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Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

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Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad take. The old native Outlook is actually great. The web version is fine. The new Electron monster is horrible and looks like a toy.

I don't think it's a bad take at all. The very latest and greatest version of Outlook, has broken Search. Not in a subtle way, no, as in the "remove focus from the goddamn text box after you've typed a couple of characters" kind of broken. I've had to remove and re-add accounts to fix Outlook issues more than all other email client issues combined. This is especially prevalent with the mobile versions. Do you know ho…

I keep having that view change too, never been able to work out why. It's very annoying.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#152
post #16

I found WSA kind of handy to run Pocket Casts on old Microsoft Surface Tablet. Had to jump through some hoops to install Google Play first. What's the best alternative? Bluestacks seems very shady. Chrome OS Flex in a VM? (Scratch that. It looks like Chrome OS Flex doesn't allow Android apps) P.S. Do we make "jokes" about Microsoft killing things off like we do with Google?

Yeah I bought a Robo & Kala 2-in-1 because the Arm processor would play great with WSA apps… If this disappears on my system, that’s a lot of functionality gone.

Maybe I should have just held out for a MacBook Air… Lesson learned

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#153
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that Android-x86 has an ARM emulator. Doesn't Dalvik/ART compile Java Bytecode down to a native layer anyway, so this wouldn't matter?

It does matter because lots of Android apps (esp. games) have native-code bits in them that are linked in with JNI.

X86 Android has a Rosetta like emulator allowing you tu run ARM games on Intel perfectly. WIth GLTools you just emulate a virtual Nvidia Tegra 2/3 GPU per app and that will do the trick.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#154
post #72

WSA is a great feature for developers. not having to deal with sluggish Android emulators was a big plus for me.

Are you not using an x86 emulator or something? Forget to install or enable your CPU virtualization extensions? Because the emulator ain't sluggish, and if it is you'd get that same sluggishness with WSA since it's largely the same underlying tech. It's still using a virtual machine and emulation, it's not like a simulator.

What’s being emulated? You can’t install Arm Android apps in x86 WSA.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially since I can't think of anything from my phone that I would truly like on my desktop The SMS and Calls. Seriously, at this point, my phone is the least useful device I own for managing both of these functions. The only utility in having them in some broken down hard to use form is for the slight convenience of being able to use them outside of my home if I wanted to. I rarely want to. I'd much prefer thes…

I use KDE connect for that on Windows too, it does both SMS and calling. Your phone only needs to be in the same network which isn't an issue on your desk when you get home.

How exactly do you do SMS and Calling on Windows? I have KDE Connect installed, and it has SMS and telephone integration checked, but I don't see any notifications or anything. https://i.imgur.com/JQphE16.png

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#156

They killed any possible interest in this by going with the Amazon app store instead of Google Play. They also did a horrible job of advertising it. This is the first I've heard about it from Microsoft since the feature first rolled out in Windows 11 2.5 years ago.

Sure, the default was Amazon, but it was a relative breeze to load gapps, and there were tons of great instructions available.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#157
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't tried it, but allegedly Outlook for Android runs better on Windows than the new Outlook for Windows. Which makes some sense, as one is a native app and one is a web app. https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/i-ac...

Yeah I don't know how they plan to shaft business users with that. It's so slow. I noticed recently that Microsoft relented and soon starts introducing CoPilot features into old outlook (or 'real' or 'full' outlook as people are calling it at work). Previously it was coupled to 'new' outlook only to promote adoption. But it really sees a lot of pushback from users. I hope this will continue into not canning the real…

Slow is the least of its problems. There are missing features all over the place. For instance, you can no longer drag emails to the desktop or into another app.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially since I can't think of anything from my phone that I would truly like on my desktop The SMS and Calls. Seriously, at this point, my phone is the least useful device I own for managing both of these functions. The only utility in having them in some broken down hard to use form is for the slight convenience of being able to use them outside of my home if I wanted to. I rarely want to. I'd much prefer thes…

I use KDE connect for that on Windows too, it does both SMS and calling. Your phone only needs to be in the same network which isn't an issue on your desk when you get home.

I had no idea it could do that, I've only been using it to move files between my devices.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#159

So, this is the second time a "run your Android apps on Windows" initiative fizzles out: before WSA (which was Amazon-centric), there was a late-2020 "Your Phone" feature that (briefly) allowed Samsung apps on Windows desktops. Not sure if this means anything other than "phone apps run best on, well, a phone", especially since I can't think of anything from my phone that I would truly like on my desktop, other than i…

"especially since I can't think of anything from my phone that I would truly like on my desktop"

Wyze doesn't support viewing their cameras on PC without a bunch of fiddling. I downloaded the app and was running within 20 minutes of having the idea. The usability isn't the best, but having it on my desktop is has been a real time saver with a new puppy.

Some apps don't have a good Windows equivalent.

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