Windows Weekly 849: Back to Dumb

Leo, Paul, and Richard talk about the end of free Windows 7/8 to Windows 10/11 upgrades using retail product keys. They also examine Chromebook Plus, Google's new premium Chromebooks aimed at gaming via cloud streaming services. This highlights issues with Google's disjointed strategies after killing Stadia. Plus, insights from the Google antitrust lawsuit, including testimony from Microsoft and Apple executives on partnerships and search dominance. This sparks debate on whether a Bing improvement could ever rival Google. The episode explores concerns around growing subscription costs, ecosystem lock-in, and how technology often complicates rather than eases life today.

Windows 11

Microsoft is killing free upgrades from Windows 7 and 8.x
And yes, that means those product keys will stop working
Windows 11 Insider Preview: Copilot comes to Alt + Tab, more File Explorer fixes
Windows 11 Field Guide is getting free updates for 23H2, of course
Join the Release Preview channel, you'll (probably) be upgraded to 23H2 and/or (most) new features
Windows Backup is already here. But what is it? And what might it become?
OneDrive is among the things getting worse in this release. And it's a problem
Google announces Chromebook Plus, New Material You design is available now to all

AI/Microsoft 365

Satya Nadella admits under oath that AI-powered Bing has not improved its usage share in the slightest
Also, Microsoft tried to sell Bing to Apple
Apple never seriously considered switching to, let alone buying, Bing
Microsoft announces the next generation OneDrive across businesses and consumers
Microsoft Lists for consumers comes to mobile, finally
Bing Image Creator gets a big DALL-E 3 update. And it is amazing

Surface

Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Laptop Go 3 are now available

Xbox

Here are the first Xbox Game Pass titles for October
Sony PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan is retiring
Layoffs at Epic

Tips and Picks

Tip of the week: The great ensh*ttification reset
App pick of the week: ScanSpeeder
RunAs Radio this week: Episode 900!
Brown liquor pick of the week: Upshot

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

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