Just to clarify a bit further, Remobjects approach is NOT to try to build one set of code that runs anywhere. They are trying to let you write platform specific code. They let you write one language that runs anywhere or any one of their languages that runs anywhere. So if you want to write Swift that runs on Windows, you can do that. Another thing about Remobjects is that they are VERY responsive about fixing bugs. Bugs I have reported are generally fixed the next day. And that comes out in the next beta which they generally make available weekly. One downside is that as they have added more languages and platforms support, they are having more bugs, but I guess that is to be expected.

I code in RemObjects Oxygene, a Pascal/Delphi syntax .Net language. With the RemObject's products, I can write in Pascal and make .net applications for Windows, Android, and iOs. You code specific to each platform, but can share libraries. Additionally they also support C#, and Silver (Swift) on all 3 platforms. And now they can also compile to native Win32 apps. In each case you use the native libraries for the platform and are not limited as to what you can do on that platform. Unlike the Xamarin approach where you write one codebase and target the different platforms. I haven't done the iOs bit, but they do a nice job on Oxygene and .Net for Windows. And I think they probably did a good job of interfacing to the Mac and the Xcode. You MIGHT want to check it out. FWIW, I LOVE the Oxygene language much more then C#. (Although you can mix languages in a single project as well, of you have something in one language that you don't won't to redo at all. They also let you paste C# code into Oxygene and it will do a decent job of translating. Can also just import a C# file. Have a look see.

Odd. I run Defender. Never had it slow down anything. This computer runs quite well. McAfee on the other hand was a killer. I had another computer that had to turn on the fan every time there was a scan. And the scan NEVER finished. It kept running until it used up all the memory.

Bogus gimmick

Xamarin is free now that Microsoft has bought them.

Or RemObjects for all 3 platforms in C#, Pascal (like Delphi), and Silver (like Swift). Although you can use some common business library code, it does require that you know all 3 platforms libraries and UIs.

It's free now.

Oh sure, that is in the old windows. I used it all the time there too. I was just saying that that feature is in Cortana now plus a lot more, plus a lot faster. The main point was that Cortana doesn't require voice to do anything.

I'm not sure what the "standard search" is. But as far as I know, in Win10, Cortana is the ONLY place to do such a search.

You need to look closer at Cortana. It doesn't require talking to it. It does a lot of good stuff. I really appreciate how fast it finds stuff. Like, who knows where Add Remove Programs is in the settings? But just type "add remove" and you will have a choice.

Personally, I fail to see the depth of concern. I understand the argument, I just don't care if Cortana needs information or not. And I don't care what Microsoft does with it. However, I think Cortana's search features are FASTER by a lot on my Win10 box versus previous Win 7. I suspect more stuff is being indexed AND the Win10 box is newer. But it finds more stuff than was found in Win7. And I'm just talking about local things. Not AI networked things. Like, I know I used a file yesterday and I know what I called it, but I can't remember where I put it. Just type the name in Cortana's window and it QUICKLY finds it. I am ALL in favor of pushing out stuff instead of people not updating their machines and making themselves and everyone around them more vulnerable because they haven't got the latest security updates. Look at all the people still running XP with IE6!!

I would. Imho, it is just silly to wait. I like it a lot. Has been pretty solid. My only realy complaint is the large lack of basic functionality in many of the new "apps" like mail, for instance. But I just use other mail clients instead. For me, it is probably worth it for the time saved using Cortana alone. Searching for things such as where to set some setting for something or finding some file I know the name of but can't remember where I put it are big time savers.

Ah, the alternate reality.

What does that even mean? You don't think an iPad is a computer?

MY way around it is to write RemObject's code in Pascal, or C#, or Silver (Swift) and make my project be .net, or java, or Cocoa (iOs, etc.) You create the app and use native libraries.

Microsoft can have that goal to support Apple, but as I said, there was something in their licensing that doesn't allow alternative apis. Like using a .Net library to make it cross platform. Microsoft once showed Silverlight running on an iPhone, as I recall, and Apple squashed that quickly. I remember Microsoft gave some sort of live demo of it and, maybe before the day was out, that portion of the saved video was blacked out because of Apple complaining. So unless there is a statement from Apple that they will support .Net, I think the likelihood is very small of that happening. But I would be overjoyed if I were wrong. I really like .Net and would love to be able to code without having to use Apple libraries.

I hope they do that, but I don't think anyone has stated that yet. AND, I think Apple has a clause somewhere that you can't developer alternate apis. So I'm not even sure you can just create a UWP and have it run on apple devices.

Only took mine about 4 seconds to get the specific file I looked for to uninstall. But I wonder why the "new fangled" one takes even 4 seconds to load. Maybe because it is getting more information. Who knows.

Or you can just type "add remove" in the start menu or Cortana.

Ah, Bing was my friend and found this: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.microsoft.com%2Fdownload%2F5%2Fd%2F0%2F5d026b60-e4be-42fc-a250-2d75c49172bc%2Fwhen_to_Migrate_from_Access.doc[^] Check round about page 8.