Results for: Ease of Access

What is your favorite Ease of Access feature? If you could change something about that feature to make your daily life easier what would it be? - Rana, Cloud Technical Expert at Microsoft Store

For those who aren't familiar, Win32 applications are your traditional desktop programs. They are typically installed via a downloaded installer, can be run directly from their exe files and are located in the Program Files folder of every Windows computer. UWPs, on the other hand, are essentially glorified mobile apps as part of Microsoft's last-ditch effort to gain developer support for Windows Phone. They can only be distributed via the Windows Store, designed from the ground up to be mouse-unfriendly, and use a completely different application architecture than traditional programs. UWPs cannot be launched directly from their exe files; their program files are hidden away in special directories that regular users are not allowed to access. The idea behind UWP was to create an application that could be programmed once and run on all Windows devices, both phone and desktop. This way, it would be easier to create software for Windows Phone, thus incentivizing developers to write more mobile apps. However, with the demise of Windows Phone and the failure of Windows 8, it doesn't seem that UWPs need to exist anymore. Yet, despite this, Microsoft is throwing more and more resources into UWP. They've converted all of their first party-software to the UWP platform, made it the only kind of software that can run on Windows VR/AR/MR headsets, and stopped adding new features to Win32 entirely. Where is Microsoft going with this? Does Microsoft plan to eventually deprecate Win32? Microsoft hasn't made their goals or intentions very clear, and it's causing no small amount of concern in the developer community. The fact that they have no public plans to deprecate Win32 at the moment is little comfort- everything Microsoft has done so far has indicated otherwise.

I have Parkinson's and play Lumosity on a regular basis. Are there any plans for Lumosity to have vocal responses on some of their games - especially math oriented ones?

I am writing this message as a suggestion to devote a website to the various versions of Windows along with a description of major additions and improvements of one build over its predecessor from the original Windows (release date 11.20.85) up to and including Windows 10 (release date 07.29.15). A lot of changes have happened since Windows first appeared in 1985 and from time to time I will think about the evolution of and the countless changes to the program that single handedly revolutionized personal computing as we know it today. Just the change in size of programming code from way back then to now is mind boggling! I remember getting a new computer with a 60 MB (Yep, MB) hard drive and how I was envied by co-workers. We thought a 60 MB storage drive would be more than enough to meet any future needs. Nowadays, some office documents and many stand alone apps are that size and greater. Microsoft has every reason to brag on its accomplishments and contributions to the tech industry in just over 30 years. Displaying these events would not only be of historical importance but perhaps an educational tool as well. A virtual tour and perhaps enabling online access to functional prior operating systems would be interesting to young and old (Yes, I'm on the "old" side). Anyway, you folks are more than talented to come up with the best way to exhibit this idea to share with the world. Maybe its been discussed before but if not I just wanted to encourage a thought process to consider its viability. It could also be an excellent tool to market Microsoft into future generations. In any event, congratulations to Microsoft and its employees for past accomplishments and best wishes for continued success! Thank you for your consideration in this matter, your time and talent! God bless all of you and yours, and bye for now, Paul