The Tiger in the Grass - Backlash against tech criticism, Ralf Groene retires, Hardcore Software

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. Plus, 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.
Windows
• 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
• Windows 11 Release Preview: More widgets on the lock screen, Arm64 .msi support in Group Policies, lots of fixes
• Windows 10 Release Preview: 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
• Microsoft Store, which is a UWP app and has an AI Hub for some reason, is now faster
• 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
• 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
• First Snapdragon X Elite PC leaks
Microsoft 365 and Surface
• Surface lead designer Ralf Groene retires from Microsoft
• Microsoft will retire Office 2016 and Office 2019 alongside Windows 10 in October 2025
AI
• Microsoft/OpenAI partnership doesn’t warrant a formal probe
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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 & Picks
• Tip of the week: Hardcore Software
• App pick of the week: DuckDuckGo Privacy Pro
• RunAs Radio this week: GitHub Copilot with Damian Brady
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Four Roses Single Barrel
Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell
Windows Weekly episode 877
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