In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at more reorgs at Microsoft, another veteran leaving the company, the Moment 4 update rolling out to more customers, another change in the Windows 11 supported processor list, fresh Windows 11 preview builds, gaming news, financial reports, and more.
Table of contents:
- Financial report
- Windows 11 news
- Updates are available
- Gaming news
- Reviews are in
- A blast from Microsoft's past
- Random fact about Microsoft
Q1 2024 Financial Report
On October 24, 2023, Microsoft released its latest financial report for the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year. The company reported revenue of $56.5 billion, a 13% increase in the same period one year ago. Net income was $22.3 billion (26% up), and every part of the company, except for Xbox hardware, reported notable growth.
Shortly after the financial report, news emerged about Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer leaving the company. Chris Capossela decided to depart from Microsoft after working there for 32 years and helping the company bring to life multiple products from Azure to Xbox. Chris is also known for the famous COMDEX demo from 1998, during which an attempt to showcase plug-and-play technology resulted in Windows 98 crashing and showing a Blue Screen of Death.
Windows 11
Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.
Those following Windows 11 news know that Microsoft started a gradual Moment 4 update rollout at the end of last month. After a brief period of limited availability, the update is now available for all users. All you have to do is install KB5031455 from the Settings app or Windows Update Catalog. On November 14, 2023, the Moment 4 will become mandatory for all Windows 11 users as a part of the latest Patch Tuesday release.
Microsoft plans to ship version 23H2 shortly after the Moment 4 update, and the company is busy preparing customers and developers for the next release. Windows Driver Kit version 23H2 is now available, allowing developers get their drivers ready for the next Windows 11 feature update.
KB5031455 with the new Moment 4 features was not the only non-security update Microsoft released this week. KB5031455 for Windows 10 fixes memory leaks, touchscreen issues, printing bugs, and more. In addition, it contains a surprising new Start menu feature: stock applications now have a "System" badge. Interestingly, this change has yet to make it to the stable release of Windows 11.
Thanks to Qualcomm's newest Snapdragon X Elite platform announced this week, Windows 11 computers with ARM processors are about to become much more powerful and energy efficient. During its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, Qualcomm unveiled a new chip, promising a "massive leap forward with best-in-class CPU performance" and significant efficiency improvements. The first computers with a Snapdragon X Elite inside should hit stores in mid-2024.
However, Qualcomm will not be an exclusive chip supplier for ARM-powered Windows PCs. A new report emerged this week about NVIDIA's plans to join the party and ship its first ARM processor somewhere in 2025.
Speaking of processors, Microsoft updated the list of supported CPUs in Windows 11 once again. This time, the company restored 24 Intel Xeon processors removed in August 2023. We still do not know the reasoning behind the initial removal or why Microsoft put those CPUs back on the list. We only know that two dozens of eight-gen Xeon processors are once again listed as officially supported.
Continuing hardware and software news, a new report emerged this week about BitLocker crippling SSDs in laptops and prebuilt computers. Tests have shown that Windows 11's default storage encryption may cost you up to 45% of your SSD speeds. However, you should not worry about it if you use Windows 11 Home—BitLocker is only available (and turned on by default) on systems running Windows 11 Professional.
Windows Insider Program
- Canary Channel: 25982 with Copilot, SMB client encryption, network changes, Dev Drive improvements, and more.
- Dev Channel: 23575 with folders for the recommended section in Start menu and more.
- Beta Channel: 22635.2552 with a new System Components page in the Settings app and more.
- Release Preview Channel: 22631.2506 with only one small change for version 23H2.
As for hidden features, the only change discovered so far is a new Settings app section. It contains a toggle to make Copilot autostart whenever you sign into your account. According to the feature description, it will be particularly handy for customers with wider displays.
Updates are available
This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.
Microsoft continues its odd experiments to ensure Edge users stay away from Chrome, the world's most popular browser. An attempt to download Google Chrome using Microsoft Edge now results in the latter asking you to take a poll and explain yourself. However, we assume Microsoft is testing this odd behavior since we could only spot it on a couple of our PCs.
Luckily, not all Edge news is negative. One of the recent Canary updates introduced new personalization tools, allowing users to create custom themes for the browser. It is by no means a groundbreaking change, but still a neat improvement to make Edge a little more personal. The browser also received a feature update in the Dev Channel, bringing users snappier interfaces and bug fixes.
From odd polls to funny news, here is Windows Phone having its last laugh from its grave: changing your browser's user agent (UA) to Windows Phone removes the recently introduced banner that blocks customers from using YouTube with AdBlockers. Remember Google waging war against YouTube clients on Windows Phone? Who is laughing now?
By the way, Windows Phone got another mention this week, this time by Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, who admitted that killing the platform was a "strategic mistake." Sadly, that does not mean we will see Microsoft digging out Windows Phone from its grave.
The original Surface Laptop Studio and the Surface Studio 2+ received the October 2023 firmware update with audio improvements and security patches. Later on, the same update arrived for the fifth-generation Surface Pro and its LTE configuration to fix security vulnerabilities found in Intel's chipset software.
In addition, Microsoft announced several hardware and software-related changes for its Surface devices. On the hardware side, iFixit now sells spare and replacement parts for your Surface devices, allowing you to repair a damaged or broken Surface without sending it to Microsoft. And on the software side, the new "Secured core" approach will ensure better protection and stability thanks to custom firmware and software.
On October 25, Microsoft Word marked its 40th birthday. To commemorate this tremendous milestone, Microsoft published a timeline showcasing the app's story and notable changes over the years. In addition, the company shared its vision for future Word updates, new features, and improvements.
Other notable updates include the following:
- Start11 v2 is out with new Start menu layouts, reworked and improved taskbar pins, settings backup, and other changes to please those unhappy with the stock Start menu in Windows 10 or 11.
- Vivaldi 6.4 with improvements for pop-out videos (picture-in-picture), calendar templates, and bug fixes.
- Skype Insider 8.106 with a new calling and camera experience on mobile, a better Bing integration, and multiple fixes. Two days later, the app received another update with even more changes.
- A new calendar view in Outlook to let users check out declined events. Microsoft will roll out the feature next month.
And here are the drivers released this week to improve your PC experience:
- Intel Arc Beta 31.0.101.4900 with optimizations for Alan Wake 2, Cities Skylines 2, WRC, and Ghostrunner 2. The driver contains notable performance uplifts, so install the driver to ensure maximum performance in the mentioned games.
- NVIDIA 545.92 WHQL with Alan Wake 2 support and DLSS 3 for Ghostrunner 2.
To finish the section covering software updates, here is the latest Microsoft 365 Roadmap Weekly, delivering you the latest information about upcoming productivity features, such as reminder improvements in Outlook for Mac and Private Line in Teams.
On the gaming side
Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.
This week, Microsoft announced several changes among its gaming executive ranks. Phil Spencer is now CEO of Microsoft Gaming; Matt Booty is President of Game Content and Studios; and Sarah Bond, a former CVP of Xbox, now has the title of President of Xbox. These changes come off the heels of the recently closed Activision-Blizzard acquisition.
During the recent Xbox Partner Preview showcase event, Microsoft revealed multiple new gameplay trailers, giving gamers closer looks at Alan Wake 2, Robocop: Rogue City, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, IKARO: WIll Not Die, Still Wakes the Deep, and more. In addition, Microsoft's Turn 10 Studios revealed details about Forza Motorsport's first free content update and some of the upcoming fixes. According to developers, the update will arrive on Xbox and PC in mid-November 2023.
Even though mobile games are not the most popular choice among PC gamers, Google continues investing in the segment. According to the company, more than 3,000 Android games now work on Windows 10 and 11, and gamers will soon be able to play them using Xbox or PlayStation controllers.
Reviews are in
If you are looking for an inexpensive mini PC for daily PC tasks and maybe even more, check out our GEEKOM A5 review. This sub-$500 computer has a Ryzen 7 5800H, 32GB of RAM, and plenty of ports for storage. In addition, you get a fancy-looking rose gold case and 512GB SSD. Although the hardware is not the latest and greatest, it still performs great for its price tag. And unlike other mini PCs, it does not look ugly or uninspiring.
This week, Microsoft also released a few software updates to improve your gaming experience on consoles and PC. The October 2023 update is now available on the Xbox One and Xbox Series console families with keyboard-to-controller mapping and easier Clipchamp imports. A big feature update is coming soon to PC gamers too. Microsoft pushed a new Xbox App update preview with a dedicated UI for handheld devices and various cosmetic reworks to improve your experience.
Following the update to our "The Most Anticipated Games" article covering future Xbox releases, we updated the same story featuring upcoming PC releases.
Deals and freebies
The Epic Games Store is giving away The Evil Within 2 and Tandem: A Tale of Shadows. If that is not enough for you, here is our weekly "Weekend PC Games Deals" series covering Halloween scares, Fallout sales, legendary bundles, and more discounts.
A blast from Microsoft's past
John Callaham's weekly "Look back" series provides throwbacks into the past, detailing the company's products, partnerships, mishaps, and successes from years ago.
Windows 7, one of the most beloved operating systems produced by Microsoft, went six feet under in January 2023 after almost 14 years in service. To commemorate Windows 7's birthday (it was released on October 22), we published a look-back article detailing the launch of the OS 14 years ago.
And here is another article, this time about the MSX PC platform celebrating its 40th birthday. For those unfamiliar, the MSX PC was a Japan-made PC platform that eventually evolved into a big video game platform.
Random fact about Microsoft
And here is a randomly selected piece of trivia about the company, Windows, and other Microsoft-made things.
Almost every Windows user knows what is Blue Screen of Death or BSOD. Enthusiasts and Windows Insiders are also aware of the so-called Green Screen of Death, the same thing but on Windows preview builds. Did you know there was once a Red Screen of Death? Microsoft implemented RSOD in early Longhorn builds to indicate more serious mistakes or bugs taking down the operating system. However, the final product, Windows Vista, went to the public with the standard Blue Screen of Death, something the OS adopters would witness many, many times.
Behold the sinister-looking Red Screen of Death, courtesy of FlyTech Videos:
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