Windows 10X

• Microsoft updates Windows 10X emulator for dual-screen devices
• What's new and what's improved?
• Related: Does Windows 10X solve the Chromebook problem? MJF: Not really until 10X comes to cheap(er) clamshell laptops

Windows 10

• First Windows Insider build in two weeks brings talk of change, but not much actual change
• Still no GA info on Windows 10 2004 COVID-19 Weekly
• After pushing employees to work from home, now there are two Microsoft employees that have been diagnosed
• Related: Microsoft and Google will both host virtual events to make up for canceled physical events
• Big Microsoft GDC announcement next week live on Windows Weekly at 11:40am PDT - We have Richard Campbell here as a guest, with some interesting info about how COVID-19 has impacted work travel
• Plus: The history of .NET

Security, security security

• New 'wormable' SMB vulnerability disclosed (accidentally) as part of Patch Tuesday. No info on when Microsoft plans to patch it
• Meanwhile, in the good news department: Microsoft's coordinated takedown of Necurs, one of the largest known spam and malware botnets

Xbox

• Ori and the Will of the Wisps launches ...
• ... and Microsoft lowers the price of Xbox One X to $399

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Check out Windows 10X. You no longer need to have a Fast ring Windows Insider build to use the emulator. But there is one important requirement.
• App pick of the week: Call of Duty: Warzone. Call of Duty: Warzone is here! And it's free!
• Enterprise pick of the week: Cosmos DB gets a free tier! Microsoft adds a free tier (free as in forever) for its Cosmos DB NoSQL cloud database.
• Enterprise pick No. 2: About that major Azure US East outage. Is it still a cloud outage if almost no one complains publicly? Where is the outrage, cloud citizens?
• Beer pick of the week: O'Fallon Brewery Barrels Salted Pretzel. This amber was brewed with toasted malt and Himalayan salt giving you a toasted pretzel flavor. We got to have a sample of this during our beer tasting at WWT in Saint Louis. It was really tasty and really did taste like a pretzel. Only 5% ABV, too, so you can have more than one with your tofudog. https://untappd.com/b/o-fallon-brewery-barrels-salted-pretzel/2977506

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

Guest: Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

Check out Mary Jo's blog at AllAboutMicrosoft.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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Coronavirus Cancellations, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Hosts: Mikah Sargent, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/662

Sponsor:

Surface Duo Peek, Azure Sphere

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/661

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CRACKGATE

• Uh-oh, Microsoft has another Surface reliability issue on its hands. Hopefully, this one is not an endemic hardware problem like Surfacegate was in 2016.
• Related: Microsoft set to unveil Surface Book 3, Surface Go 2 in the Spring.

Microsoft Edge

• Microsoft updates its roadmap for Edge, giving us a nice look at what to expect---and when---in 2020.
• Extension sync is happening this month, starting in Canary
• Related: A little lesson in tracking protection.

Windows 10

• Windows 10 version 2004 should arrive soon. Anything worth talking about?
• Your Phone is getting RCS Messaging support
• Break out the Patch Tuesday cocktails: Microsoft's latest patches wreaking havoc for some users
• One is hiding users' profiles and data
• Another connected to UEFI has been pulled by Microsoft

Office/Microsoft 365

• Microsoft is bringing a new Spaces feature to Outlook this year.
• Related: Microsoft: Over 25 percent of Office 365 licenses now sold through Microsoft 365 Mo' Microsoft
• AWS wins one in court, Microsoft must pause work on JEDI

Xbox

• Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary begins public testing on the PC!
• Microsoft announces the remaining new Game Pass games for February

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Discover the incredible Microsoft learning resources on EdX. EdX.org hosts an amazing array of free online courses for Microsoft products, services, and technologies.
• App pick of the week: Office for Android and iOS. It's available for everyone now on both platforms. Why is there a new notes experience?
• Enterprise pick of the week: More Dynamics 365 apps are coming. Woohoo! Dynamics fans, rejoice (or lament): Dynamics 365 Project Operations and Dynamics 365 Finance Insights are now on the Dynamics 365 roadmap.
• Codename pick of the week: Union. The new Office mobile app for iOS and Android had a fitting codename: Union. It's a mashup – or a "union," one could say -- of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Beer pick of the week: Aslin Master of Oranges. Not all DIPAs are created equal. Some are not too hoppy, not too sweet and smell/taste of nicely bitter orange peel. Meet Aslin's "Master of Oranges." Brewed by Aslin Brewing in Herndon, Va. (a tribute to the JEDI contract!)

Hosts: Mikah Sargent, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

Check out Mary Jo's blog at AllAboutMicrosoft.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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MWC 2020 cancelled, Windows 10X Revealed

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/659

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This Week's Stories:

Panos Is Wumped (Windows plus Pumped)

• Panos is running a new combined Windows and Devices team.
• JoeB is going to OXO
• What will PC OEMs do?
• Key takeaway: This is good for Windows and for Microsoft
• Related: More reorg news of the day. Teper is going to run Teams. And Jeff Weiner is out as CEO of LinkedIn.

Microsoft controversies of the week!

#1 Surface Hub 2X: What's happening

• After a leak claimed that Microsoft was delaying or even canceling Surface Hub 2X, Microsoft revised its plans (again, remember this is the second major delay/issue).
• What the heck is going on with Surface?

#2 Microsoft Store/UWP on the decline

• Another nail in the coffin: Microsoft is shutting down the ad-based monetization of UWP apps in the Store.
• But which coffin? This probably says more about Microsoft Store than UWP.

#3 BingJacked: The sequel?

• Windows Search is down for many this morning. It's back now (but you probably need a reboot or 3)

Microsoft at MWC

• Microsoft will show off some stuff at MWC, but nothing like last year. Looks like Paul is staying home.

Microsoft earnings

• We're a week late and a dollar short, but let's talk about Microsoft's earnings.
• Microsoft earned $11.6 billion on revenues of $36.9 billion in the quarter ending December 31.
• Windows had a larger than expected contribution
• Paul's business-by-business analysis

Xbox

• There's a new System Update (2002, of course) coming in February
• Microsoft launches a new Xbox Bounty Program

Picks of the Week

• Tip of the week: Give Game Pass for PC a shot
• App pick of the week: Outlook ... on mobile, not the PC
• Enterprise pick of the week: System Center 2019 Update Rollup 1 is out
• Codename pick of the week: Aruba
• Beer pick of the week: Allagash Tripel

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

Check out Mary Jo's blog at AllAboutMicrosoft.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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Thinking more about Surface Neo and Duo

• Last week, Microsoft released the SDK and emulator for the Android-based Duo; ones for Neo coming soon
• The Duo SDK for Mac developers also is now available (as of this week) - So let's think ahead about why Microsoft is calling these devices "a new category"
• Who is the intended audience? It's not creatives (who were big targets of the Surface tablets/PCs)
• Are these going to be positioned as PCs? Tablets? Is Apple still a primary competitive target for these devices?
• What kinds of software and services will be preloaded?
• What are the hardware, M365/O365 and Edge/MSN/Bing teams contributing? (they supposedly develop these new devices together) New launcher, unified search, stuff like Collections?
• Will developers find these dual-screen devices interesting enough to target? Or not till the UI comes to "regular" PCs?
• Will Neo and Duo attract users who don't see a need for a PC anymore? Does MS think they could be users' sole (or maybe secondary) devices?

Thinking more about search

• Last week, Microsoft made a bad move: Deciding to hijack the Chrome browsers of O365 ProPlus users and switch their search engine to Bing
• So far, Microsoft has not claimed "based on user feedback" that they're undoing this move
• The real reason for this: Microsoft is starting to push Bing as an Intranet search engine (see MS Search in Bing; Project Cortex, the new Office app experience)
• Implications of this - Microsoft will lose the moral high-ground if it doesn't do the right thing

Windows 10

• Windows version 1909 usage share hits 15 percent
• New Insider build, no more Insider PWA app
• New CU fixes at least some File Explorer problems for 1903/1909 users
• Related: Microsoft to bring Edge tab management feature to Chrome
• Semi-related: A major USB-C bug has hit virtually all modern ThinkPads.
• Not really related, but still worth a mention: Premium Outlook.com users are losing personalized email addresses at end of Feb. (unless you subscribe to O365)

Windows 7!

• FSF wants Microsoft to open-source Windows. They're nuts. And yet...
• Microsoft has one more security update coming for Windows 7

Xbox

• New Games with Gold for February

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Help me pick the next programming project
• .NETpad (Visual Basic/Windows Forms/.NET Framework) is winding down, so the next one will be a C#/WPF/.NET Framework/Core project. And I need some ideas.
• App pick of the week: Surface Duo Emulator
• Enterprise pick of the week: Dynamics 365 Wave 1 2020
• Enterprise pick No. 2: Beware the LDAP signing apocalypse in March
• Beer pick of the week: Perennial Abraxas

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

Check out Mary Jo's blog at AllAboutMicrosoft.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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Microsoft 2020 Predictions

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/656

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Windows 7 support ends

• - Yesterday, Microsoft released the "final" updates for Windows 7 for most people (But not that update for the NSA-reported crypto bug that was for Win 10 and Win Server, interestingly)
• - Today, Windows 7 will begin displaying a full-screen nag to upgrade to Windows 10
• - Microsoft Edge might be supported on Windows 7 for at least 18 months, and Microsoft Security Essentials will keep working for some indeterminate time period. Google Chrome will also be supported for 18+ months.

The (new) Microsoft Edge era begins

• - Microsoft launches its (curiously incomplete) new web browser on Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, and Mac
• - Here's how you can get it now (individuals and businesses) Windows 10
• - Here's our first peek at the new features coming to Windows 10 in late 2020 (Or later. Or never.)
• - Windows 10 version 2004 isn't even out yet, but it's getting major updates already. In the Slow ring only. Because of the confusing way the Insider program works now.
• - Related: The PC market grew 1.9 percent in 2019, the first annual growth in 8 years. What will 2020 look like?
• - Related: Microsoft is phasing out its Microsoft Stores for Business and Education

Mo' Microsoft

• - Walkie-Talkie voice calls, more coming to Teams
• - Not news per se, but a new report details the extent to which Microsoft contractors violated Skype users' privacy
• - Why didn't Microsoft bid more to get Bing on Android in the EU? Xbox/games
• - Microsoft continues its "no exclusives" strategy. And it's smart.
• - Epic Game Store has 108 million customers, will give away more games all throughout 2020

Tips and picks

• - Tip of the week: Yes, you can run legacy Edge and new Edge side-by-side. Here's how. (But seriously. Why?)
• - Also: Reminder that Batman: The Telltale Series and LEGO Star Wars II are now available via Games with Gold
• - App pick of the week: Microsoft Launcher Preview
• - Enterprise pick of the week: Power Platform warning for IT admins
• - Codename pick of the week: Vader
• - Beer pick of the week: Athletic Brewing Upside Down Golden Ale

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

Check out Mary Jo's blog at AllAboutMicrosoft.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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Welcome to 2020!

• PT starts the year with a rant thoughtful commentary about the state of Windows
• MJF looks back at the decade that MS became a cloud company
• A couple of the original Red Dog 'dream team' reflect on the last decade

CES: Lots of new Windows 10 PCs, including a number of foldables

• No Windows 10X yet
• But lots of dual- and folding-display designs for some reason
• And some gaming PCs, etc.

Let's talk Windows 7!

• Mary Jo has been using Windows 7 on her podcast PC. And Paul just switched back to Windows 7 temporarily. Some thoughts...
• Windows 7 gets its last free security update on Jan. 14
• Reminder: Security Essentials actually will keep getting updated after Jan. 14 (MS changed its documentation)
• Related: Chredge starts rolling out to the mainstream on Jan. 15 - And you can run it side-by-side with old Edge if you want

Xbox

• Microsoft and leakers start revealing more about Xbox One, Series X:
• Pricing thoughts
• AMD dishes on the ports, incorrectly
• And, in a leak, the real ports
• January Games with Gold

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Game Pass is still one of the best deals in gaming
• Plus: A quick update on Microsoft's Windows Weekly giveaways!
• App pick of the week: Vivaldi 2.10, another Chrome alternative
• Enterprise pick of the week: Windows Server 2008/R2 users: You have an Azure out
• Codename pick(s) of the week: Spartan, Anaheim and O'Hare (oh my!)
• Beer pick of the week: Evil Twin's Even More Jesus

Hosts: Mikah Sargent, Mary Jo Foley, and Paul Thurrott

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

Check out Mary Jo's blog at AllAboutMicrosoft.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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