It's happening! Microsoft will absolutely acquire Activision Blizzard An amazing (ahem) blizzard of activity on the acquisition front leaves Microsoft on the verge of consummating this deal. It's amazing how much has happened since last week. FTC appealed its court loss and was immediately defeated again UK CMA extends deadline for its review of Microsoft's new concessions Microsoft and Sony agree to a Call of Duty deal (!) - not clear if it's for 10 years UK court formally pauses CMA block of AB acquisition so the two sides can negotiate Microsoft and Activision agreed to extend the acquisition deadline to October 18 to accommodate the CMA Windows Windows 11 23H2 will be deployed as an enablement package, virtually providing our theories that 23H2 = Moment 4. Tied to this, Microsoft finally explains how it updates Windows now, literally 8 years after the release of Windows 10. It's easy to be cynical, but a Microsoft whitepaper offers a lot of overdue transparency about updating Insider Program: New Dev build today. Passwordless for Windows Hello Business, local file sharing improvements, Outlook now an inbox app Insider Program: New Beta and Release Preview builds out last week. Beta is 23H2. Galley view in Explorer, new Paint app Release Preview is 22H2, just fixes The NUC lives! Microsoft has a new font An AI told you so Microsoft announces Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing (for commercial) and it is exactly as expensive as we warned Bing Chat adds visual search support Bill Gates dismisses the dangers of AI. "We've done this before." FTC is investigating OpenAI Xbox Xbox Game Pass Core to replace Xbox Live Gold in September The next Game Pass titles for July Game Pass Friends and Family Preview is ending in August More fun retro gaming as Anstream Arcade is coming to Xbox on July 21 Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Enable passkeys in GitHub Book of the week: John Romero wrote a book RunAs this week: Securing Sprawling Services with Karinne Bessette Brown liquor pick of the week: Glenfarclas 12 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: meraki.cisco.com/twit kolide.com/ww

EU investigates Teams, Loop in the Microsoft Store, Beta build 22631.2129 Windows Insider: Last week, Canary got features from Dev plus some new features of its own. Dev channel: Improved screen cast, HDR background support, more Voice access, presence sensing, more. Beta channel: Windows Copilot, Dev Drive, enhanced Narrator/Excel integration, new Voice access text authoring features, passwordless experience for Windows Hello for Business, plus screen cast, presence, and voice access from above. Intel is profitable again, hopeful for the future (and massive fab expansion in Oregon) AMD revenues fell 18 percent, but also some hope for the future Microsoft 365 The EU announces formal investigation of Teams bundling in Microsoft 365 Microsoft Teams gets spatial audio support Microsoft lowers storage allotments for M365 Education customers, kills Office 365 A1 Plus Clipchamp is coming to Microsoft 365 commercial (with OneDrive storage integration) Dev Microsoft to launch .NET 8 at .NET Conf in November Xbox CMA publishes Microsoft's list of "material changes" in its Activision Blizzard case, gives public four days for feedback Unexpectedly, not a single new concession, just a bunch of new "evidence" that appeared since the decision Xbox Games with Gold goes out with a whimper Here come the first August Game Pass titles Final Fantasy XIV Online is FINALLY coming to Xbox Microsoft starts testing game streaming from Xbox to Discord You can buy Xbox controller parts now Sony has now sold over 40 million PS5s EA revenues up 9 percent in Q2 Nintendo's next Switch to debut next year Microsoft is killing the Xbox Console Companion app, has never made a new solution for getting Xbox console screenshots and videos on the PC Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Enroll in the Windows Insider Beta channel if you want to test 23H2 App pick of the week: Loop for Windows is now available RunAs Radio this week: Windows 11 and Windows Update for Business with Julie Andreacola Brown liquor pick of the week: Angel's Envy Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT

MICROSOFT BEATS FTC IN DRAMATIC FASHION Judge throws out FTC's request to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard For once, common sense prevails FTC threatens to appeal, but legal experts say this will fail UK CMA (sort of) realizes the error of its ways and will renegotiate with Microsoft and then later said it may require a new investigation because they are terrible Just a quick note about an old friend: AdDuplex is shutting down Amazon is first Big Tech firm to legally challenge EU's new anti-Big Tech laws Windows Microsoft releases Moment 3 for the fourth time Insider: New Canary build (today) brings new features from Dev, Arm32 deprecation, etc. Amazon Appstore for Windows 11 is now generally available Microsoft Edge now blocks spam pop-ups. Finally, a reasonable Edge feature Intel is killing the NUC, will exit the PC business Cloud/Enterprise Microsoft is renaming Azure AD to Entra ID Former original NT team member burns bridges as he leaves Google for second time Dev Microsoft is bringing .NET MAUI is coming to Visual Studio Code Microsoft Dev Box is generally available Raspberry Pi open-sources its Code Editor GitHub announced the public beta of passkey authentication Xbox Digital Eclipse is going to release a series of interactive classic video documentaries on Xbox Xbox introduces new voice reporting feature to help battle online toxicity Tips & Picks Tip of the week: You can get a $1 Game Pass trial again App pick of the week: Nostalgia (for Intellivision) RunAs Radio this week: Windows 11 Deployment with Johan Arwidmark Brown liquor pick of the week: Smooth Ambler Old Scout   Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: AWS Insiders - WW Brooklinen.com Use Code WINDOWS cachefly.com

EU's Big Tech gatekeepers, AI-powered shopping tools, Windows Copilot Preview The EU officially identified the first Big Tech "gatekeepers" that will be held to a higher regulatory standard, and Microsoft made the list. Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook (Meta) Plus, TikTok owner ByteDance (?) and Samsung Booking.com says it was notified it will be on the next list for some reason too What is the standard? What are the penalties for non-compliance? Microsoft to face EU antitrust investigation after discussions break down. Windows Microsoft JUST makes its self-imposed June deadline, releases first public preview of Windows Copilot to (some) Windows Insiders. Windows Copilot hands-on Windows 365 Frontline exits preview AI Microsoft adds new AI-powered shopping tools to Bing and Edge. I'm sure they won't just recommend Microsoft products. Google changes its privacy policy, admits it will scrape the Internet to train its models Hardware Hybrids bridge the gap between the new and the old, and they're all around us. In personal tech, the laptop was an early hybrid, but today's hybrids—like folding smartphones—are getting interesting and are inarguably the future of the premium, and then the mainstream, smartphone market. So much for "right tool for the job." Xbox Nadella claims he wants videogame exclusives to go away. This explains why Microsoft has purchased so man game studios, and why its wants Activision Blizzard. Somehow. What would a "mobile-native" version of Game Pass look like? And how could Microsoft get past the mobile gatekeepers? Microsoft announces its July Xbox Games with Gold titles Microsoft also announced its first Game Pass titles for July Tips & Picks Tip of the week #1: Enable Windows Copilot (Preview) Tip of the week #2: Get Office 365 for IT Pros 2024 Edition for $10 off App pick of the week #1: Stella App pick of the week #2: Firefox 115 RunAs this week: Power Platform Proliferation with Luise Freese Brown Liquor this week: Dewars 12 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: kolide.com/ww GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT

Windows 365 Switch public preview, Project IDX, digital decluttering Windows 11 Patch Tuesday arrives - nothing to see here, first PT this year with no new Windows 11 22H2 features New Canary build today: Two features from Dev, one new feature, plus a few minor fixes Windows 365 Switch is now available in public preview More Earnings Learnings Amazon revenues up 11 percent, but we have lots of AWS info Apple revenues flat as smartphone market slide continues - but services Microsoft 365, AI, etc Bing Chat comes to (some) third-party mobile browsers Slack is getting a major UI refresh Dev Microsoft issues final .NET 8 preview, RC next Google uses VS Code to make its new AI-based code editor in the browser GitHub Copilot adds a beta code referencing tool Xbox New Zealand OK's Activision Blizzard acquisition Microsoft, er, Activision announces Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Sony revenues soared 33 percent in the previous quarter, with PlayStation 5 unit sales up 38 percent to 3.3 million PS5 Cloud Streaming goes live for some (requires PS Plus) Tips and Picks Tip of the week: One strategy for digital decluttering Tip of the week #2: Back-to-school sale at the Microsoft Store Tip of the week #3: Subscribe to Thurrott Premium, Windows Intelligence newsletter, and Club TWiT Podcast pick of the week: Azure Innovations with Mark Russinovich Brown liquor pick of the week: Port Askaig 100 Proof Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: cs.co/twit

Windows 11 bugs drive Paul crazy, Microsoft AI event coming, no Xbox mid-cycle refresh Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/844 Sponsor: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT

This fun episode of Windows Weekly features Paul and Richard answering questions from listeners in the Club TWiT Discord! Plus, they chat about minor Windows Insider updates, strategies for saving money on streaming services, new gaming releases like the enhanced Quake II, and more. Windows New Canary build JUST released - Nothing major; the wait for 12 continues Dev Home Preview 0.4 JUST released - accessibility and other improvements Windows 365 Switch comes to the Windows Insider Dev and Beta channels Here comes Edge for Business Microsoft 365 Microsoft is releasing a new default theme for Office Mobile + AI Google Photos gets a new AI-powered Memories view Opera brings Aria AI to its iOS browser Google brings more features to its generative AI search service Amazon adds more AI-generated review summaries on mobile Google to add Audio Magic Eraser feature with Pixel 8 series Apple to finally pay its victims for Batterygate Xbox Overview of Microsoft's new system to suspend toxic players on Xbox via strikes Now Netflix is testing a cloud gaming solution Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Dealing with subscription fatigue App pick of the week: Quake II Remaster RunAs Radio this week: PowerShellGet in 2023 with Sydney Smith Brown liquor pick of the week: EH Taylor Small Batch Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: cachefly.com

This week on Windows Weekly, Leo, Paul, and Richard dive deep into Microsoft's prolonged acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview builds, the launch of Edge for Business, and the Mixed Reality collaboration between Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Magic Leap. CMA: F&$% you, common sense! Despite appearing to step back from the wrong decision it made about Activision Blizzard, the CMA has instead rejected the deal again... because cloud gaming So Microsoft has offered to give Ubisoft (non-exclusive) rights to cloud streaming all AB games (except in the EU) Now the EU is wondering how/if this impacts its own agreement with Microsoft - a close reading of the Microsoft and Ubisoft announcements provides some clues that all is well Windows 11 It's Week D, so we just got the preview versions of next month's Patch Tuesday CU And it's August, so Microsoft has probably finalized 23H2 and could ship it in preview form in September's Week D Perhaps not coincidentally, Microsoft has scheduled an in-person Surface/Windows event in NYC for the following week Insider: we got new Dev and Beta builds last week Dev: rich thumbnail previews in Start, new Cast flyout, never-combine Taskbar mode Beta (23H2): native support for RAR and other archive formats, never-combined Taskbar mode, rich thumbnail previews in Start, Snipping Tool update with links to Paint and Clipchamp, new app defaults behavior (that one is in the preview update above) Edge for Business is now available Microsoft sets Windows Mixed Reality Toolkit free because AI is the new AR AI + Dev As predicted, the addition of AI-based Bing Chat has not helped Bing usage share in the slightest: "Bing AI is cute, but not a game changer". Microsoft is not happy. AI-generated Microsoft travel guide recommended a food bank in Canada to those with "empty stomachs" Brave is bringing a safe and private AI assistant to Brave because of course it is Quick hands-on with Project IDX. Yep, it's Visual Studio Code on the web Xbox The end of an era: Xbox 360 store to shut down in one year Age of Empires IV is now available on Xbox and Xbox Game Pass PC Game Pass has arrived on NVIDIA GeForce Now Sony's PlayStation Portal Remote Player is launching later this tear at $199.99 The nostalgia keeps coming: Atari announces the 2600+ console Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Enjoy my video archive on YouTube App pick of the week: Parallels Desktop 19 RunAs Radio this week: Microsoft Fabric with Andrew Snodgrass Brown liquor pick of the week: Oban 14 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: lookout.com

Leo, Paul, and Richard discuss issues with the reliability of File Explorer (is XAML the root cause?), Microsoft's decision to retire WordPad, antitrust lawsuits and investigations into Big Tech companies, Microsoft's upcoming Surface(?) event, automatic OneDrive uploads for Xbox captures, the launch of Bethesda's Starfield, digital decluttering tools, and more! Windows Canary: some changes to the Dynamic refresh rate feature, no more Power & Battery page in Settings, etc Dev: Bug fixes Beta: File Explorer fixes (INTERESTING, given last week's rant) A moment of silence, please: WordPad will be retired The secret life of WordPad via its source code release and it being an example for developers (over time) of MFC, open Word document format support, the ribbon, and more The future is open plain text: embrace Markdown Notepad and Snipping Tool are getting new features Microsoft is changing how it counts your OneDrive storage usage Events We forgot the Amazon devices event, which is September 20 Microsoft will host a OneDrive/AI event on October 3 Ignite registration just opened up - November 14-17 in Seattle Antitrust Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others are all gatekeepers, EU says Bing: Hold my beer Zoom would like the FTC to unbundle Teams/M365 in the US Google is heading into an antitrust trial against the DOJ next week. Microsoft's approach to antitrust has changed a bit Margrethe Vestager is stepping aside to bid on a new job Google has tentatively settled a US Play Store class action antitrust lawsuit brought by over 30 states; the settlement is subject to the court's approval, according to a legal filing FTC to file antitrust lawsuit against Amazon after firm made no concessions, may seek to break up the company Xbox Microsoft to add auto OneDrive upload to Xbox game clips Xbox September Update is here with Discord game streaming New Game Pass titles for early September - Starfield among them Your Xbox Series S has arrived, Mr. Vader Lenovo has a Steam Deck competitor Tips & Picks Tip/app pick of the week: Digital decluttering RunAs Radio this week: Breach Reporting with Troy Hunt Brown liquor pick of the week: Old Perth 23 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

Microsoft's FY23 Q4, Zenbleed vulnerability, Nearby Share for Windows Microsoft Earnings Microsoft had another blockbuster quarter. What else is new? Fiscal quarter: a net income of $20.1 billion on revenues of $56.2 billion. Those figures represent year-over-year (YOY) gains of 20 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Intelligent Cloud was again Microsoft's biggest business unit, delivering $24 billion in revenues (up 15 percent YOY) on the strength of server and cloud services revenue growth of 17 percent. Azure and other cloud services grew 26 percent YOY, and Enterprise Mobility saw its installed base grow by 11 percent to over 256 million seats. Productivity and Business Processes was Microsoft's second-biggest business, with $18.3 billion in revenues, a gain of 10 percent YOY. Here, Microsoft reported that Office commercial revenue was up 12 percent, Office 365 commercial revenues were up 15 percent, and Office consumer revenues were up 3 percent. Microsoft 365 consumer subscribers grew 12 percent to 67 million customers. More Personal Computing once again brought up the rear, with $13.9 billion in revenues, a decline of 4 percent YOY. Windows revenues from PC makers declined 12 percent. Surface (and HoloLens, but really just Surface) revenues were down 20 percent YOY, as that product line continues to struggle. Gaming revenue overall was up 1 percent, with Xbox hardware revenues down 13 percent YOY and Xbox content and services revenues up 5 percent, "driven by growth in third-party content and Xbox Game Pass." AI Stuff Top AI companies agree to safeguards (just not for privacy). Microsoft opens up Bing Chat to users on Chrome and Safari. ChatGPT for Android is available in the U.S. to handle all your mobile AI needs. GitHub Copilot Chat is now available in Beta, stage one of the transition to GitHub Copilot X. Apple is rumored to be working on its own ChatGPT. Windows This just in: Preview cumulative update for 22H2 arrives a day late. Insider: Microsoft tests 23H2 features in the Beta channel. AMD to fix Zenbleed vulnerability. Microsoft could release a Surface Studio Laptop 2 this year. U.S. Army to test upgraded HoloLens soon. Activision Blizzard Paul looked at how the Activision Blizzard acquisition will impact its quarterly financials. Not much, actually. Chief regulators from the FTC and CMA have spoken a bit publicly about their mishandled Microsoft cases. Mirroring what happened with the CMA last week, the FTC ended an internal trial against Microsoft so the sides can reach a settlement. Xbox Microsoft starts rolling out YAHE (yet another home experience) Google Play Games for PC expands Blizzard is bringing key titles to Steam Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Clipchamp's hidden gems App pick of the week: Nearby Share for Windows RunAs Radio this week: Future of Integrated Communication with Bob Serr Brown liquor pick of the week: Bottles! Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT

The latest updates to Windows 11, including the removal of legacy troubleshooting tools. Paul, Richard, and Mikah also discuss Windows 365 integration with Android phones, the new iPhone models, and Qualcomm supplying 5G modems to Apple. Plus, the full Game Pass Core library, the announcement of the Xbox Mastercard, an update on .NET 8 nearing its release, and opinions on Unity's new Runtime Fee for game installations. Windows 11 New Insider Preview builds Patch Tuesday arrives and the latest Windows 11 update is a non-event Microsoft Paint is getting a background removal tool Microsoft is removing the legacy troubleshooters from Windows 11 and killing third-party printer drivers Mobile Microsoft announces Enhanced Windows 365 App Experience for Android. Yes, that's the name. Yes, it's a cloud-based version of Samsung Dex Qualcomm extends wireless partnership with Apple for three more years Intel announces Thunderbolt 5 branding, surprising no one Microsoft 365, Antitrust, & AI PowerPoint co-creator Dennis Austin passes away Apple's new iPhones have USB-C ports to meet the needs of a new EU law United States vs. Google kicks off Day 1: Yes, Google pays Apple $10 billion per year to be the default search on iPhone Adobe's Firefly generative AI is now generally available Dev .NET 8 hits release candidate Unity might have just jumped the shark Xbox Microsoft reveals the full Xbox Game Pass Core library. This new offering replaces Xbox Live Gold. A moment of silence, please Apple envy? Microsoft announces an Xbox credit card for some reason Minecraft Live is coming back, but it's not in-person Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Google rolls out privacy sandbox. Seriously, use a different browser App pick of the week: WizTree RunAs Radio this week: Doing More with Less with Sonia Cuff Brown liquor pick of the week: Chivas Regal Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: Melissa.com/twit cachefly.com

It's a BIG news episode this week, as Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott discuss the sudden departure of Panos Panay from Microsoft to Amazon. Did he jump or get pushed out of the company? Leo and Paul also dive into a massive leaked memo about Microsoft's Xbox roadmap and plans over the next 10 years. Other topics include Microsoft's upcoming event focused on AI integration across products like Windows, Office 365, and Surface, as well as online account consolidation and Google's Takeout service. We're down a Panay After his curiously off-kilter performance at Build 2023 this past May, Microsoft reveals that it is parting ways with Panos Panay. Are these things related? He's landing at Amazon devices, which makes sense given David Limp is retiring Multiple Microsoft executives and employees have reached out privately about this Comparisons to Terry Myerson's exit Blockbuster Xbox leak Major Xbox leak reveals Xbox Series X|S mid-season upgrades, next-gen console, new controller, and more This is one of the top three Microsoft leaks that's happened in Paul's nearly 30 years of covering this company An analysis of just one of the documents in this leak reveals an incredible amount of strategy information for the next 10 years And one about the reaction to the PS5 reveal Microsoft's upcoming AI event Expectations for this event, the kick-off for Microsoft's full-on client AI push Sub-analysis: This could be Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott's "Ray Ozzie moment." There's a profile of this mostly unknown in the WSJ Intel announces NPU-powered Core Ultra CPUs - off schedule? Related to the MSFT event? Bing Chat gains two new mobile integrations Paint keeps getting AI features. Remember when Paint was the laughing stock of Windows 11 apps? Windows No new builds (of substance, there was an RP build). Windows Photos, Snipping Tool, and Phone Link are all getting new features in Insider. Is Microsoft finally taking its in-box apps seriously (again)? Google extends the support lifecycle for ChromeOS, solving the single biggest criticism of this platform. This is problematic for Microsoft Microsoft 365 EU will reject Microsoft's offer to unbundle Teams from Microsoft 365 Surface Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Laptop Go 3 leak. They will likely be announced at the special event Xbox Microsoft announces more Xbox Game Pass titles for September Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls VI will be an Xbox exclusive. Tips and picks Tip of the week: Consolidate and organize your online accounts App pick of the week: Google Takeout Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: nureva.com/twit Miro.com/podcast

In this episode of Windows Weekly, Mikah Sargent is joined by Paul and Richard to discuss the latest Microsoft updates, news, and products. Paul chimes in on his experience at Microsoft's recent AI event, changes to Windows 11's confusing updates, last week's Xbox leaks, antitrust lawsuits against tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon, and more! Microsoft Special Event: Blockbuster... or blockluster? Paul went to his first in-person Microsoft event in almost four years. You're not going to believe what happened next! Ahead of the event, everyone was calling this a "Surface event" and some still are. But it was an AI event, period. Were our expectations met? Copilot "rebrand" was in many ways the biggest news Microsoft 365 Commercial arrives November 1 - And Microsoft 365 consumer is a thing Microsoft announced two Surface PCs at event, one with an NPU. And then two other Surface PCs/devices. Most of these do not matter WTF is happening with Windows 11 23H2? We had a confusing several days, the perfect end-cap to a confusing year when it comes to Windows updating. But now we have the answers. At special event, Microsoft reveals it will ship "next major Windows 11 update" September 26. It's 23H2! It's not 23H2! One day after the event, Release Preview gets Fall Update Paul attempted to achieve some clarity ahead of John Cable's post Microsoft releases the Fall Update (in preview form) Is Windows 11 finally where it needed to be when Microsoft shipped v1 two years ago? Follow-ups to last week's blockbuster news  Panos Panay will succeed Dave Limp at Amazon Further examination of the leaked Xbox documents Microsoft's reaction to the PS5 specs reveal is sort of clueless in retrospect Microsoft wanted to buy Nintendo. No, really. And it considered lots of companies Antitrust UK CMA provisionally approves of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard So of course the FTC revives its lost battle against Microsoft/AB. You can't make this stuff FTC sues Amazon for monopoly abuse. Paul has questions. Lots of questions Dev and AI Intel announced its Meteor Lake chipset BEFORE Microsoft event. Amazon buys Anthropic for $4 billion Amazon announces generative AI features for Alexa at its hardware event Google Studio Bot expands worldwide in preview Microsoft is moving Windows device driver development to Rust Unity: JUST KIDDING GUYS SERIOUSLY GitHub Passkeys are GA Xbox Cuphead anniversary update is on the way, Xbox only Microsoft tweaks how Xbox/OneDrive integration works in a "bonus Xbox update for September" Tips and picks Tip of the week: Install the update, check the store App pick of the week: Amazon adBlocker RunAs Radio this week: SharePoint Online Features On-Prem with Sandy Ussia Brown liquor pick of the week: Pokeno Whisky Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT lookout.com

Leo, Paul, and Richard talk about the end of free Windows 7/8 to Windows 10/11 upgrades using retail product keys. They also examine Chromebook Plus, Google's new premium Chromebooks aimed at gaming via cloud streaming services. This highlights issues with Google's disjointed strategies after killing Stadia. Plus, insights from the Google antitrust lawsuit, including testimony from Microsoft and Apple executives on partnerships and search dominance. This sparks debate on whether a Bing improvement could ever rival Google. The episode explores concerns around growing subscription costs, ecosystem lock-in, and how technology often complicates rather than eases life today. Windows 11 Microsoft is killing free upgrades from Windows 7 and 8.x And yes, that means those product keys will stop working Windows 11 Insider Preview: Copilot comes to Alt + Tab, more File Explorer fixes Windows 11 Field Guide is getting free updates for 23H2, of course Join the Release Preview channel, you'll (probably) be upgraded to 23H2 and/or (most) new features Windows Backup is already here. But what is it? And what might it become? OneDrive is among the things getting worse in this release. And it's a problem Google announces Chromebook Plus, New Material You design is available now to all AI/Microsoft 365 Satya Nadella admits under oath that AI-powered Bing has not improved its usage share in the slightest Also, Microsoft tried to sell Bing to Apple Apple never seriously considered switching to, let alone buying, Bing Microsoft announces the next generation OneDrive across businesses and consumers Microsoft Lists for consumers comes to mobile, finally Bing Image Creator gets a big DALL-E 3 update. And it is amazing Surface Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Laptop Go 3 are now available Xbox Here are the first Xbox Game Pass titles for October Sony PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan is retiring Layoffs at Epic Tips and Picks Tip of the week: The great ensh*ttification reset App pick of the week: ScanSpeeder RunAs Radio this week: Episode 900! Brown liquor pick of the week: Upshot Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: cs.co/twit

Leo, Paul, and Richard discuss Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon X — could we see a huge improvement to Windows on Arm? Then, the dynamic trio break down Patch Tuesday and Windows 11 Insider. Paul discusses Google's Passkey support and reminds listeners Microsoft has been doing passwordless logins for years. The team discusses GitHub Copilot losses, HP AI features, Adobe's Firefly updates, and Dropbox AI. Then, Paul briefly covers C# Dev Kit for Visual Studio Code. During Paul's Xbox Corner, a breaking news story hits; Leo shares news that Microsoft is contesting an IRS claim that the company owes $28.9 billion in back taxes. Leo, Paul, and Richard round things out with the tips and picks of the week. Windows 11 Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon X Series for the PC Microsoft Releases October 2023 Patch Tuesday Updates October 10, 2023—KB5031354 (OS Build 22621.2428) - Microsoft Support Windows 11 Insider Preview Beta Channel Moves to a Single Build Windows 11 Canary Build 25967 Brings New Scrollable View of Quick Settings Microsoft 365 UK is Investigating Microsoft and Amazon's Cloud Practices Google Makes Passkeys the Default Login Option for Personal Accounts Microsoft Will No Longer Make Changes to OneDrive Photo Storage Microsoft Redesigns the Microsoft Store Web App AI Report: GitHub Copilot Loses an Average of $20 Per User Per Month HP: AI Will Transform the PC Into a Personal Companion Can AI Save the PC Industry? (Premium) Adobe Announces Major Advances for Firefly Generative AI Dropbox Launches Redesigned Web App and Expands Access to New AI Features Dev C# Dev Kit is Now Available Xbox Activision Blizzard Says No Call of Duty or Diablo IV on Game Pass This Year Microsoft Reportedly Aims to Close its Activision Blizzard Acquisition on October 13 Diablo IV is Coming to Steam on October 17 Forza Motorsport is Now Available on Xbox, PC, and Game Pass Sony Announces Smaller PS5 With and Attachable Disc Drive PS5 Cloud Streaming is Launching Later This Month Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Deal with OneDrive's forced folder backup push App pick of the week: Microsoft Teams (New) RunAs Radio this week: Security Chaos Engineering with Kelly Shortridge Brown liquor pick of the week: Pappy Van Winkle Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: Melissa.com/twit cachefly.com/twit

In this episode of Windows Weekly, Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss the successful acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the questionable success of Windows 11 adoption, new Windows Insider program builds, and updates on AI integration in Microsoft/Google products. Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard This came in the wake of the UK CMA accepting the Microsoft concessions The FTC is still being a sore loser despite facts and logic No AB titles on Game Pass until 2024, Phil Spencer says Bethesda's Pete Hines is leaving the company Windows 11 Microsoft leak reveals that there are 400 million PCs running Windows 11 This tells us a few things. That there are 1 billion PCs still running Windows 10 What did Windows 10 adoption look like at 2 years? What different factors impact both adoption rates? What will happen when Microsoft retires Windows 10 in two years? Why was Microsoft so transparent about Windows 10 adoption and so non-transparent about Windows 11 adoption? New Beta build landed last Friday with some more interesting news for Europe Back on October 12, a new Release Preview channel build arrived with a quiet change we never noticed or discussed. There is a new System Components section in Settings > System New Dev build today: Copilot support for multimon, more File Explorer relability fixes New Canary build today: Mail and Calendar no longer installed on clean install, Bluetooth LE support for hearing aids, new location functionality It's official: Windows 7/8 keys can no longer activate Windows 11 There are THREE new Dave Cutler interviews on YouTube! Microsoft Microsoft owes $29 billion in back taxes AI Google releases new smartphones and all the mainstream press can talk about is faux nonsense worries about photo editing altering reality. Let's be more sophisticated here, please Microsoft Edge 118 adds an AI-powered Find on Page feature Google will also indemnify users for AI Google Search Generative Experience can now generate images Xbox More Game Pass titles for October Microsoft announces new accessibility features for Xbox Xbox Series S starter bundle is just Xbox Series S + 3 mos of Game Pass Tips & Picks App pick of the week: DuckDuckGo browser App pick of the week: AllDup RunAs Radio this week: Large Language Models for IT Pros with Seth Juarez Brown liquor pick of the week: Quinta do Portal 20 year Tawny Port Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: wix.com/studio?utm_campaign=pa_podcast_studio_10/23_TWiT%5Esponsors_cta canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT Miro.com/podcast

Leo, Paul, and Richard discuss Microsoft's latest earnings report, Qualcomm's new Snapdragon chip, Windows on Arm's future, passkey support for Amazon accounts, Dave Cutler's awesomeness, Stardock's 30th anniversary, Photoshop/Premiere Elements 2024, and more! Microsoft earnings Microsoft announced that it earned a net income of $22.3 billion on revenues of $56.5 billion in the quarter ending September 30, 2023. Those figures are up 27 percent and 13 percent, respectively, year-over-year (YOY) Analysis: Activision Blizzard, Windows, Surface, Xbox and gaming, Office and Microsoft 365, and the evolving impact of AI Google earnings: net income of $19.7 billion on revenues of $76.7 billion, ads are 71 percent of total revenues, Google Cloud disappoints Windows on Arm Qualcomm announces Snapdragon Elite X for Windows on Arm PCs Promises, promises, but if this fails again, it's over... for Qualcomm Qualcomm's WOA deal expires next year and NVIDIA and AMD are on the way Windows Dave Cutler sat down for a THREE HOUR interview. This is a must watch. Some key points here Beta build last week with three changes (gradual rollout): system components in All apps display a System badge, Xbox Game Bar is just Game Bar now, the improved casting experience New Canary build today adds Copilot?? Windows 11 Field Guide: the 23H2 update has begun with 9 chapters done so far OneDrive: just when you thought it was safe to go back in the cloud storage Windows 7/8.x products key don't work in Windows 10 either, sorry Celebrate Stardock's 30 years of making Windows better - by buying some of its products Satya Nadella said he regretted killing Windows Phone? Not exactly Xbox Microsoft revives the "Power Your Dreams" ad campaign for the holidays Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Add passkeys to your Amazon account right now App pick of the week: Adobe Photoshop Elements 2024 and Premiere Elements 2024 RunAs Radio this week: Choosing Azure Data Storage Solutions with Nicole Stevens Brown liquor pick of the week: Burgas 63 Barrel Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: hid.link/ww GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT wix.com/studio?utm_campaign=pa_podcast_studio_10/ 23_TWiT%5Esponsors_cta

On this episode, Leo, Paul, and Richard discuss the big release of Windows 11 23H2, productivity in Macs vs PCs, Microsoft 365 Copilot arriving, changes in the Xbox and marketing divisions, iFixit support for Surface repair, and American rye whiskeys. 23H2 Surprise! Microsoft delivers the Windows 11 23H2 Update, which upgrades your Windows 11 version 22H2-based PC to version 23H2, much sooner than expected. Technically, Microsoft NEVER delivered the so-called "Fall Update," since it was only made available in preview form (twice, for some reason). So 23H2 is actually the first public release of those 150+ new features. The Windows 11 Media Creation Tool still installs 22H2. Because Microsoft. Workaround: Use the Windows 11 Installation Assistant. Which hilariously requires you to install the PC Health Check app. We need to discuss Microsoft Teams in Windows 11. And then literally never discuss it again. Microsoft is killing the Windows Insider MVP program. What exactly did it even mean to be an "MVP" in the Insider program? Dev: From last Friday, adds one new feature, a "Recently added" folder (for apps) in Start (in Recommended) Beta, from last Thursday: Two new features (gradual rollout): System components in Settings, Game Bar rebranding. Plus fixes. Windows 11 now has 26 percent usage share vs. 69 percent for Windows 10. Whatever happened to Windows 12? There have been overt clues about Windows 12 literally all year, including as recently as last week. But Microsoft has never, not once, uttered this phrase. What's happening? Microsoft 365/AI Today's the day: Microsoft 365 Copilot arrives for commercial customers on E3 or higher. OG Teams is retiring in March. Microsoft Word turned 40 last week. This was the gateway drug that lured Paul into the Microsoft ecosystem. But it's showing it's age. If Microsoft can't get spell- and grammar-checking right in Word, why will AI work? Earnings Learnings Did Azure just make more money than AWS?? Intel stumbles but finally sees an end to the PC sales slide. Surface iFixit now sells Surface replacement parts. And it is fascinating to see how much more you can replace/repair in newer models compared to the first "repairable" Surface, Surface Pro 7. Xbox Microsoft reorgs Xbox in the wake of Activision Blizzard acquisition. Chris Capossela is Leaving Microsoft. Paul has a very mysterious announcement to make for our holiday show this year! Xbox October Update arrives with keyboard mapping for Elite Series 2 and Adaptive controllers. There are a lot more titles coming to Xbox Game Pass in early November. Microsoft will now block unofficial controllers on Xbox consoles. Atari acquires Digital Eclipse, the retro game company behind that amazing Karateka interactive documentary. Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Windows 11 Field Guide gets its first 23H2 update App pick of the week: Start11 v2 is here to chase your Start menu nightmares away RunAs Radio this week: Green IT with Mike Halsey -Brown liquor pick of the week: Leopold Bros Maryland Rye 100 Proof Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: nureva.com/twit lookout.com

Windows 11 Microsoft to bring Copilot to Windows 10 too. As predicted, actually. Last week was hell trying to figure out how/where people could get 23H2. Turns out, there's a reason. Microsoft is terrible. A Microsoft employee notably—offered some clarity on the 23H2 rollout. 23H2 is available via the ISO download or Installation Assistant, as Paul noted last week. 23H2 is NOT available via the Media Creation Tool, as Paul also observed — delayed two weeks. Canary build today: SMB changes (Server Message Block, not small business). Microsoft deprecated some features in Windows 11 version 23H2 but didn't remove any (yet?). The Windows Tips app was just deprecated too. Microsoft to remove two in-box apps from clean installs in the future. The HP Spectre Folding PC is a compelling argument for the hybrid PCs of the future. More Revenues Apple: Flat with last year, still all iPhone. Qualcomm: Terrible, but also sees a rebound looming. Surface Microsoft extended Surface support for firmware/drivers from 4 years to 6 for newer models. Microsoft 365/AI Microsoft Authenticator quietly rolled out "MFA Fatigue" relief. You will have noticed this. Microsoft launches Trustworthy Computing 2.0: The Cloudening. A look at the M365 competition: Google Workspace good (especially Drive), Slack bad. REALLY bad. Microsoft Edge 119 arrives with a few UI changes. OpenAI had a little show and is offering custom ChatGPT clients. Because we all need more Elon Musk in our lives, here's Grok. Microsoft partners with Inworld on generative AI game development. Xbox Call of Duty MWIII multiplayer/full game arrive Friday. Nintendo revenues up nicely. EA is in great shape. Epic is in court vs. Google, this time could be different. Google paid Activision Blizzard $360 million in 2020 to keep its games in the Play Store. Sony is killing Twitter integration on PS4/5. Tips and Picks App pick of the week: Brave App pick of the week #2: Start 11 v2... again RunAs Radio this week: Large Language Models in Business with Ulrika Hedlund Brown liquor pick of the week: Aberlour A'bunadh Alba Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: Traceroute Podcast Miro.com/podcast

Paul and Richard are at Microsoft Ignite 2023 and just watched the keynote! Leo Laporte chats with them to discuss the clarified rebranding of Copilot, some new AI features in Windows 365, Microsoft Loop's availability, the release of .NET 8, two decades of Patch Tuesday, a neat Xbox Series bundle discount for Black Friday, and more! Microsoft Ignite (Final) Copilot rebranding clarifies the naming changes announced in September Copilot for Microsoft 365 adds plug-in support, more Windows 11: Windows AI Studio announced, Dev Home and WSL are updated New AI capabilities in Windows 365 Microsoft Loop is now available New Teams now GA, 320 million users - Mesh in Jan 2024 Clipchamp and Microsoft Designer come to Microsoft 365 commercial Microsoft announces its first custom AI chipsets for the Azure datacenter Dev: .NET Conf Microsoft releases .NET 8 with .NET Aspire Windows 11 Microsoft releases 23H2 for the fourth time? One tiny bit of OneDrive de-ensh*ttification does not address the bigger issues Patch Tuesday turns 20, Microsoft couldn't care less The new Outlook: People, we have a roadmap! Microsoft Store now lets you decide where to install games Copilot in Microsoft Shopping, AI review summaries come to Bing and Edge Microsoft, more AI Microsoft will not challenge its gatekeeper designation in the EU Google brings generative AI search to 120+ new countries Google will ID AI-based videos in YouTube Google Photos gets some cool AI organizational features Xbox Xbox Series X|S are discounted by $50 for Black Friday Halo Infinite goes retro too, adds Halo 3 playlist Here are more titles coming to Xbox Game Pass Here comes the OLED Steam Deck PS5 "Slim" is now available in the US - Sony unlikely to hit PS5 sales targets Amazon lays off gaming staff, will refine Prime Gaming perks Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Google's Black Friday sale looks solid App pick of the week: Microsoft Loop RunAs Radio this week: Microsoft Entra Security Service Edge with Richard Hicks Brown liquor pick of the week: Makers Mark Cellar Aged Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: hid.link/ww canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT Melissa.com/twit

On this episode of Windows Weekly, Leo, Paul, and Richard dive deep into the latest OpenAI/Microsoft partnership drama involving Sam Altman's position. They also discuss upcoming EU regulations and their impact on Microsoft products, evaluate NVIDIA's record-breaking Q3 earnings, and reminisce about the classic PC FPS Half-Life. And you thought AI was already controversial... On Friday, OpenAI's board suddenly and unexpectedly fired CEO Sam Altman, kicking off several days of unprecedented high drama OpenAI president and board chairman Greg Brockman announced that he was quitting in protest Microsoft announced it had hired Altman and Brockman over the weekend 95 percent of OpenAI employees threatened to quit if Altman did not come back Altman began negotiating his return to OpenAI (and major governance changes) Altman is once again CEO of OpenAI Key takeaway: No matter what happens, Microsoft wins Wrong takeaway: Nothing changed Windows Windows 11 is about to get awesome in the EEA WHY IS WINDOWS 11 ONLY GOING TO BE AWESOME IN THE EEA??? Microsoft confirms that Copilot is coming to Windows 10 too. "No new features, my ass!" Copilot begins rolling out to Windows 10 in Insider Program Release Preview: Copilot in Alt + Tab and on other displays, limited Copilot with local account, DMA compliance, Windows Spotlight changes Canary: Disable Phone Link in the Bluetooth settings, display Teams contacts in the Windows share window when signed in with a Microsoft Entra ID Dev: Narrator improvements, File Explorer fixes (wait for it) Redmond, we have a problem. With Windows Hello Earnings learning NVIDIA continues to soar on AI (Winner) Zoom has settled back down to reality HP stumbles through its fourth quarter and FY2023: AI PCS FTW in late 2024! Lenovo stumbles too, but explicitly predicts industry recovery Antitrust Apple, ByteDance, and Meta contest their DMA gatekeeper designations Xbox Half-Life turned 25 last weekend and Valve finally remembered it exists Nvidia's GeForce Now adds Microsoft Store, PC Game Pass, and Ubisoft+ integration - over 1700 games now Amazon Luna comes to France, Italy, and Spain Next Call of Duty leaks! Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Ignite's over, but the videos are forever App pick of the week: Half-Lif RunAs Radio this week: Azure Operator Nexus with Jennelle Crothers Brown liquor pick of the week: Willett Wheated 8 Year Bourbon Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: wix.com/studio?utm_campaign=pa_podcast_studio_10/ 23_TWiT%5Esponsors_cta cachefly.com/twit

Windows Tiny11 2311 arrives, is even tinier and even 23H2er ... or something Beta channel: Teams integration with Share (Entra ID only), new language support for Ink Anywhere Dev: Copilot icon moves (!), more Copilot, Share, Ink, Android in Nearby Sharing (!) Canary: Energy Saver (new feature), more Samsung brings its browser to the Microsoft Store AI/Microsoft Microsoft and Meta reportedly receiving 3x as many NVIDIA GPUs for AI as Amazon Amazon introduces it's own AI chatbot for the enterprise, and it does have one useful and unique feature Microsoft is retiring its Microsoft 365 browser extension Evernote is still a thing and now it wants to charge everyone Amazon takes a Fire TV Cube and turns it into a remote desktop thin client Antitrust UK CMA provisionally rules against Adobe acquisition of Figma EU formally objects to Amazon acquisition of iRobot because the robot vacuum cleaner market is so important Xbox Xbox Series X and S are still on sale. Just saying The November Update for Xbox is here with rewards redemption, Xbox app gets compact mode Microsoft is reportedly deprecating the Microsoft Rewards app on Xbox Netflix is bringing GTA trilogy to the service The current Call of Duty is awash in bad reviews, so let's talk about the next Call of Duty! Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Microsoft's new ugly Christmas sweater is here App pick of the week: DuckDuckGo RunAs Radio this week: Zero Trust Adoption Guidance with Nicolas Blank Brown liquor pick of the week: Pendleton Rye 12 Year Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT Traceroute Podcast

In this week's Windows Weekly, Paul, Leo, and Richard discuss the extension of Windows 10 support for 3 more years after 2025 for consumers and enterprises, updates on the AI features of Copilot, Google's new AI model Gemini, potential features coming in a future Windows release next year, and the cleanliness of ImageGlass 9. Windows 10 Yep! They're going to support Windows 10 for 3 more years with extended security update (ESU) program. But this time there's a twist! Consumers are going to have the chance to pay annually for the ESU as well. Let the complaints begin Copilot expands to more Windows 10 users Windows 11 Report sees a major Windows release in 2024 The November 2023 Preview Update for Windows 11 shipped on a Monday in December because Microsoft, adding new Copilot features, last preview CU for 2023 Dell earnings - revenues fall 10 percent YOY because the PC market is still horrible Richard bought a computer. Can you guess which one? AI Microsoft to get non-voting board representation at OpenAI Copilot is now GA. Unless you're using Windows 11, apparently. Everyone gets free commercial data protection Copilot gets GPT-4 Turbo, new DALLE-3 model, and more Google goes live with Gemini, including a Nano version for Pixel 8 Pro Microsoft 365/Cloud Microsoft finally releases Seeing AI on Android Evernote restricts free users to 1 notebook, 50 notes - time to switch! Antitrust Federal judge orders Google and Epic to try and settle the case before the jury renders its verdict 30 more venture capital firms tell the FTC to stop harassing Microsoft for Activision Blizzard Google and Amazon have both weighed in on Microsoft's cloud licensing with the UK CMA Xbox Microsoft is betting on the DMA, will create mobile video game store with unnamed partners The first Game Pass titles for December Microsoft explains licensing pop-ups on console Rockstar issues first GTA VI trailer PlayStation reminds the world that no one owns the digital content they purchased Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Stuck on 22H2? You can still upgrade to 23H2 App pick of the week: ImageGlass 9 (Microsoft Store) RunAs Radio this week: Modernizing using M365 with Sharon Weaver Brown liquor pick of the week: Glenfiddich 12 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: lookout.com GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT hid.link/wwdemo

Grab your favorite whisky and join Paul, Richard, and Leo as they meander through a delightfully geeky/tipsy conversation spanning Windows updates, AI advancements, Big Tech antitrust issues, and more! Windows 11 The final Patch Tuesday of 2023 arrives Copilot now opens on the display where you click its Taskbar icon (or it will, thanks to CFR) Copilot now appears in Alt + Tab (but not in Task view/WINKEY + Tab), oddly (Same deal) Account notifications in Start and Settings (disable this nonsense in Settings > Privacy & security > General) For Windows 10 users, Copilot is now available to everyone in preview with the Patch Tuesday update (CFR, need to manually download it). No Windows integration settings yet. A few other changes on Windows 10 too Canary/Dev (Thursday): Copilot undocked mode, Widgets changes, Windows 365 Boot and Switch changes, Windows Share improvements (WhatsApp integration, curious), character count in Notepad (how cute) Beta channel (Friday): Windows Share and Windows Store improvements Dev channel (today): Transitioning Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) to voice access because WSR is being deprecated Also Canary: New Windows Protected Print Mode Clipchamp quietly added four new features recently, and you're never going to believe what happens next AMD unveils Ryzen 8040 series mobile CPUs with a new NPU on select models Intel's Meteor Lake is coming in hot Antitrust UK CMA and US FTC are both investigating Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI After failing to reach a settlement, Google loses Epic antitrust trial Why it has so far done much better against Google than it has against Apple? Apple to be punished for App Store business practices in the EU Apple likely to open up NFC chipset in iPhone in response to EU concerns AI Microsoft reaches agreement with AFL/CIO on AI Google Releases Gemini Pro to enterprises and developers Google releases Gemini-powered NotebookLM in the U.S. Keep on steroids, basically Xbox An ad-supported Xbox Game Pass offering is likely on the way Xbox Cloud Gaming is now on Meta Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro Balder's Gate 3 lands on Xbox Series X|S Microsoft reveals two new games at The Game Awards E3, which has been dead for years, is now officially dead The next Digital Eclipse interactive documentary looks about as amazing as the first Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Get your Xbox Year in Review App pick of the week: Fences 5 RunAs Radio this week: SysAdmin Gifts with Joey Snow & Rick Claus Brown liquor pick of the week: Balvenie Double Wood 12 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT wix.com/studio?utm_campaign=pa_podcast_studio_10/ 23_TWiT%5Esponsors_cta

On the last episode of 2023, Richard Campbell, Paul Thurrott, and Leo Laporte are joined by a lovely guest to look back (and look ahead) on Microsoft's progress and accomplishments. Between a Teams milestone, Meteor Lake chipset's release, AI music creation in Copilot, Bobby Kotick's upcoming exit, and Microsoft's Countdown Sale, there's plenty of news left to digest at the end of this eventful year! Happy holidays, dozers!  Windows 11/Microsoft 365 Microsoft will FINALLY fix the dumbest File Explorer bug of all - no, not that File Explorer bug Microsoft is suddenly deprecating tons of Windows features Windows Insider: Windows 11 Beta build 22635.2915 is the last Insider build of 2023. Nothing major: Voice access supports multiple displays, Windows 365 Boot and Windows 365 Switch from last week's Dev build, Notepad update with Notepad an "Edit with Notepad" item in the File Explorer context menu, and a character count display Microsoft Teams now has 320 million users, 2,000 apps in the Teams store, and over 145,000 custom line-of-business (LOB) apps built by enterprises AI Microsoft partners with Suno to bring music creation to Copilot - OH AND THERE ARE PLUG-INS THERE NOW TOO A few insider notes about this generation of Intel chips Intel's Core Ultra chipset is coming to Chromebooks too Look back/Look Ahead What's left to say Copilots? There are lots (at least announced) and even more are coming Is 2024 going to be the year of the AI PC? Or is this just another fad/bubble "Windows 12" or whatever the vNext is called: Huzzah! Ready or not, the new Outlook for Windows and new Teams are coming How will Activision Blizzard impact Xbox? Antitrust Activision Blizzard settles 2021 class action lawsuit that triggered the acquisition by Microsoft Bobby Kotick on the outs Dec 29 In wake of antitrust loss, Google also settles Play Store suit, will pay $700 million to victims Adobe bails on Figma. Just kidding! Xbox Leak shows that Sony is very worried about Xbox now Sony has sold 50 million PS5s, has outsold Xbox 3-to-1 in 2023 Google extends Stadia controller conversion timeline Tips and picks Tip of the week: Microsoft's Countdown sale brings big discounts to Xbox, Surface, more App pick of the week: MediaSorter RunAs Radio this week: Azure Arc Guest Configuration with Jodi Boone Enterprise pick of the week: Directions on Microsoft's got some (free) resources worth checking out Brown liquor pick of the week: The Spirit of Scotland 46 & Monkey Shoulder Beer pick of the week: Back Home Beer Yalda Queen Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Guest: Mary Jo Foley Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: cachefly.com/twit

Looking back at Windows Weekly's best moments from 2023 Welcoming Richard aboard, and setting the table for an AI-filled year "I have been a good Bing" and other chatbot awkwardness Leo's Parallels 18 for Mac demonstration UK CMA blocks the Activision Blizzard deal, and it makes no sense Build 2023 was a great showing for Steven Pathiche, but a strange showing for Panos Panay Microsoft beats the Federal Trade Commission in court, inching a step closer to their acquisition Discord chat with Sean, a sign language interpreter and CODA! Panos Pany leaves Microsoft, but did he jump or get pushed? Giant Xbox leak reveals new console refreshes, a controller, and a roadmap for the future Impressions from the AI September event, including the sweeping Copilot rebrand. Activision Blizzard is finally acquired after much struggle A token Thurrant about OneDrive and its near-endless push to back up Paul's folders A classic beer pick from the one and only Mary Jo Foley! Host: Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT

Microsoft finally kills Windows Mixed Reality Just in time for Christmas, Microsoft revealed that its long-dead WMR platform is now officially dead Windows 11 Moment 5 is allegedly coming in February Microsoft quietly reissues Windows 11 version 23H2 installation media Microsoft kills install from web capabilities in Windows App Installer (MSIX) Dev (today): Richer weather experience on Lock, more Voice access improvements Canary (today): Same Voice access changes, no more WordPad or People in a clean install, Steps Recorder deprecated, new Energy Saver icon in the system tray, Nearby Sharing can name your PC Surface New Surface Pro 6 and Laptop 6 are expected in Spring 2024 with Intel and Qualcomm chipsets. Microsoft's first "real" AI PCs. FU, Surface Laptop Studio 2 buyers! Microsoft 365 Something to consider for 2024: Have Microsoft's core platforms gotten too complex? And when/if this will drive away customers? Standalone Copilot app launches on Android ... and then, days later, on iPhone and iPad - And it offers a ChatGPT4 mode, interestingly AI New York Times sues Microsoft, OpenAI for massive copyright infringement GitHub Copilot Chat is now GA. Requires $10/month GitHub Copilot sub, but it may be the single best example of how AI can improve our lives so far Xbox New Xbox Game Pass titles for early January: Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Resident Evil 2 remake, more Does something smell better around here? Bobby Kotick has left the building PlayStation: Just kidding, you can keep your stupid Discovery shows Meta Quest 2 gets a permanent price cut Steam no longer supports Windows 7 or 8.1 Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Properly secure your Microsoft account App pick of the week: MSEdgeRedirect Bonus pick: MediaSorter RunAs Radio this week: Doing More with Less in 2024 with Erin Chapple Brown liquor pick of the week: Elijah Craig Small Batch Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: kolide.com/ww

It's CES, so let's observe a moment of silence for all the stupid #*$% our colleagues are covering right now! But there is some wheat in the chaff, of course Intel announces 14th Gen Core desktop and mobile chips. But wasn't Meteor Lake was mobile only? PC makers announce a lot of Meteor Lake PCs: Acer, Acer again, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, more, plus the MSI Claw mobile gaming handheld and the first ASUS NUC! Paul's been using an HP Spectre x360 14 for the past month, what's the AI stuff really like? It's not just Intel: NVIDIA goes nuts on AI and AMD has new AI-powered CPUs Google announces improvements across the Android ecosystem - Quick Share Amazon adopts Matter Casting - and now we have too many of these things - what about Microsoft? Thread will finally fix networking and thus Matter Windows 11 Microsoft announces a Copilot new key for Windows keyboards - settle down, everyone Beta channel (last Thursday): Bug fixes - after the Dev/Canary updates of last Wednesday Quick Windows 11 Field Guide update - 160 pages of new 23H2 content in two months, now 1058 pages long, so download the latest version Microsoft is reportedly looking to add AI writing assistance to Notepad. For some reason Microsoft 365 Awesome! Microsoft PC hardware to be sold now by Incase Almost four years later, it looks like Microsoft will finally make Teams (free) an actual Teams client Apple tries to stamp down the CES hype, announces Apple Vision Pro launch date AI OpenAI responds to the NYT and... yikes. Did AI write this? It admits that ChatGPT does what the NYT claimed Has met with "dozens" of news orgs but can only cite four actual partnerships, and licensing costs are confidential Emphatically cites the fair use argument, which is an open discussion and not clear-cut Offers an opt-out for news publishers, but only since August, so after it used all the NYT content Says the NYT is not telling the full story. Right, it's telling its side of the story. Just like OpenAI Interesting details about negotiations between the two Seeks constructive partnership in a final olive leaf EU is investigating the Microsoft/OpenAI partnership, following U.S. FTC and UK CMA Pennsylvania adopts OpenAI's ChatGPT Enterprise OpenAI launches GPT Store for ChatGPT Plus, Team and Enterprise users Now we know which Microsoft executive is sort of on the OpenAI board Duolingo lays off staff because AI is so good Xbox Microsoft could be bringing Xbox exclusives to PlayStation Microsoft is bringing back the Xbox Developer_Direct event on January 18 Minecraft Legends, RIP Big changes to GeForce Now: New Xbox titles, day passes, more Layoffs at Twitch After its failed coup of the userbase, Unity lays off 25 percent of its workforce Tips and Picks Tip of the week: We need to talk about password managers App pick of the week: Alternative web browsers RunAs Radio this week: Hardening Active Directory with Jerry Devore Brown liquor pick of the week: Bearface Triple Oak Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT cachefly.com/twit

Outlook, privacy, and the terribleness of Big Tech New Outlook Decried as a "Surveillance Tool for Targeted Advertising One perspective: How terrible are other companies like Google and Meta? But also, how terrible are Windows 11, Teams, Microsoft Edge, etc? Supreme Court refuses to hear Epic v. Apple appeals So, Epic wins on one important count, being able to communicate to their own customers But Apple is still being terrible because it can be. Will the EU finally take care of this? Google unlinking its services in the EU, Apple removing pulse ox from Watch in the US, Google comes clean on Incognito, and Microsoft Cloud lets EU customers keep data locally, it just keeps coming Copilot all the things Richard correctly predicted that 2024 would be the year that Microsoft stopped talking about AI and started implementing AI. But who could have predicted THIS in the first two weeks (!) of the year? Copilot Pro for consumers, Copilot for Microsoft 365 for all commercial customers with no baseline, Copilot on mobile, Copilot in Microsoft 365 mobile, Copilot GPT Builder on the way But there's a real vulnerability for Microsoft and its AI aims here - Too soon, too little may be a mistake Microsoft and Vodafone, sitting in a tree Plus: No Copilot AI (SLM) on the Galaxy S24 family? Interesting. Is Google trying to undermine that partnership and bring Samsung back into the fold? Windows 11 PC sales for 2023: Good news, bad news. OK, it's just bad news They're doing it again: After almost literally no testing, Microsoft launches new Weather experience on the lock screen and makes it the default Store app install notifications are in stable now too Dev: USB 80 Gbps support, auto-start Copilot on 27-inch+ displays, Windows Share (as below) improvements, fixes Beta: More Windows Share improvements (WhatsApp, Gmail, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn URL sharing), Weather experience on Lock, Microsoft Store with instant arcade games and app install notifications Release Preview: New KB update gives us our second near-final peek at Moment 5, with more "Ink Everywhere," eye control system support, 7-ZIP support improvements, other fixes Microsoft will reportedly bring back the Windows Insider Program's Beta Channel for Windows 10 because they were just kidding about that whole "no new features" thing Dev Home comes to Windows 10 Xbox January's Game Pass titles, still no Activision Blizzard Xbox fixes Baldur's Gate save bug Ubisoft mixes up its Ubisoft+ subscriptions Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Maybe this is the year of NextDNS App pick of the week: Brave RunAs Radio this week: Copilots for Power Platform with April Dunnam Brown liquor pick of the week: Writer's Tears Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: meraki.cisco.com/twit Miro.com/podcast

In this episode of Windows Weekly, Leo, Paul, and Richard cover Microsoft's recent hack, new Windows Insider updates, Copilot Pro's image creativity, various browsers, education's compatibility with generative AI, Halo Infinite's slowdown, Notion's calendar service, and Japanese whisky. Microsoft was hacked A Russia-backed hacker group infiltrated a legacy system and gained access to executive emails This is triggering an escalation in Microsoft's security makeover either way Windows 11 Beta channel: USB 80 Gbps/USB4 v2 support, bug fixes Dev channel: Teams (commercial) meeting integration in Start, new mobile device management interface New Surface event rumored for March. Possibly two waves of Pro and Laptop releases Microsoft Bing and Edge are obviously not dominant platforms, and will not be subject to EU DMA Microsoft Mesh is here for all your legless meeting needs AI Microsoft hits $3 trillion market cap on the strength of its AI moves Paul used Copilot Pro and you're never going to believe what happened next Microsoft is bringing more AI to education. And so is Google Would you pay for an AI-infused Alexa? Web browsers, oh my Chrome is updated with new AI features Firefox version 122 is out Brave will simplify fingerprint protection. What is fingerprint protection? Opera will pay a brand ambassador $10,000 to spend a month on a deserted Icelandic island Xbox Microsoft reveals several new games for 2024, key among them an Indiana Jones title 343 slows down Halo Infinite updates dramatically. Is this just about Halo or a hint at a looming new trend? Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Is it even possible to prevent online tracking? App pick of the week: Arc browser RunAs Radio this week: AI for IT with Gil Pekelman Brown liquor pick of the week: Hibiki Harmony Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: Melissa.com/twit kolide.com/ww

Microsoft announced Tuesday that it earned a net income of $21.9 billion on revenues of $62 billion in the quarter ending December 31, 2023. Those figures are up 33 percent and 18 percent, respectively, year-over-year (YOY) Intelligent Cloud: Azure, AI Microsoft's biggest business unit delivered $25.9 billion in revenue, up 20 percent YOY and driven primarily by its Azure cloud platform Azure revenues were up 30 percent in the quarter, 6 points of which Microsoft attributed to "AI services" Productivity and Business Processes: Microsoft 365 $19.2 billion in revenues, with growth of 13 percent YOY Office Commercial revenues were up 15 percent More Personal Computing: Xbox, Windows Revenues of $16.9 billion, up 19 percent YOY Gaming revenues surged 49 percent (44 points from Activision Blizzard) Xbox hardware revenues inched up by 3 percent Windows revenues from PC makers grew 11 percent in the quarter Windows Canary: Voice Clarity comes to more PCs, and Microsoft previews new/old Windows Setup first-run experience Dev: Minor bug fixes only Beta: Snap Layout suggestions, new settings in Widgets, and you can now revert to stable (!!) Microsoft 365 Teams goes down for the count AI Microsoft adds deepfake guardrails to Designer AI. So, this wasn't there before now? FTC is investigating Microsoft/OpenAI and other Big Tech AI partnerships Xbox Microsoft can finally bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to the iPhone (and Fortnite is coming back to the iPhone in the EU) 1900 layoffs at Activision Blizzard, Zenimax, and Xbox Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Upgrade to passkeys App pick of the week: Insync RunAs Radio this week: Software Licensing with Mary Jo Foley Brown liquor pick of the week: Dailuaine 16 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT

 WORLD WAR AI OpenAI announces ChatGPT Plus Google responds to ChatGPT with Bard Microsoft announces AI-powered Bing and Edge. Google hosted its own AI event and it announced multi-search, Maps improvements, and Translate improvements, and discussed how AI can make life better Semi-related: Paul was let into the Notion AI beta Windows Paul has some thoughts about Windows 12 and what an AI-based Windows could look like Ads are coming to the Microsoft Store. FINALLY New Insider build for the Beta channel. No new features, but a new policy that lets IT admins customize how Search looks on the Windows 11 Taskbar Microsoft is integrating Adobe Acrobat PDF with Microsoft Edge, but only on Windows 10 and 11 for now Microsoft 365 Native Apple Silicon version of Skype is 3X faster. What took so long? Hardware Microsoft says it's still committed to HoloLens 2 and MR, tries not to laugh Samsung is working on XR hardware with Qualcomm and Google. Dev Microsoft updates its .NET language strategy. Nothing has changed, other than they way they document their .NET language strategy More Big Tech Earnings Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Meta earnings Zoom just showed us the way to handle layoffs Xbox Sony is fighting Microsoft subpoena in AB case. It's fighting the FTC subpoena, too UK CMA says AB deal is "anti-competitive" but would accept some concessions New Game Pass titles announced for the middle of February Sony says the PS5 is immune to the downturn Nintendo says Switch is not immune to the downturn, but it's still dominating Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Protect your privacy in Windows 11 App pick of the week: Microsoft Edge Dev Brown Liquor of the week: Mackmyra Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: CDW.com/LenovoClient Miro.com/podcast

OpenAI's GPT-4 released, KB5023706 update, YouTube Music Windows 11 Moment 2 is official; mostly a solid update The ensh*ttification of Windows/Microsoft 365 continues: Microsoft Word, Paint, Teams, and Edge AI all the things One wonders, if everything is AI, is anything AI? OpenAI releases ChatGPT 4 Microsoft "reveals" it was using an early version all along, duh BING CHATBOT IS OPEN TO EVERYONE Bing will move Chatbot responses to the top of search results Microsoft's LinkedIn is adding GPT AI to improve the writing of profiles and job postings Grammarly adds more AI Google Workspace is getting generative AI features, obviously... and it's raising prices (coincidentally!) Duolingo adds two new AI features at great cost Microsoft 365 Microsoft Word is getting two keyboard shortcuts it should have always had: "Paste as Text" & Zoom Dev Microsoft Build 2023 is May 23-25, live and remote GitHub starts rolling out its 2FA requirement for contributors Xbox Microsoft announces two 10-year cloud gaming deals with companies not named Sony: Boosteroid & Ubitus Epic Games takes a page from the Microsoft Store and will allow self-publishing Tips and Picks Tip of the week: YouTube Premium member? Play some games App pick of the week: YouTube Music This week on RunAs: Incident Management with Hila Fish Brown liquor pick of the week: Springbank 10 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: drata.com/twit kolide.com/ww

Week D production-quality updates, revamped widgets board, Microsoft Teams redesign Windows 11 Microsoft debuts new Windows 11 features in Preview. And now we have a new updating schedule! Coming via Canary: another Widgets UX update Surface Hub 2S is still a thing and will be upgradeable to Teams Rooms OS soon You can hide the Bing button in Edge 111.x now Microsoft 365 As expected, Microsoft announces Teams 2.0 with Apple-like improvement claims AI o' the week OpenAI announces ChatGTP plug-ins capability - Now it's a platform! Next stop: sentience Microsoft brings AI-based copilot capabilities to security pros Xbox UK CDMA: Just kidding on Microsoft's AB acquisition issues, will likely approve it Japan FTC approves Microsoft's AB acquisition without conditions Activision CEO disappointed in his best partner, Sony Microsoft announces red and blue (get it?) Elite Series 2 Core Controllers No more $1 intro offer on Xbox Game Pass Now even Xbox developers can help your console use less power Steam will drop support for Windows 7/8.x in 2024 Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Still on Windows 7/8.x? Switch to Firefox App pick of the week: Oofhours.com Media Creation tool This week on RunAs Radio: When does Multi-Cloud Make Sense with Phoummala Schmitt Brown liquor pick of the week: Dalmore 12 (Thumbnail artwork by Club TWiT member Joe Esposito) Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: lookout.com kolide.com/ww GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT

Halo engine switch, Intel Q4 2022 revenues, Ground News Windows 11 Skipping the Windows 11 upgrade? Microsoft will force-feed it to you soon Related: Microsoft is using dark patterns to get people to upgrade to 11 Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25290 heads to Dev channel with new Spotify and Phone Link widgets, new Start menu "exploration" Screen recording in Snipping Tool rolls out to users in Windows Insider Beta channel More earnings Since Microsoft's mixed earnings last week, a few more relevant firms have checked in on Q4 2022 Intel earnings fall off a cliff: Cutting pay 5% rather than layoffs, VPs 10%, leadership 15%, CEO 25% AMD - not bad thanks to datacenter, but this quarter will be down 10 percent And it's not just the PC: IDC says smartphone sales declined 18.3 percent in Q4 Dev A quick look at .NET MAUI desktop app capabilities .NET MAUI gets a cross-platform media player control GitHub says it has over 100 million developers on the service. From what Google indicates, there are only ~27 million developers in the world Xbox After layoffs at 343, a smaller team will start over with Unreal Engine Why not just disband the whole disaster and let Halo fly free? Microsoft announces Xbox Games with Gold for February... and new Game Pass titles for first half of February Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition comes to Xbox consoles Xbox Series X|S get a price hike in Japan Did Sony really halve PS VR2 production? VR is not having a good time right now... probably this whole year. Rumor: Microsoft will skip E3 along with Nintendo and Sony Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Complete your password manager switch Plus: Quick update on the new book App pick of the week: https://ground.news/ Brown alcohol pick of the week: Crown Royal Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: Miro.com/podcast Melissa.com/twit drata.com/twit

Microsoft FINALLY brings Windows 11 on Arm support to Apple Silicon Macs A new Release Preview build shows us what the next Moment update will look like New Beta channe builds are a bit less interesting More PC maker fallout with Lenovo revenues down 24 percent in Q4 Bing AI Bing AI is a lying liar who lies. Questions about Microsoft releasing it in this state continue After many Bing AI freakouts, Microsoft limits the length of chats... and then it bumps up the length a bit just a few days later. Microsoft brings Bing AI to Bing, Edge, and Skype mobile apps Microsoft 365 Microsoft IS releasing Teams 2.0 in March. Dev Microsoft releases Visual Studio 2022 17.5, and it's a big update Microsoft releases .NET 8 Preview 1 Visual Studio gets an integrated .NET Upgrade Assistant... previously only a command line tool Paul examines WinUI 3 and the Windows App SDK. Microsoft is moving File Explorer from XAML Islands to Windows App SDK. Xbox Microsoft defends the Activision Blizzard acquisition in court. Microsoft inks 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo Microsoft's PC games are coming to NVIDIA GeForce Now Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Friends & Family Plan comes to 6 new countries, none of which are your country As suspected, we're getting a third Xbox Game Pass title drop this month Tips & Picks Tip of the week: 2FA all the things App pick of the week: Craiyon RunAs Radio this week: Migrating to Windows 11 with Michael Niehaus Brown liquor pick of the week: The Macallan Estate Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT

New features in KB5022913 update, Microsoft's defense of Activision Blizzard bid Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/818 Sponsor: Melissa.com/twit

File Explorer access keys, Edge Workspaces public preview, Xbox Remix Special Edition Controller  Happy birthday, Microsoft Microsoft turned 48 this week (April 4). It took a wrong left turn in Albuquerque Windows 11 New Beta channel build adds Access Keys to File Explorer, Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC), and, yes, a new Bing button on the Taskbar Microsoft Edge Workspaces now in limited public preview Microsoft 365 Oh you didn't think the new Bing was free, did you? (New) Outlook for Windows Preview gains Gmail support, finally Right before the new Bing launch, Microsoft fixed a major security vulnerability that compromised Bing Google secretly enacted a 5 million file limit on Drive then retracted it after complaints Surface Microsoft announces Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock (Surface Dock 3) with no Surface Connect connector Xbox Microsoft reveals first Game Pass titles for April New Xbox Wireless Controller contains "some" recycled materials, is very expensive Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Enable split window feature in Microsoft Edge App pick of the week: Google Nearby Share for Windows This week on RunAs: IPv6 and Azure Active Directory with Pierre Roman Brown liquor pick of the week: Auchentoshan Virgin Oak Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: meraki.cisco.com/twit Melissa.com/twit CDW.com/LenovoClient

Microsoft adds Windows 12 to the Insider Program Last week's feature release shows you how these Insider channels map to the next release, which is sometimes a Moment now and not just a formal Feature Update. Don't worry. They didn't tell anyone that. Canary - big changes that need lots of incubation time (e.g. kernel changes), no release target Dev - changes that need incubation, no release target Beta- testing changes targeting the next release Release preview - testing changes that are slated to ship imminently in the next release barring any major explosions (e.g. printers) Stable - nothing works First Canary build today: Access keys and File Recommendations in File Explorer, LSA Protection Enablement on upgrade. Dev channel: This channel is "rebooted" to 23000 series now, per above. This build has live captions in more languages, access keys in the File Explorer context menus (another Win11 regression),  Recommendations in File Explorer, and other changes. Dev channel (last week): Microsoft is working on a new volume mixer. Windows 11 Microsoft is bringing "video super resolution" to Microsoft Edge We're still not done with PC maker results: Dell goes down in Q4 too AI Satya Nadella, marketing AI, now says that Cortana was "dumb as a rock." Come on. Microsoft to talk up AI in work next week Microsoft talks up AI in Microsoft 365 - this will never end now Microsoft brings more AI to devs at Azure Open Source Day Brave Search adds an AI-powered Summarizer DuckDuckGo adds a similar Answer feature Microsoft 365 Microsoft Outlook is now free on the Mac Xbox EU likely to approve Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Told you so? Halo Infinite Season 3 is live. Can it save this game? Halo players have created over one million maps with Forge Beta Microsoft announces new titles for Xbox Game Pass Starfield arrives in September Tips and picks Tip of the week: Don't be a statistic App pick of the week: Start11 RunAs this Week: FIDO2 and Passwordless with Kyle Kotowick Brown liquor pick of the week: Craigellachie Bas Armagnac Cask Finish 13 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: kolide.com/ww CDW.com/LenovoClient

Microsoft Loop preview FINALLY arrives Microsoft Loop web app launches in public preview for MSA and work/school accounts - Yeah, it's a Notion rip-off. Alarmingly so. Windows 11 Now, Microsoft is testing Windows 11 features first in Release Preview New Dev channel build: Seconds in the system tray is a game changer! /s Minor changes coming to default apps Based on a single hardware review, it appears that 13th Gen Intel Core processors have the same problem with docks and hubs as do 12th Gen processors. AI all the things Bill Gates describes AI as the biggest technology transformation since the GUI. Bing Chatbot can now generate images from text GitHub launches ChatGPT-4 powered Copilot X Adobe launches responsible/ethical generative AI tools Google launches Bard in early access Mozilla.ai startup goes live Opera adds AI prompts, sidebar ChatGPT Xbox Microsoft's AB acquisition is all about mobile, not COD Microsoft announces it will launch mobile apps store on iPhone and Android as soon as regulators make it possible FOSS patents: We've moved into the acceptance phase, and this acquisition is on track Netflix is expanding its mobile games library dramatically Microsoft releases a third set of Game Pass titles for March Get a Steam Deck for 10 percent off to celebrate its first birthday Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Inbox Zero App pick of the week: Visual Studio Code RunAs Radio this week: SMB over QUIC File Servers with Ned Pyle Brown liquor pick of the week: Ben Nevis 10 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: Miro.com/podcast kolide.com/ww cachefly.com

The AI morning after A week after the irrational exuberance, reality sets in. It's still Bing. And it's still competing against Google Microsoft shares an update on Bing AI rollout Google employees were not amused at botched Bard announcement Microsoft to add AI to Office in March Everyone is doing AI now. Including Opera and Notion Windows 11 New Windows 11 Dev build adds more live captions IE was disabled in Windows 11 on Patch Tuesday. It's dead, Jim 2FA is coming to Windows 11. It's all in the toast Microsoft 365 Looks like Skype revenue has plummeted over the past decade And full of "meet your new girlfriend" messages if you don't lock down from defaults Microsoft finally retired the Yammer brand. And you're never going to believe what happened next Corporate GitHub lays off 10 percent of staff, going fully remote More jobs cuts announced in Surface, HoloLens, Xbox Xbox Just kidding: Activision to release a major Call of Duty title this year Xbox February update is now available with Google Home app integration Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Get started with the new Bing AI. Bing AI apparently has some "creator prompts" that will jumpstart certain types of tasks: -Letter (Write a letter) -Code (Write code) -Movie (Write a script) -Story (Write a story) -Poem (Write a poem) -Summary (Write a summary) -Tweet (Write a tweet) -Blog post (Write a blog post) -Quiz (Write a quiz) -Joke (Write a joke) App pick of the week: DALL-E This Week on RunAs: Strengthening Security with Jess Dodson Brown liquor pick of the week: Kvint Divin Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: cachefly.com