Windows Weekly 849: Back to Dumb

Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss no more free Windows 7/8 upgrades to Windows 11, 23H2, AI, Microsoft 365, Surface, Xbox, and much more.

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Windows 11

Microsoft is killing free upgrades from Windows 7 and 8.x

• And yes, that means those product keys will stop working. Here’s what we know

Windows 11 Insider Preview

• New Dev build – Copilot comes to Alt + Tab
• Last week’s Dev build – no new features, but more File Explorer fixes (told you so)

What’s happening with Windows 11 version 23H2?

• 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

Related: Google announces Chromebook Plus

• New Material You design is available now to all
• How does this change things vs. Windows laptops?

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 – Also, what is this? vs. To-do?

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

Related: Sony PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan is retiring

Related: Layoffs at Epic

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: The great enshittification rebellion

Everything is getting worse. Subscriptions are more expensive. Products and services are serving their masters, not their users. It’s time to rethinking how we do things. And this may turn into my new focus. (What’s my focus now? Most think “Windows” or “Microsoft,” but it’s really efficiency and productivity.) Discuss.

App pick of the week: ScanSpeeder

Finding software that can accurately separate individual photos from a scan with multiple photos is hard. But this one is so good I paid for it.

RunAs Radio this week: Episode 900!

https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/900

Brown liquor pick of the week: Upshot

https://whippersnapperdistillery.com/product/upshot/