WW 972: I'm A Tolkien Scholar - Phil Spencer & Sarah Bond Depart Xbox
Windows Weekly (Audio)
Leo Laporte
4.3 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2026
⏱️ 148 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Just last week, we asked about Phil Spencer and why he's been so quiet lately. Now we know why! Also, OneDrive for the Mac is finally going to look like it belongs on the Mac. And Google Chrome finally picks up a split view like the rest of the planet, plus a few other new features.
PHIL SPENCER OUT AT XBOX
- Phil Spencer has retired from Microsoft and his heir-apparent, Sarah Bond, left Microsoft as well
- Report details the Xbox reorg
- Ex-Xbox executive issues an old guy shouting at sky assessment
- New Microsoft Gaming CEO discusses "return to Xbox"
- Hot-take: This person seems unqualified to run Xbox/MS Gaming, but let's give her a chance
- Alternative hot-take: She is literally here to wind down this business, which makes no sense... unless there's a spin-off
Windows
- WSJ report sheds some light, and adds a lot of confusion, to Nvidia's Windows PC plans
- Week D arrived on time this month
- Preview of March Patch Tuesday updates
- Network speed test, pan and tilt in Camera settings, sysmon, RSAT improvements, Quick Machine Recovery improvements, WEBP background image support, Emoji 16.0
- And you thought the Canary channel was weird already
- New builds for Canary, Dev, and Beta. Canary gets features we already saw elsewhere, Dev and Beta get context menu, settings, and Taskbar improvements
- Paul has published (an incomplete version of) De-Enshittify Windows 11
- De-enshittifying Copilot and AI is doable but not yet automated
- What about the alternatives?
- Next step: Security and Apps chapters
- HP revenues up 6.9 percent to $14.4 billion but RAM warning is more dire than expected
- Apple to add multitouch to MacBook Pro lineup in late 2026. Oh the irony
AI
- Xbox February update brings 1440p streaming to Xbox consoles, updates for Xbox ROG Ally, more
- Xbox app is delivering post-game recaps on Windows 11 for Insiders
- EA had the most game downloads on PC and console in 2025, thanks to having the three most popular AAA games of the year (BF6, EA Sports FC 25, and EA Sports FC 26). Microsoft was number two, followed by Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Sony. Fortnite is somehow still the biggest game overall on console, and Counter-Strike 2 (!!!!) is the biggest on PC. 20 million Fortnite players on PS, 15 million on Xbox
Tips and picks
- Tip of the week: OneDrive for the Mac
- App pick of the week: Google Chrome
- RunAs Radio this week: SaaS on Multiple Clouds with Steve Buchanan
- Brown liquor pick of the week: Sons of Vancouver Wheated Rye Whisky
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 Theron and Richard Camel are here. We're going to talk about the big changes that just happened at Xbox. Paul, Xbox. Paul says no cause for concern in all likelihood. His new book just came out. We'll tell you what it is and how to get it. And then Richard has a local whiskey that sounds pretty sweet. |
| 0:22.0 | All of that. |
| 0:22.6 | Coming up next on Windows Whiskey. |
| 0:24.6 | I'm Weekly. |
| 0:29.2 | Podcasts you love. |
| 0:30.9 | From people you trust. |
| 0:33.5 | This is Twitter. |
| 0:49.8 | This is Twit. This is Windows Weekly with Paul Therat and Richard Campbell, episode 972, recorded Wednesday, February 25th, 2026. |
| 0:51.9 | I'm a Tolkien scholar. |
| 0:53.6 | It's time for Windows Weekly. |
| 0:56.0 | Hello, you winners and you dozers. |
| 1:03.5 | You can doze through this if you want, but you won't want to because looky, looky, it's Paul Therot from Therot.com. |
| 1:05.9 | He is in beautiful Mexico City. |
| 1:06.6 | Hello, Paul. |
| 1:09.6 | Are there any cars burning in your neighborhood? |
| 1:11.5 | I don't think there any cars actually burning in the entire country. |
| 1:13.4 | I'm not saying this is fake news, but I am saying I'm safer here than I am in the United States. |
| 1:18.0 | And one more person reaches out to me. |
| 1:20.4 | I know. |
| 1:20.9 | I bet. |
| 1:21.1 | Tell me I've got to come home immediately. |
| 1:22.9 | I bet. |
... |
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