From Intel's Struggles to Copilot’s Expansion: Windows Weekly's Year in Review
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Windows Weekly wrapped up 2024 with a fascinating deep dive into the year's most impactful tech stories, featuring hosts Paul Thurrott and Richard Campbell alongside Leo Laporte. The discussion painted a picture of a transformative but challenging year in technology, with several major storylines dominating the conversation.
Intel's struggles emerged as the year's top story, with Thurrott noting how dramatically things changed from early optimistic projections. While the PC market grew in the first two quarters, Intel faced mounting challenges resulting in significant market pressures. The hosts discussed how this followed years of strategic missteps, including the company's approach to mobile and what Thurrott characterized as anti-competitive behavior.
Windows on ARM proved to be a surprising success story, with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X platform and Microsoft's system improvements coming together more effectively than many anticipated. The hosts shared their initial skepticism but acknowledged how the technology exceeded expectations, particularly with the Surface Laptop rollout.
The conversation turned to artificial intelligence, focusing on Microsoft's Copilot Pro, Recall, and Copilot+ PC initiatives. The hosts discussed how 2024 became less about pure AI innovations and more about practical implementations and monetization challenges. Campbell offered interesting insights about enterprise adoption and the complexities of integrating AI tools into existing workflows.
Security emerged as a critical theme, with the hosts diving into Microsoft's infrastructure challenges and the "midnight blizzard" incident. Campbell provided valuable context about the national security implications and why certain details remained undisclosed. And one cannot forget the big Crowdstrike outage that caused widespread frustration.
The gaming segment produced interesting talking points around Microsoft's Activision acquisition, which Thurrott and Campbell agreed hadn't yet delivered the expected impact. They explored the gaming industry's broader challenges in 2024, including studio closures and subscription price increases. Maybe Halo on Unreal Engine 5 will come back in 2025 or later.
Laporte, Thurrott, and Campbell also covered the evolution of Windows 11, passkeys as the future of authentication, and the global push for antitrust regulation of big tech companies in 2024. Want to hear the complete analysis and lively discussion? Check out the full episode of Windows Weekly, available on your favorite podcast platform.
