Ed Bott's Weekly Wrap: Unlimited OneDrive (for some), new Windows 10 preview, Surface apology
Pew pew pew! Here's a recap of this week's news that wasn't related to The Force, Chewbacca, or BB-8. Spoiler alert: Most of it is about OneDrive.
Yeah, about that 'unlimited storage' thing...
Last month, Microsoft's road map for Office 365 included a promise of unlimited OneDrive for Business storage for every subscriber. Here's what it looked like in November:
Apparently there was an invisible asterisk on that page. This week Microsoft tried to do its own Jedi mind trick with a blog post that changed the definition of "all Office 365 customers" to subscribers in "premium" Office 365 plans in organizations of more than five people. Here's what the road map now says:
In an accompanying blog post, OneDrive Corporate Vice-President Jeff Teper admitted, "[W]e are disappointing customers who expected unlimited storage across every Office 365 plan, and I want to apologize for not meeting your expectations."
Oh well, they did ship the long-awaited unified OneDrive sync client this week, with selective synchronization for OneDrive for Business accounts. And a terabyte is still one helluva lot of storage.
And some good news: Microsoft is still working on restoring support for placeholders in OneDrive. (They've said that all along, of course, but they could have changed their mind. It happens.)
- Some Microsoft OneDrive for Business users to get unlimited storage
- Mary-Jo Foley interviews OneDrive boss Jeff Teper. Good reading.
- Microsoft updates OneDrive for Business with new sync client
- Which OneDrive sync client am I using? (a field guide from the Office support team)
Speaking of apologies...
Microsoft's hardware division continued the parade of apologies with a mea culpa for Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book users who had a "less-than-perfect experience."
This is from the official post, "A Note to Our Customers from The Microsoft Surface Team":
For those of you who've had a less-than-perfect experience, we're sorry for any frustration this has caused. Please know that we're reading your comments and hearing you loud and clear. Your input is incredibly valuable in helping us address your questions with timely updates and fixes. Since launch, we have aggressively pursued the most pressing feedback. We have already issued a number of updates via Windows Update and are working to issue additional updates and fixes as soon as possible to further improve the overall Surface experience.
I've experienced a few of these issues myself. And given that the holidays have officially begun, I wouldn't expect any fixes until well after the New Year.
A new Windows 10 preview build
It wasn't all lumps of coal from Satya Claus, though:
Microsoft releases 2015's final Windows 10 preview build, promises faster pace next year
Build 11082 is available now via Windows Update for Insider Program members who've opted into the Fast ring.
[...]
Next year should also see preview builds arrive in the Fast ring at a faster pace, Aul said, promising to "pick up the pace" beginning in January...
Plex for Xbox arrives
I love the Plex media server products. If you're a digital media enthusiast, you will too. They're one of the few companies that builds quality products on every platform, without playing favorites. So the news of major app updates for Xbox One and Xbox 360 made my week. Even better: They're free.
If you've never tried Plex, take a look, starting at plex.tv. (Yes, they have clients for Apple TV and PlayStation and Windows 10.)