Tag Archives: featured

Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

X1 Nano First Look

February 24, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Sometimes, you just get lucky. This Monday, I saw Rich Woods’ review of the Lenovo X1 Nano laptop at NeoWin.net. Immediately thereafter, I emailed my contact at Lenovo to ask for a review unit. Yesterday (one day later) I had that unit in my hands. That’s lucky! This mini-review is my X1 Nano first look report. Also, I’ll be writing about this light, compact, and powerful unit one or two more times in the next couple of weeks. Then, alas, I must return it.

Impressions from X1 Nano First Look

I’m a fan of the more compact X series ThinkPad laptops. I currently own an X220 Tablet (2012 vintage), 2 X380 Yogas (2018) and an X390 Yoga (2019). I like the portability of the 13″ form factor. I like the ease with which I can throw a unit (or two) into a carrying sleeve, a briefcase, or a backpack. On family trips especially, I’m used to taking two small laptops along. Thus, I can still keep up with email and post blogs while on the road. And my wife and son can use the other laptop when their smartphones aren’t enough.

I came into this review thinking the Nano would be a great candidate for family laptop on the road. I came out of it thinking that it would make an excellent (if lighter duty) candidate for work laptop on the road. I’ll need more time with the unit to suss this out further.

PiriForm’s free Speccy tool shows the basic components in this review unit.

X1 Nano Review Unit Speeds & Feeds

OK then, it’s got a Tiger Lake (11th generation) i5-1130G7 CPU, which runs at 1.10GHz on four cores and eight threads. Burst mode goes to 1.80 GHz for single-threaded tasks. It also comes with 16 GB of surprisingly fast LPDDR4-4266 RAM. It’s the first laptop I’ve used with Intel Iris Xe graphics. (Once again: these are surprisingly fast and also capable.)

There’s a Samsung OEM 512 GB SSD (NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4) that’s reasonably fast (NotebookCheck calls it “entry-level to mid-tier by H1 2020;” one year on, it’s pretty much straight-out entry level). It’s got a non-touch, 2560×1440 (2K), 450 nits, 16:10, sRGB display that’s crisp and readable at default resolution. The only ports on the device are two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C connections: one labeled for power-only, the other labeled for power and data.

It also sports a speedy Intel AX201 Wi-Fi chipset that meshed quite nicely with my Asus 802.11AX router. (Access speeds of 400 Mbps and better, in a busy, signal-rich office environment.) Oh, and it has a fingerprint reader and a 720p Windows Hello capable integrated Webcam, too.

What’s missing on this unit for those who don’t have a Thunderbolt dock handy? (I have several.) At least one USB 3.0 Type A port, and a micro SD port for added, onboard flash storage. With even high-capacity uSDXC cards now pretty affordable, I do indeed wish Lenovo had found a way to squeeze one in somewhere.

What Makes the X1 Nano a Standout?

It weighs only 906 grams (1.99 lbs). It’s got a carbon fiber top deck and a (nicely coated) magnesium bottom deck. The keyboard is about 10% smaller than the one on my other X model ThinkPads. Even so, it feels (and works) so much like those others that I can’t tell any difference. And for somebody like me who makes his living by typing on a keyboard, that’s a big thing.

The display is also pleasingly bright and clear, and the Iris Xe graphics are fast, crisp and powerful. I’m no gamer, but I couldn’t make the display choke up even by throwing graphics pop-ups at it. Working with my usual mix of multiple Chrome, Firefox and Edge windows, plus MS Word for writing, I was impressed. It works and feels just like my now-aging but still capable i7-6700 Z170 desktop (32 GB RAM, Samsung 950 Pro SSD, GTX 1070) on my typical in-office workloads. Even comparing CrystalDiskMark 8.0.1 results for the two primary drives, they’re almost identical.

More to Come in Days Ahead

Right now, my response to this PC is an enthusiastic “So far, so good.” As equipped, this unit’s MSRP on its Lenovo product page is US$1727.40. That makes it about $100 less than a 10th generation, i7-equipped, non Iris XE (Intel 620 UHD) touchscreen ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5.

Were I myself to buy one of these, I would spring the extra $120 for an i7 CPU. It uses an M.2 2242 NVMe drive, of which 1 TB units are not yet readily available on the aftermarket. Thus, I would probably buy the 256 or 512 GB SSD and then do a swap myself, when higher-capacity, higher-performance options go up for sale.

Other than that, it’s a delightful little laptop. I recommend it highly, subject only to my reservations. Those are: few ports, no SDXC slot, and a mildly painful ouch factor on price. But that’s how it is for “thin-and-light” laptops, isn’t it?

Insider stuff, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

Post Dev Channel Upgrade Drill

February 23, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

As somebody who’s been in the Insider Program for Windows 10 since October, 2014, I’ve been through hundreds of Insider Preview installations and upgrades. That means I have a pretty well-defined drill through which I take my test PCs once an upgrade is in place. In today’s item, I’ll take you through my Post Dev Channel Upgrade drill as an illustration. That’s because I just finished upgrading to Build 21318.1000, released Friday February 19.

High-level View: Post Dev Channel Upgrade Drill

Viewed at a high level, those post Dev Channel upgrade steps might be described as follows:

1. Check the environment, restore tweaks, make repairs
2. Clean up post-upgrade leftovers, esp. Windows.old
3. Perform other routine cleanups
4. Check for and install software updates (non-Windows)
5. Use Macrium Reflect to make a pristine image backup

In general, the idea is to make sure things are working, clean up anything left behind, catch apps and applications up with Windows, and make a snapshot to restore as this release baseline, if needed.

Step 1: Check & Restore or Repair Anything Out of Whack

YMMV tremendously during this activity. After many upgrades, I’ve jumped into File Explorer Options (Control Panel) to make file extensions visible again, show hidden files, and so forth. MS is doing a better job with this lately, and I don’t usually have to do this with Insider Preview upgrades (though it does still happen for standard feature upgrades).

For a long, long time I had to go into Advanced File Sharing to loosen “Guest or Public” and “All Network” network profiles on the Lenovo X220 Tablet to get RDP to work. Because I use RDP from my production desktop to access and work on my arsenal of test PCs, this is pretty important — to me, anyway. The last few Dev Channel releases have NOT had this problem, I’m happy to say.

I run Helmut Buhler’s excellent 8 Gadget Pack on my Windows 10 PCs. That’s because its CPU Usage and Network Meter gadgets provide helpful dashboards. The former is good for CPU and memory usage and system temps; the latter is great at showing network activity and base addressing info. Very handy. But each time an upgrade is installed, Windows 10 boots it off the desktop. Buhler has written a handy “Repair” utility that I run after each upgrade to put everything back the way it was.

Step 2: Clean up post-upgrade leftovers

You can use the built-in Disk Cleanup utility, run as admin, to take care of most of this. I personally prefer Albacore/TheBookIsClosed’s Managed Disk Cleanup (available free from GitHub). Why? Because he tweaked the UI so you can see all active controls in a single display window, and select all the stuff you want gone in a single pass. Here’s what that looks like to make it visually obvious why I prefer this tool:

Notice you can see ALL options eligible for selective clean-up in a single display area in Managed Disk Cleanup. I like it!

Step 3: Perform other routine cleanups

I still use Josh Cell’s Uncleaner utility to clean up temp files and other leftovers after an upgrade. If I’m feeling ambitious I’ll run the DriverStore Explorer (RAPR.exe) to identify and remove duplicate device drivers, too. Once upon a time I would run Piriform’s CCleaner as well, but I’m less than happy with that software now that the maker has started including bundleware in the installer. I haven’t found another tool I like as much as the old version.

Step 4: Update Third-Party Software

You can use a tool like KC Softwares SuMO or Patch My PC Updater to suss out most of the items in need of update on Windows PCs. SuMO is a little better at its job but costs about US$35 for the PRO version (does automatic updates for most programs, but sometimes vexing to use). PMP Updater is free, fast, and entirely automatic but doesn’t update everything. Sigh. I use PMP Update on my test machines, and SuMO PRO on my production PC myself. I’m doing this on the theory that it’s best to have everything updated before making a pristine image backup, as I do in the next step.

Step 5: Make a Pristine Backup

With everything upgraded and updated, and all the dross cleaned up, it’s the perfect time to make a fresh image backup. I like Macrium Reflect, mostly because it’s faster and more reliable than the built-in Windows 7 Backup and Restore utility (which MS itself has recommended against since 2016). And indeed, it’s faster at backing up and restoring than most other utilities I’ve used, and also includes a bootable rescue flash drive utility you can use for bare metal and “dead boot/system” drive repair/restore scenarios.

Please note: Macrium Reflect is MUCH faster than using the rollback utility to return to a lower-level OS image from a higher-level one. That’s why I feel safe getting rid of the Windows.old folder as part of my cleanup efforts. I know I’m not going to use those files anyway…

OK then, that’s my drill. I’m sticking to it. Hopefully, you’ll find something in there to like for yourself. Cheers!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows OS Musings

Windows 10 LTSC Lifetime Gets Halved

February 22, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, then. It must be something in the air. I blogged here about the Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) version of Windows 10 about two weeks ago. And today, I just saw — courtesy of the always vigilant Mary Jo Foley (MJF) at ZDNet — that MS is cutting LTSC support life from 10 to 5 years. This starts with the next release as explained in a Windows IT Pro blog post. (See below for a key snippet.) Fore sure, the big takeway is that Windows 10 LTSC lifetime gets halved, as of 21H2.

Why Windows 10 LTSC Lifetime Gets Halved?

The best answers for inevitable follow-on questions appear in a quote from the aforementioned blog post. Here ’tis:

Today we are announcing that the next version of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC will be released in the second half (H2) of calendar year 2021. Windows 10 Client LTSC will change to a 5-year lifecycle, aligning with the changes to the next perpetual version of Office. This change addresses the needs of the same regulated and restricted scenarios and devices. Note that Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC is maintaining the 10-year support lifecycle; this change is only being announced for Office LTSC and Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC. You can read more about the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC announcement on the Windows IoT blog.

Two important take-aways:

1. Happily, this change synchronizes Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC and Office LTSC release timing.

2. Even better, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC is NOT affected. It stays on a 10-year schedule.

Apparently MS understands full well that, once deployed, IoT devices are best left alone as long as possible. Happily, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC and Office LTSC are synching up, because they’re likely used in tandem. Thus, both benefit from the same release cycle. In most cases, five years is in keeping with typical technology refresh cycles (which usually run 5-7 years).

Plus çe change…

The complete French aphorism translates “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Indeed, it seems that MS isn’t afraid to tweak long-term servicing options, to better meet customer needs. My guess: making customers upgrade LTSC Office without upgrading the OS simultaneously could be less than helpful. Therefore, it makes sense that MS would synch things up where the two are likely used together.

On another front, MJF and I both see a bit of ‘suasion possibly at work in this change. Here’s what she says on this in her story:

Microsoft execs have tried to dissuade customers from using LTSC versions of Windows 10 as a way to avoid regular feature updates. (More than a few customers do this.) They’ve emphasized that the intent of LTSC releases is to support mission-critical systems that can’t or shouldn’t get regular updates.

In today’s blog post, officials said they also found that many customers who installed LTSC versions for their information worker desktops “found that they do not require the full 10-year lifecycle.”

Given that the typical refresh cycle is less than 10 years, I’d have so say “No kidding!” to her final observation. I concur!

Networking, Services, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

Samsung Network Printer Goes Missing

February 19, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, I admit it. I hadn’t set up DHCP reservations on my LAN. I could try to blame the Spectrum-supplied router that provides DHCP, but it’s really my fault. Thus, when I saw my Samsung ML-2581ND laser printer was offline yesterday morning, I immediately knew what was up. Generally, when the Samsung Network Printer goes missing on my LAN it’s because DHCP has assigned it a different IP address.

Look at the lead-in graphic for this story. There you’ll see that the device (Samsung ML-2850) is associated to Private IP 192.168.1.126. It had previously been …127. And as soon as I changed that address selection on the Ports tab of Printer Properties, it started working again. So how did I figure out which port it had actually been assigned?

When Samsung Network Printer Goes Missing, Then What?

That’s when I call on one of Nir Sofer’s handy network utilities — namely NetBScanner. It quickly scans the local cable segment on its address range. In fact, the program is smart enough to figure that out on its own, after which it supplies a short list of all occupied addresses in that range. Here’s what I saw when I scanned my local wired Ethernet:

Notice the entry for …126 which also shows the device name SAMSUNGNWP. That’s what I want!

It turns out I already had defined this address in the Ports tab, so all I had to do was switch the device from the now-incorrect …127 entry to the current …126 entry and it was done. That meant unchecking the box next to the former, and checking the box next to the latter. Dead simple, quick and easy to fix. As long as you know how, that is…

The Right Fix is a DHCP Reservation

DHCP lets admins make static address assignments from the IP address pool it manages. That way, devices like servers and printers can keep the same address forever, and DHCP won’t move those assignments around, as it otherwise might. That shows up under the Advanced and DHCP tabs on my Askey RAC2V1K boundary device. I reserved the …126 address for the Samsung ML-2850 and also the …15 address for my Dell Color Laser CB745E. The latter is shown here:

By supplying the MAC address and the desired (reserved) IP address, you tell DHCP “hands off” for future assignments.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

So now, I’ve done what I should have done long ago, thanks to sharing my (prior) shame with you, dear readers. Live and learn!

Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

DISM Trumps SFC To Fix Hung Execution

February 16, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s an interesting observation straight from TenForums. Occasionally, the System File Checker (SFC) will hang when run. That is, it will grind forward to some percentage of completion, and then sit there indefinitely, making no further progress. If that happens to you on a Windows 10 PC, it’s OK to terminate the process (enter Ctrl-C at the command line or in PowerShell). In such cases, DISM trumps SFC to fix hung execution. Let me explain…

How DISM Trumps SFC to Fix Hung Execution

To unpack my assertion, please understand that when SFC finds an error it cannot fix, it more or less stops where it is. The Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool, aka DISM, can replace the files in Winodws 10’s cross-linked code repository WinSxS. By doing so, it will often fix the errors that SFC cannot surmount successfully.

The syntax for the specific DISM incantation is most often:

DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Other variations for offline images, or that use something other than local files already known to Windows 10 are documented at MS Docs. There you’ll find a helpful article entitled “Repair a Windows Image” that take you through various elaborations that may sometimes prove necessary. Using the Source: attribute can get particularly interesting, especially if you’re working from a WIM or ESD file that is home to two or more Windows images.

If SFC Hangs, DISM /RestoreHealth Often Sets Things Right

As it did for the person who posted about SFC difficulties at TenForums, this approach will often (but not always) make things right. You can’t know until you try. But the thing to remember is that if SFC hangs or fails, your next step should be to try this specific DISM command.

In my personal experience, this has fixed half or more of such issues when they’ve come up. If the odds come up as they should, this approach will also work for you. Try it, and see!

[Note Added Feb 16 afternoon]:
Go Ahead: Skip SFC, Run DISM First

Members of the Insider Team responding to this post informed me that “On Win10 it’s recommended to run DISM first.” This is explained in an MS Support Note entitled “Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files.” And sure enough, in reading over that article it informs readers “If you are running Windows 10 … first run the inbox Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool prior to running the System File Checker.” I’m not sure what “inbox” means in this context, but the order is clear and unmistakable: DISM first, SFC second.

I’ve been following typical advice from TenForums and conventional wisdom for so long, I neglected to read up on SFC in putting this story together. Live and learn: now I know to reverse the order and run DISM first. Hope this helps others, too!

Recent Activity, Software Reviews, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, WED Blog, Windows 10

Voidtools Everything Finds Files Fast

February 11, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I know plenty of purists who won’t use third-party Windows tools if a Microsoft-supplied tool or facility will do the job. I am not such a person, and I’m happy to use third-party tools that either do things that Microsoft doesn’t do, or do as well as they do. Because Voidtools Everything finds files fast, it’s part of my standard Windows 10 desktop runtime. Oh, and it’s free, imposes little overhead, and — in my experience — runs faster and works better than Microsoft search. I usually get what I’m after before I’ve finished typing my input string.

Because Voidtools Everything Finds Files Fast, Use It!

The Everything FAQ provides a peachy overview of the tool, and explains its speed, behavior and workings. That said, Everything is primarily a name search tool for files and folders. It provides only limited visibility into file contents (that’s a search tool of a different stripe). The developers say that Everything takes about 1 second to index a fresh Windows install (about 120K files) and a minute to index 1M files. It really is fast, based on personal experience. It can also access files on FAT volumes, network storage, and flash devices (but minor configuration wiggles in Tools → Options → Folders are required, shown below).

FAT-derived volumes (like those on SD cards and UFDs) don’t show up by default in Everything. But they are easy to add.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Working Search for Everything It’s Worth

OK, bad pun, I know. But you can use boolean operators and wildcards in Everything much like you do at the Windows command line. Everything also supports advanced search for more complex search strings that also include the program’s content search functions (warning: these are slow because Everything does not index content in advance). For me the Advanced Search window provides the complex functions I need. Check it out:

Advanced search offers a variety of pattern definition and matching functions. Works like a champ, too!

If, like me, you have lots of storage and millions of files at your fingertips (right now, Everything says it’s indexed 1.4+M objects for me), Everything is handy and useful. If you try it out, you’ll probably end up keeping it around and using it regularly. I use it dozens of times a day, every day myself.

Uncategorized

Patch Tuesday Updates Include 3 Critical TCP/IP Fixes

February 10, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Although I think MS calls it Update Tuesday now, Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of each month. It’s the usual time when MS releases monthly updates, including security patches and fixes. This latest batch, released yesterday, includes some important stuff. These Patch Tuesday Updates include 3 critical TCP/IP fixes, according to BleepingComputer among other sources. They join MS In urging organizations to update them sooner rather than later.

Patch Tuesday Updates Include 3 Critical TCP/IP Fixes: Relevant CVEs

These vulnerabilities affect all Windows client and server versions starting at Windows 7/Server 2008 and up to present-day, current versions. The relevant CVEs are: CVE-2021-24074, CVE-2021-24094, and CVE-2021-24086. Each one may be exploited remotely. Two of them could lead to remote code execution (RCE) attacks. The third offers a means to crash an exposed Windows PC, offering a potential denial-of-service attack vector.

All three show February 9 release dates, which also makes them zero-day exploits as well. They also pose low attack complexity, which makes them easy for malefactors to foist. All require no privileges to launch which only increases their danger levels.

Who’s Covered By Patch Tuesday Updates?

Only older versions of Windows client and server OSes need to download and install their corresponding Monthly Security Rollups (Server 2008, Server 2012, Server 2012 R2, Windows 7 SP1). Check the afore-linked Security Bulletins (shown above as CVE links) for Microsoft Catalog download links. Other client and server versions can get their updates through normal channels, including Windows Update.

Don’t delay, dear readers. These updates are better installed than not, especially for any Windows PCs directly exposed to the Internet.

Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows OS Musings

Likely Windows 10 LTSC Usage Scenarios

February 9, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

In yesterday’s post, I explained the role of the Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). Indeed, it’s the most apt Windows 10 release for everyday use in most cases. In that discussion, the Long-Term Servicing Channel, aka, LTSC also came in for mention. I’ve just participated in an interesting TenForums thread on this topic. It raises the question of how to get an ISO for this channel, for which I helped find an answer. It also raised a broader question: LTSC, What is it, and when should it be used? This leads in turn to likely Windows 10 LTSC usage scenarios.

What Are Likely Windows 10 LTSC Usage Scenarios?

The preceding link is a 2018 Windows IT Pro Blog post from John Wilcox, He’s a “Windows-as-a-Service” evangelist at Microsoft. In that post he explains (and illustrates) one major LTSC use class:

devices purchased with Windows 10 IoT Enterprise pre-installed. Examples … include kiosks, medical equipment, and digital signs, i.e. use cases where devices are commonly treated as a whole system and are, therefore, “upgraded” by building and validating a new system, turning off the old device, and replacing it with a new, certified device.

He also goes on to explain for such systems that Microsoft

designed the LTSC with these types of use cases in mind, offering the promise that we will support each LTSC release for 10 years–and that features, and functionality will not change over the course of that 10-year lifecycle.

Understanding the LTSC Release Cadence

MS deliberately slow-walks LTSC releases to the delivery stage. Wilcox explains that a new release is created on a three-year cycle. In fact, “each release contains all the new capabilities and support included in the Windows 10 features updates … released since the previous LTSC…” Thus, LTSC releases use a year to identify themselves. Recent examples include Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016 and 2019.

Changing Times vs. No Change

Wilcox is pretty adamant that only those scenarios where no change is anticipated over a system’s useful life are truly suitable for LTSC. That means: no new peripherals, no new applications, no new devices and capabilities. Anything different is a strong argument to use the SAC instead. Embedded or dedicated systems often qualify, but little else fits that bill. End of story.

[Note Added February 10:] 2022 LTSC Preview

Good timing. Just saw a notice at TenForums that a new Preview Build 20292 for LTSC 2022 is out: get all the details at the Announcing item. Glad to see MS is still at work on what’s next for LTSC. Be sure to check it out, if this is in your wheelhouse.

Uncategorized

Understanding What 2004 Broad Deployment Means

February 8, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

On February 3, an interesting note appeared in the latest Windows 10 Status bulletin. To truly make sense of its import requires understanding what 2004 broad deployment means. Here’s a key snippet:

Current status as of February 3, 2021

Windows 10, version 2004 is designated for broad deployment. The recommended servicing status is Semi-Annual Channel.

Again: Understanding What 2004 Broad Deployment Means

The phrase “broad deployment” is addressed in code in the phrase “servicing status is Semi-Annual Channel.” I’d translate it as “ready for nearly everybody and anybody .” Microsoft displays a more specific view of this in a DOCs article. It’s entitled Assign devices to servicing channels for Windows 10 update. In fact, that article supplies the table shown as the lead-in graphic above.

Another quote that heads the foregoing table is pretty explicit about who should get which release channel:

The Semi-Annual Channel is the default servicing channel for all Windows 10 devices except those with the LTSB edition installed

What does this mean? It means anybody who depends on Windows 10 should run the Semi-Annual Channel release. To be more specific, that means users at work, at home and at school. Thus, if you’re not an insider or using an LTSB license, you should be running Windows 10 2004 . That’s the May 2020 release, currently at build 19041.xxx.

2 Releases Back Reflects Conventional Wisdom

For the longest time, businesses have long followed a pattern of hanging one or two releases back from the leading edge. This goes as far back as I can remember taking Windows seriously. More explicitly, I’d call it “the Windows 3.1/Windows for Workgroups era” (1992-1993).

On the ground, most businesses I visit run 1909 or 2004 these days. With 1909 not coming up on EOL until May 2022, this info from Microsoft is interesting. Between the lines, read it as a gentle nudge to businesses to start thinking about an upgrade. For sure, that’s sooner than they’d upgrade, if impending EOL were the driving force.

For ordinary users I also read this as sage advice for those who don’t work at Windows leading or bleeding edge. For leading edge, think current release (20H2). That makes the bleeding edge Insider Previews (21H1 and beyond).

Could It Be a Wake-Up for True Laggards?

The true laggards, of course, are those running 1904 or some earlier Windows release. This includes my optometrist, who I noticed is still on Windows 7 when I had my eyes checked two weeks back. Thus, if you’re not close to the Semi-Annual Channel level on your Windows desktops, it’s time to start planning that transition. I think MS has just given fair warning!

Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows OS Musings

Pondering Microsoft Viva Introduction

February 4, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, I admit it. I’ve been biting my lip since last week, when MS briefed MVPs about this upcoming milestone. Now that they’ve made an official announcement, I can share my thoughts and reactions. (That’s also where the nifty graphic comes from. I doubled it up for a better WordPress look.) All this goes to explain why today I’m pondering Microsoft Viva introduction. Potentially, it means much for modern digital workers everywhere — including me (and you too, dear reader).

When Pondering Microsoft Viva Introduction, Don’t Get Carried Away

Q1: What is Microsoft Viva?
A1: It’s an “Employee Experience Platform,” aka EXP “built for the digital era.” It is designed to bring together “knowledge, learning, resources, and insights into an integrated employee experience…
Further, it “… builds on Microsoft Teams to empower people to be their best, from anywhere.” See the Official Announcement Blog.

Q2: Name the four faces of the Viva EXP?
A2: They’re repeated in the next graphic. You’ve got Viva Insights, Viva Topics, Viva Learning, and Viva Connections.

Pondering Microsoft Viva Introduction and its four major components. — Pondering Microsoft Viva Introduction and its four major components, we see Insights, Topics, Learning, and Connections.

Of Insights, Topics, Learning and Connections

The emerging scoop on these Teams-based facilities goes like this:

Viva Connections allows an organization’s leaders to shape in-house cultures and mindsets. It also invites employees to help build “an inclusive workplace.” Further, it “helps everyone succeed by giving people a curated, company-branded experience that brings together relevant news, conversations, and other resources.” More at Viva Connections Blog.
Viva Insights wants to help people form better work habits, achieve improved work/life balance, and find focus. Using AI (I’m guessing of both global and local varieties) this tool offers insights to individuals, managers and leaders. They’re described as “personalized and actionable insights that help everyone in an organization thrive.” Mo’ info at Viva Insights Blog.
Viva Learning creates a centralized learning hub within Microsoft Teams. There, people can “discover, share, assign and learn from content libraries available across the organization.” “[M]ake learning a natural part of your day” is the goal. MS says it “seamlessly connects into the day to day for our 115 million daily active users in Teams.” Futher deets from Viva Learning Blog.
Viva Topics uses AI to provide its users “with knowledge and expertise in Microsoft Teams and the Microsoft 365 apps they use every day.” Based on Teams and Graph, it seeks to “deliver knowledge directly through the Teams users experience later this year.” At present it “has [already] reached general availability for our commercial customers.” Oh, and here’s the link to the Viva Topics Announcement (no blog just yet, I guess). This is the area that, as a Windows Insider MVP, interests me most.

Big Trouble in Little China

…is a delightfully awful 1986 throwaway movie starring Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall. It also humorously restates my mild concern, understanding now how much MS knows about us through Teams. And then, how much more we’re all going to know about ourselves and each other through that same nexus.

This could might be the best thing that’s ever happened to productivity workers. Or, it might be the first sign that SkyNet is getting itself together to subjugate wee, slow, puny humans. Should be fun to see which way this particular mop flops, eh?

Stay tuned! We’ve all got a lot to ponder as the next step in the man/machine interface takes another small step into the future. Personally, I’m jazzed…