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Microsoft deleted the public support forums for SwiftKey
- moose_man 4y agoAre tech companies that desperate that they need to do this? Maybe if it was bigger company, but this can't be a threat to Microsoft....They're all acting like starving rats feeding on their children.
- trasz3 4y ago[dead]
- HopenHeyHi 4y agoSaturn Devouring His Son.
- Manfred 4y agoThat's the problem with bigger companies, usually there is a perfectly good explanation in the context of the company but we will never hear about it. Could be as simple as the person who moderated that forum being laid off.
- squarefoot 4y agoAll it needs is one of them doing that, then all others must follow to remain competitive, if not just for being able to put the same bullet points in products advertising.
- doryWalnut 4y ago[dead]
- akira2501 4y agoWhat good is monopoly power if you don't use it? They're just squeezing the stone for every drop they can get.
- TheRealDunkirk 4y agoThe people who can fix user complaints and business disparities like this in Fortune 500 companies do not care because 1) they can't see them, and 2) they are actively incentivized to not care about it.
- hot_gril 4y agoMicrosoft does this stuff. Like forcing Minecraft accounts to migrate onto MSFT accounts, which locked out a lot of older players by requiring the original email address used to be verified. There's no use in complaining about it; you should just anticipate that MSFT ruins everything it touches and get ready to switch.
- slowmotiony 4y agoIts funny that Microsoft didn't care to update their SwiftKey keyboard for new iOS versions for years and let it become a broken mess, and then when they finally release an update it's because of a fucking Bing button. And since the update also actually fixes a lot of issues it looks like they've had it ready for a while and just been just sitting on it and letting their app rot. Working there must be total chaos.
- elashri 4y ago> and then when they finally release an update it's because of a fucking Bing button To be honest and as a heavy user of SwiftKey on iOS, they updated the app and released a fix before all the AI hype in the last couple of months. They might have this in mind as part of their vision from that point, but it is not to say that
- ilt 4y agoExactly. And kudos to them for not removing the Swiftkey either during that time, even if they were not updating it anymore. It was a nice, functional piece of software albeit with some bugs.
- Closi 4y agoWorth noting that they did announce they were discontinuing it and removed it from the app store in October, then brought it back quickly after.
- neilv 4y agoThe author later speculates on why: > I actually was thinking along the lines of "interesting coincidence" but now I actually believe it is not a coincidence and they really did do this just to prevent people discussing welding Bing and "AI" into the FUCKING KEYBOARD
- Closi 4y agoAlternative theory - When the iOS application was discontinued and they had removed it from the app store in October, they redirected their support site to just the android version FAQ's and have forgotten to switch it back. Thus iOS support is just at: https://support.swiftkey.com/hc/en-us/categories/200371942-iPhone-iPad https://support.swiftkey.com/hc/en-us/categories/200371942-i... As a further note, Microsoft support is centralised at support.microsoft.com and it appears that they are currently adding all these help topics there too: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/swiftkey https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/swiftkey IMO this falls into "don't attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"
- yellowapple 4y agoDo either of those links point to a way to give feedback or otherwise actually discuss the addition of Bing-related features?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- justinclift 4y agoDoesn't look like it.
- Closi 4y agoNot directly, other than their Facebook where people are giving feedback. As an aside, I suspect these bing-related features are the only reason the product was brought back from the dead. Looks like Microsoft are adding features to allow you to help author text supported by GPT (e.g. change the tone of the message, rewrite portions from the keyboard etc)
- albertopv 4y agoI stopped using it when I found it was draining my S10e battery. Strange behaviour.
- unpopularopp 4y ago> This one hurts, it really hurts. I think this hurts worse than Musk buying/poisoning/killing Twitter. I've mentioned this before but a keyboard feels like an extension of your body People need to take a break. Being terminally online and complaining about everything is not a healthy way of life.
- pffft8888 4y agoSays a person who is online...
- gondaloof 4y agoDrinking one glass of wine is not the same as being passed out on the sidewalk at noon.
- pffft8888 4y agoBut the person is complaining about people complaining. I find it ironic.
- quaintdev 4y agoWhy do we feel this need to disect everything
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- blitzar 4y ago[flagged]
- xeonmc 4y agoI liked the phrase “performative erudition” the New Yorker article[0] used to describe HN’s social theatre. [0] https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/the-lonely-work-of-moderating-hacker-news https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/th...
- icemelt8 4y ago[flagged]
- usrusr 4y agoIf you are a heavy smartphone user, particularly if you happen to fall into the age gap between too young to think voice control and answering machine messages are super awesome future things and too old to have grown up with video messages, there is no "just a keyboard". You'll be so adapted to the particular behavior of your chosen smartphone keyboard that changing would be like an involuntary migration to dvorak. Or perhaps even worse, because there's so much more to interactive touchscreen keyboard behavior than just layout. (written on swype, because I haven't found any replacement that did not feel like losing a limb)
- jwrallie 4y agoI used Swiftkey until recently, but the delay on bringing up the keyboard was annoying me too much. I couldn't justify changing phones just because of SwiftKey so instead I just went back to the default Google keyboard. I'm still adapting weeks after changing, the most annoying issue is that the Japanese keyboard on Gboard has the key layout a bit different that the English one, so I cannot touch type on it like I did before.
- avereveard 4y agoThe features that kept me on swift key is that is multilanguage, Google keyboard you have to switch to the correct language beforehand. I'm pretty worried that SwiftKey is now doing big nonos like sending my data around, but Google keyboard is absolutely unfit for my usage.
- PufPufPuf 4y agoGoogle Keyboard is multilanguage too, if you mean having multiple languages active at the same time and the swiping/hints responding to both. I'm currently typing this comment using it.
- avereveard 4y agoUp to two languages, not quite enough
- LinAGKar 4y agoGboard does have multi-language now. In fact, I think it's better at that, simply because SwiftKey obsessively capitalizes the word i, even if you try to delete that suggestion. That's one of the main reasons I recently switched away from it, plus the fact that if you put the cursor in the middle of a word SwiftKey moves out to the end, and the fact that SwiftKey frequently hangs for several seconds in the work profile.
- stavros 4y agoYou can block its network access from the settings on Android.
- Daneel_ 4y agoForgive my ignorance, but what exactly does swiftkey offer over the usual keyboard? A quick google seems to bring up "better predictive text" and "better multi-language support" - is that it?
- tempestn 4y agoA lot of customization options too - size and theme, number row or not, arrows or not, include accents in long-press menus, etc. But the better predictive text is kind of huge. Makes typing much faster and easier when the predictions are more commonly correct. As an aside, I expect this could get massively better over the near future given this new investment in LLMs. I've been using it on Android for many years now. The stock keyboards are, perhaps ironically, like the stock browser in Windows was until very recently: the one you use to get the good one. (Edge is still that, but now it's also the place to use Bing Chat...)
- dagw 4y agois that it? Superficially yes[1]. But they are so much better, especially the multi-language support, that nothing else really compares. I've been using Swiftkey since before the Microsoft purchase, and really dislike having to use the default keyboards on both Android and iOS. [1] It also has a lot more configurable keyboard layouts and theming, but I don't really use those.
- Langdal 4y agoThe iOS standard keyboard does not support swiping if your language is Norwegian.
- selfhoster11 4y agoOr Polish, for that matter.
- srg0 4y agoI was trying to find the full list of the languages where QuickPath (Swipe) is supported. Here it is: https://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability/#quicktype-keyboard-quickpath https://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability/#quicktype-ke... Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Vietnamese.
- Anduia 4y agoThose are a lot of conclusions to draw from a 404 error
- bobse 4y agoMy Linux GPD MicroPC doesn't have this problem.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- rvz 4y agoOh well. Nothing to see here. Another explosion in a rabbit hole. Anyway moving on...
- black_puppydog 4y agoOh dear, I literally just had a dream last night about how MS was gonna build GPT into the keyboard and even in my dream I thought "what a complete lack of reflection that must have taken, to think this is a good idea." Guess I'm on the search for a new keyboard as well then. le sigh...
- GuB-42 4y agoWhat a predictive keyboard does is exactly what GPT does and vice versa, so it makes a whole lot of sense to use it. A predictive keyboard is an even more direct application of GPT than ChatGPT is. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if current keyboards implemented some kind of a GPT-light network. It is just the perfect tool for the job.
- PretzelPirate 4y agoIve had Bing integrated into my keyboard for about a week now and it's not a big deal. I see a Bing logo at the top next to the "GIF" button, and that's it. If I don't press it, it's like it isn't even there.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- timvisee 4y agoSo what is the new hip keyboard for Android? Ps, I don't like Gboard.
- can16358p 4y agoWhat's exactly going on? As a user who never used SwiftKey and only know that it's a mobile 3rd party keyboard, I'm kind of lost what's the issue about. ELI5?
- npteljes 4y agoRemotely managed user disillusioned when confronted with an example of how their, and their managements' incentives misalign.
- frou_dh 4y agoIt's been my experience that not much satisfying happens on Microsoft web-based support forums anyway.
- bartread 4y agoI'd go further and say that they're actually the bane of my existence when I'm looking for help/pointers on, for example, Windows issues. Inevitably somebody will have posted the same issue on one of the public Windows support forums, but the only responses will be completely low value and irrelevant nonsense[0] from the swarm of numbskulls who seem to inhabit these places. Almost never do I actually find any useful information, but these places pollute the first page, sometimes the first few pages, of search results on Google et al. Very frustrating. [0] E.g., suggesting that the user needs to completely reinstall Windows to fix an issue that could be dealt with by a simple registry hack, or similar.
- thaumasiotes 4y agoGoogle Pinyin Input was recently discontinued. They want you to use Gboard instead, but the functionality is worse. I don't get it. Google Pinyin Input made it very easy to enter punctuation, by doing a minor downward swipe on the virtual key associated with the symbol you want. (You can also swipe up on keys to quickly produce capital letters.) On Gboard, as far as I can tell, you have to do a long press instead, which is a gigantic pain. I resorted to pulling the apk off my old phone and manually installing it on my new phone, but this feels ridiculous. Can anyone recommend (a) a pinyin input method that doesn't force you to long press for punctuation, or (b) a setting I've overlooked in any major input method that removes the insane long press requirement?
- ro_bit 4y agoDamn, the auto update got to me before I read this. Is there a way to rollback the update that bingifies swiftkey on Android?
- column 4y agoUninstall it, sideload the version you want from https://apkpure.com/microsoft-swiftkey-keyboard/com.touchtype.swiftkey/versions https://apkpure.com/microsoft-swiftkey-keyboard/com.touchtyp... (be mindful this site is not the official repo and a keyboard is a critical app).
- globular-toast 4y agoYou aren't in control of your smartphone. Microsoft/Google are. The FSF have been saying this for decades. It doesn't matter how "open source" Android is. It's not designed to put you in control.
- contravariant 4y agoI mean it does matter that Android is open source, but only in the sense that you can install an OS that doesn't contain that much Google stuff.
- aembleton 4y agoJust don't accept the TOS that are presented to you when you click the Bing button. Also, you can just hide that whole bar with the >< button on the left
- Aissen 4y agoMicrosoft deleted the public support forum for Office365 software like Powerpoint online: a product that makes money. Of course those who pay are rarely the primary users, so why hear their voice…
- red_admiral 4y agoIt feels to me like there is a market opportunity for a new keyboard app manufacturer here. Possibly along similar ethical lines as Mozilla/Firefox (there's bundled stuff because someone has to pay the bills, but it's only so much effort to turn it off).
- viraptor 4y agoI'm really surprised there are no quality swipe keyboard options out there. Gboard is ok. I liked SwiftKey better a few years ago, but it degraded. But I'd pay for a swipe keyboard which solves a few issues I run into all the time: like not being great at detecting the space swipe, not showing the word alternatives consistently, not getting stuck in password entry mode, etc. I tried a few of the available options and it seems like gboard and SwiftKey on top, then a huge chasm, then every other option, few of them likely low quality data stealers. Please, do it well and take my money!
- rishav_sharan 4y agoPretty much no revenue opportunities. I was the PM for a keyboard app with millions of downloads and was the most downloaded keyboard app in India. But there is no way to monetize it. Early on, the OEMs would pay us to have our keyboards in their images as it would give them more customizability, better local language support and end-to-end localization. The rev share on each device sold, was enough to keep the product funded. But post 2014, the OEMs started asking for fees to add our keyboard into their images. And instead of positive funds, we started to go into negative and had to pivot away from being just a keyboard. Anyway, right now there is not much market opportunity in this space. Maybe with AI being ubiquitous, a new wave of keyboard apps will come in - but again right now the economics don't make sense.
- criddell 4y ago> no way to monetize it I don’t understand this. Where you giving it away?
- rishav_sharan 4y ago
- plaguepilled 4y agoMicrosoft? Using the Embrace Extend Extinguish tactic? On a project that many people use? Truly unheard of.
- andybak 4y agoJeez. That comment thread devolves fairly quickly into pointless rants.
- hot_gril 4y agoAnd if I want to respond to it, the "create account" button doesn't work.
- tomaskafka 4y agoMy $10 says the cause for the decision to renew work on iOS SwiftKey wasn't "customer feedback", but Bing/LLM part of Microsoft realizing that their bean counters have just shut down the only system-wide text-based touchpoint Microsoft ever had on iOS, just as they want to start integrating Bing/LLM everywhere.
- dmix 4y agoThat should be pretty obvious. ChatGPT is Microsoft's new golden child. Any potential interface for it will be getting plenty of attention and SwiftKey will suddenly be included in tons of management spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. The Bing->Chat buttons just open the Bing app currently. I'm curious if they will directly integrate it.
- make3 4y agoyeah LLM for swiftkey is kind of obvious
- SergeAx 4y agoIn case you wonder why we need FOSS.
- jwr 4y agoSwiftKey was such a good keyboard app. It's a pity it's being ruined by Microsoft. I do hope someone will create a good keyboard with a sustainable business model: charge a fair subscription price.
- justeleblanc 4y agoHow is it "being ruined"? I use it every day and it works fine.
- explorigin 4y agoAs soon as Microsoft bought Swiftkey, I switched off of it. Microsoft has such a bad privacy reputation that I couldn't trust it anymore.
- nitrammm 4y agoWhich do you use instead?
- explorigin 4y agoSamsung keyboard on my phone (because I'm already forced to trust that software). SimpleKeyboard on the kids' tablets because it's OSS. Neither is as good as Swiftkey but security is not binary.
- vrglvrglvrgl 4y ago[dead]
- causi 4y agoI've been fighting for probably a full decade at this point to get Swiftkey to stop turning "ok" into "OK" and making me look like either a geriatric or a lunatic. It doesn't matter how many times I tell it to stop predicting it it keeps happening.
- daedalus_j 4y agoSimilarly: I cannot convince Swiftkey to stop correcting "whole" into "whore". L and R are next to each other on the Dvorak layout, so I get it, but it does not matter how many times I tell it to never correct to whore, it for some reason always prefers that over whole...
- coldpie 4y agoIt is baffling to me that they have the "don't predict this" button that clearly doesn't actually do that. It has behaved this way forever, so it must be behaving as intended or else they would've fixed it by now. But I can't puzzle out what that button is actually intended to do.
- bobleeswagger 4y ago[flagged]
- nitrammm 4y ago[flagged]
- deanCommie 4y agoThe Android version also just updated and there is a nice big fat Bing logo in the settings bar. It's gross how every Microsoft product eventually starts to try to upsell Edge or Bing.