Windows Weekly 985: Putting the Mental in Experimental

Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss Week D, new Insider builds, Yusuf Mehdi, more earnings, AI and dev, Xbox and gaming, and a lot more.

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Windows

Week D arrives with a surprise: 24H2/26H1 are aligned and getting the same new features

• Shared audio with BT LE, multi-app camera support, many improvements – but the big deal, may be the performance and reliability improvements across the board
• This is the next Patch Tuesday, today

Windows Insider Program

• Friday builds – new accessibility features in Experimental and Beta, more

Related: Microsoft CMO Yusuf Mehdi to leave company after an astonishing 35 year run – started in Windows, but with IE, Bing & MSN, Interactive Entertainment (Xbox), Windows and Devices, and then a SLT position before the end. Incredible run. Paul has three milestones and one throughline to share.

Hardware

• Lenovo revenues surge 27 percent to $21.6 billion
• Nvidia revenues really surged 85 percent to $81.6 billion

AI/dev

Google adds Google Drive sync to NotebookLM and moves preferred sources into AI Mode and AI Overviews

Saying no to AI: DuckDuckGo usage surges in the wake of Google I/O’s AI tsunami

OpenAI releases ChatGPT plugin for PowerPoint

.NET MAUI to get Material You support for Android in .NET 10

Follow-up on last week’s vibe coding adventures: Paul talked about this last week, but a lot has happened since then. The Android app creation capability in Google AI Studio is live. And I spent the weekend vibe coding with Android Studio, Claude Code, and more. A few thoughts.

Xbox and gaming

XBOX—and, yes, it’s XBOX now—has an official merchandise store to go alongside all its other official merchandise stores

The SteamDeck is back in stock! Also, it’s 40 percent more expensive

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Understanding the zen of Linux can help a Windows user too

Some Linux learnings for the Windows user

• Paul has been testing various Linux distributions and other Windows alternatives for months as part of a Switcher series
• The zen of Linux can mostly apply to Windows, too: Install and manage software with package managers, and embrace the command line, especially. And if you’re going to use a local account, at least be smart about it.

App pick of the week: A grab-bag of apps for Windows

Vivaldi 8.0 looks awesome and appears to deliver what Firefox is promising with its Nova UI

Discord has a native app for Windows 11 on Arm now

In looking for a Notion replacement, I came across something new, literally: Tolaria. You may want to check this one out.

RunAs Radio this week: Team Productivity using Loop with Karinne Bessette

https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/1038

Brown liquor pick of the week: John Sleeman & Sons Rye Whisky

https://johnsleemanandsons.com/