In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, we look at the turmoil at OpenAI, artificial intelligence breakthroughs, installing Windows 11 version 23H2 on unsupported hardware, game anniversaries, app updates, small Windows 11 images, and more.
Table of contents:
- Windows 11 news
- Updates are available
- Gaming news
- A blast from Microsoft's past
- Random fact about Microsoft
OpenAI turmoil
Microsoft surprised the industry on November 11, 2023, by announcing a new AI research team. What made the reveal extra special is that the team was supposed to be led by Sam Altman (former OpenAI chief executive officer) and Greg Brockman (former OpenAI president). OpenAI's board of directors fired Sam Altman last week (they already regret it), causing other employees to resign and most of the workforce to demand that the board of directors bring Sam back. Following the massive backlash, OpenAI's directors restored Sam as the CEO and Greg as the president.
Just shortly after all that firing and hiring mess, a new rather concerning report emerged about OpenAI achieving a major AI breakthrough, with the creation being able to figure out mathematical problems on its own. Now, we better hope AI does not decide that the destruction of humanity is in its interest. Perhaps it is time to welcome our new insect AI overlords?
Windows 11 and 10
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.
Microsoft has announced a new bug bounty program to incentivize developers and hackers to find security issues in its Defender security product lineup. Spotting a vulnerability and reporting it to Microsoft may result in the company rewarding you with up to $20,000.
Practice shows that such programs are very effective, and external security experts often find places to improve, leading to safer products. The Blackwing Intelligence group, for example, revealed the result of its research, detailing a newly found method to bypass fingerprint authentication in Windows Hello. Now, Microsoft and fingerprint manufacturers have to fix the situation to ensure the safety of over one billion Windows devices (even though not every device has a fingerprint sensor).
We also published two important guides, detailing how to install the recently released Windows 11 version 23H2 on unsupported hardware (watch out for Linux fanboys in the comments) and a new, relatively simple way to remove Microsoft Edge from Windows 10 and 11 in the latest Release Preview updates.
Important: do not clean-install Windows 11 version 23H2 if you rely on assistive technologies, namely the built-in Narrator. Microsoft has confirmed that the current install media contains a bug preventing Narrator from working during installation. The company is working on a new Windows 11 version of 23H2 images. Note that the bug does not affect systems upgrading from Windows 10 or older Windows 11 releases.
Windows Insider Program
Microsoft released the following preview builds for testing this week:
- Release Preview: KB5032278 (19045.3757) for Windows 10 with the initial Copilot rollout. You can check out this guide to learn how to force-enable Copilot in Windows 10. And if you have a hard time finding a reason to use Copilot, here is Microsoft trying to explain why you should try Copilot in Windows.
Sadly, no Windows 11 preview builds this week due to holidays in the United States. Windows engineers are having some well-deserved rest.
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.
Mozilla Foundations released Firefox 120 in the Release channel. The latest update delivers several privacy improvements, such as the ability to strip a link of its trackers, a global setting to tell websites not to sell your data, picture-in-picture improvements, and more. If you are tired of Chrome implementing questionable changes or Edge with its annoyances, Firefox may become a breath of fresh air in our Chromium-ridden world.
NTDEV, the creator of the tiny11 and tiny10 projects, released tiny11 version 2311 based on Windows 11 version 23H2. It offers all the benefits of the previous tiny11 releases plus complete serviceability (you can install cumulative updates without issues), support for Copilot and other 23H2 features, and a 20% decrease in size.
For those unfamiliar, tiny11 is a modified Windows image stripped of unnecessary components. In addition to significantly reducing the install size, tiny11 works on unsupported hardware without extra tweaks.
Microsoft also released the November 2023 firmware update for a few Surface devices: the Intel-based Surface Laptop 3 and the Surface Go 3. Those updates improve graphics, wireless connection, Surface Pen inking, built-in compass, and more.
Other notable updates include the following:
- Dev Home app preview 0.7 with new Azure extensions, accessibility fixes, and minor changes.
- A new ink-to-text tool and pen gestures in Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote for Office Insiders.
- Start11 v2.03 with support for nine languages and a long list of fixes to improve your experience.
New drivers released this week:
- Intel Arc Beta 31.0.101.4972 with Starfield fixes and performance improvements.
To finish the update section, here is the latest edition of our Microsoft 365 Roadmap Weekly with Stream support in the new Outlook and voice isolation for calls in Microsoft Teams.
On the gaming side
Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.
Last week, the original Half-Life turned 25, and Valve celebrated the occasion by giving away the game on Steam for everyone to enjoy. Neowin joined the celebration with a personal look-back article from John Callaham, detailing the launch of what many consider one of the greatest games ever made.
Several weeks ago, Activision launched Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III to a lukewarm reception and mixed reviews. To combat the initial wave of negativity and keep the momentum going, Activision revealed details about the first content update. It will bring three new multiplayer maps, an additional zombie mode chapter, and more.
Moving from future game updates to released ones, Bethesda pushed out a much-anticipated update for Starfield, bringing DLSS, DLAA, NVIDIA Reflex, and frame generation on supported GPUs from the "green camp." In addition, Starfield's latest update improves performance, fixes various issues across the game, adds the ability to eat food from the floor (five-second rule, amirite?), and more. The update requires around 15GB of free space on your drive.
Cyberpunk 2077, another critically acclaimed title, will soon get a new edition. CD PROJEKT RED has announced Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition with the Phantom Liberty expansion and every update ever released for the game. On December 5, 2023, you can expect it on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. Hopefully, we will not get five delays this time.
Killer Instinct is another game that is getting a fancy new edition. Microsoft announced Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition to celebrate ten years since its fighting game was released in November 2013 on the original Xbox One. The anniversary edition will replace Killer Instinct Definitive Edition from 2017, costing $29.99 on Xbox, PC, and Steam.
NVIDIA's GeForce NOW cloud streaming service received 18 more games, so you can now play Bridge Contrucgtor: The Walking Dead, Chivalry 2, Dungeons 4, The Invincible, Tropico 6, Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, and more. As a reminder, you must purchase those games to play them using NVIDIA GeForce NOW.
Deals and Freebies
Valve is hosting its annual Steam Autumn Sale. During November 21-28, you can snag multiple games with big discounts and never play them. Besides, gamers can nominate their favorite games for The Steam Awards 2023 in 11 categories: Game of the Year, Labor of Love, VR Game of the Year, Better with Friends, Best Soundtrack, and more.
By the way, you still have time to play Diablo IV for free until November 28, 2023. In addition, the game is available with a 40% discount, allowing you to save some bucks in case you decide to continue playing once the free event is over.
Moving from Steam to the Epic Games Store, we have a Deliver Us Mars giveaway. The game is up for grabs until November 30, 2023. If that is still not enough, check out our Weekend PC Game Deals with even more discounts. Do you even have time to play all those games?
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.
November 20, 2023, marks 38 years of Windows. Microsoft launched Windows 1.0 (Windows 1.01, to be precise) on November 20, 1985, kickstarting a new era of personal computing. We have already published a look-back article about Windows 1.0, and this week's piece focuses on the operating system's launch.
This week's second look-back article is about Microsoft's first sports video game: Microsoft Olympic Decathlon. The company launched it on TRS-80 in 1980, offering customers the chance to play ten different events that were a part of the decathlon, one of the most grueling events in the Summer Olympic Games.
Forty years later, Microsoft is one of the biggest players in the gaming industry, with well-established franchises in different genres, such as simulation, racing, strategy, and shooters. But after taking a shot in 1980, Microsoft is now happy to let other well-established studios create sports games for PC and Xbox.
Random fact about Microsoft
And here is a randomly selected piece of trivia about the company, Windows, and other Microsoft-made things.
This week's random fact about Microsoft comes from the @wowstartsnow X (Twitter) user, also known as Windows on Windows.
Did you know Windows 11 is not the first Microsoft desktop operating system with a tabbed File Explorer? Windows Explorer in early Windows 95 builds contained a feature that allowed enabling tabs for easier access to the recently opened directories. Sadly, "Folder tabs" never made it to the public release in 1995 or subsequent Windows releases. Eventually, Microsoft introduced a tabbed File Explorer in 2022 as a part of the Windows 11 version 22H2 update.
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