Windows Weekly 893: The WordStar Look

Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss Windows 11 and Week D, more earnings, Surface for Business, the new Outlook, Xbox, and much more.

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Windows 11

The Week D mystery continues

• Last week, Microsoft issued Week D update for 22H2/23H2 late
• Last week, Microsoft issued 24H2 build to the Release Preview channel but nothing for Week D. Paul speculated this would replace the Weed D update, head to stable in August
• Since then, Microsoft quietly issued Week D update for 24H2 one week late (on last day of July)
• Speculation was correct: These are all the same thing, with the same new features, most CFRs
• Backdrop – Microsoft’s release schedule gets even more chaotic. It’s been missing the Week D Tuesday release schedule more often than not in recent months

Windows Insider – a quiet week

• Dev (yesterday) – Minor changes to mouse settings, etc.
• Beta (last week) – nothing to speak of
• BIG update to the Microsoft Store in Canary and Dev today

Copilot+ PC

• Snapdragon X is a huge leap forward for the PC, but Apple/MacBook Air still have big advantages
• AMD’s new chips are getting rave reviews
• Intel is on track for Lunar Lake in September

Semi-related: Intel is in trouble

• Earnings crater, with layoffs, cost reductions
• Stock price drop second worst in corporate history
• Intel extends Core processor Gen 13/14 warranty by 2 years (PC bundles only)
• Core processor warranty is extended to retail sales

Surface

Surface Laptop 7, Surface Pro 11 for Business available for preorder, you can get 5G on the Pro

Microsoft 365

The new Outlook is now generally available and the Microsoft community celebrates in the streets

Antitrust/Corporate

Google found guilty of abusing its Search monopoly

• First, duh. Obviously a monopoly
• Big point: Google’s revenue share deals with Apple, etc. – Could this kill Mozilla?
• Microsoft and Bing come up over 500 times (!) in the ruling. Obsessed much?
• Related: Apple would like to have its antitrust case dismissed. Good luck with that
  • Context: The paradox of antitrust

Semi-related: Thanks to Manifest V3, ad- and tracker- blocking in Chrome is going to get less effective

Microsoft: We are STILL serious about security. No, really

Earnings

• Arm revenues up 39 percent to $939 million
• Qualcomm up 11 precent to $9.4 billion
• Apple up 4.9 percent to 85.8 billion in revenues
• Amazon up 10 percent to $148 billion

Xbox

Microsoft promises over 50 playable games at Gamerscom this month in Germany, ahead of IFA

Valorant is a free-to-play shooter now available on Xbox Series X|S

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, more comes to Xbox Game Pass

Sony sold 2.4 million PS5s in the quarter, total at 61.7 million

Nintendo sold 2.1 million Switch consoles, total at 143.42 million

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: You can experience WordStar for MS-DOS again

Yep, it’s back. Sort of. But the big news here is the documentation archive. This is “for the good of all mankind” stuff.

App pick of the week: Web browser updates

The improved Reader mode in Firefox 129 is pretty sweet

Arc is available on Windows 10

RunAs Radio this week: Optimizing Cloud Recovery Costs with Natalie Serebryakova

https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/944

Brown liquor pick of the week: Legent Bourbon

https://www.legentbourbon.com/