WW 968: Uncharted Territory - Big Changes in the Insider Program
Windows Weekly (Audio)
Leo Laporte
4.3 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2026
⏱️ 146 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Microsoft's Patch Tuesday blunder triggers emergency fixes, surprise layoffs ripple through Amazon, and the crew debates whether rapid AI advances spell the end of traditional apps. Also, password managers do a lot more than manage passwords, so there's one thing everyone needs to get right.
Windows 11
- Dev splits from Beta, tests what will surely be 26H1 - After last week's show, Microsoft did issue that same Beta build in the Dev channel for some reason
- Dev and Beta get same fixes in different builds, but no new features
- 24H2 and 25H2 Release Preview update(s) are a peek at the next Patch Tuesday, lots of changes
- January Patch Tuesday update was so terrible it required two emergency fixes, the second of which went out late Sunday
Earnings/industry
- Intel falls flat in Q4, full year 2025 despite U.S. "investment"
- Amazon lays off 16,000 employees
- Microsoft, Apple, earnings this week, Alphabet, Amazon are next week
AI
- Microsoft announces Maia 200 AI datacenter processor
- Like Baldric in Black Adder, Apple has a cunning plan for an AI Siri
- With AI costs soaring, cheaper new AI plans appear somehow
- OpenAI was last week with big expansion of ChatGPT Go
- Google does the same this week with AI Plus plan
- OpenAI, Anthropic (this week), others are adding "apps" to their chatbots
- Microsoft is exposing app features as AI Actions in Windows 11
- Paul opined that this semantic/programmatic capability was the end of apps
- But we can now essentially vibe-code our own custom apps - this is vaguely reminiscent of the home computer/DIY era, but without the technical knowledge requirements
- The age of native apps is over, at least on desktop. Will mobile fall next?
Dev
- Microsoft introduces the Windows App Development (winapp) CLI. For some reason
Xbox and gaming
- Microsoft refreshes the Xbox Cloud Gaming web experience — bigger changes coming?
- Fable is coming to Xbox, PC, PS5 in late 2026
Tips and picks
- Tip of the week: Choose a single password manager, make your life easier
- App pick of the week: Proton Pass
- RunAs Radio this week: Business Process Automation in 2026 with Ian Cooper
- Brown liquor pick of the week: Tullibardine 18
Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's time for Windows Weekly. Paul Therod is in Mexico City. Richard Campbell's in London, England. |
| 0:05.5 | I'm here, though, and I'm glad you're here. We'll talk about Windows 11, that Patch Tuesday update. |
| 0:10.8 | So bad, it required two emergency fixes. |
| 0:14.3 | Earnings come out for Microsoft this week. We'll have the details as they come in. |
| 0:20.6 | And we're going to talk about AI coding and how it changes everything. |
| 0:26.5 | All of that's coming up next on Windows Weekly. |
| 0:31.6 | Podcasts you love from people you trust. |
| 0:35.7 | This is Twitter. |
| 0:46.5 | This is Windows Weekly with Paul Therod and Richard Campbell, |
| 0:52.5 | episode 968, recorded Wednesday, January 28th, 2026. |
| 0:54.7 | Uncharted territory. |
| 0:57.7 | It's time for Windows Weekly. |
| 0:58.9 | Hello, you winners. |
| 1:00.3 | Nice to see you. |
| 1:01.8 | And you dozers too. |
| 1:03.8 | You don't have to wake up for this. |
| 1:16.0 | It's just Paul Therat coming to us from Mexico City in beautiful Mexico, where there is ice storm no it got down into the 50s last night I mean it was well that is chilly oh my goodness got to put on a sarrapi to wear a long |
| 1:21.2 | sleeve shirt I don't know I mean meanwhile back in McCongy it's probably still sub-zero. |
| 1:28.2 | I handed my phone to this guy we know in a bar last night to show him the weather back home. |
| 1:33.0 | And he was looking at it and he goes, is this Fahrenheit? |
| 1:39.1 | It's a big difference. |
| 1:40.2 | Actually, when it gets to 40 below, it doesn't matter, does it? |
... |
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