Episodes
One more look back at Build  Microsoft talked a lot about what's coming to Windows, was vague on the timing. Speaking of vague, Microsoft gave the impression that there were "1 billion" Windows 11 users. There are not. Paul can confirm that Panos Panay was purposefully sidelined. Dev Drive: excellent. Dev Home: Eh. Windows Copilot, Winget config: maybe A theory about 23H2 = Moment 4 Windows 11 New Insider Preview builds. Canary: Microsoft Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies on...
Published 05/31/23
Build 2023 key(note) takeaways, Neeva shutting down, Leo updates to Moment 3 Microsoft Build 2023 Microsoft's keynotes are a combination of marketing and developer talk and that stands in sharp contrast to how Google and Apple handle their developer shows. It's good and bad, but Microsoft's keynotes must be mostly boring and/or pointless to mainstream users. Microsoft announces Windows Co-pilot, with yet another Taskbar button and a new sidebar Dev Home is a dashboard for developers...
Published 05/24/23
Published 05/24/23
Windows 11: We're having another moment! After hitting Release Preview last week, Moment 3 will arrive in preview form next week (Week D) or the following week and then head to stable on June 13 (Patch Tuesday). Now we have a better understanding of Microsoft's update schedule for Windows 11 Feature Updates - one per year in H2, deployed logically using best-known configurations first Moments - once per quarter Controlled Feature Releases (CFRs) - almost every month, deployed randomly...
Published 05/17/23
Windows 11 Patch Tuesday: Windows 11 gets that one new feature that Microsoft was awfully quiet about. New builds last week across Canary, Dev, and Beta - Nothing in Canary, lots in Dev, two changes to Beta. Beta channel: Photos app gets new slideshow and spot fixing tool. Beta channel: No features for consumers, one feature for IT pros, a Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) fix. Widgets might be coming to the desktop because it's 2009 again. Related: Qualcomm revenues...
Published 05/10/23
Windows 11 LTSC, PC peripheral consolidation, CFRs WE GOT ROADMAPS Microsoft updated the Windows roadmap. And there are two takeaways Windows 11 LTSC will finally arrive in the second half of 2024 Windows 10 version 22H2 is the final version of Windows 10, and it will be supported with only security updates until October 14, 2025 Windows 11 Last week, we talked about Week D monthly preview updates. This week, we need to talk about Controlled Feature Rollouts (CFRs). This is what...
Published 05/03/23
CMA blocks Activision Blizzard deal, FY23 Q3 earnings, Mad Dogs Hot Dogs Microsoft earnings Microsoft announced that it earned a net income of $18.3 billion on revenues of $52.9 billion for the quarter ending March 31. Those figures represent gains of 9 and 7 percent, respectively, year-over-year. Intelligent Cloud, the home of Azure and Server, was once again the software giant's biggest business, with $22.1 billion in revenues, up 16 percent YOY. Productivity and Business Processes,...
Published 04/26/23
Gallery in File Explorer, Bing in SwiftKey, Ubisoft+ Multi Access Bing/AI Samsung allegedly is considering replacing Google Search with Bing. Can they even do that? Bing chatbot comes to Swiftkey and Microsoft Start. And now you can remove the Bing button from Swiftkey. Sound familiar? Microsoft is all-in on AI hardware Microsoft brings more AI to developers ahead of Build Amazon announces Bedrock generative AI tool for developers. Speaking of which, where's Apple in all this?...
Published 04/19/23
KB5025239, Build 2023 session catalog, Xbox April update Microsoft brings more new features to Windows 11 on Patch Tuesday. It's a mini moment! Windows 11 is coming to HoloLens 2! The platform is saved! (Oops) IDC says that PC shipments tanked 29 percent in Q1. Don't worry, the Mac did even worse. And you won't believe how the Apple community is rationalizing THAT bit of news Windows 365 gets a Frontline worker option and a smart TV app Microsoft Build is coming Microsoft has...
Published 04/12/23
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?...
Published 04/05/23
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...
Published 03/29/23
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...
Published 03/22/23
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...
Published 03/15/23
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...
Published 03/08/23
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
Published 03/01/23
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...
Published 02/22/23
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....
Published 02/15/23
 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...
Published 02/08/23
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,...
Published 02/01/23
F23Q2 analysis, the subscription future, Microsoft 365 Insider program Microsoft announced a net income of $16.4 billion on revenues of $52.7 billion for the quarter ending December 31. Net income decreased by 12 percent year-over-year (YOY) in the time period while revenue was up just 2 percent. It was a mixed quarter, at best, and below expectations. Intelligent Cloud delivered $21.5 billion in revenues in the quarter, up 18 percent YOY. Productivity and Business Processes was...
Published 01/25/23
AI for the consumer client side, HoloLens request rejected, Azure DevOps Layoffs Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella informs employees of 10,000 layoffs Is Surface on the cutting block? Amazon to layoff 18,000 Welcome to the AI era Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirms Microsoft's AI moves: Azure Open AI service, ChatGPT APIs, and infusing AI across the entire Microsoft stack This is a much bigger deal than Microsoft's pivot to the cloud 20 years ago because it infuses everything that it...
Published 01/18/23
Fungible, rounded corners, Xbox Oreos, the AI wave Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 Surface Pro X, also from 2019, featured the first-ever NPU in a Surface product Eye contact announced in 2020 - requires NPU Windows Studio Effects announced at hybrid work event in April 2021 - adds Voice clarity, Voice focus, Automatic framing, Portrait blur, and Background blur to Eye contact Windows Dev Kit 2023 (Volterra) arrives in late 2022 with NPU Did Microsoft just soft announce...
Published 01/11/23
Notepad tabs, Stack Overflow 2022 developer survey, LastPass alternatives Windows Microsoft's next Moment for Windows 11 is on the way Microsoft is testing tabs in Notepad internally This is what we're reduced to with the Windows 11 team, a 25-year old debate about MDI and SDI Google is changing the Chrome release schedule again... no word from the Edge team Services Bing is reportedly going to get a ChatGPT upgrade to take on Google Search CES Intel announces 13th Gen Core...
Published 01/04/23
Looking back on the year in Microsoft, from Paul's rants to Mary Jo's beer! The world of Windows has had one wild 2022! Activision Blizzard acquisition begins Autocorrect/autocomplete baffles Mary Jo! Experimenting with Ads in File Explorer!? Uh oh! Farewell to Clippy/Gottfried DuckDuckGo's controversial Microsoft problem Interrupted by a crisis in Leo's office! Zac Bowden & Rich Woods discuss the new Windows update schedule Live widget notifications are annoying! Outlook? More...
Published 12/28/22
Microsoft in 2022: the good, the bad, the meh Activision Blizzard. It's the gift that keeps on giving. I mean, Brazil OKed the deal. COME ON Microsoft Teams turned 5. Is it unstoppable? (Stack is asking for a friend) Games in Teams? Just one feature update per year? Just kidding! Microsoft released Windows 10 version 22H2 in October. Since then, we've seen the unexpected, largely (or completely) untested rollout of three new features: Search "pill," Task Manager access from the Taskbar,...
Published 12/21/22