The World According to Mitch

It has been seven years since my buddies Raymond and Erdal and I got on stage at a conference in Redmond and demonstrated – for the first time ever to a non-NDA crowd – the functionality of Windows to Go (WTG)… and nearly four years since I picked up my Spyrus Worksafe Pro 64GB key that I have been using as one of my WTG keys ever since. 

Two weeks ago Microsoft announced that they would no longer be developing Windows to Go… to be brutally honest, I thought they had stopped developing it years ago, and it was just another stagnant component that is extremely functional, but does not get a lot of love.

While I understand they will no longer be developing it I truly hope that they do not remove WTG from Windows, which would be a real shame.  I use Windows to Go almost every day, and working how I work, I cannot imagine being as productive without it.

Far from calling it quits, I have doubled down on Windows to Go… somewhat literally.  This weekend I formatted and configured the environment on my new WTG device – my new Spyrus Worksafe Pro 128GB.  I am not quite sure how it is that I ran out of space on my 64GB drive (for someone who has been in computers since 180kb floppy drives were a really neat idea, it is hard to imagine we have come this far), but I did… and so I made the decision and picked up the new device… all of the functionality with twice the capacity.

The 128GB device looks exactly like the Worksafe Pro 64GB that I have had in my pocket since 2015; I still do not know if the sleeker feel of the actual metal is how my original key felt when it was new, or if they have changed it somewhat.  I suppose only time will tell. 

The Spyrus WTG Creator Tools software (stored on the unencrypted boot partition) has changed since I bought my original key, but not since I last downloaded the update from Spyrus in December.  I like the new graphical challenge screen the new software includes, but as I said, that is a function of the new software and not the new key.

Over the next few weeks I will run the device through its paces – I will run side-by-side speed comparisons between the old and the new, and I will test its reliability.  What I will not do (which I am told it would survive) is to run over it with my car.  I am all for putting new devices through their paces, but aside from reviewing it for my blog I also plan to use it for a long time – whether or not the next few versions of Windows 10 support it.

Thanks Spyrus… even if Microsoft doesn’t appreciate Windows to Go, I do… and I appreciate your dedication to the product!