Microsoft's Windows 10 Fall Update Will Link With iOS for Easy App Switching Across Devices

Microsoft seem to be getting it right lately. This is appealing.

iTunes coming to the Windows Store too! WTH, has hell frozen over????

Steve Jobs made a statement over 15 years ago that people had to get over the idea that for Apple to win, Microsoft had to lose. As a result of that cooperation we had some pretty good software released for the Mac, most notably MS Office. The platform was shored up when Apple and its users needed that the most.
It looks like the current - and very practical - CEO of MS has realized the same thing. He's facilitating Windows/iOS integration like never before. This will benefit everyone.

I really wish Satya had a chance to work with Steve Jobs. I firmly believe the entire computing industry would have benefited from their collaboration.

If they get iMessage and Continuity phone calls to windows 10, I'm 100% dumping the iPad and MacBook for a SP4/5

Wow this really competes with great features in macOS, which for some people play a role in keeping them on the platform.
It depends how they pull it off but something like this could be impactful, especially a copy and paste and possible AirDrop-like system.
I am hoping this pushes Apple to do more with continuity.... and other unique features that Microsoft has 'taken inspiration from' lately.

iTunes coming to the Windows Store too! WTH, has hell frozen over????

The original story has a big error... its Windows Graph, not Windows Graft!

By the way, here is a video of the keynote where this was demonstrated [MEDIA=youtube]PsH_YQFlEz8[/MEDIA] . Of course many of the comments from Apple users are claiming this is the same as continuity which simply is not true. Much of the world uses a Windows desktop and an iPhone... so Apple's closed system is not nearly as useful in the majority of the business world. Microsoft's solution has tight integration into Office 365.

For me, a cloud-based file syncing service has one critical feature, which is how quick it detects changes on the local file to sync it to the cloud. Dropbox, almost immediately, always. Google Drive, close, but sometimes it takes a few seconds to start syncing. OneDrive, I actually timed it a few times and often it takes minutes (40 minutes was the longest) before it detects and syncs any changes to the cloud. That is ridiculous, and defeats the purpose of the service. (all of these are clients on a Mac).

Your experience is vastly different from mine. I use OneDrive and OneDrive for Business, using two Microsoft accounts (personal and business) to sync all of my documents, multiple Sharepoint libraries, personal and business OneNote notebooks, and more. I'm syncing across Windows, MacOS, and iOS. I have literally saved an Excel file on my laptop and a minute later needed to open it on my phone and it was there. I have the two OneNote apps (2016 and W10 App) open on my SP4 and take notes via the pen in one app and it appears in the other a few seconds later (that requires two syncs to complete). So maybe your system isn't setup correctly or something. I have no files I use for work that are not on OneDrive... none. For many of them in SharePoint libraries, my team is working together on them so the folders are synced across multiple people's machines.

The integration into Office is also great. When I attach a file in Outlook to an email, it lets me decide whether I want to send a link to the cloud file or attach a copy... can't do that with Dropbox.
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You'd have to be mad to leave OS X for Windows 10. There are so many minor frustrations that you have to deal with and unexpected errors and just general bullsh*t.

I have an IT services company that supports Macs and PCs and mobile devices (plus servers, networking equipment, etc.). If everyone was on a Mac we'd lose probably 80% of our billable hours for desktop support. PCs just break that much.

Plus you have to literally edit the hosts file to prevent Microsoft from logging your every move and keep an eye on the hosts file after every update to make sure they didn't reenable what is, by definition, built-in spyware. This is not hyperbole.

I won't disagree that Macs are easier to support. But saying you'd be mad to leave OS X for Windows 10 is a stretch. OS X is not used in the vast majority of businesses so many people don't have an option not to use Windows. The bottom line for me is that OS X is also getting kind of stale and will always be a closed system. Microsoft is doing some interesting things.

The insistence by Apple to avoid a touchscreen and/or pen in favor of the touch bar is silly. Having now used a Surface Pro 4 for a few weeks and experienced Windows 10 on that device, I can say that for me I love having touch. Apple is too stubborn to admit they are wrong on this one, or unable to demonstrate why they are not wrong. What they did with the touch bar is not better than a touch screen, plain and simple. Microsoft fumbled badly on the integrated desktop/tablet OS with Windows 8, but now it is getting pretty good. They have stayed with it. Apple keeping two platforms meaning you have to buy a tablet and a laptop... its not as good. The question is whether Apple will ever see this, or will they stubbornly continue down this current path.

Taking your Apple hat off you have to say that Microsoft et al are really leading the way in innovation nowadays, both from a software and hardware point of view.

Apple are continuing to rely on iterations of products that were outstanding and bar setters in their day, but they have not brought anything new the table for a while (iPhone 7 [6SS], MacBook Pros [Touch Bar a gimmick]) etc, and the questions are starting to loom as to how long they can hold their place at the top without any new meaningful innovation.

If you take your modern day iPhone, Apple TV, MacBook Pro, iMac and iPad and compare them to the same products from two years ago – has there been any new real innovation? It's the same with software, each new MacOS brings nothing significant new (if it's not broke don't fix I know, but that's also not an excuse for lack of new innovation) and all iOS has done is rip features and imitate the social platforms (Snapchat etc) of their main target audience; teenagers.

For too long there's been noises about ventures into new markets and then next big thing from Apple HQ (The Car, a TV solution) and yet each product launch comes and goes and frankly underwhelms, we get a new slightly updated iteration of an existing product, and often the design changes are detrimental and un-Apple like. I just get an overwhelming sense of hubris coming out of Infinite Loop, that they can continue to ride the wave of their previous successes. I guess as they continue to rake in the billions they may say their reasoning is justified.

In this same period Microsoft have realigned themselves in the market, are trying new approaches to the software ecosystem and have produced beautiful hardware in Surfaces and Surface Studio. Amazon has stole a lead with the Echo line, and Google is benefitting from Samsung producing a flagship phone that is much closer to the standard that was the iPhone than ever before. Oh, and Tesla are killing it (just buy them already Apple).

I really believe that in ten years time we won't see Apple in the same light as we have for the previous ten. And they will have no one to blame but themselves. It's a cliche to bring up Steve Jobs but I believe he wouldn't have liked the Apple we have today in 2017.

[MEDIA=youtube]_1rXqD6M614[/MEDIA]

If they get iMessage and Continuity phone calls to windows 10, I'm 100% dumping the iPad and MacBook for a SP4/5

You'd have to be mad to leave OS X for Windows 10. There are so many minor frustrations that you have to deal with and unexpected errors and just general bullsh*t.

I have an IT services company that supports Macs and PCs and mobile devices (plus servers, networking equipment, etc.). If everyone was on a Mac we'd lose probably 80% of our billable hours for desktop support. PCs just break that much.

Plus you have to literally edit the hosts file to prevent Microsoft from logging your every move and keep an eye on the hosts file after every update to make sure they didn't reenable what is, by definition, built-in spyware. This is not hyperbole.

If they get iMessage and Continuity phone calls to windows 10, I'm 100% dumping the iPad and MacBook for a SP4/5

I just tried making the switch to a sp4 and am returning it. The battery life is horrendous, but If they fix this and get the features you mention plus a decent apple photo competitor id switch in a heartbeat...which is why it will never happen.

If they can figure out a way for me to text on Windows (like the Messages app for Mac), that would be amazing.