"Microsoft Delivers Yet Another Broken Windows 10 Update"

I tried to come up with my own pithy title for this post, but the headline from this Thurrott.com article really speaks for itself:

This week, Microsoft pushed out another cumulative update and reports of installation problems are widespread. While I don’t know how many users are impacted, based on comments sent to me, it’s certainly widespread enough that this is well beyond an isolated issue.

The update that is causing the problem, KB3194496, is not installing correctly for users. The update, when it does fail, is causing some machines to restart, often multiple times, as Windows 10 attempts to remove the failed update. Worse, after a restart, the file will attempt to install again resulting in the loop of failed install, reboot, re-install and failure again.

[...]

Microsoft is pushing the idea that you should always patch your machine on the day the update is released as they often release security patches that fix vulnerabilities. But, until the company can get a handle on their quality control issues, such as the Anniversary update breaking millions of webcams, it feels like every time you run Windows update you are rolling the dice.

That's not the only problem with KB3194496, either. From Windows Report:

Microsoft recently pushed KB3194496 to the general public, bringing a series of important bug fixes. We expected this cumulative update to become available on Patch Tuesday, but it appears Microsoft considered the update was stable enough to be rolled out to all Windows 10 users.

Maybe it would have been better if Microsoft had waited a bit longer. In this manner, the company would have had the chance to gather thorough user feedback and patch eventual issues. As a quick reminder, update KB3194496 was pushed to the Windows 10 public channel just one day after it had become available for Release Preview and Slow Ring Insiders.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps due to Microsoft’s haste, cumulative update KB3194496 brings issues of its own. Users have reported KB3194496 is breaking mouse and keyboard functionality. More specifically, they can’t use the mouse and the keyboard buttons don’t respond.

Really, what does one even say, at this point? "Microsoft, get your shit together?" "Redmond, pull your heads out of your asses?" "See you in court, Mr. Nadella?" Is there actually a limit to the number of times that Microsoft can fuck up in basically the same way, or do they plan to keep this up indefinitely?

Questions abound; answers do not appear to be forthcoming. Have I mentioned today, just how glad I am to have refused to "upgrade" to Windows 10?

Tomorrow is the first of the month, which is when I'll find out if NetMarketShare post the new desktop OS market share numbers on the 1st of every month, or just the 1st weekday of each month, but all reports point to Windows 10 adoption slowing sharply (what with Microsoft not giving it away quite so freely, anymore), and Win10 Pro and Enterprise versions being slow to take off, also. I'm no prophet, but I feel like I'm on safe ground in predicting that Windows 10's market will, once again, not have increased dramatically over August's number. Given what a mess the product is, right now, why would anyone want to switch, who doesn't have to?

Good job, Microsoft. Well done, you.

Reminder: Windows 10 has serious privacy issues

In addition to being stuffed with a wide range of privacy problems, one of Windows 10's more off-putting "features" was the fact that you couldn't control when it updated itself, and what it installed in the process, and would even reset your privacy settings back to Microsoft's default settings, as demonstrated in videos like this one:

Apparently there are some people who didn't get that memo, though, because I'm still seeing "news" stories like this one, from PC World:

Last night, I finally upgraded my main PC to Windows 10’s major Anniversary Update. I’d been putting it off because of the devastating webcam bug introduced in the Anniversary Update—a deal-breaker for me—but now that a registry hack remedy’s surfaced ahead of an official fix, the allure of Forza Horizon 3 proved too great. So I finally forced the update. Sure, having to practically reinstall your entire OS is a headache, and it rendered my file-packed PC unusable for hours, but the process went smoothly enough.

This morning, I sat down with a fresh cup of coffee, ready to sling words while Forzadownloads in the background. And that’s when I saw it pop up on my screen.

A “Get Office” notification.

What. The. Hell.

It’s no secret that Windows 10’s stuffed with revenue-generating hooks for Microsoft, but I find the idea of a paid-for operating system shoving straight-up ads in my face distasteful, and disabled the Get Office ads and every other ad-related setting months ago. After a bit of poking and prodding, I discovered that beyond reinstalling the Get Office app that surfaces those notifications, the Anniversary Update also re-enabled Start menu and lock screen ads, essentially tossing my explicit choice to disable them out the window. And it did so without consent or even a notice that these changes were happening in the background.

Funnily enough, several other customizations I’d made to the Windows 10—from disabling ad tracking in Windows Store apps to tweaking the BitTorrent-like distribution of updates to my wallpaper—remained intact after the upgrade. As far as I can tell with a quick perusal, these ad-pushing settings are the only ones that changed when I installed the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

Not cool, Microsoft. Not cool.

No, Brad Chacos, it's not cool. It's also not new, and it's something that people like you were supposed to be reporting on, during Microsoft's big GWX push.

Seriously, this kind of horseshit is why I refused to switch to Windows 10, even when it was being given away for "free." Of course, Windows 10 Home was never truly free, no matter what Microsoft said at the time. Remember, if you're not paying for it, then you're not the customer -- you're the product being sold.

Bottom line: if you're running Windows, then you should be running Spybot Anti-Beacon. That doesn't just apply for Windows 10, either; Microsoft has added their "telemetry" crap to earlier versions of Windows, too, which is why I recommend Spybot's Anti-Beacon over options like O&O ShutUp10 -- ShutUp10 only runs on Windows 10, while Anti-Beacon runs on Windows 7 & 8, as well. Microsoft has proved, beyond any doubt at all, that they cannot be trusted to respect your privacy, or to respect your clearly-expressed wishes on the subject of privacy, so take the steps to defend yourself.

No Man's "Lie" might legally qualify as one

The recent launch of No Man's Sky on PC has been serving as a cautionary example of hype culture run amok. The "No Man's Lie" pun has been eliciting groans from some, and outrage from others, as debate has raged on whether Hello Games actually lied to customers about the game features that were in development, or just fell short of achieving everything they were trying to build.

For the record, I've been in the "lie" camp ever since it turned out that players couldn't encounter each other in game, even if they were standing at the same spot, at the same time, on the same planet, while talking to each other to help find that spot in the first place. There's a difference between a game where player interaction, and even PVP, is astronomically unlikely but still possible, and a game in which players can't interact with each other at all because that functionality wasn't ever in the game.

Laws vary between jurisdictions, but where I live, that would be a pretty clear example of advertising a game using features which not only weren't in the final build, but which weren't in any earlier build, either. Add to that the fact that Sean Murray and Hello Games have gone completely dark since this scam was discovered, and that a modder recreated the game as a Doom mod in less than month, and one is certainly justified in thinking that some hard questions really should be asked about where all that Kickstarter money went.

Well, if you're been waiting in breathless anticipation for Hello Games to get their comeuppance over No Man's Sky and its advertising campaign, then wait no longer, because the U.K.-based Advertising Standards Authority is apparently on exactly the same page.

From Polygon:

No Man's Sky’s promotional material has come under fire since launch, and it’s now the subject of an ongoing investigation. The U.K.-based Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) confirmed to Polygon that it’s received "several complaints about No Man’s Sky’s advertising," which angry customers have criticized as misleading.

Valve continues with new, engaged ways

Once is an accident. Twice is coincidence. Three times is a pattern.

That last part is actually a paraphrase (the original version was "enemy action"), but whatevs. I think Valve may just have given us the third occurrence of re-engagement that we were waiting for, when it came to the non-VR parts of their business.

Once: their (belated) action against CS:GO skins gambling. 

Twice: their (belated) action against abuse of the Steam review system.

And today, we have their third time: Valve is actually delivering on the next part of those review system changes, and working to improve discoverability on Steam for developers.

From GamesIndustry.biz:

One of the biggest challenges for any developer, whether on mobile or PC, is tackling discoverability. Valve is hoping that by making some changes to its Steam store that it can make this challenge a little bit easier for developers bringing games to its platform. As laid out in a NeoGaf post a couple days ago, SteamWorks developers were recently notified of upcoming changes to the Steam store that should be implemented in the next few weeks. Valve said that the changes, however, are still "subject to change to some degree in response to your feedback and suggestions."

One of the more notable improvements as it relates to discoverability is what Valve is calling "targeted visibility for new releases," which should help the right games get in front of the right customers.

"We'll be making some changes to the initial launch visibility of new titles to better reach appropriate customers. While we previously granted 1M impressions of each new titles on the home page, this approach was not scaling well and was an inefficient method for reaching the right potential customers. Click-through rates for most titles featured in this section were low, and it had become clear that not every new release is relevant to every user. We think we can do better," Valve said.

OK, I kid a little bit, but still... this is pretty good news.

Samsung doesn't know if VR is hype or mainstream, won't launch Rift rival until they're sure

Finally, someone adopting a sensible approach to the VR hype.

From Wareable:

Will VR ever be mainstream? Samsung, which has had one of the biggest VR hardware hits so far with the Gear VR, still doesn't know if or when.

Young Sohn, Samsung's president and chief strategy officer, told an event in San Francisco: "Is hype or mainstream? I don't have an answer." He also said that Samsung is holding off on the launch of its confirmed high end standalone VR headset to match the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive until it's clear that these types of devices will be widely adopted.

Sohn described the VR headset game as having a "chicken and egg problem right now" - to take VR mainstream we need great, affordable headsets but some companies don't want to spend on R&D for headsets until they know it will be mainstream.

Honestly, I'd entirely forgotten that Gear VR had even happened, let alone that Samsung was developing a standalone version of the thing. Among the other tidbits in the article: the Rift and Vive are estimated to have sold only 100K units or so each, compared to the Gear VR (Galaxy Note smartphone not included) which has moved about a million units. 

When the company with the best-selling VR "headset" is wanting to wait before selling a standalone version, thus competing directly with the Rift, Vive, and PS4 headsets... well, maybe the rest of the tech media world can press pause on the VR hype flow, too. Not that I expect them to, of course, but we can dream.

VR had a huge chance to impress people last night, and blew it

Last night's presidential debate showdown between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump was an historic event in more ways than one, but one of those ways was the sheer size of the crowd that it drew. Over 100 million people watched this debate, which was an all-time record (Carter vs. Reagan was the previous record-holder), every last one of them wanting to watch history being made... or just waiting for one of the contestants to be humiliated on live TV. 

It's the sort of event that many people would have loved to attend, but that very few had the chance to attend... physically. Virtually, though? That was a different story, because NBC News had partnered with VR hangout app Altspace to put you right there in the audience in glorious VR, using the $600+ headset of your choice.

At least, that was the idea. The actual virtual reality, though, was apparently rather less than advertised.

From Kotaku:

The virtual reality “watch party” for the first Trump-Clinton debate was a bust. It was presented by VR hangout app Altspace and NBC News, and just amounted to glorified Second Life, basically. Avatars of people from around the world watching a flat video stream. Not a great experience.

I captured the video above while watching some of the debate through the app. I was using an Oculus Rift headset, though Gear VR and Vive were also both supported. As you’ll see, presenting the debate in VR didn’t add anything useful.

Last year’s Democratic Primary Debate in VR was way better, because they put cameras on stage for that one and let users view the debate from various angles. And even that wasn’t that great, given the lack of viewer control of the experience.

Virtually putting people in the audience of live events like this is one of the things that VR is supposed to be good for, and this was one of the highest-profile live events yet to have VR version available. And it sucked. As sales pitches go, that's less than optimal.

Speaking of transformative technology...

Remember when I was saying that Autos (i.e. fully autonomous vehicles) weren't going to be limited to self-driving cars, and that the ability to remove drivers entirely was going to have a huge impact on the future shapes they would take?

Well, you can change all the tenses in that statement from future to present.

Yes, that a massive, self-driving mining dump truck, and it's just the first piece in the creation of totally automated mining sites:

We are one step closer to being able to strip-mine the Earth on autopilot, with mine sites like this that won't need anywhere near as many humans to operate as mines do today. And this is just the beginning of the sort of full-scale, next-generation automation technology that's in the works.

BTW, if you want to see another, smaller-scale example of the possible shape of future autonomous vehicles... Nissan's got you covered.

Welcome to the actual Singularity, already in progress. #nohype

How to lie with statistics, Microsoft edition: Update

From Venture Beat:

Microsoft today announced that Windows 10 is now installed on over 400 million devices. It took the latest and greatest operating system from the company about 14 months to hit the new milestone.

Windows 10 was installed on over 75 million PCs in its first four weeks. It passed110 million devices after 10 weeks, 200 million in under six months, 270 millionafter eight months, 300 million after nine months, and then 350 million after 11 months. Microsoft was aiming for 1 billion devices running Windows 10 “in two to three years,” but recently the company backpedaled on that goal.

Here’s the progress in a chart, with Windows 8 thrown in for context (Microsoft stopped reporting Windows 8 milestones after 200 million):

As you can see, Windows 7 and Windows 8 milestones were similar for the first six months or so, though it quickly became clear that Windows 8 was not selling as quickly as its predecessor did. Windows 10 has been ahead of both from the start, and while the slope of its growth has become less steep, it’s still very strong. Windows 10 got to 400 million devices about 7 months sooner than Windows 7.

Oy, vey. Do we have to do this every fucking month?

What to do when you hate Windows 10

I'm seeing more and more stories like this one lately, from PC World:

I usually start this column with “so and so needed something done to their PC,” but if I were to include the names of all the people who have written me about how unhappy they are with their Windows 10 “upgrade” the file would be so large the server that hosts this page would need a new hard drive. I’ve been inundated with unhappy Windows 10 users for the past two months, and my heart goes out to these folks. A lot of them were upgraded unsuspectingly, and Microsoft deserves a ton of scorn for its malware-like Windows 10 upgrade tactics. That said, now that you have Windows 10 on your PC and you’re not happy, here’s what you can do about it.

Their list of things you can do pretty short: 1) keep it but make changes, 2) nuke it and install a different OS, and 3) restore from factory OS partition (for PCs from Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.). #4 on their list is literally something you can't do:

4. Isn’t there an easier way to go back to my old OS?

Not anymore, there isn’t. There was a period during the “free upgrade” era when Microsoft allowed people to try Windows 10 for 31 days and go back if they were unhappy, but that window has closed. So for now you’re stuck with it.

Profoundly unhelpful. It took only two comments for one of their readers to chime in with some (potentially) more useful advice:

max999
"Microsoft deserves a ton of scorn for its malware-like Windows 10 upgrade tactics"

You left out:
5. Look into joining the huge lawsuit coming against Microsoft for these forced upgrades to Windows 10.

This isn't an outlier, of course. The headlines have been slowly but surely filling up with variations on this theme for a while now.

Well, that's one way to compete...

From FOSS Boss:

Microsoft opening the source code of a lot of its projects in the last months convinced some people that the company – under its new management – is now good, and that it “loves Linux”, however, this assumption came to be wrong today with the latest monopoly try from Microsoft.

[...]

Some users have reported that one of the new Lenovo Ultrabooks (Yoga 900 ISK2 and other models) has a locked BIOS setup. which doesn’t allow you to install another operating system on the laptop. It’s simply “locked”; for example if you tried to install Ubuntu on it, the installer won’t detect the hard drives because of this setup.

BaronHK is one of those who faced this problem and started talking about it, here’s his quote about the issue:

They have the SSD in some strange “RAID” mode where Linux can’t see or be installed to it, and neither can Windows unless you add some drivers to your Windows installer media. They removed AHCI mode from the BIOS. Then they wrote additional code so if you try to toggle it to AHCI mode with an EFI variable from EFIshell, it immediately sets itself back to RAID.

For the last 11 months, they were silent on why this machine was configured this way. The only reason we know why now is because Lenovo answered my Best Buy review by stating it is locked due to the agreement they signed with Microsoft for the Signature Edition PC program, so it’s very likely that all Ultrabooks in the Microsoft Store, and some outside the MS Store (such as at Best Buy) will eventually be configured so that Linux can’t be installed, even if there are some now where you can install Linux.

So consider “Signature Edition” a warning label that means “You aren’t allowed to run Linux, per Microsoft.”.

Lenovo from its side, confirmed the problem yesterday by replying to the guy’s review on BestBuy saying:

This system has a signature edition of Windows 10 Home installed, it’s locked per our agreement with Microsoft

That means that there’s an agreement between Microsoft and Lenovo to do this kind of setup, it’s intended and not just a “bug” in the BIOS or something, as the official response states from the above Lenovo reply.

Words fail.

I mean... yes, it's a laptop, and most people buying a laptop aren't looking to replace its OS. But some very definitely are, and doing a side deal to lock the laptop hardware to Windows 10, only because your software isn't good enough to make them want to stick with Windows 10, is pretty damn shady. In fact, it's exactly the sort of thing that's often prohibited by pro-consumer competition and anti-trust laws, in a variety of jurisdictions.

Remember when Microsoft lost an anti-trust case, after trying to leverage their market share to drive competitors out of the market, rather than competing within the marketplace? Because they sure don't.

The bottom line here, for the consumer who cares about consumer choice, is pretty simple:

If you see the “Windows 10 Signature Edition” badge on a laptop, DON’T BUY IT! You may not be able to install Linux (or any OS) on it, and there’s nothing you can do to the machine to change this currently.

Apple releases MacOS Sierra with Siri as free download

Apple has released their last several builds of OS X as free upgrades, so this isn't entirely new under the sun, but after a year of watching Microsoft mess up their free giveaway of Windows-10-with-Cortana, it could be interestting to see how their competition does this.

From I4U News, via Slashdot:

Apple has released its newest Mac operating system, MacOS Sierra today. The most prominent feature is the Siri integration, but it also features a universal clipboard, optimized iCloud storage, a picture-in-picture video play, Apple Watch unlock, and a Apple Pay, according to Recode.

MacOS is a free update within the Mac App Store.
In order to download the update, your Mac has to be compatible. According to Apple, "all Macs introduced in 2010 or later are compatible. MacBook and iMac computers introduced in late 2009 are also compatible."

MacOS has a far smaller user base than Windows, obviously, and Macs are far less diverse in terms of their components, so rolling out a new version of MacOS shouldn't be quite as huge an undertaking as rolling out Windows 10, but even so, I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

GWX was a mess, resulting in multiple lawsuits, action from at least one government's regulators, load of negative PR, and a loss of trust and goodwill between Microsoft and their customers that it will take Redmond years to repair. Now let's see if Apple can show Microsoft how a free OS upgrade should be handled.

Microsoft Desktop Bridge ports non-UWP programs onto the Windows 10 store

One of many contentious parts of Windows 10 was the Universal Windows Platform initiative. Although Microsoft had been heading in a UWP-like direction since Windows 8, it was with Windows 10 that they finally made their major, monopolistic move: Windows 10 originally disable side-loading (i.e. normal Windows program installation) by default, instead loading all programs from the Windows Store, and the only programs which would be available from the Windows Store would be Universal Windows Apps: programs specifically designed to run in Windows 10, and only in Windows 10, and ideally to run on any Windows 10 device, including mobile devices.

The intent was not at all subtle, and the immediate outrage was loud enough that Microsoft backed off a bit, re-enabling "side-loading" (again, normal software installation) by default. The Windows Store remained a walled garden, though, closed to all except those who were willing to marry themselves to Microsoft's new OS.

Developers balked.

Developing specifically for UWP was intended to be expensive, remember, with the goal of encouraging developers to develop only for Windows 10, and not for other platforms, but most of the users were still on other platforms. The only area in which most (meaning 51% of) users have switched to Windows 10 was gaming, and UWP games were a disaster, plagued with missing or malfunctioning features, and running worse in all cases than normal executables.

Oh, and that promised Windows 10 mobile market? There isn't one.

Faced with the reality of extra costs, worse performance, and no guarantee of a large enough market, only a few developers have actually made UWP apps, and one gets the impression that they were only doing it due to partnerships or other sweetheart deals with Redmond. It just isn't worth incurring extra costs to make programs that can only be purchased by 22% of PC users, with almost no possibility of mobile customers to offset.

Enter Microsoft Desktop Bridge.

From Tech Times:

The first desktop apps ported into the Universal Windows Platform have now been made available for download at the Windows Store.

The ports were made possible through the Desktop Bridge, which Microsoft announced at this year's Build conference. The tool allows developers to port their existing apps and games to the UWP using the Desktop App Converter and then adding the UWP functionality. The app or game can then be gradually migrated into all Windows 10 devices over time, including smartphones, the Hololens augmented reality headset and the Xbox One gaming console.

[...]

These apps are now available for download, a few months after developers gained access to the Desktop App Converter upon the launch of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. The apps can be found in the Desktop Bridge section of the Windows Store.

In addition to the ported apps, Microsoft has also added the Desktop App Converter to the Windows Store, allowing developers to receive updates and new features as soon as the company releases them.

While the ability to port apps into Windows 10's UWP is a big deal for developers, Desktop Bridge could negatively impact the overall performance of the software, according to a report by Tom's Hardware.

There's some obvious press release copy embedded in there, so let's unpack this a bit.

First, Desktop Bridge apps are not "true" UWP apps. They were not developed for UWP exclusively; they're effectively normal programs with a UWP wrapper, allowing them to be uploaded to the Windows Store without requiring the developers to build specifically for Windows 10. This allows developers to reach Windows 10 users without incurring extra Windows 10 development costs in the process, and allows them to sell basically the same programs on the Windows Store that they're selling elsewhere, which is a clear win for them.

Second, because they're ported desktop programs, and not native UWP programs, they don't run as well as normal executables. UWP apps already run worse than an optimized executable of the same program, remember, and Desktop Bridge does nothing to optimize ported programs for Windows 10, while potentially adding all the other performance issues that come with UWP.

Third, while Desktop Bridge does finally put some apps in Microsoft's store front, the initial list of those apps (Arduino IDE, doubleTwist, Evernote, korAccount, MAGIX Movie Edit Pro, PhotoScape, Predicted Desire, Relab, SQL Pro, Virtual Robotics Kit and Voya Media) aren't exactly high-demand items for the average consumer. And Microsoft has had to back off their demand of Windows 10 exclusivity to accomplish even this much; clearly, developers were not willing to to marry themselves to Windows 10 at the expense of continuing to sell to Windows 7 & 8 customers, or incur any significant extra costs to sell to both old OS and new OS users.

Fourth: Desktop Bridge apps aren't guaranteed to work on every Windows 10 device. In particular, they mostly won't run on mobile devices, unless developers spend additional time and money adding mobile functionality -- something which is unlikely, given Windows' pathetic mobile market share. This is a big hit to Microsoft's plans to leverage Windows' desktop market share into mobile OS market share via UWP -- plans which appear to have mostly collapsed, anyway.

In short, Microsoft's monopolistic move with UWP doesn't seem to be working. The Windows Store is still sparsely populated with lower-performing versions of lower-demand software, and the available base of Windows 10 Mobile apps isn't growing, since developers now have even less reason to develop truly portable UWP programs. Overall, UWP and the Windows Store appear to be a bust.

Can you see me smiling? Because I'm smiling. 

UWP was a heavy-handed monopolistic move that deserved to fail. Awkward as it might be, and icky as it might feel, to be rooting for someone to fail, in this case, I have to think that it's cause for celebration. The worst case here is that Windows 10 customers who want to buy their software through Microsoft's storefront in spite of the impaired performance (and the performance problems with the Windows Store itself) will have some more variety on the menu when doing so, while developers can add the Windows Store to their distribution options at less cost than before. 

And the best case? Microsoft might even start working on finally making UWP into a better product, one which consumers will actually want to use, and which developers will actually want to build for, rather than simply relying on their control of the OS to force UWP on users and developers alike. As I see it, the only downside is that UWP's obvious struggle to find acceptance might be breeding complacency and contempt among possible competitors. (And yes, I'm looking at you, Valve.)

VR's unexpected problem: Supply

From CBC News:

The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset's retail launch in Canada has been delayed in some stores — one day before its planned release.

The Rift was scheduled to hit store shelves Tuesday, but Best Buy's site now says it's due on Oct. 11, a delay of three weeks.

A Best Buy representative confirmed the store is experiencing "unexpected delays" and that the retail chain is "working hard with Oculus to expedite orders as quickly as possible."

[...]

A Microsoft Store representative in Toronto said Rift headsets also aren't expected in their stores on Tuesday, but online orders should ship normally.

[...]

This isn't the first time Oculus has dealt with product delays. In May, Rift headsets began showing up in some stores in the U.S., while customers who had already pre-ordered a headset were told they would have to wait months for their units to arrive.

With all the other challenges that VR faces in convincing consumers to buy into an essentially useless new technology, and with even VR evangelists admitting that people really need to try VR to be convinced to buy, it certainly isn't going to help that the biggest brand in VR can't even get their headsets onto store shelves. It probably shouldn't be a surprise, though; Oculus themselves are technical experts, not logistics experts, and Facebook aren't exactly in the business of manufacturing and shipping physical goods, either. Marketing is a lot easier, in some ways, than physically delivering promised products.

Oh, the Rift's other problem? Price point. Still from CBC News:

The Rift sells for $849 with the game Lucky's Tale included. A Windows PC is required for it to work.

The delay will place the Rift in stores only two days before the launch of the cheaper PlayStation VR headset, which will sell for $549, or in a bundle with a camera, two Move controllers and the game PlayStation VR Worlds for $699.

The pricier HTC Vive is currently available in Canada for $1,149.

Seriously, HTC? $1149 CAD? Good luck with that, especially considering that the Vive needs a special, separate room for its room-scale set up to work at all.

Even at a relatively modest $849 CAD, though, not including the $1500 PC that you need to drive the thing (the Vive's required PC specs are basically the same), the Rift is going to be a tough sell compared to the $699 CAD PlayStation VR ($379.99 CAD PS4 not included). And PlayStation VR is going to be a tough enough sell to start with, simply because it's a basically useless toy right now, that most users aren't even going to be able to get much use out of for gaming, and none at all for anything else, given that it'll be married to a gaming console.

Did I say yet, that VR isn't going to change everything? Because I'm standing by that prediction. This is just too much money, for a product that simply doesn't do enough out of the box.

Except play Lucky's Tale, of course:

Yes, that's right... the bundled VR game that Oculus expects to blow your mind is basically Super Mario 3D World, except not quite as good. Sweet. </sarcasm>

Seriously, people... you don't need this. At any price point, really, but certainly not at $849 CAD.

More about Vulkan, which is far more interesting than I realized.

One of the reasons that gamers have been embracing Windows 10, rather than sticking with Windows 7 or 8, is DirectX 12. Since there's currently very little DX12-capable hardware, and even less DX12-enabled software, I hadn't given much weight to DX12 in my decision-making process, but as DX12 becomes more prevalent in gaming, especially on PC, gamers could start to feel increasingly pressured to adopt the new OS, even if they didn't want to for a variety of other reasons.

That is, unless there was a competing graphics API, which could provide similar benefits to DX12, but for platforms other than Windows 10. What if there was a successor to OpenGL that ran on Windows 7/8, and Linux and SteamOS? How game-changing would that be?

Well, it's looking like Vulkan could very well be that competing API, and I've gotta say... I'm a little excited as its potential.

For a great explanation DX12 and Vulkan, and why they can eventually be better than DX11 or OpenGL, I recommend this video:

So, how quickly could we see Vulkan adopted by graphics engine developers? 

Well... how does now suit you?

From The Tech Report:

Whether you bleed GeForce green or Radeon red, we can all agree that thepotential performance gains to be found using the lower-level DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs are significant. Crytek, creator and curator of the ever-popular CryEngine, is doing its part to further adoption of the new APIs. The folks at OC3D noticed that Crytek has updated its online roadmap for the engine. That document shows DX12 multi-GPU and Vulkan support as "on target" for upcoming releases.

Chinese-exclusive martial arts MOBA King of Wushu was the first DirectX 12-enabled CryEngine title when it debuted earlier this year, but CryEngine still doesn't support multi-GPU systems in DX12 mode. That will be changing with the projected release of CryEngine 5.4 in late February 2017. Crytek may be showing off the new feature at the next Game Developer's Conference, whichstarts February 27.

Perhaps even more exciting is the "on target" listing for Vulkan support across all platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile. That support is coming even sooner: Crytek's roadmap lists an anticipated launch window of "mid-November 2016" for version 5.3. CryEngine's greatest rival engine package, Unreal Engine 4, already has basic Vulkan support. However, Unreal limits applications using the new API to the mobile feature set of the renderer for now.

Since Vulkan is proudly cross-platform, and works with Linux (and Linux-like) environments, it can add a graphical punch to SteamOS and PS4's Orbis that's equivalent to Windows 10's DX12, which could make developing high-performance games for these platforms easier... and Valve had noticed, something which escaped my notice at the time.

Good news, Linux fans! Kaby Lake PCs will still run your OS of choice.

When it was announced a little while back that Intel's new Kaby Lake and AMD's new Zen processors would not get Windows 7 support, I was reluctant to weigh in. It seemed like a pretty cut-and-tried example of collusion, with Intel, AMD, and Microsoft effectively performing like a cartel to push Windows 10 by limiting new CPUs to running Windows 10 only, if you wanted your OS to run properly.

Even at the time, though, there seemed to be a lot of confusion, and no real sense that anyone knew what this development was actually going to mean. And as more details came out, the picture got murkier, not clearer. Would PCs build on the new chipsets be able run older versions of Windows at all, even if Microsoft wouldn't add drivers to Windows 7 or 8 to facilitate that? Would Intel or AMD ensure that PCs built on their new chips could run Linux?

There were lots of guesses, but nobody really seemed to know, so I bided my time and waited for the dust to settle. I'm not in the market for a new PC anytime soon, after all, and probably won't be until Windows 7 support stops completely in 2020, so I could afford the time.

Today, my procrastination patience has been rewarded.

From PC World:

Three new models of Dell’s slick XPS 13 Developer Edition will be available with Ubuntu OS and 7th Generation Core processors in the U.S. and Canada starting on Oct. 10.

Prices for XPS 13 DE will start at $949. Dell also announced the XPS 13 model with Kaby Lake and Windows 10, which will ship on Oct. 4 starting at $799.

[...]

Dell has remained committed to Linux while major PC vendors shift to Windows 10 on PCs. Intel made a major commitment to supporting Windows 10 with its new Kaby Lake chips but hasn’t talked much about Linux support.

XPS 13 DE is perhaps the sexiest and thinnest Linux laptop available, with an edge-to-edge screen being a stand-out feature. It is the latest in Dell’s Project Sputnik line of laptops, and it is targeted at computer enthusiasts who want a Windows or Mac alternative.

Head over to PC World for more details, or to Slashdot for more discussion -- the folks discussing this development over there will mostly be more better informed than I am. I'm just happy that consumers will continue to have options, viable alternatives to Windows 10, in spite of Microsoft's best efforts. That's good news.

It feels like it's been a better-than-average week for pro-consumer news.

Reminder: Windows 10's Anniversary Update is still a mess

From ZDNet:

Microsoft began rolling out the latest version of Windows 10, the Anniversary Update, on August 2. At that time, Microsoft officials said the rollout would be staggered, but didn't get too explicit as to how -- or how long it might take the company to push Windows 10 Anniversary to consumers and business users who are on the so-called Current Branch of Windows 10.

It's worth repeating that those who really want the Anniversary Update immediately have options to proactively go get it. (And yes, the irony is not lost on me: Now that Microsoft isn't force-feeding Windows 7 and 8 users Windows 10, people who aren't being offered the latest Windows 10 update are asking why they don't have it.)

I received a Microsoft blast email just over a week ago that included a footnote that mentioned it might take up to three months for Microsoft to push the Anniversary Update to those set up to get it. That means those currently waiting may still have another month and a half to wait.

Here's the footnote from that email blast:

"The Anniversary Update will download and install via Windows Update. The download is automatically available to you. It will begin rolling out on 2 August 2016 and may take up to 3 months to reach all users. Internet access fees may apply," said the footnote to the email I received on September 1.

Some who've seen headlines about various problems introduced by the Anniversary Update and subsequent cumulative update patches to it may be in no hurry to get the latest feature update to Windows 10. There have been reports of compatibility issues with the Anniversary Update and McAfee security software, webcams, Kindles, PowerShell Desired State Configuration feature and more.

Redmond is of course spinning this like mad, claiming that it's a good thing that it will take them three months to roll out an August, that it allows them to better accommodate all the various hardware configurations that exist on PCs, and that the much-derided telemetry feature (still the subject of regulatory action by CNIL because it violates privacy laws in France) is making all of this work better, but I don't recall a single time that they had to roll out a Windows 7 service pack over a period of months while checking it for bugs.

To me, this just looks like a terrible mess of a consumer experience; consumers who want the features that are in the A.U. are having to manually download the update in order to get them, while people who've got the update installed, whether manually or automatically, are finding that it has more bugs than a bait store. It's not just ironic, it's lose-lose.

Have I mentioned yet just how glad I am, that I didn't "upgrade" to this mess?

This is what a transformative technology looks like

From TechCrunch:

Beginning today, a select group of Pittsburgh Uber users will get a surprise the next time they request a pickup: the option to ride in a self driving car.

The announcement comes a year-and-a-half after Uber hired dozens of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics center to develop the technology.

Uber gave a few members of the press a sneak peek Tuesday when a fleet of 14 Ford Fusions equipped with radar, cameras and other sensing equipment pulled up to Uber’s Advanced Technologies Campus (ATC) northeast of downtown Pittsburgh.

During my 45-minute ride across the city, it became clear that this is not a bid at launching the first fully formed autonomous cars. Instead, this is a research exercise. Uber wants to learn and refine how self driving cars act in the real world. That includes how the cars react to passengers — and how passengers react to them.

“How do drivers in cars next to us react to us? How do passengers who get into the backseat who are experiencing our hardware and software fully experience it for the first time, and what does that really mean?” said Raffi Krikorian, director of Uber ATC.

If they are anything like me, they will respond with fascination followed by boredom.

Driver error kills thousands of people every year in the U.S. alone, so self-driving cars don't have to be perfect in order to make our roads much, much safer -- they just have to be better than us. And here's the thing: they're already better than us. The hurdles to getting self-driving autos on the road aren't technological -- the technology already exists, and it already works well enough to be an enormous improvement over the status quo.

No, the real hurdles to adoption of this technology are cultural -- matters of public perception, and the influence that perception can have on the politicians who will be called on to modify existing laws in order to allow fully autonomous vehicles to be rolled out in large numbers.

I finally tried VR for myself, and was not blown away

One of things that you continually hear from VR evangelists like the ones at Kotaku is their frustration at how difficult it can be to get people to try VR for themselves:

It remains frustratingly difficult to convey what is good or interesting about new VR games, especially to anyone who hasn’t already played games while wearing virtual reality goggles.

VR will blow us all away, we're told, if we'll just strap on a VR headset and give it a go ourselves.

Well, Sony seems to have taken this criticism to heart, because they're setting up shop in big retail outlets and probably at a mall near you, to let you try virtuality in actuality:

The excitement around PS VR has been enormous and once you try it, you’ll understand why. As all of you would expect, it’s our goal at PlayStation to deliver the best and richest VR gaming experiences, and we can’t wait for you to put that headset on and be transported into these worlds. If you get some hands-on time with PS VR this weekend, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments!

And when I say a mall near you, I mean a mall near me. As in, the mall I happened to be passing through earlier this evening, on my way to somewhere else. So, I did what any self-respecting gaming geek would do... I gave it a whirl.

The experience was rather underwhelming.

Valve take off the VR goggles long enough to solve one of Steam's other, much more pressing, issues

From Eurogamer.net:

Valve just changed the way Steam user reviews work - and it's certainly set the cat among the pigeons.

In May, Valve updated Steam so that it highlighted recent reviews on games. The thinking behind this change was sound: it wanted to better show the current state of a game, many of which evolve quickly as developers issue updates.

Now, though, Valve is changing the default review score that shows up at the top of each product page - the one developers and potential customers put so much stock in - so that it does not include reviews written by those who obtained the product through a Steam key.

What this means is that reviews penned by those who got a game after backing it on Kickstarter, for example, or via a developer's website, do not affect the Steam user review score.

Again, the thinking behind this change is sound. Valve knows that some developers were gaming the system - that is, they were giving keys to friends or shadey paid services in exchange for positive reviews.

[...]

The upshot is that while Steam keys will remain free for developers to give out or sell through other online or retail stores, Valve has deemed it too easy for these keys to end up being used in ways that artificially inflate review scores.

You'd think that news of Valve actually fixing something that's wrong with Steam would be welcome, but reaction so far is decidedly mixed.

Is Linux a Threat to Windows?

Not according to these stats:

The stats appear to be from NetMarketShare, whose graphs I've become quite familiar with over the last few months, but the analysis is from Softpedia:

They say Linux is the best alternative to Windows for a number of reasons, and it’s no secret that there are plenty of users who actually jumped ship and went the open-source way just because of that.

But last month's statistics show that Windows continues to be the dominant desktop operating system out there, and what’s more, Linux isn’t posing any threat just yet despite the number of users who are making the transition.

Specifically, Windows is once again above the 90 percent historical threshold that it has been holding for so long thanks to a pretty successfully month of August.

Net Applications claims Windows is currently at 90.52 percent, up from 89.79 percent the month before. Windows’ worst month was April this year, when it dropped to 88.77 percent, but the OS has been recovering ever since.

Linux, on the other hand, is still super far behind with a share of just 2.11 percent. And what’s more, Linux is even dropping in terms of market share, as statistics show a decline from 2.33 percent it had in July.

But Linux is overall performing quite well, as it has now managed to maintain its share above 2 percent, so there’s definitely an increase brought by the number of users migrating from Windows.

Basically, Linux is still doing as well as it ever was, but it isn't benefitting from any mass migration of disgruntled Windows users. It may just be that switching to Linux involves too much work on the part of users, all to adopt a product with which they're unfamiliar, over a brand that they already know, even if they don't particularly like or trust that brand anymore. 

The status quo, even if actively bad, is often seen as preferable to an uncertain future. Windows users may not be happy with Microsoft, but they're sticking with the devil they know. All of which is perfectly predictable, in its way, but still... I'll admit to being a little disappointed. 

And with Windows 10 now being used by 50% of Steam customers, it looks like Valve's chance to push SteamOS as an alternative may be passing them by, too. Fully a third of Valve is now working on VR, even while developers that promised SteamOS/Linux versions of their games decide against making them.

From PCWorld:

Linux gamers shouldn’t buy games before they’re actually released for Linux or SteamOS. Lots of games—including big-name, AAA games—have gotten a wave of good press by announcing forthcoming support for Linux and SteamOS, which then never materialized.

There are lots of great games you can play on Steam Machines and Linux. That’s why it’s so disappointing when developers cancel announced ports or, worse yet, go silent and stop talking about them.

[...]

Many developers probably thought Steam Machines and SteamOS would be more successful when they made these promises, although some also thought their own games would be more successful, and had to scrambled when they weren’t.

Still, it’s a shame that developers so frequently back away on their promises. It’s a lesson to gamers everywhere: Don’t buy a game based on something the developer promises to release in the future, especially when it’s something as easily and frequently cancelled as support for Linux and SteamOS.

Ouch.

So... with the average user proving reluctant to take the Linux plunge, and Valve, who invested heavily in SteamOS and Linux as alternative gaming platforms, apparently abandoning those efforts to join the VR gold rush, is the Linux alternative still looking viable? The answer, sadly, is probably no. Not unless Valve decide to refocus their efforts on SteamOS and Steam Machine as gaming platforms, and continue working to secure their future in a Windows Store/Universal Windows Platform future, rather than chasing a VR future that's realistically still years, if not decades, away.

Edge browser adds features while losing users to Chrome, while Chrome gets battery boost

Here are two stories which are probably related.

First, from MSPowerUser:

Microsoft’s Edge browser has gained many new features with the release of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, including extension support, support for notifications, swipe to navigate, and much more. But it seems even the newer revamped version of Microsoft’s Edge browser couldn’t prevent the Redmond giant from losing browser share, as the combined user share of Edge and Internet Explorer fell 2.15% in August, ending the month with 32.54% according to Internet analytics vendor Net Applications. August marked the fourth month in the last six where the combined browser share dropped more than 2 points, and the second highest decline in the past 11 years. In the past six months, IE has lost more than 12 percentage points of its user share, and since the first of the year, 16 percentage points.

Google’s Chrome browser continues to benefit most from Microsoft’s decline, gaining another 3.02% in August to take a total of 53.97% of user share. Ever since Microsoft made the decision to end support for older browsers in January (all before IE11 and Edge), and gave users the option to either upgrade to the latest browsers or switch completely, they have experienced an unprecedented decline, with many users choosing to jump ship and board the competition.

Edge was missing several crucial features of modern browsers when Windows 10 launched, and ended up trying to sell itself on superior battery performance when new users didn't take to the browser. This was only a couple of months ago, and included anti-Chrome propaganda in Windows itself, warning users again Chrome because of its battery performance, which was supposedly much, much worse than Edge's. Several months on, though. it's pretty clear that features won out: Chrome had them, Edge didn't, and users are voting with their feet.

So it's probably not good news for Microsoft that Chrome is improving its battery performance, too.

From ZDNet:

Back in June, Microsoft hit out against Google by publishing test results which claimed that its Edge browser had the edge over Chrome when it came to power-saving on portable systems. Google has now responded by introducing new power consumption enhancements to the Windows version of its browser.
According to Google, the Chrome 53 release contains numerous CPU and GPU power consumption enhancements for video playback, along with other "big" performance and power improvements.
Google hasn't as yet published any test results to back up these claims, and I'm not expecting that Chrome will have closed the gap with Edge in one leap, but it's good that Google is addressing these issues.

The biggest loser in all of this may be Mozilla, whose Firefox browser has lost another 0.4% of the browser market, dropping to 7.69% (from a July 2006 peak of 25.1%). With Safari well back of Firefox, and Opera well back of Safari, it certainly looks like the fight for browser dominance is a two-horse race between Google and Microsoft, and Microsoft's recent efforts to attract people to Edge/Bing are either having no effect at all, or are actually hurting Edge's adoption rate by drawing attention to the popularity of both Chrome and Google.

After all, if people have to be bribed to use your product, how good can the product be? Also, the bribes themselves were pretty pathetic.

The Edge browser was supposed to be one of Windows 10's selling points: a truly modern browser that could finally outperform competing products like Chrome, and which was only available in Windows 10. But, like so many of Microsoft's claims about Windows 10, their claims about Edge have also proved to be more hype than substance, with the actual experience of using the product turning out to be mostly sub-par. Even as Microsoft slowly add modern browser features like extension support to Edge, Google are busy polishing their Chrome to be an even better browser, which makes luring users away from Chrome even harder... or, at best, not any easier, especially after making a lacklustre first impression.

First impressions... it turns out they really do matter.

Irony, thy name is DMCA

That the U.S.'s Digital Millennium Copyright Act is something of a mess is something that any YouTuber could probably attest to... and many have. Criminalizing acts as innocuous as making backups of media for your own use, and inviting all manner of systemic abuse by moneyed corporate interests, all while providing almost no additional protections for fair use, the DMCA would almost read like parody if clueless U.S. lawmakers hadn't passed it at the behest of the lobbyists of those same moneyed interests (and the moneyed corporate donors that they represented).

But this tidbit of news finally illustrates the absurdity of the DMCA in ways that nothing else ever could, that I could think of.

From The Beeb:

Film studio Warner Brothers has asked Google to remove its own website from search results, saying it violates copyright laws.

It also asked the search giant to remove links to legitimate movie streaming websites run by Amazon and Sky, as well as the film database IMDB.

The request was submitted on behalf of Warner Brothers by Vobile, a company that files hundreds of thousands of takedown requests every month.

[...]

The self-censorship was first spotted by news blog Torrent Freak, which said Vobile had made some "glaring errors".

In one request, Google was asked to remove links to the official websites for films such as Batman: The Dark Knight and The Matrix.

Licensed online movie portals such as Amazon and Sky Cinema were also reported for copyright infringement.

"Warner is inadvertently trying to make it harder for the public to find links to legitimate content, which runs counter to its intentions," said Ernesto van der Sar, from Torrent Freak.

[...]

Companies such as Vobile typically work on behalf of major film studios, reporting illegally uploaded copies of movies and television programmes.

Google's transparency report says Vobile has submitted more than 13 million links for removal.

It also reveals other potential mistakes - such as film studio Lionsgate reporting a copy of London Has Fallen found on the Microsoft download store.

"Unfortunately these kind of errors are very common," said Mr Van der Sar.

Warner Brothers has yet to comment, but really, what can they say? The DMCA, a law they lobbied hard to get, which tramples the free expression rights of U.S. residents on a regular basis, and whose features the RIAA and MPAA are working hard to see adopted globally through such vehicles as the Trans Pacific Partnership, is such a mess that a company as big as Warner Bros. is issuing automated DMCA takedowns against itself. We're through the looking glass here, people.

The DMCA needs serious revision, as do similar laws already passed in the UK, EU, and elsewhere, and I think that's going to have to start with at least one major movie studio admitting that they got it completely wrong when pushing for the law's passage in the first place. It's not an enviable role, by any means, so kudos to Warner Bros. for stepping up, and nominating themselves in such hilarious fashion.

</sarcasm>

How to lie with statistics, the Microsoft way: August edition

A couple of days ago, I spotted this headline:

Windows 10 has over 50 percent market share, according to Microsoft -- wait, what?

leading to this story, on betanews:

NetMarketShare’s desktop operating system usage figures are due out in a couple of days, and what happens in terms of Windows 10 growth will be interesting as it will be the first time the new OS isn’t available for free.

Before those figures arrive however, Microsoft has released some of its own, and according to the software giant Windows 10 now has 50 percent of the market in the US, and 51 percent in the UK. And, as if that wasn’t surprising enough, those numbers are from June, so the current percentage will likely be much, much higher.

and immediately suspected that it was horse shit. Which was also my reaction on seeing this story, from Softpedia:

Windows 7 Drops Below 40 Percent Market Share for the First Time

Windows 10’s growth continues, eating from Windows 7’s share

Microsoft hasn’t provided us with updated figures on Windows 10 adoption, but a new set of market share figures from StatCounter show that Redmond’s new operating system continued its growth in August, and what’s more, it substantially impacted Windows 7’s market share.

Yes, that's not just one, but two different tech writers, both of them claiming that Windows 10 has gained market share at Windows 7's expense, in both cases without having seen any actual evidence of this. This is how hype happens.

Well, today is the first day of a new month, which means that NetMarketShare will have released new numbers on what's actually happening in desktop OS market share. Let's take a look, shall we?

To recap, this was June: 

This was July: 

And this is August: 

What do the numbers actually show? Let's let Sean Chan at MSPowerUser break it down for us:

The latest report is pretty similar to the recent reports, which shows growth for Windows 10. Last month, we reported that Windows 10 had a market share of 21.13% in 1 year. Now, according to NetMarketShare, the OS now claims 22.99% of the market, gaining 1.86% of the market in just a month. Windows 10 is still the second most used desktop operating system, and that’s not surprising to see as a lot of users are still running Windows 7. In fact, Windows 7 also gained a tiny of market share in August — 0.24% to be exact.

On the other hand, some people are finally moving away from Windows XP — the OS now claims 9.36% of the market, which is still quite a lot. However, the OS claimed 10.34% of market share back in July which means it lost 0.98% of market share in August. For an OS that’s 15 years old, 9.36% market share is still pretty impressive and scary at the same time since Microsoft is no longer providing support for the OS.

As for some of the other operating system, not much has changed over the last month. For example, OS X 10.11 still claims 4.38% of the market (down from 4.69%), Linux claims 2.11% (down from 2.33%) and Windows 8.1 claims 7.92% of the market (up from 7.8%).

So, yes, Windows 10 is gaining users... but slowly. No, Windows 10 does not have 50% of the OS market, or even 50% of the Windows market. No, Windows 10 is still not making gains at Windows 7's expense; actually, both Win7 and Win8 increased their share of the OS market. In fact, it looks like most of Windows 10's market share gains came at the expense of XP, something which could easily be explained by hardware replacement - Windows XP PCs are all old, remember, so their share of the market will continue to dwindle as those users replace those old machines as they wear out.

All of this continues trends that I've seen reported elsewhere, including slow sales of new PCs which aren't expected to rebound until 2018, slow adoption of Windows 10 by businesses, and the ongoing horribleness of Windows 10 inspiring people to roll back to earlier, better versions of the OS. But Microsoft's transparently dishonest attempts to convince us that Windows 10 is taking the PC world by storm are 100% pure manure.

Never believe the hype. The hype is always a lie.

The one surprising thing about August's numbers were the slight (-0.22%) down tick in Linux numbers. Considering just what a horrible experience Windows 10 is proving to be, and what a bug-ridden cluster fuck the Anniversary Update has been since Microsoft rolled it out, I was expecting to see Linux making gains, or at least holding steady, but it looks like frustrated users are simply retreating to the previous stable Windows versions that they know.

There is, after all, comfort in the familiar; I've been threatening to switch to dual-booting Linux for months, and have even purchased a new HDD to install it on, but haven't actually installed that piece of hardware yet, or the new OS, so I can relate. Windows 7 still works, and should keep working for years yet, so the average user may see no reason to go to all the hassle of installing, and then learning one's way around, an entirely new OS.