Windows Weekly 552

CES 2018: what a mess. There are new PCs: Dell XPS 15 2-in-1, Miix 630 (Snapdragon), ThinkPad X1, and HP. Oh, and remember that Intel is a thing in the Always-Connected PC space, too. More mobile carriers (including Verizon!) are on board with Windows 10 on ARM PCs.

Digital assistants are the top story at CES, but where is Cortana? Google Assistant owns CES - 1 million actions, with unbelievable device and services coverage. PC makers are pushing a non-Cortana agenda. HP and Lenovo both showed off Alexa on Windows 10 PCs. Lenovo + Google = first standalone Daydream headset. Lenovo creates the first assistant-based smart display. Microsoft says it is not giving up on Cortana. Microsoft pretends that Cortana is not dead. This is Windows phone all over again. Cortana thermostat is shipping in March and is at CES. And why is it killing off Dynamics 365 integration? A solution: open up Windows 10 to other assistants.

Intel security vulnerabilities: Intel has lied to us all, but it continues to claim that it can make CPUs "Immune" to bugs. Microsoft comes clean on the real-world impact. It's bad, and worse than what Intel claimed -- especially on Server. Remember: we still don't really know how this is going to affect performance. Benchmarks are almost nonexistent. Microsoft's exact words don't tell us much, either. Paul: it's really bad on everything but Windows 10 on the latest hardware, we have heard this repeatedly. Making lemonade: Intel problems will help Microsoft a lot, as it turns out. Xbox One: there's a system update on the way.

• Tip of the week: Maybe it's time to buy a new PC
• App pick of the week: Super Lucky's Tale
• Enterprise pick of the week: Work Folders on Demand
• Enterprise pick of the week No. 2: Lots of .NET goodies including free e-books, samples, videos & other resources that any .NET architect or aspiring one would love.
• Thanks to Scott Hanselman for the beer pick of the week: Bittersweet Nitro

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