Windows Weekly 944

Microsoft’s fiscal year ended on a high note, assuming you didn’t just get laid off. WinSAT's formal assessment will give you some interesting PC performance information, similar to the old WEI score from Windows Vista. And Proton finally makes a standalone authenticator app; How to transition from whatever you’re currently using and why you’ll need to keep using Microsoft Authenticator too.

Microsoft Earning

• Quarterly: net income of $27.2 billion on revenues of $76.4 billion. Those figures represent gains of 24 percent and 18 percent, respectively, year-over-year (YOY)
• Annual:  a net income of $101.8 billion (up 16 percent YOY) on revenues of $281.7 billion (up 15 percent)
• Another look at layoffs, which are nothing new under Satya Nadella - Over 17,000 in CY 2025 so far, despite over $100 billion in profits in FY
• Headcount “unchanged” YOY
• Big announcements below were likely made to avoid Qs about layoffs and it almost worked
• AI spending in FY was about $85 billion, higher than promised
• AI spending in this quarter will jump to $30 billion (!!!!)
• Azure earned $75 billion in revenues in FY, its first-ever disclosure of this number - Fun with math, that means $56 billion in revenues in previous FY. How far back can we go?
• Microsoft’s market cap exceeded $4 trillion after earnings release
• “Copilot” has over 100 million MAUs, really M365 Copilot, which even Nadella thinks is a new M365 tier
• GitHub Copilot has over 20 million MAUs, probably most are free
• HUGE gains in Microsoft Gaming/Xbox, discussed below

Windows 11

• But first, something completely different: Microsoft’s “vision” for Windows in 2030
• David Weston a curious choice for this video, first in a series - he’s in security
• Daily work life changes thanks to AI - less toil work, less eyes and more talking, multimodal interactions
• Security - customers want appliance-level security, “it just works” security -
• Degenerates into a general security discussion
• Back to AI, reclaiming our lives
• Windows 11 SE, RIP - We hardly knew you. Literally.
• Insider: Changes to Home view in File Explorer for Work and School sign-ins, Settings app changes in Dev (25H2) and Beta (24H2)

More earnings

• AMD - HUGE gains in its PC businesses!
• Qualcomm up 10%
• Apple up 9.6%
• Amazon up 13%

AI & dev

• OpenAI releases its first open-weight reasoning models and Microsoft gives them away for free
• Apple is trying to Sherlock ChatGPT
• Of course Alexa+ will get ads
• Dev: Microsoft has a native app problem on Windows
• Microsoft says it will fix Windows App SDK
• Paul just switched .NETpad to the Windows App SDK and can confirm it’s a nightmare
• WPF is half-assed... and last year, it took Microsoft over 9 months to deliver the first Windows Copilot Runtime capabilities to devs, but you still can’t use this in production. Also, it’s not called that anymore

Xbox & games

• Microsoft Gaming has over 500 million MAUs - More fun with math
• COD has 50 million MAUs
• Microsoft has nearly 40 games in development
• Xbox Game Pass has $5 billion in revenues in FY, over 500 million hours played in FY
• Gaming Copilot (Beta) is available on Game Bar for Windows PC for Xbox Insiders enrolled in the PC Gaming Preview
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage and more coming to Game Pass this month
• OG Switch models now cost more thanks to tariffs

Tips & Picks

• Tip of the week: Windows System Assessment Tool
• App pick of the week: Proton Authenticator
• RunAs Radio this week: Copilot Adoption in Financial Services with Christina Wheeler
• Brown liquor pick of the week: The Macallan Color Collection

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Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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• Transcripts: Windows Weekly 894 Transcript

Links

• Microsoft Earnings Jump 18 Percent to $76.4 Billion
• Microsoft Earnings Analysis: FY2025 (Premium)
• Microsoft Begins Outlining Its Vision for Windows in 2030
• Windows 11 SE for Education Will Go Out of Support in October 2026
• New Windows 11 Dev and Beta Builds Are Available for Insiders
• AMD Revenues Up 32 Percent to $7.7 Billion
• Qualcomm Earnings Up 10 Percent to $10.4 Billion
• Apple Revenues Up 9.6 Percent to $94 Billion
• Tim Cook, Apple, and AI: An Analysis (Premium)
• Amazon Revenues Jump 13 Percent to $167.7 Billion
• OpenAI Releases its First Open-Weight Reasoning Models
• Apple is Reportedly Working on ChatGPT-Like Search Product
• Amazon May Introduce Ads in Conversations With Alexa+
• Microsoft to Finally Improve and then Open Source the Windows App SDK
• Hands-On: Coding to the Windows Copilot Runtime (Premium)
• Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot Launches in Beta on PC
• Nintendo Switch Consoles and Some Switch 2 Accessories Are Getting a Price Increase in the US
• Configure Windows System Assessment Test Scores
• Proton Introduces an Authenticator App
• Copilot Adoption in Financial Services with Christina Wheeler
• Macallan Color Collection