Windows Weekly 867: Prepare the Double Box!

Leo and Paul–and eventually, Richard–discuss Windows 11 22H2, Copilot, Mozilla’s battle with Big Tech, AI, Xbox, and much more.

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Windows

Radio silence from the Windows Insider Program this past week

• just a single bug-fixing update in Beta – need to hit that toggle to get it

Some Copilot in Windows news this week

• Copilot in Microsoft 365 can now be accessed from Copilot in Windows (following Copilot Pro)
• Copilot now opens wider by default, is resizable … yet another Windows feature that was never tested with the Insider Program … And now we know HOW it updates (you’re never going to believe what happens next!)

Yet another indication that this year’s big release is Windows 11 24H2, not Windows 12

Mozilla highlights how Microsoft, Google, and Apple disadvantage Firefox on their OS platforms. A couple of points

• It occurs to me that the enshittification we see in Windows is a direct result of smartphone platforms and their makers’ desire to lock down those systems and create walled gardens
• Consider how default apps has worked and changed since US v. Microsoft
• Firefox has 0.5 percent usage share across all platforms now … but it’s surprisingly resilient on the one platform without enshittification, Linux. This should be a proof point for the courts but we need more data
• Apple is by far the worst of the three platform makers

Clipchamp gets two new audio features, with one more coming this month

AI

Microsoft Copilot turns one

• What a whirlwind – 12 months of breathtaking announcements, updates, rebranding, and more
• Over 5 billion chats, 5 billion images created, “sustained growth in Bing and Edge” (LOL)
• New features to mark this milestone – Copilot app stores on iOS and Android, UX update, inline image editing, plus one new Copilot Pro feature (resize and regenerate images between square and landscape without leaving chat) – plus a Super Bowl ad because Microsoft hasn’t thrown enough money at this yet
• Coming soon: Designer GPT inside Copilot for “an immersive, dedicated canvas inside of Copilot where you can visualize your ideas”

Arc Browser follows up last week’s mobile release with three new AI features for desktop browser

Microsoft partners with news organizations to create responsible AI guidelines

Google Bard will be rebranded as Gemini

• Google is bringing generative AI to Maps
• Google launches ImageFX, an AI image generation tool, expands Gemini Pro availability in Bard

Meta will soon label AI-generated images on its services

More earnings

Amazon – up 14 percent to $170 billion in revenues

Apple – $119.6 billion, but flat with the previous year, so the AI hand-waving begins

Meta – up 25 percent to $40.1 billion – how??

Xbox

It’s happening: Physical game titles are disappearing from European retailers too

Microsoft reportedly bringing first-party Xbox titles to PS5, other platforms

• With rumors swirling, Xbox to reveal its expanded cross-platform strategy soon
• Xbox fans need to wake up: This new strategy isn’t just right, it’s the only thing that will save this business

First Game Pass titles for February, including another Resident Evil game

Nintendo has sold almost 140 million Switch consoles

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Everyone can sign up for Twitter Classic, er, Bluesky now

And maybe we should. Related: Threads now has 130 million users

App pick of the week: Mozilla Monitor

There’s a new subscription service in town, plus a free version

Podcast pick of the week: Managing Cloud Native with Brendan Burns

This week on RunAs Radio: How do you manage cloud-native applications? While at Ignite in Seattle, Richard chatted with Brendan Burns about ongoing efforts to develop tools to make building and operating cloud-native applications more manageable. Brendan discusses the challenges around…

Brown liquor pick of the week: Cardrona Full Flight Solera

https://www.cardronadistillery.co.nz/products/full-flight-solera-nz

$105 USD