Windows Weekly (Audio)

This episode dives into early MS-DOS/PC-DOS source code, Snapdragon X2 gaming, and the "We are Xbox" messaging. Plus, Paul details 2 big changes in the Windows Insider Program. The latest PowerToys adds 2 useful new utilities and many improvements. And a TWiT listener asked about buying Windows 11 on Arm to virtualize it on a Mac. You're not going to believe what happened next.

Windows

Microsoft announces big changes to Windows Update

Microsoft announces Windows Insider Program changes, with Experimental channel

Hands-on with both predictably shows some nice improvements

Hands-on with Snapdragon X2 gaming - more wins, but still some losses

Microsoft open sources some of the earliest MS-DOS source code and related materials

Intel loses $3.7 billion and Wall Street could not be happier. WTF is happening - Paul has a theory and its called collusion

AI

Microsoft and OpenAI revise partnership again and wait for it...

OpenAI immediately signs on with AWS

Microsoft 365 Copilot subscribers get Word, Excel, and PowerPoint agentic AI features

Copilot in Outlook can manage your inbox and calendar, but seriously stop using Outloook

GitHub Copilot's switch to usage-based billing starts June 1

OpenAI is reportedly working on a phone because of course it is

Adobe Firefly AI Assistant is now available in preview

And then Anthropic goes deeper into the creator market

Xbox and gaming

Microsoft Gaming is being (re)rebranded to Xbox!

New Xbox leadership can't stop explaining its plans and it's glorious

Microsoft still plans a mobile game store, waiting on Apple to stop being so f'ing terrible

Valve's Steam Controller will cost $99 and launches next week

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Windows licenses, $, and you

App pick of the week: PowerToys 0.99

RunAs Radio this week: M365 Copilot vs Claude Cowork with Sharon Weaver

Brown liquor pick of the week: Reifel Rye

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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AI is democratizing the making of things, from bespoke/custom apps to websites, designs of all kinds, and everything else you might imagine. It's a new world, and it's time to create. Plus, Helium is a new Chromium-based web browser that's completely open source, lightweight, secure, and private. There's a native version for Windows 11 on Arm, too. Also, Firefox 150 arrives with over 270 security fixes!

Windows 11

Reports of a Recall security vulnerability are, once again, bogus, Microsoft says

New builds on all channels, still on the old system

Xbox Mode is now available in all channels

Release Preview shows us the May Patch Tuesday updates: Xbox Mode, File Explorer improvements, Haptic improvements, Drop Tray renaming, Agents on the Taskbar

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x - Snapdragon X2 Elite, 14-inch display impressions

Lenovo IdeaPad 5x - Snapdragon X2 Plus, 15.3-inch display impressions

Microsoft 365, Surface, more

OneDrive now supports Markdown natively

New Surface PCs with Intel chips coming soon

Microsoft is making changes to its Rewards program

AI

GitHub Copilot moves to token-based billing in a sign of the true cost of AI

Claude Design democratizes visual design on the heels of Claude Opus 4.7

OpenAI Codex moves into productivity

OpenAI releases ChatGPT Images 2.0

Chrome AI Mode gets a big update

Mozilla announces Thunderbolt, sovereign AI for businesses

Google brings vibe coding to Android apps with Android CLI

Xbox and gaming

Microsoft drops Xbox Game Pass prices (!), but also drops Call of Duty from Day One

Plus, Xbox teases a Game Pass Discord perk

More Game Pass titles for April: Kiln, Vampire Crawlers, more

Xbox April Update is here with that Quick Resume feature we all want

There's an ID@Xbox event on April 23 to highlight indie games

Xbox is selling Forza Horizon 6 limited edition controller and headsets

Starfield is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2

A Call of Duty movie will finally arrive in 2028

Try out the Modern Warfare remake on Game Pass, it's a reminder of COD's gritty past

PS5 Digital is down to its $399 launch price temporarily

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Just make it

App pick of the week: Helium

RunAs Radio this week: The Life and Death of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit with Michael Niehaus

Brown liquor pick of the week: Ned Australian Whisky

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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With Microsoft finally doing right by Windows 11 and the Windows Insider Program, it's time to start testing and provide some feedback. And then we'll see if we can really trust these people. Also, Stardock's Connection Explorer 1.0 is here! And if you want one of macOS's dumbest features on Windows 11, you can get it now.

Windows

Yesterday was Patch Tuesday - Another month in paradise

26H1 - Eh, 24H2/25H2 - Narrator, File Explorer, display, Pen settings, WRE, Remote Desktop improvements

Microsoft reveals how it will simplify the Windows Insider Program

Two top-level channels, but really three

A way to enable all features in new builds, finally, and easy channel switching. But there are complexities, of course

New builds for Canary, Beta, and Dev - Two for Canary, but nothing new, Beta and Dev get Storage, networking, Windows Security, and Feedback Hub improvements

The first Snapdragon X2-based PC is out, and Paul has that waiting in PA, and two more PCs are coming to Mexico

PC sales were somehow up 2.5 percent in Q1, but the rest of 2026 will be a bloodbath

Also, smartphone sales are doing even worse

NVIDIA reportedly wants to buy Dell or HP ahead of a big PC chipset push. Interesting

Surface/Microsoft 365

Microsoft is forced to hike Surface prices dramatically

Microsoft reportedly kills Surface Hub

Microsoft College Offer: 12 months of Microsoft 365 Premium, 12 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and a custom Xbox controller when students in the U.S. purchase a PC

AI/Dev

Microsoft AI releases a faster and more efficient image model

Amazon CEO tries to explain the AI spending

Google app for Windows rolls out worldwide, but the Mac gets a Gemini app

Claude for Microsoft Word arrives in Beta

Claude for Desktop gets a major redesign for multiple AI agents

Microsoft's reported plans to charge for AI agents

.NET 11 Preview 3 arrives right on schedule, but there's nothing to see here

Build session catalog is up - joking, but the new Windows native app strategy should just be vibe coding

Google I/O registration is open, and you are never going to believe what the main topics will be - number five will shock you

Xbox & gaming

New Xbox CEO says Game Pass is too expensive, also that the sky is blue

Xbox will show off the next Metro game soon

Starfield for PS5 is getting a fix

Amazon Luna is stripping down to the basics e.g. "pulling a Stadia"

Tips & picks

Tip of the week: It's time to get involved

App pick of the week: Stardock Connection Explorer

RunAs Radio this week: Internal Corporate Communications in 2026 with Emily Mancini

Brown liquor pick of the week: ScapeGrace Vanguard

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!

Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

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Julia Liuson is leaving Microsoft. Liuson joined Microsoft in 1992, the same year as CEO Satya Nadella (she worked on Access at first). She helped build the first version of Visual Studio and was the first female corporate vice president at Microsoft. Liuson has been president of Microsoft's Developer Division since 2021. Also, curious about life on the other side of the fence? Paul has a tip for finding games that are optimized for Linux. Plus, Chrome joins the 21st century with vertical tabs and a real reading view. Just be sure to install those anti-tracking extensions.

Windows

Microsoft promises more native apps for Windows 11, but... which apps? New apps? Replacements for existing apps?

Thanks for making us revisit the web app vs. native app thing yet again, Microsoft

Windows 11 version 25H2 is now being pushed to all compatible PCs

Compatibility milestone, not a big deal because 24H2/25H2 features are identical, same underlying codebase - but some will complain that Microsoft is "forcing" 25H2 on them

Secure Boot certificate notifications are now available so you can see where your PC is at

Another month, another emergency Windows Update patch

New Dev/Beta builds add Xbox Mode, new haptic effects, etc., plus a new Canary build with features we've seen before

Microsoft is taking the Insider Program on the road

Component shortages trigger another Raspberry Pi price hike, but also a promise for the future

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition processor will be available from leading retailers starting Apr. 22 with a retail price of $899

AI

Microsoft's terms of service for Copilot say it's for entertainment purposes only. Yes, really.

Microsoft AI releases new foundational models for transcription, voice, and images

Word on iPhone gets Copilot co-create capabilities - used to be AI Mode, you need a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription

Anthropic has hired away a key AI executive from Microsoft, and what he has to say about the opportunity is interesting

Anthropic brings Computer Use to Windows

Google: Seriously, we are not training AI with your Gmail

Google AI Pro plans now offer 5 TB of cloud storage, yikes

Xbox & gaming

Xbox is refreshing the look of achievements on the console

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, more coming to Game Pass this month

Was this the best COD ever? In search of greatness

Also: Forza Horizon 6 launches May 19 and will be available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC and Xbox Cloud as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, and playable day one with Xbox Game Pass

Xbox will hold FanFest events around the world

Tips & picks

Tip of the week: So you want to try gaming on Linux

App pick of the week: Google Chrome

RunAs Radio this week: Securing AI Agents with Niall Merrigan

Brown liquor pick of the week: Corowa Peated Single Barrel 521

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!

Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

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Microsoft's AI ambitions overflowed into GitHub, sparking backlash when ads appeared in pull requests and raising new concerns about where your code is really going. GitHub is going to automatically use your data to train AI, so Paul tells how to opt-out if you don't want that. Plus, there's a new Microsoft 365 alternative in town, and this one is from a little tech company you can trust.

Windows

Week D updates go live last Thursday - Smart App Control, many other minor changes

And here we go again: Microsoft issues emergency patch for March Week D optional update

Microsoft says it will replace web-based in-box apps and experiences with native apps ... somehow

Four builds across three channels - Canary with opt-in gets a huge Windows Console upgrade, Dev/Beta get Administrator Protection (again), more

AMD has a new flagship gaming processor

AI/Dev

Microsoft Research AI has a new Critique feature that uses ChatGPT and Claude together in an unholy Frankenstein's monster of orchestration

A week of Siri AI rumors/leaks - This is Apple's version of Microsoft trying to buy TikTok

Google makes it easier to switch to Gemini - This is like Mac vs. PC, but for AI

Mozilla's approach to AI in Firefox is both right and correct

The plan to the save the open web from Big Tech

The future of Firefox includes a Smart Window mode that works like Private window but for AI

SwiftUI SDK for Android is now available

Xbox and gaming

New Xbox chief seeks to reset Xbox brand image - reminder, that's not the same as changing anything

Xbox announces 14 Day One Game Pass titles coming soon

Xbox Games Showcase 2026 and Gears of War E-Day Direct are coming in June

Sony to raise PS5 prices soon

Nintendo to raise prices for physical Switch 2 games soon

Tips & picks

Tip of the week: Opt-out of training AI on GitHub

App pick of the week: Proton Workspace with Meet

RunAs Radio this week: My Home Lab

Brown liquor pick of the week: Jeptha Creed Six Year Old Wheated Bourbon

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!

Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

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