Now, that's good PR...

I'm almost hesitant to talk about this, because it seems like every time I praise Microsoft for anything, they find some way to make me regret that praise almost immediately, but this particular thing they've done really is good, and deserves a mention. I'm talking, of course, about their recently-revealed new Eye Control feature, as described in dozens of articles by this point, like this one from The Verge:

Microsoft is planning to add native eye tracking support into Windows 10. The new support is primarily designed to help those suffering from neuro-muscular diseases like ALS and other disabilities to control the various interface elements in Windows 10 without a traditional mouse and keyboard. This ranges from gazing at apps to launch them, or using an onscreen keyboard to glance at characters and type out words.

Dubbed Eye Control in Windows 10, the new feature will require hardware like Tobii’s Eye Tracker 4C. Microsoft has worked closely with Tobii to enable this support, and existing devices like Tobii Dynavox PCEye Mini, PCEye Plus, EyeMobile Plus and I-series will all be supported soon. Eye Control in Windows 10 is in beta now, and participants will need to sign up to Microsoft’s Windows Insider program to get access. 

Now, to be clear, this isn't 100% unalloyed goodness. For one thing, the new hardware requirement isn't great; I would be more impressed if this could just with a standard (or HD) webcam, for example. And there's also the fact that it's a new Windows 10 feature, something that Microsoft's had trouble delivering on so far. That said, though, this is still a useful feature, with applications beyond increased accessibility (Tobii actually developed the tech for VR), and the story of how and why it made its way into Win10's feature list is pretty cool. There seems to be nothing bad, here, for a change, at least so far, and plenty of good to be had, especially since the feature had already been added to the latest Insider build.

So, why do I feel like I'm waiting for a shoe to drop?

Every once in a while, Microsoft do something praiseworthy. But it seems like they almost always follow that good news with some self-inflicted injury that stops their good PR in its tracks. It would be great if this latest good news story was the start of some new trend on Redmond's part, of some overt and deliberate push to win back the trust and goodwill of their customers, but Microsoft's history simply does not support that kind of optimism. I could be wrong; honestly, I wouldn't mind being wrong; but I'm still waiting for Microsoft to find the next rake that they've left in their own lawn. Maybe it sucks, but it is what it is, and they've definitely earned every bit of that skepticism.