Windows Weekly 906

On Halloween, the last day of October, Microsoft delayed Recall again. It was supposed to preview in October, this is the third delay. No clear reason why. December now, supposedly. Plus, Paul gives an earnings recap that he didn't get to dive into much last week.

Windows

• New 24H2 bug
• More features coming to Prism emulator in Windows 11 on Arm (!)
• New generative AI features are coming to Paint, Photos, and Notepad
• Beta channel: Here’s the new Windows Hello experience, with explicit references to passkeys
• Proton VPN is native on Windows 11 on Arm
• Windows Server 2025 is GA (and some are being mistakenly force-upgraded. This is what you get when you share a codebase with Windows 11, apparently)
• Google shifts Android development cycle - Major update each Q2, minor update each Q4, monthly feature/quality updates

A Tale of 2 Chips

• Paul reviewed the AMD Zen 5-based HP OmniBook Ultra, it’s awesome. Paul is also reviewing an Intel Lunar Lake laptop, and it is not awesome
• Early glee around Lunar Lake was misplaced
• Laptop reviewers all report what Paul is seeing (for once), that the performance is horrific. You need to switch to “Best performance” power management mode for reasonable performance, but this hasn’t solved all the issues 
• COD: Black Ops 6. Average FPS under Zen 5 is 90 to 120 at native resolution/medium graphics, single and multi-player. Lunar Lake? 40 FPS with all graphics settings on low/very low
• Intel now says Lunar Lake is a one-off too (Meteor Lake was likewise a one-off, architecturally). It will no longer package RAM with processors because of margins. Lunar Lake rushed to market and was key contributor to recent financial issues

More Earnings Learnings 

• Amazon: $159 billion in revenues, $27.5 billion for AW
• Apple: $95 billion in revenues, a small uptick in iPhone revenues

Microsoft 365/AI

• Some curious/confusing moves with Microsoft 365 for consumers: subscribers in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand are getting Copilot Pro credits with base subscription (Word, Excel, etc.), Designer, … and the long-overdue and dreaded price increase
• This must be a test for the U.S. and western Europe. Feels inevitable
• OpenAI launches ChatGPT Search. This is not the Google Search replacement you’re looking for

Xbox

• It’s November, so here’s the incredible list of Activision Blizzard games now coming to Game Pass! Just kidding, but we are getting Flight Sim 2024
• Microsoft introduced an AI-powered support virtual agent to Xbox because something something AI 
• Switch sales drop off a cliff, Nintendo will announce backward-compatible successor before the end of March
• Sony launches the PS5 Pro to meh

Tips and Picks

• Tip of the week: Windows 11 minus the MSA
• App pick of the week: Docs in Proton Drive
• RunAs Radio this week: Software-Defined Networking using Azure Firewall with Aidan Finn
• Brown liquor MOVIE pick of the week: Whisky Galore

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

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

• Transcripts: Windows Weekly 906 Transcript

Links

• Microsoft Earnings Analysis: FY25 Q1 (Premium)
• Microsoft Delays Recall Again
• The Windows 11 quality tour continues.
• Windows 11 Canary Build 27744 Improves App Emulation on Copilot+ PCs
• New Generative AI Features Are Coming to Paint and Notepad
• Google Shifts Next Major Android Release to Q2 2025
• HP OmniBook Ultra Review
• Intel Now Says Lunar Lake is a “One-Off”
• Intel Reports Biggest Quarterly Loss in its History
• Amazon Revenues Up 11 Percent to $159 Billion
• Apple Revenues Up 6 Percent to $95 Billion
• OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Search
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and More Are Headed to Game Pass in November
• Xbox Insiders Can Now Test an AI-Powered Support Virtual Agent
• Nintendo Revenues Nosedive as Switch Fades
• Taking a Walk on the Wild Side (Premium)
• Docs in Proton Drive Gets a New Suggesting Mode
• Software-Defined Networking using Azure Firewall with Aidan Finn
• Whisky Galore