Windows Weekly (Video)

This Week's Stories

• Modern OS: It's the future of Windows, vaguely. In a boring blog post about new PCs, Microsoft suddenly---if vaguely---starts discussing something called Modern OS. And it is not Windows 10. Or is it?
• Related: PCs continue evolving despite the down market, and I like what they've become. Plus, Lenovo, the world's biggest PC maker, is somehow experiencing big PC sales growth.
• Dell tips something called Windows 10 Home Ultra. This is almost certainly the new name for Windows 10 Home Advanced, which Thurrott.com revealed a year ago. But Microsoft says "Ultra" does not exist.
• Windows 10 version 1903 ekes out into the world, slowly.
• Much ado about nothing with new Microsoft Edge, again
• Microsoft celebrates 10 years of Bing. Which was not its first search engine. Or 2nd or 3rd either. When did Bing finally turn a profit? 2015
• Microsoft is making a Pro IntelliMouse for some reason.
• There's a purple Xbox One S on the way!
• New messaging experience comes to Xbox app
• Related: PS Now is the biggest game streaming service today

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Configure Paste Options in OneNote for Windows 10
• App pick of the week: Use your iPhone camera to turn a photo of table data into a spreadsheet
• Enterprise pick of the week: Admins deploying 1903: Check this box
• Codename pick of the week: Kumo
• Beer pick of the week: Edmund's Oast Brewing Company Fountain Drink

NEXT WEEK: We will be in Amsterdam! But never fear: The Windows Weekly show will go on. Usual time, except we'll be at ExpertsLive NL.

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.

Sponsors:

This Week's Stories

• Microsoft and Sony make a game streaming megadeal. Exactly what the deal will yield is a bit murky, but this could be a big customer win for Azure and xCloud.
• How about that Minecraft Earth app? Another Azure win (Azure Spatial Anchors is at its heart)
• Windows 10 1903 released. Almost everyone can get it (consumers, businesses, volume licensees) as of May 21.
• The new Windows Release Health dashboard is worth a bookmark
• Windows Server 1903 is generally available too - is it Windows Server, version 1903 or Windows Server 2019??
• Chredge is available as a Canary preview for macOS
• Surface Headphones get a permanent $100 price cut. Uh-oh.
• Huawei is in trouble on all fronts: Google, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and ARM. No word yet where Microsoft stands.
• Full differential sync is (finally) coming to OneDrive for Biz
• Microsoft announces more goodness for Xbox Game Pass
• Phil Spencer wants fewer dicks on Xbox Live. Good luck with that.

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Save big at the Xbox Backward Compatibility sale
• Tip of the week 2: Google has some good advice for account security.
• App pick of the week: Simplify for Gmail
• Tip of the week 2: Your Phone Companion for Android now supports cellular data sync.
• Enterprise pick of the week: A banned-passwords tool from Microsoft
• Codename pick of the week: Windows 10 EVD
• Beer pick of the week: Evil Twin's Miami's Finest

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.

Sponsors:

This Week's Stories
• Windows 10 is now on 825 million PCs, according to internal Microsoft documentation
• What's going on with PWAs in Windows 10 ... and with app distribution and the Store?
• And with UWP? Is it dead? (Yes.) Kevin Gallo doesn't want to use the D word. But he might as well have.
• The notion of Fluid Framework as the end of apps is more than a bit premature.
• Where in the world is Windows 10 version 1903?
• And what about 19H2? MJF: my guess is builds will start in June.
• Microsoft patches a security flaw ... in Windows XP Is this related to ZombieLoad?
• Lenovo debuts the world's first folding PC - some mystery around which Windows it's running.
• Reminder: What is Centaurus?
• Lenovo also announces a new line of ThinkBook laptops ... for some reason.
• HP launches a dual-screen gaming laptop.
• Does a new SCOTUS ruling signal the coming end to 30 percent vigs at app stores?
• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is now in preview ... and it's a deal.

Tips and picks
• App pick of the week: New PowerToys for Windows 10!
• App pick of the week #2: Groupy 1.2 for Windows is all the Sets you need.
• Enterprise pick of the week: Build 2019 Book of News
• Codename pick of the week: Tardigrade
• Beer pick of the week: Machine House Brewery Stinging Nettle 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.

Sponsors:

• Let's run through some announcements. No picks, tips this week
• Guests: Brad Sams and Richard Campbell
• Demo fail. It was a moonshot gone bad
• What's new in Chredge: IE Mode, Collections, new tracking settings
• Virtual assistants (including Cortana) to get smarter
• Genoa (Minecraft as Pokemon)
• Fluid Framework
• .NET 5
• New terminal, WSL 2.0. There's a Linux kernel in this thing!
• Lots of database news – Richard Campbell
• Tomorrow (Tuesday): Build Blogger Bash at The Pinebox! A short walk from the convention centre. 7-9 pm no RSVP needed!

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

Guests: Brad Sams and 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.

Sponsors:

This Week's Stories

• Microsoft earnings: Net income of $8.8 Billion on Revenues of $30.6 Billion
• Related: Microsoft was briefly worth $1 trillion
• Related: Microsoft documents product releases in the quarter
• Google just gave Chromium-based Edge a thumbs-up
• Sorry, but crapware is still in Windows 10 version 1903
• Windows 10 Version 1903 Requires at Least 32 GB of Storage
• New 20H1 test build adds Your Phone changes, better dictation - Another new build adds nothing
• Windows 10 version 1809 hits almost 30% usage share
• Microsoft looks ready to add some new Azure regions, while it takes one away
• Microsoft, Dell unveils new Azure-VMware integrations
• Microsoft wants to help business users build customized digital assistants
• Related: Microsoft, an also-ran in the market for digital personal assistants, has issued a report about digital personal assistants.
• Microsoft rebrands Bing Ads as Microsoft Advertising
• Microsoft delays testing of Halo: MCC on PC
• Microsoft and the VA are partnering to provide the Xbox Adaptive Controller to veterans.
• Notch will not be part of Minecraft's 10th anniversary
• Xbox version 1905 has a few neat new features
• PS4 has sold 100 million units

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Microsoft has revealed the Xbox Game Pass games and Games for Gold titles for May!
• App pick of the week: PureText - Also: Simplify for Chrome fixes Gmail
• Enterprise pick of the week: Windows Server 1903
• Codename pick of the week: Cosine
• Beer pick of the week: Holy Mountain Brewing Witchfinder

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.

Sponsors:

This Week's Stories

• Goodbye to Sets, hello to less sucking

Microsoft has shelved Sets for the long term (and likely, permanently).

Tabbed "experiences" are still coming to the Console and likely Explorer (and Notepad?)

To those wondering about claims that Sets isn't really dead, remember: This is exactly how they 'killed' Band 3 and Andromeda

• But long-live Microsoft Paint!

Related: These two events (Sets, Paint) speak to the good and bad of Windows 10 today

Good: Microsoft has removed most of what sucked in Windows 10 in version 1903!

Bad: Inconsistency is rampant in the OS still. Just look at the icons and at the inconsistent application of Fluent design elements.

• Surprise: Windows 10 1903 is available (early) on MSDN! It showed up quietly a week ago.

It's also on the Evaluation Center for those who know enough to look for it

• Meanwhile, 1903 remains in testing in the Release Preview ring and is due out in "late May"

Microsoft's 'early' release of 1903 on MSDN seems to be linked to its call for devs to start writing for 1903

Related: MS is blocking 1903 on PCs with SD cards and/or USB devices inserted

• Who wants an EdgeBook? What if Chredge is really about making a true Chromebook competitor, one that is based around Microsoft and AAD accounts instead of Google?

Semi-related: Chredge expands to 32-bit Windows 10. Baby steps.

• Microsoft buys an RTOS maker

Express Logic, the maker of ThreadX, is one of the big players in the microcontroller OS space

What does this mean for Azure Sphere? And for Microsoft's IoT strategy, as a whole?

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Sync Chredge with Edge Mobile
• App pick of the week: PWA Builder 2.0
• Enterprise pick of the week: Global ONLINE Azure Bootcamp
• Enterprise pick no. 2: G Suite-to-Office 365 migration tools
• Codename pick of the week: Catnip
• Beer pick of the week: Cloudburst Brewing REALLY SOLID AMAZING LIQUID

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.

Sponsors:

This Week's Stories:

• Microsoft launches Surface Hub 2S: pricing, specs, and availability.
• An 85-inch version is on the way, and there's a Surface Hub 2 display coming, too.
• Xbox One S All-Digital Edition debuts will cost $250.
• Microsoft announces Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
• Sony describes next-gen console before Microsoft - when we can expect Xbox v.Next news?
• Microsoft reveals E3 plans.
• Microsoft is working with Warner Bros. on a Minecraft movie for some reason.
• Xbox One April 2019 Update is here, but it's a minor release.
• One week (or more) with the new Edge: It's a winner.
• Firefox for ARM - Those hardy few with Windows 10 on ARM PCs can now use a native version of the Firefox web browser in the Beta channel.
• Microsoft confirms that some Outlook.com accounts were compromised,
• Microsoft will not provide facial recognition tech to California.
• Microsoft to release Surface Buds - an idea Paul proposed in January.
• Microsoft kills a misfit Surface Go configuration.
• Acer announces a new premium brand called ConceptD. I think they may be on to something.
• HP debuts new EliteBooks, Zbook portable workstations, and more.

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Microsoft/Xbox Store is hosting a Spring Sale.
• Plus: Numskull announced a fun new range of officially-sanctioned Xbox merchandise.
• Plus: Want to clean install Windows 10 version 1903 right now. Here's how.
• PLUS! The Office Home Use Program is live for Office 365 Home and Personal!
• App pick of the week: Forza Street
• Enterprise pick of the week: JEDI bidding is down to two.
• Codename pick of the week: Bosque
• Beer pick of the week: Citizen Cider bRose

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.

Sponsors:

This Week's Stories

• Microsoft releases first public previews of the new Edge to the Canary and Dev channels.
• Blockbuster: Microsoft is making major changes to WaaS in Windows 10 version 19H1.
• Windows 10 19H1 moves to the Release Preview Ring after MSFT released a small CU to fix some last minute issues.
• And ... the magic window is CLOSED: New Fast ring build is for 20H1. As promised. Wait, what? 20H1? What about 19H2??
• Office 365: Microsoft to move Kaizala into Teams.
• Slack is improving its Office 365 integration.
• Skype video calls now support 50 people.
• Xbox: A rumored GamePass Ultimate service combines Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass and paves the way to xCloud.
• The first 100+ Build 2019 sessions are now live. And they're about what you'd expect: Lots of Azure, IoT, very little UWP.

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: How to transition to the new Edge
• App pick of the week: Microsoft Launcher 5.3
• Also: The new Edge, obviously. It's ready for anyone listening to this podcast.
• Enterprise pick No. 1 of the week: PowerShell 7.0
• Enterprise pick No. 2 of the week: RIP HealthVault
• Beer pick of the week: Bell's Oberon Ale

Hosts: Mary Jo Foley, Paul Thurrott, and Megan Morrone

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.

Sponsors:

News of the Week

• As of late last week, Windows 10 1809 (the October 2018 update) is now ready for broad deployment, MS says.
• Microsoft drops eBooks from Microsoft Store and Edge Without Warning.
• Surface Book 2 is 1.5 years old and it just got a new configuration and it's complicated.
• HoloLens is being used by the Royal Canadian Navy.
• Visual Studio 2019, Visual Studio 2019 for Max and VS Live Share are all now available.

Tips and picks

• Tip/app pick of the week: Time for some games
• Tip/app pick of the week #2: It's past time to abandon Groove
• Enterprise pick of the week: Putting the 'open' in ODI (Open Data Initiative)
• Codename pick of the week: Cayman
• Beer pick of the week: Founders KBS 2019

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.

Sponsors:

News of the Week

• Chredge leaks and ... it's good. The Chromium-based Microsoft Edge has leaked ahead of the formal first Insider release. It's a lot like Chrome and is missing key Edge features, but it's surprisingly solid.
• Windows 7 end of support prompts arrive. Stop using Windows 7 by January 14, 2020.
• Windows Virtual Desktop is finally available in public preview
• Windows 10 19H1 build 18362 went to the Slow ring. And then was pulled because of install issues. This is basically RC1.
• Microsoft is hosting a Surface Hub 2S event in April
• Microsoft says a bit about xCloud but the big bang announcement will happen at E3

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Support Atta Elayyan's family
• App pick of the week: Firefox for iPad
• Enterprise pick of the week: Azure Stack HCI: a new addition to the family
• Enterprise pick of the week No. 2: Microsoft Connected Vehicle platform – an update
• Beer pick of the week: New Belgium Fat Tire amber 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.

Sponsors: