Windows Weekly 875: A Lot of Neil Diamond

Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss Windows 11 version 24H2, a reunion with Windows 10, AI, antitrust, Microsoft 365, Xbox, and much more.

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Windows 11 version 24H2 is coming and you’re not going to believe what happens next … and then again six months later

Microsoft reveals Windows 10 Extended Security Updates pricing

Paul reinstalled Windows 10 after three years on Windows 11 … There’s some good and some bad

Multiple sources have revealed a staggered release schedule for Windows 11 version 24H2

Insider builds

• Canary/Dev – Widgets improvements head out to more people
• Canary/Dev (today) – New build today with minor changes, bug fixes (24H2 RTM-ish?) – Canary/Dev switch is ending soon
• Microsoft is moving Photos app to Windows App SDK (from UWP, presumably). Paul has theories

What’s dumb is new again: Microsoft will move the Widgets button in Windows 11 if you put the Start button on the left

Dropbox comes to the Microsoft Store in Windows 11. It only took 12 years

AI

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is getting many new features by the end of April

• Also, this: Copilot for Microsoft 365 picks up priority ChatGPT-4 Turbo and no more conversation limits

You can use ChatGPT without an account now, asterisk, asterisk

Amazon concludes its $4 billion investment in Anthropic

Opera is bringing local LLMs to Opera One web browser

Google: Just kidding, non-Pro Pixel 8 will get Gemini Nano too, and you can suck on the performance issues

Related: Is Intel circling the drain?

Antitrust

The EU is predictably investigating Apple—and Google, Meta, and Amazon—for not complying with the DMA. (Interestingly, they highlight an issue Paul recently raised.)

• Notably absent from that list? Right, Microsoft. Which is unique among Big Tech in that it is being reasonable with DMA compliance and antitrust in general. AB, of course. But also …
• Microsoft debundles Teams from Office. Too little too late?
• Now fix Windows 11, guys. Everywhere.

Microsoft 365 etc.

Microsoft 365 Basic picks up some new features

A random Microsoft engineer found a backdoor lurking in a Linux utility and might have saved the world

LinkedIn isn’t just getting games, it’s getting TikTok-style videos too

.NET 7 EOL is coming. Is the .NET support schedule too aggressive?

Xbox

A MASSIVE LIST OF ACTIVISION GAMES ARE COMING TO GAME PASS! Just kidding, you’re getting Shadow of the Tomb Raider, jerks

Xbox is getting an AI-powered support agent. Huh. Kind of like a personal assistant then. If only they had a name for this thing.

Phil Spencer says he’s open to rival games stores on Xbox. Phil, I love you. But … stop.

Take-Two is buying (most of) Gearbox for $460 million – A Grand Theft Auto and Duke Nukem cross-over is inevitable

Rumored white Xbox Series X emerges. White and discless? YOU’RE white and discless!

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: You can still access legacy File Explorers in Windows 11

This is useful because the version in Windows 11 is TERRIBLE. The bad news? This access could be disappearing in 24H2

App pick of the week: Two for two

• Arc is amazing on the Mac (less so on Windows) … but is it the future of web browsers?
• Yahoo (yes, still alive, ha ha you’re hilarious) bought the only good news aggregator and killed it. Here’s what you might replace it with

RunAs Radio this week: Microsoft Copilot for Security with George Coldham

https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/926

Brown liquor pick of the week: Clonakilty Irish Whiskey

https://clonakiltydistillery.ie/usa-shop/