Windows Weekly 877: The Tiger in the Grass

Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss a nothingburger Windows 11 complaint, AI in Windows, Microsoft 365, Surface, AI everywhere, Xbox, and more.

Stream this episode and subscribe

Enjoy Windows Weekly on YouTube

Windows 11

You’re killing me, people

• Paul has been complaining for years (decades?) about the truly serious problems with Windows, most recently Windows 11. And recently compiled the list, sorting them by severity. Gets way too much pushback on what should just be common sense.
• Microsoft starts testing a recommended apps icon in the Recommended section of the Windows 11 Start menu … and the world loses its #$%^ for some reason.
• Guys. Focus. That this isn’t an issue is obvious. Faux outrage just gets in the way of solving the real problems. (Also, this feature has been in Windows 10 for 8 years. Seriously, it’s a regression.)

We didn’t write about this on Thurrott.com, but Microsoft has issued two Release Preview builds—one for Windows 11 and one for Windows 10—recently that demonstrate what we can expect in stable (sorry, the General Availability channel) next. It’s not much, thankfully:

• Windows 11: More widgets on the lock screen, Arm64 .msi support in Group Policies, lots of fixes
• Windows 10: Account notifications in Start (like Windows 11), many of the same bug fixes as above, but also a fix for “a race condition that might stop a machine from starting up” in multi-OS boot configurations. I’m sure the Linux community thought that one was purposeful. And … maybe it was.
• AI all the things – a series of inconsequential Windows 11 in-box app announcements has Paul wondering … why? It may be about AI and the need for Microsoft product groups to demonstrate (internally) that they are doing the work. Also, an interesting peek at how Microsoft is handling the native app issue in Windows. New apps are web apps. Existing apps are migrating from UWP to Windows App SDK. No new native apps.
• Microsoft Store, which is a UWP app and has an AI Hub for some reason, is now faster. Somehow.
• The Photos app is transitioning from UWP to Windows App SDK
• The Photos app, which already has some AI features, is getting a Designer button so you can open the current image in Microsoft Designer, a new app, and thus a web app, that offers AI-powered image/content creation and editing capabilities. (And is in some ways strategic because it is the new home for Copilot generative AI image features.) Why announce a toolbar button?

AI PCs – Paul had his first AI PC experience in late 2023, but now he’s gone hands-on with the Copilot key and you won’t believe what happened next

• Related: First Snapdragon X Elite PC leaks and you’re going to bel… sorry

Microsoft 365 and Surface

Surface lead designer Ralf Groene retires from Microsoft. You probably have no idea how important this guy is/was.

Microsoft will retire Office 2016 and Office 2019 alongside Windows 10 in October 2025. Is it trying to shorten the support lifecycle of perpetual Office versions?

AI

Report: Microsoft/OpenAI partnership doesn’t warrant a formal probe

Commentary: Microsoft’s three-phase strategy (”AI beside, AI inside, AI outside”) for bringing AI to the world is curiously similar to the “embrace and extend” strategy of the 1990s. Which is itself still misunderstood.

The UK CMA offers a compelling case for regulating AI – a fascinating comeback from its ridiculous arguments against Microsoft + Activision.

Microsoft invests $1.5 billion in a controversial UAE-based AI company. The US government says it’s all good.

Yes, Adobe is working on generative AI video capabilities, of course it is – Plus, AI in Acrobat because seriously we’re this dumb

Brave adds Answer with AI to Brave Search for free

Google Photos’ AI editing tools will be free for everyone

Amazon adds an AI playlist generator to Amazon Music

Apple’s M4 chipsets will pile on the AI. Of course they will.

All three of Anthropic’s Claude 3 LLMs are now available on Amazon Bedrock. Related: Amazon approaches AI differently than Google and Microsoft, and this is a proven formula that probably does make sense.

AMD introduces new AI CPUs for commercial AI PCs

Xbox

We have another set of titles for Xbox Game Pass. But seriously, Where the F are the Activision Blizzard games??

Grounded comes to PS4/5 and Nintendo Switch. This is the third of the four games Microsoft said would come cross-platform.

• Related: Sea of Thieves has 40 million players

Epic Games wants the courts to require Google to open up Android and the Play Store further. To explain how that would work, it wrote some fan fiction.

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Hardcore Software

Hardcore Software: Inside the Rise and Fall of the PC Revolution by Steven Sinofsky is a must-read. No, really.

Also: I put up a 5 minute AI/Copilot 101 video that’s related to some Hands-On Windows work

App pick of the week: DuckDuckGo Privacy Pro

This new subscription costs $9.99 per month ($99.99 per year). It provides three services: An anonymous VPN that’s optimized for speed, security, and simplicity, a Personal Information Removal service that finds and removes your personal data from data brokers, and an Identity Theft Restoration service that provides a dedicated advisor if your identity is stolen so you can restore stolen accounts, recover financial losses, and fix your credit report. I just wish they’d finish their web browser.

Plus: Mozilla Firefox 125 is here

RunAs Radio this week: GitHub Copilot with Damian Brady

https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/928

Paul: YESSSS! (in Marv Albert voice)

Brown liquor pick of the week: Four Roses Single Barrel

https://www.fourrosesbourbon.com/bourbon/single-barrel