Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
Tech News & Commentary
Brad in Miami calling in via the FREE Into Tomorrow App asked: “I’m a big android fan and have used their e-mail and calendar app for years. I just loaded the Outlook app on my phone and am very disappointed in it. I’m a 365 user in my office and thought it would be integrated well, but I’m very disappointed. It has no options and isn’t user friendly. I was wondering is Microsoft behind or will they always be this way in terms of getting their products out?”
Brad, Microsoft is in a weird spot… they tried to use their Office suite as a hostage to keep people tied to the platforms they wanted to 
promote, by only releasing clients for them.
The problem is that Office support was the only thing that people liked on those platforms, and that was not enough, so competitors largely caught up with the Office suite, be it Word and Excel, or just Outlook, and ended up improving them in some ways.
So Microsoft right now is probably behind on some things while it’s still doing fine in other areas. No competitor has the amount of functions and features that Excel has, but few people need those, so Google’s Sheets, Apple’s Numbers, LibreOffice’s Calc are more than enough for most people.
In other areas, they are just behind though. They are behind in email, Outlook has fewer features than most of their competitors, and the integration between emails, calendar, and contacts feel a little aged, while other platform connect all of that seamlessly.
They are trying to improve things, but it may take them a while and they may need to go back to the mindset of being leaders and not mindless followers.
We’ve heard Microsoft described as the ultimate “us too” company… “smartphones?? wait, wait… us too!!” and they came out with Windows Phone, that was and is so half baked that developers won’t touch it and they can only sell them as “that $49 phone with a big screen.” “Tablets?? wait, wait us too!!” and they came out with the Surface, which is basically an uncomfortable laptop, an uncomfortable tablet, and does neither well, it’s an ok device, but for the price it’s hard to justify. “Fitness trackers?? wait, wait… us too!!” and they came out with the Band, which is uncomfortable to wear, has a delicate clasp, and is caught somewhere between an incomplete smartwatch, and fitness tracker.
It’s been that way for a while, and they went from having everyone on Hotmail to losing everyone to Gmail and Yahoo and taking years to try to change their email client to compete, from having everyone on Office to losing masses to Google Docs and free desktop clients. They seem to have interesting projects being researched in-house, but project Natal just became the XBox One camera, which people don’t seem to care for anymore, the HoloLens looks cool, but they don’t seem to be ready to do anything with it.
They seem lost as to what to do with their original products, and running behind everyone else trying to catch up on everything else.
Hopefully they won’t always be this way on getting products out, but lately their strategy has been a little baffling… When Gates left, their sense of direction seems to have followed him out the door.
They have a ton of money though, so if they manage to get some focus back, they may become an interesting player again at some point.
The good news is, if you can look at it this way, that Microsoft’s iOS apps, and Outlook in particular, are excellent. Many analysts think that Outlook is the best email app for the iPhone or iPad–period.
That’s good news for you, the Android fan, because it should be assumed that eventually Microsoft will get those same apps over to Android devices.
In fact, checking the Google Play store, it seems as though the Outlook app for Android was just updated. You might want to see whether it’s the same version you have, because the screenshots on the Google Play store make it look an awful lot like that excellent iOS version.
Good luck and let us know how things turn out!
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Bill in Baton Rouge, Louisiana listens on Talk 107.3 WBRP asked: “I wanted to ask about your thoughts on a Windows Phone. I currently have an iPhone and Verizon really screwed me by telling to upgrade my OS. I have the 4S, and they told me I needed to upgrade it to the new OS to fix some issues. Now the phone is just absolutely terrible. Verizon has me locked into a contract, so I can’t afford to pay full price for a new iPhone, so I was thinking about a Windows Phone and wanted your thoughts on those.”
Don’t do that to yourself Bill … Here’s the thing about Windows Phones: they’re fine! Yes, they’re trying too hard, they’re trying to appeal to gamers with the name “Cortana” when their real demographic is people who asked for the cheapest option, they’ve given their phones a memory obliterating 41 megapixel cameras, they’ve had some issues with overheating phablets, but overall the phones are ok… the problem is that they are what they are, and that’s all they may be.
Had you asked in 1999, that would be fine, but now people expect their phones to evolve and do more over time and Windows Phones likely won’t, sooner or later you will start running into apps you want that you won’t be able to find, and this is why: the operating system is ok from the screen out, but it’s far, far behind their competitors from the screen in.
Developers haven’t shunned Windows Phone because it has a small market share, that makes it less appealing, but it’s not the only issue, the bigger issue is that it requires a gargantuan amount of work to do things that other platforms do effortlessly (for example: streaming a radio show, or transferring a recorded file…), the APIs are extremely weak and incomplete, and changing that will take Microsoft a long, long, long time even if they actually try to change it. On top of that, they have to try to stay up to date with their competitors’ advances too, which makes matters even more difficult.
For now, you should buy a Windows Phone if you’re happy with what the operating system does today, and you don’t expect your phone to do what others do. Windows Phone users generally like the user interface, it’s just the clunkiness behind the scenes that makes things complicated, and really it’d probably better for you to consider either another iPhone or an Android Phone if you’re interested in keeping up with others.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Wayne Schuurman, President – Pangea Audio
High-performance, durable audio cables at sensible prices
Product Spotlight: OWC Envoy Pro mini SSD Flash Drive 240GB $200
Chris highlights the $200 OWC Envoy Pro mini SSD Flash Drive, a thumb drive made out of a desktop-class SSD
Wally in Menasha, Wisconsin listens on WOSH asked: “Hi Dave, my name is Wally from Menasha, Wisconsin and I listen via WOSH. Is there a device that will connect to a USB port with which I can control red-green-blue LED light strips? I’d like to program the computer to run the lights through a sequence over a period of time.”
There are many devices that will help you do that.
Basically what you’re looking for is a USB LED controller, there are many different types, from custom purpose Arduino/Raspberry Pi types of devices, to devices that take their programming from a computer and then plug into the lights and feed them instructions on their own.
Now, as far as we can tell, controlling the LED strips from your computer will not be trivial, it will probably take some soldering on your part, and it will almost certainly involve some low level work on the software side of things too.
Here’s a link to an example of someone who’s done basically what you’re trying to do, so you can get an idea for what’s actually involved.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
TYLT: Car Charger RIBBN Cables – These cables rapidly charge 2 Smartphones or 2 Tablets simultaneously.
Jabra: SoleMate Portable Bluetooth speaker for your laptop, tablet, smartphone or music player
PhoneSoap: Several Antibacterial – All Natural Touch Screen Polish
Livio Radio: Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit – FM transmitter that allows you to bring Internet Radio and hands-free calling to your car.
iLuv: A pair of ReFashionOlogy Canvas Exterior, Collapsible Headphones with a Titanium Diaphragm
Westinghouse: Unplug Wireless Bluetooth Sound System