A new chapter is written this summer, opinions about Windows and porn on X

Good morning!

As we arrive halfway through 2024, I get the feeling a new chapter is being written. Artificial intelligence (AI), computing devices (the Mac vs PC battles may be resuming?), smartphones (we’ll talk more about this, next week) and software (I’ll repeat it again, screenshots of desktops isn’t a good idea). Let me snapshot some of the developments from the past few days, to illustrate why I believe it’s a new chapter being written. Pivotal developments, set in motion, are going dictate things how things develop over the next year or so.

Microsoft is hoping that Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite chips give Windows PCs a chance at performance leadership parity. At the annual Computex (this is a tech show, organised in Taiwan) event, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon took the stage with PC makers Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung (with Microsoft in tow, of course) to further the case for Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors. These will provide the foundation for what Microsoft calls the Copilot+ PCs, which go on sale later in the summer. The Elite in particular provides a significant performance boost, and as Amon pointed out, it’s the neural processing unit (NPU) which will be the “key differentiator”.

Why is this important? For the past few years, Intel and AMD have struggled to keep pace with Apple’s Silicon advancements, generation to generation, including the performance to watt aspect. Therefore, all eyes are trained on Qualcomm, who have dominated the mobile market across different form factors and use cases. A large chunk of the PC market is expected to be laptops/convertibles in the coming years. No time for standing still? There’s already a new iPad Pro line-up ushering in the M4, it is only a matter of time before the Macs get the new chips too (complete with their NPU improvements).

AMD isn’t taking it slow either. There are a new generation of laptop and convertible PC chips. Of course, AI is important, with architectural improvements for neural processing (that’d be the XDNA2), graphics (RDNA 3.5) and Zen 5 processing. Alongside, a new generation of desktop chips as well. And all that AI functionality which defines Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs with Qualcomm, will also find their way into more computing devices, with AMD and Nvidia working with PC makers such as MSI.

DIRECTION

Some of you may remember our conversation last week about Microsoft’s “avoidable absurdity” (as I called it) with Copilot’s photographic memory that comes from taking screenshots of a user’s Windows 11 desktop every few minutes. It is called "Recall". I’m sure you’ve made up your mind whether that’s a good idea or not. But this week, I wrote about something that’s more intrinsic to a Windows PC experience – unreliability and inconsistency.

(Premium): Tech Tonic | It is nigh impossible to use Windows 11 on a work machine

Monthly Windows updates are absolutely on point with regularly breaking some sort of functionality, and then begins the rigmarole to fix and patch in the weeks that follow. The March update broke whatever it is that it broke, to cause performance dips and in some cases, the blue screen of death (yes, that debilitating feeling of a BSOD) on PCs, irrespective of Intel or AMD chips. The month before that, an update hampered the ability to use the Windows taskbar, which meant users couldn’t access apps they’d pinned for quick access, or the Start menu. Then in April, VPN apps stopped working for many. It is an absolute mess.

I’m absolutely not sure if spyware-esque AI functionality or injecting ads into the Start Menu is the way to go, when it is an ageing foundation of the operating system that’s been creaking for quite a few years now. I challenge you – use a MacBook Air 13-inch or 15-inch, and a Windows 11 PC that’s priced around 10% higher, and Macs would return a significantly better all-round experience with build quality, performance, refinement, battery life. It is my job to test and review computing devices on various metrics, and the stark differences in quality remain perplexing.

Note: It might be prudent to have one Outlook instead of new Outlook and a classic Outlook, and one Teams instead of a Microsoft Teams (classic) and a Microsoft Teams. Think about it. How much of a mess Windows now is.

FUTURE?

Next week is the big one (or at least I expect it to be). The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which every year gives us a first glimpse at the evolution for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and everything software as well as services, will likely have a big artificial intelligence chapter to write this time. It is often the case that Apple does things a little later than everyone else, but almost inevitably ends up with an experience that’s far superior in comparison. There’s a lot that Apple must catch up this time. First, a response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot and Google Gemini chatbots on device. More to the point here, would everything we heard about a potential partnership between Apple and OpenAI, come true at the keynote? In that case, OpenAI’s GPT, Dall-E and Whisper could end up providing the foundation for Siri, Photos, Notes, Voice Memos and much more of the on-device and on-cloud AI for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and even HomePodOS. I don’t ask for much, but I do wish for an AI layered Notes and Voice Memos app – that’ll help tremendously with my work (meeting transcriptions etc.).

UH-OH!

X, formerly Twitter, has updated its content guidelines. I’d suggest you not yawn at this point in time, because that’s not the end of it. Follow this, and read it again if you have to – the Elon Musk owned social media platform now says “You may share consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behavior, provided it's properly labeled and not prominently displayed.” Don’t believe me? Read it here. Before you begin to outrage, important to remember that X never explicitly banned porn – just moderated what it could (or wanted to; it’s never really been very clear). Have we reached a point where NSFW content must become a revenue source for Musk’s X?

The suggestion in X’s new policy says anyone sharing content that can be classified as nudity or porn must adjust the settings for their account to add a “content warning that needs to be acknowledged before your media can be viewed”. If there are X user accounts that don’t have a date of birth on their profile, they’ll not be able to click on the warning screen to view the content hidden behind it.