Windows Weekly 866

Microsoft announced Tuesday that it earned a net income of $21.9 billion on revenues of $62 billion in the quarter ending December 31, 2023. Those figures are up 33 percent and 18 percent, respectively, year-over-year (YOY)

Microsoft earnings

• Analysis of Microsoft’s FY24 Q2
• You Can’t Spell Activision Without AI

Intelligent Cloud: Azure, AI

• Microsoft’s biggest business unit delivered $25.9 billion in revenue, up 20 percent YOY and driven primarily by its Azure cloud platform
• Azure revenues were up 30 percent in the quarter, 6 points of which Microsoft attributed to "AI services"
• Server and cloud services revenue jumped 22 percent.
• Enterprise Mobility installed base grew 11 percent to over 268 million seats

Productivity and Business Processes: Microsoft 365

• $19.2 billion in revenues, with growth of 13 percent YOY
• Office Commercial revenues were up 15 percent, and Office 365 seats grew 12 percent 
• Office Consumer grew 5 percent, with the Microsoft 365 consumer offerings growing 16 percent to 78.4 million subscribers

More Personal Computing: Xbox, Windows

• Revenues of $16.9 billion, up 19 percent YOY
• Activision Blizzard has changed things: Gaming revenues surged 49 percent (44 points from Activision Blizzard)
• Activision Blizzard has changed things: Xbox content and services revenues were up 61 percent (55 points from Activision Blizzard)
• Xbox hardware revenues inched up by 3 percent
• Windows revenues from PC makers grew 11 percent in the quarter, with Microsoft citing "market volumes stabilizing to pre-pandemic levels" 
• That stabilization didn't help the Surface business, as Microsoft reported a 9 percent decline in revenues from Devices

Other industry financial reports

• Google was bigger than Microsoft, with non-advertising businesses seeing growth
• Intel's struggles continue, but a light at the end of the tunnel
• AMD is not doing great. The time for AMD to gain on Intel is coming to a close

Windows

• Canary: Voice Clarity comes to more PCs, and Microsoft previews new/old Windows Setup first-run experience
• Dev: Minor bug fixes only
• Beta: Snap Layout suggestions, new settings in Widgets, and you can now revert to stable (!!)
• Chrome is finally coming to Windows on Arm. A new era?
• Microsoft Edge 121 adds several new features
• OneDrive gets a new design on the web

Microsoft 365

• Teams goes down for the count, making us realize how much we hate Teams

AI

• Microsoft adds porn deepfake guardrails to Designer AI. So, this wasn’t there before now?
• FTC is investigating Microsoft/OpenAI and other Big Tech AI partnerships
• NVIDIA RTX Video HDR can now convert SDR video to HDR

Xbox

• Microsoft can finally bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to the iPhone (and Fortnite is coming back to the iPhone in the EU)
• Xbox president joins the chorus of complaints around Apple’s EU DMA non-compliance compliance
• Xbox Series S screenshots will be restricted to Full HD
• 1900 layoffs at Activision Blizzard, Zenimax, and Xbox

Tips and Picks

• Tip of the week: Upgrade to passkeys if you use Google Password Manager and a Pixel device
• App pick of the week: Insync
• RunAs Radio this week: Software Licensing in 2024 with Mary Jo Foley
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Dailuaine 16 Flora & Fauna

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The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

• Tech: Microsoft FY24 Q2 Earnings Impress
• Transcripts: Windows Weekly 866 Transcript

Links

• Microsoft Revenues Up 18 Percent in Quarter to $62 Billion
• Analysis of Microsoft’s FY24 Q2: You Can’t Spell Activision Without AI (Premium)
• Alphabet/Google Revenues Grow 13 Percent to $86 Billion
• A Quick Look at Windows Setup in Windows vNext
• New Windows 11 Insider Builds Are Available on the Dev and Beta Channels
• Microsoft Edge 121 Arrives with Several New Features
• Microsoft Edge May Import Your Chrome Tabs Without Your Consent
• Microsoft Edge 121 Arrives with Several New Features
• Microsoft Launches Redesigned OneDrive Web App With New People View
• Microsoft Teams Experiences a Worldwide Outage
• Microsoft Designer Adds New Safeguards to Block AI-Generated Porn Deepfakes
• FTC Launches Investigation Into Microsoft/OpenAI, Other Cloud/AI Partnerships
• Nvidia RTX Video HDR Can Now Convert SDR Videos Into HDR
• Apple Now Allows Game Streaming Apps in the App Store Worldwide
• Fortnite is Coming Back to iOS in the EU via Upcoming Epic Games Store
• Microsoft Joins Criticism of Apple’s New App Store Rules
• Game Screenshots on Xbox Series S Will Soon be Restricted to 1080p
• Microsoft is Laying Off 1,900 Employees at Activision Blizzard, Zenimax, and Xbox
• Google Eases Passkey Adoption for Pixel Users
• Quick Hands-On with Insync for Linux
• Arc Announces Arc Search, Releases iPhone App
• Software Licensing in 2024 with Mary Jo Foley
• Dailuaine 16 Years