Windows Weekly 957: Selectively Transparent

Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss 26H1, Windows 11, Microsoft and other earnings, AI, antitrust, .NET 10, Xbox, and much more.

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26H1!

We’ve heard that Microsoft will go off script this year with a 26H1 release of Windows 11 specifically aimed at Snapdragon X2-based PCs, as it did with the early release of 24H2 last year for the first generation Snapdragon X

• Now confirmed by the release notes of a Windows Update
• And the Dev channel will soon switch over to 26H1 testing, with Beta moving to 25H2 (from 24H2)
• Expectations? All three versions will be functionally identical except for some Copilot+ PC-specific features that may be briefly only on Snapdragon X2. And then there will be a 26H2 for everyone

More Windows 11

Microsoft (over) simplifies its Windows Update naming scheme, and then has to backtrack a bit because of admin/IT backlash

October Preview Update screwed up Task Manager a little bit

Windows Insider

• The Dev/Beta update noted above included a new build with Ask Copilot in the Taskbar, Full-screen experience for Xbox gaming handhelds, Shared audio over Bluetooth LE in preview, and improvements to the WOA Prism emulator (which partially explains the expectations bit above)

Microsoft Edge password manager can now save and sync passkeys, but you should still use a third-party password/identity manager

Microsoft Store gets a bulk installer but only on the web

Earnings learnings

Microsoft earnings: Revenues up 18 percent to $77.7 billion but cost of AI is spiraling out of control and will only get bigger this FY

• Productivity and Business Processes revenues up 17 percent YOY to $33 billion
• Intelligent Cloud revenues of $30.9 billion, a gain of 28 percent YOY
• More Personal Computing delivered $13.8 billion in revenues, up 4 percent YOY.
• CapEx/AI infrastructure build-out costs are $34.9 billion (vs. $20 billion one year ago), plus a $4.1 billion loss attributed to OpenAI that was mentioned in a 10-Q (SEC) filing but not in its earnings reports
• Paul’s analysis sticks mostly to Wall Street complicity in Microsoft’s earnings non-transparency shenanigans. This is getting weird, given the amounts of money we’re now talking about
• This isn’t a first, but Spotify’s earnings announcements includes a few BS sleights of hand too

AMD: 36 percent revenue growth isn’t enough for Wall Street

Alphabet/Google: Up 16 percent to $102.3 billion, ads are 72.5 percent of revenues

Amazon: Up 13 percent to $180 billion in revenues, $30 from AWS

Apple: Up 8 percent to $102.5 billion, this quarter will be its best ever

AI, antitrust and dev

Epic Games and Google announce settlement in Epic v. Google, a dramatic common-sense move that Apple should (but won’t) emulate

Regulatory filings tied to Microsoft earnings suggest OpenAI lost $12 billion in most recent quarter

Freed from Microsoft, OpenAI immediately signs $38 billion infrastructure deal with AWS

.NET 10 to launch next week at .NET Conf 2025

Xbox and games

Xbox Game Pass getting Call of Duty Black Ops 7, five more Day One games in coming days (with an *)

Xbox October Update rolls out with game shader preloading on Xbox Ally, new modules in Game Hubs on console, more games to stream on Xbox Cloud Gaming, more.

Nintendo Switch 2 is off to a blockbuster first year with pricier console killing it financially

PS Plus Premium subscribers can now stream select PS5 games from the cloud (as opposed to a console)

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Enshittification by Cory Doctorow

Read it, learn it, live it.

App pick of the week: Affinity v3

The new all-in-one Affinity app is 100 percent free on Windows, Mac, and, soon, iPad – You can use a Canva paid subscription to access AI features.

RunAs Radio this week: Managing Updates using Autopatch with Aria Hanson

https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/1009

Brown liquor pick of the week: Glencadam Rather Unique 1999

https://www.glencadamwhisky.com/