XBOX, and a PC. In WinRT81 you had to create two different trees. That's a huge logistical improvement right there. In addition, they've added adaptive controls...
  12. M

    How are "Universal Apps" going to get us "these" apps??

    MSFT doesn't have the pull with carriers to get to iOS-levels of update distribution. The carriers are very powerful. When they think phone producer XXX is getting too powerful in the industry, they start promoting phone producer YYY. Next thing you know, phone producer YYY is soaring up the...
  13. M

    How are "Universal Apps" going to get us "these" apps??

    Maybe MSFT will pull a rabbit out of its hat, I don't know. I do know that WinRT10 is significantly better than WinPRT80 (which is what I'm using for my WP app). I haven't downloaded the SDK, just read and viewed the stuff on MSDN, but you can already see the improvements. One big problem is...
  14. M

    How are "Universal Apps" going to get us "these" apps??

    I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to say ... but if you're wondering why few developers create programs for WinRT systems, it's because of the significant time and effort required combined with a lack of sales. See my earlier reply to EBUK for an idea of some of the challenges. It's all...
  15. M

    How are "Universal Apps" going to get us "these" apps??

    There are two main problems with running Win32 programs on tablets: 1. Screen dpi is typically higher than the standard Desktop (96 dpi) and most Win32 programs are not high-dpi aware. That makes the UI elements small. It gets worse on a touch tablet because your fingertip is a very coarse...
  16. M

    How are "Universal Apps" going to get us "these" apps??

    Do we have any reliable Windows Tablet numbers?
  17. M

    Touch friendly desktop apps

    There are a couple of issues with your idea: 1. Desktop programs are generally more complex than an "app". They have many configuration dialogs and settings. For touch support, you need controls that are *much* larger than those in a typical Desktop program. That means less information on a...
  18. M

    Has anyone gone from WP to iPhone and still using all MS services?

    Couldn't have said it better myself. You notice this after extended usage of iOS. I think it's because of the app-centric nature of iOS. The thing is simply a device to run apps, nothing more. There's no way to quantify it, it's just a "feeling", as in you could pick up any random iPhone on the...
  19. M

    Dell XPS 13 2015 or HP Spectre x360?

    Big thanks to everyone on this thread. I'm looking into a new laptop and these two machines are ones I'm considering (also a similarly configured Yoga Pro 2 on sale for something like $799 and the Yoga 3 14" model). That HP looks really nice. Tough decision to make!
  20. M

    I want to be, but I'm not convinced - Universal Apps

    Windows 95, not 98, was what made "power programs" possible. It added a 32-bit flat memory model, true preemptive multithreading, high speed file and directory access, quality OpenGL support, and a bunch of other things that made high speed large programs possible. It tremendously expanded what...