Windows Weekly 927: I’m a Tolkien Scholar

Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss a blockbuster Xbox reorg, Nvidia’s PC plans, Windows 11, AI, videogames, and much more.

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PHIL SPENCER OUT AT XBOX

Just last week, we asked about Phil Spencer and why he’s been so quiet lately. Now we know why

• Phil Spencer has retired from Microsoft and his heir-apparent, Sarah Bond, left Microsoft as well
• Report details the Xbox reorg
• Ex-Xbox executive issues an old guy shouting at sky assessment
• New Microsoft Gaming CEO discusses “return to Xbox”

Hot-take: This person seems unqualified to run Xbox/MS Gaming, but let’s give her a chance

Alternative hot-take: She is literally here to wind down this business, which makes no sense – unless there’s a spin-off

Windows

WSJ report sheds some light, and adds a lot of confusion, to Nvidia’s Windows PC plans

Week D arrived on time this month

• Preview of March Patch Tuesday updates
• New: Network speed test, pan and tilt in Camera settings, sysmon, RSAT improvements, Quick Machine Recovery improvements, WEBP background image support, Emoji 16.0

Windows Insider Program

• And you thought the Canary channel was weird already
• New builds for Canary, Dev, and Beta – Canary gets features we already saw elsewhere, Dev and Beta get context menu, settings, and Taskbar improvements

Paul has published (an incomplete version of) De-Enshittify Windows 11, a few thoughts

• De-enshittifying Copilot and AI is doable but not yet automated
• What about the alternatives?
• Next step: Security and Apps chapters

Related:

• HP revenues up 6.9 percent to $14.4 billion but RAM warning is more dire than expected
• Apple to add multitouch to MacBook Pro lineup in late 2026. Oh the irony

AI

Gemini 3.1 Pro arrives, no one even notices

Firefox 148 delivers the AI kill switch that Mozilla promised

Duck.ai gets surprisingly good image editing capabilities

Xbox

Xbox February update brings 1440p streaming to Xbox consoles, updates for Xbox ROG Ally, more (link)

Xbox app is delivering post-game recaps on Windows 11 for Insiders

Report: EA had the most game downloads on PC and console in 2025 thanks to having the three most popular AAA games of the year (BF6, EA Sports FC 25, and EA Sports FC 26). Microsoft was number two, followed by Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Sony. Fortnite is somehow still the biggest game overall on console, and Counter-Strike 2 (!!!!) is biggest on PC. 20 million Fortnite players on PS, 15 million on Xbox.

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: OneDrive … for the Mac

OneDrive for the Mac is finally going to look like it belongs on the Mac

I need a tip or app pick from the audience re: Touchpads and why it’s impossible to use the entire goddamn thing to click normally

App pick of the week: Google Chrome

Google Chrome finally picks up a split view like the rest of the planet, plus a few other new features

RunAs Radio this week: SaaS on Multiple Clouds with Steve Buchanan

https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/1025

Brown liquor pick of the week: Sons of Vancouver Wheated Rye Whisky

https://www.sonsofvancouver.ca/wheated-rye