What is it like building an operating system for the world? Microsoft Windows Insider chief, Dona Sarkar talks about how diversity helps in the development of the Windows operating system. Sharing how the development team builds an operating system that works for emerging markets like Africa thriving on diversity.
Dona was talking to Mark Smith (nz365guy), about Building a Tech Community: Windows Insider Program on his podacst.
Knowing how people use tech in the world is how we grow and build better products.
Dona Sarkar
Lessons from Nigeria that shaped Windows 10 for emerging markets
Dona talks passionately about how she appreciates diversity in a corporate team. “I appreciate diversity of experience and diversity of background really helps. What people who are diverse bring to the table is open mindedness.”
As someone who helps in building a global product, she says she will have only a specific point of view sitting in Redmond. “I think we need a global thinking. How do people use tech all around the world. What more should we build and invest in.”
Knowing how people use tech in the world is how we[Microsoft] grow and build better products, Dona says.
About three years ago we realized we know very little about how to build a windows that works well in emerging markets. Especially for places where electricity and good wifi is not a given.
So we choose Lagos, Nigeria because there’s are a hundred and eighty million people there. They love technology, they use it all the time but the infrastructure is not quite as reliable as it might be in Redmond.
When we were there i was trying to install insider builds, have skype calls and podcast and it was challenging. We had rolling blackouts everyday, wifi was extremely slow and spotty. The expense of having wireless connectivity is way higher.
We realized having the ability to have longer battery life is extremely important. Having devices that work on cellular like our Windows on ARM PCs is extremely important compared to always relying on wifi. The ability to have a windows download size that’s not 3GB but maybe 2GB is extremely important.
Dona and the Windows development team are making Windows better with the help of a diverse Insider community. A community of people across the world who help test pre-relase Windows builds and provide feedback.
WhatsApp is sending out an end of support message to windows phone users. If you haven’t already seen this you should soon if you are using WhatsApp on a Windows mobile device. The company says whatsapp will stop working on Windows Phones. In another detail, the company will be removing its app from the Microsoft store as well.
The message reads “Microsoft has ended support for Windows Phone, As a consequence, WhatsApp will stop working on this phone after Dec 31, 2019.” In February Microsoft announced that from December 10th 2019, Windows 10 mobile users will not recieve new security updates and any kind of device support. Following this most apps have moved users to their web apps, like Instagram and Uber. Others have their apps available in the Microsoft store but not available for mobile download.
WhatsApp says “You’ll no longer be able to use all Windows Phone operating systems after December 31, 2019, and WhatsApp might not be available in the Microsoft Store after July 1, 2019.
It however offers a link to show you how to switch to a supported phone.
As a Windows Phone user, what this means is that some features might stop functioning at any time. You will be unable to create new accounts nor reverify existing accounts says WhatsApp.
Unfortunately WhatsApp doesn’t have an option to transfer your chat history between platforms. I can’t tell if backing it up to an SD card and moving it will do it. If you tried this and it worked kindly share with us.
Microsoft is rolling out Windows 10’s next major update, Windows 10 May 2019 Update, tagged version 1903. The update doesn’t come bearing lots of new major features but you will like the new additions. It has more under the hood improvements. That bring you better customizations and makes Windows 10 perform better.
The update is general available now and Microsoft will be rolling it out in a phased and controlled rollout. To avoid the October 2018 Update fiasco. So if update issues are encountered it can be controlled and dealt with. I want to believe this will be a smoother experience. As Windows insiders got to test the release preview build and it has been improved. Here is a full list of What’s new.
Who can get Windows 10 May 2019 Update?
Anyone with a Windows 10 device can get the latest update. Microsoft says it will start automatically updating Windows 10 devices that are reaching end of service. This means if your Windows 10 operating system is an old one like the Windows 10 Anniversary Update or other, once you are connected to the internet, Microsoft will initiate the update for you.
For Windows 10 devices that are at, or within several months of reaching, end of service, Windows Update will automatically initiate a feature update; keeping those devices supported and receiving the monthly updates that are critical to device security and ecosystem health.
What do you do?
I will say if you are a careful and skeptical person, relax and let the Windows 10 May 2019 Update hit your downloads automatically. Alternatively you can check windows update in settings and select check for update, to initialize it. If you a more advanced user, you can use the Windows 10 Update Assistant. Or create a Windows 10 media installation and run the media creation tool.
Is there anything else you will to know? Ask me in the comments or on twitter @silverscholar and i’ll make a post about it.
Six months on, Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system has chalked a new milestone. Crossing the 800 million mark for devices running on Windows 10. At the announcement of Windows 10 October 2018 Update, Microsoft said Windows 10 was running on 700 million devices. This also comes as We approach its 4th year in July.
Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Modern Life & Devices Group shared this news in a tweet. Thanking customers and partners for helping reach this new milestone.
Microsoft was forced to accept it couldn’t reach its 1 billion devices target as early as 2017. When it announced Windows 10 was on 600 million devices then. Many believe this happened due to cutting off of Windows 10 on mobile devices. With Windows 7 nearing its support life many users and enterprise customers might finally make their Windows 10 leap.
Windows 10 mobile became generally available in March 2016 when Microsoft rolled out its new operating system Windows 10. A successor to the loved Windows Phone 8.1. But Windows phone[mobile] didn’t really get the traction in the mostly iOS and Android dominated world. It didn’t do more than 3% market share at its peak. Forcing new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to write it off eventually.
With the OS product lifecycle in view, Microsoft is advising current owners and users of its Windows 10 Mobile to move on. From December 10th 2019, users will not recieve new security updates and any kind of device support. New feature updates for Windows 10 Mobile ended a season ago, so that has been a while.
“We recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device”
Microsoft to end support for Windows 10 Mobile.
“Windows 10 Mobile users are no longer eligible to receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free assisted support options, or online technical content updates from Microsoft for free. [Enterprise users will pay for these services if they decide to hold on] Microsoft support will not publicly provide updates or patches for Windows 10 Mobile. 10 Mobile. Only device models that are eligible for Windows 10 Mobile, version 1709 are supported through the end date. For Lumia 640 and 640 XL phone models, Window 10 Mobile version 1703 was the last supported OS version and will reach end of support on June 11th, 2019.”
Also some services like photo uploads and device backup restore may continue to work for another 12 months.
What Next?
“We recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device. Microsoft’s mission statement to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, compels us to support our Mobile apps on those platforms and devices.”
What we know!
Satya Nadella didn’t say Microsoft will not be venturing into phones in the future. Rather he has continually spoken about the mobility of Windows OS which includes mobile devices. He has specifically said this about devices;
“Microsoft devices will spark innovation, create new categories and generate opportunity for the Windows ecosystem more broadly. Our reinvention will be centered on creating mobility of experiences across the entire device family including phones.”
On a personal note i’ve been asking what next and where next. Having moved from the Microsoft Lumia 950XL to the Microsoft Lumia 950 in the past year i guess it is time to move on. What are our thoughts? share them with us.
