Mar 18th 2020
Windows Weekly 664
One Milliard Users
Build Canceled, Xbox Series X Event
This Week's Stories:
Coronavirus
- As expected, Microsoft cancels Build, will have virtual event instead
- Paul has heard about some at Microsoft who want to kill Build permanently
- Microsoft follows Apple, shuts down retail stores
- Microsoft teams with other tech firms to fight misinformation
- Bing team develops a virus tracking site
Xbox
- Microsoft reveals all of the Xbox Series X specs
- But there's more it didn't say
- Microsoft reveals how it will improve xCloud for mobile devices
- Mixer improves (but does it really? The bar is LOW)
- Microsoft announces Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks Dev
- Microsoft buys JavaScript developer npm, will integrate with GitHub
- GitHub mobile app is ready
- Microsoft says Visual Basic has been sent to a farm where it is hunting rabbits
- Microsoft is bringing accessibility-friendly Edge Dev Tools to all Chromium browsers
Microsoft 365
- Microsoft is expected to announce Microsoft 365 consumer plans on March 30
- Teams outage - was it because of Coronavirus? They say it was because of an infrastructural caching issue
Gates
- Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board. Not the finality some are reporting.
Windows 10
- Windows 10 finally hits one billion active users - and yes, they finally said users
- Windows 10 version 2004 is still imminent
- Big Your Phone improvements arrive in new Fast ring build
- And, today, yet another Fast ring build
- Quietly, Microsoft reveals that WSL 2's Linux kernel will not be part of Windows 10, will be delivered via Windows Update instead.
- Microsoft posts new Edge roadmap is making some nice improvements
- UWP is dead, part 127: Microsoft is killing the Skype UWP app too
Tips and picks
- Tip of the week: Be good. This pandemic is a great chance to show the world that we're not all terrible. Do some good for a change.
- App pick of the week: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2020. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2020 arrives with impressive new AI and collaboration features.
- Enterprise pick of the week: JEDI rebid?? The Pentagon seems in favor of a rebid of part of the JEDI contract (storage related stuff). MS is in favor; AWS is against. Maybe we'll see the two companies split the difference? https://www.zdnet.com/article/department-of-defense-seeks-to-reevaluate-jedi-cloud-contract-bids-after-microsoft-win-paused/
- Enterprise pick No. 2: Check out MJFChat for your level 101 IT Pro talk. MJFChat, my 30-minute, audio-only series is now available in podcast form on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and more. I've got a lot of new content in there and have some excellent guests coming soon. (Project Cortex and some new cybersecurity tips and tricks are on deck.) Transcripts are all on the site, too: https://www.petri.com/category/podcasts/mjf-chat
- Beer pick of the week: Torch & Crown Erebus. We've got a new Manhattan-based brewery (opening in the "coming months"). They're already making a lot of fantastic beers, and, as of this week, started doing home delivery too! Erebus, an American stout that clocks in at 5.5%, is a nice, basic stout. Nice for St. Paddy's week. Erebus is the Greek god of darkness, so a nice name choice for this, too: https://www.torchandcrown.com/erebus
Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly
Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com
Check out Mary Jo's blog at AllAboutMicrosoft.com
The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Links
- As expected, Microsoft cancels Build, will have virtual event instead
- Paul has heard about some at Microsoft who want to kill Build permanently
- Microsoft follows Apple, shuts down retail stores
- Microsoft teams with other tech firms to fight misinformation
- Bing team develops a virus tracking site
- Microsoft reveals all of the Xbox Series X specs
- But there's more it didn't say
- Microsoft reveals how it will improve xCloud for mobile devices
- Mixer improves (but does it really? The bar is LOW)
- Microsoft announces Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks
- Microsoft buys JavaScript developer npm, will integrate with GitHub
- GitHub mobile app is ready
- Microsoft says Visual Basic has been sent to a farm where it is hunting rabbits
- Microsoft is bringing accessibility-friendly Edge Dev Tools to all Chromium browsers
- Next week: .NET Conf is virtual and free and going to be heavily focused on Xamarin
- Microsoft is expected to announce Microsoft 365 consumer plans on March 30
- Teams outage
- ....was it because of Coronavirus?
- Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board. Not the finality some are reporting.
- Windows 10 finally hits one billion active users - and yes, they finally said users
- Windows 10 version 2004 is still imminent
- Big Your Phone improvements arrive in new Fast ring build
- And, today, yet another Fast ring build
- Microsoft reveals that WSL 2's Linux kernel will not be part of Windows 10, will be delivered via Windows Update instead.
- Microsoft posts new Edge roadmap, is making some nice improvements
- UWP is dead, part 127: Microsoft is killing the Skype UWP app too
- App pick of the week: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2020
- Enterprise pick of the week: JEDI rebid??
- Enterprise pick No. 2: Check out MJFChat for your level 101 IT Pro talk
- Beer pick of the week: Torch & Crown Erebus