Windows Weekly #954: “We’re Just Getting Started”

Date: October 15, 2025
Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell
Main Theme: Windows 10’s “End of Support” Day, the future of Windows & Apps, Copilot/AI evolution, and the changing hardware/software landscape at Microsoft.

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Microsoft’s official “end of support” date for Windows 10 and why, from the hosts’ perspectives, it’s not the dramatic transition or existential PC crisis some media claim. The team unpacks new developments in Windows 11, Copilot/AI features, cross-platform password management and hardware, as well as shifts in the broader PC business. There’s an extended, thoughtful discussion on the future of apps in an AI-centric world, followed by the usual mix of tips, picks, and deep dives into Windows and technology history.

Key Topics & Discussions

1. Windows 10 End of Support (But Not Really!)

• The Context ([03:33])

  • Leo: “Yesterday was the last patch Tuesday for you Windows 10 folk.”
  • Paul & Richard: Stress this isn’t an abrupt cut-off or a unique event. Extended Security Updates (ESU) and workarounds mean most users won’t be stranded.
  • Paul: “If you actually follow the Windows 11 hardware requirements... you’re talking about a computer from 2017 or older.”
  • 404 Media’s claim of 400 million PCs going to landfill is dismissed as “nonsense” ([03:59]).

• ESU & Windows 11 Options ([04:12]-[05:13])

  • Paul: “If you’ve backed up, by which I mean synced your settings through the Windows Backup app… you’ll just get the year [of extended support]. It’s free. You don’t have to do anything.”
  • No need to panic: Microsoft Defender AV keeps working, and “for the foreseeable future, you’ll probably be fine” even if one stays on Win10.

• Handling a Security Crisis ([06:33]-[07:10])

  • Richard: “There’s no way Microsoft doesn’t push out a patch.”
  • Leo: “They did that last time… it was a UK hospital event [with Windows 7], and they fixed it.”

• Why This Isn’t the “Extinction Event” Media Claims ([08:22]-[09:39])

  • Paul compares the longevity of Windows support (11 years) to Apple or Google platforms—none match it.
  • Paul: “There are many, many more phones and tablets that are out of support too... but all the outrage is for Microsoft.”
  • Paul: “I think Microsoft has done right by this audience, frankly… they did something unprecedented by making [ESU] free.”

2. Patch Tuesday & Windows 11: The Latest Updates

• Windows 10 Patch “Finale” ([11:48]-[12:46])

  • Windows 10 gets ongoing security updates. The end of feature updates was the big news; now it’ll be a stable, uneventful OS—good for some users.

• Windows 11: Copilot and Desktop Improvements ([12:56]-[15:33])

  • Copilot Plus features are rolling out, with:
    • Summarize actions in Click-to-Do.
    • Settings agent that shows you direct configuration choices.
    • File Explorer context menu updates, including AI Actions.
    • Positioning hardware indicator overlays.
    • Cleaner context menu icons and appearance.
    • New keyboard shortcuts for em/en dashes.
  • Paul demonstrates special character/emoji features via Win + . ([15:42]-[17:35])
    • Leo: “This is a little handy little thing… Windows key, yeah, that’s right.”

• Administrative Protection Feature ([19:00])

  • Added in 25H2, off by default. Paul: “You will hate it. I just want to be super clear about that.”

• Clipboard/Typing Improvements

  • Clipboard history, easier special character finding (including emojis even for “adults”).
  • Paul: “Eventually the keyboard will be one giant key that will just be the emoji key. And that’s how we’re going to…”

3. Insider/Preview Builds: What’s New? ([27:55]-[44:23])

• Copilot App Preview Updates ([28:02]-[29:16])

  • Addition of “connectors” for OneDrive, Outlook, Google Drive, Google Calendar/Contacts.
  • Natural language queries over your personal data.

• The End of Apps?

  • Paul: “I think this is the beginning of the end of apps as we know them.” ([29:17])
  • App actions (e.g., right-click image → remove background) increasingly abstracted away from visible apps: “These things will essentially be UI-less… you’ll just say it aloud, and you won’t care what program does it.”

• More Device Integration, Drag Tray, and Dark Mode Consistency ([41:08]-[43:19])

  • New “drag tray” makes sharing easier by suggesting relevant apps when you drag files up the screen.
  • Subtle UI tweaks: finally, File Explorer option dialogs in dark mode.

• OneDrive Icon Redesign

  • Paul: “Given the commentary… on inconsistency, thy name is Windows… they keep doing it.”

4. Hardware Updates & Copilot Plus Devices ([49:08]-[58:07])

• Snapdragon X-based Desktop PCs

  • Lenovo’s ThinkCentre Neo 50 Q QC—a very compact SFF ARM Windows machine.
  • First impressions: “It’s neat!… But there’s only one USB-C, and it’s on the front and doesn’t support DisplayPort. That’s a fatal flaw.”
  • No Windows Hello facial/fingerprint out of box (but PIN is available); fingerprint support coming for external readers.

• Entry-level Snapdragon X Laptops

  • Paul heaps praise on a $600 ARM laptop: “It is better than 95% of laptops I review. It’s awesome.”

• Rumors of Low-cost ARM MacBooks Echo ARM/Windows Trends

  • Apple expected to release $500-600 MacBook with A-series chip: “That’s the Snapdragon X of that world.”

• Intel’s Next-Gen Chips: Arrow Lake, Panther Lake ([59:37]-[65:59])

  • New 2nm process, made in Arizona, Answers US “CHIPS” Act ambitions.
  • Paul: “Performance and efficiency are there, but reliability has been lacking. It’s a fundamental they must nail.”

5. Market & Global Trends ([69:06]-[74:09])

• PC Sales: Where’s the Growth?

  • Worldwide sales up 9.4% YoY, but US is flat; Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific strong growth.
  • Tariffs impact US growth; supply chain uncertainties are causing price volatility.
  • Paul: “We [the US] just drag the rest of you guys down. We have to be good at something.” ([71:14])

• Enterprise Buyer Sensitivity to Tariffs

  • Bulk buyers highly sensitive to $100-per-unit price changes.
  • Orders don’t lock in tariff rates until arrival at port ([72:49])

6. AI and the Future of Apps & Platforms ([86:11]-[111:29])

A. Copilot, ChatGPT & End of the App Era?

• Paul’s Thesis:

  • “Apps are becoming programmatic. Increasingly, any data or workflow you want can be executed through natural language and AI.”
  • “We are approaching a moment when apps as we know them go away.”

• Examples:

  • Right-clicking an image for AI actions, or asking Copilot to summarize or automate tasks.
  • In the future, AI agents will automate complicated workflows (“take this image, make it a Wall Street Journal stipple, post it here…”).

• Richard: “The tool is supposed to serve for doing the thing. And these are new tools.”

• Voice Interface: Is It the Future? ([96:34]-[98:49])

  • Leo doubts broad uptake of voice for computers; Paul and Richard frame it as inevitable for many. Voice better matches “babbling” prompts for modern AI (“AI is actually better if you kind of blab a little bit… which is more natural when you’re talking”).

• The Disruption of Tech’s Business Model ([104:27]-[107:14])

  • App stores and browsers themselves are vulnerable to disruption.
  • “If apps go away… the App Store that Apple has and the Google Play Store don’t matter anymore.”

B. Data Sovereignty and Local AI ([109:29]-[111:29])

• Richard: At European dev conferences, “Data sovereignty suddenly took a step up in priority… Local AI is becoming more important.”
• Local-only models (on-device, Open Source) are good enough for text, summarization, light generation.

C. Rapid AI Arms Race ([111:52]–[116:08])

• Microsoft’s new in-house image model (Mai Image One) joins the parade—everyone hedges reliance on OpenAI, Google, etc.
• OpenAI’s Sora for video, Google’s Gemini Flash, Opera’s Neon browser, Perplexity’s model orchestration: The next OS/app platform may not be made by MS or Google.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Paul on Windows 10 support:
  “The truth is, you’re gonna be fine. Well, even people who stay on Windows 10 for the foreseeable future will probably be fine." ([06:33])

• Richard on emergency patches:
  “There’s no way Microsoft doesn’t push out a patch.”
  ([06:45])

• Paul on hardware requirements:
  “We’re not worried about you. You get it. You’re going to figure it out.”
  ([05:38])

• Paul on the AI future:
  “I think this is the beginning of the end of apps as we know them.”
  ([29:17])

• Leo on the media panic:
  “So people are that responsive to the fact that the price went up a hundred bucks and that just killed the sales?”
  ([71:14])

• Leo’s stipple AI demo:
  “Thanks to AI, 20 years later I got a stipple.”
  ([32:25])

• Richard on local AI:
  “What’s on the mind of European developers… Getting off US servers. Local AI is becoming one element of it.”
  ([109:46])

• Paul on browser disruption:
  “Web browsers have to go away. No one browses… It changes everything.”
  ([106:15])

Feature: “Back of the Book” (Tips, Picks, Whiskey)

Paul’s Tip of the Week ([134:54])

• Local Account Workarounds in Windows 11

  • Microsoft’s crackdown on local accounts isn’t the end—there are several command-line and JavaScript-based workarounds to install Windows 11 without a Microsoft Account.
  • “All that anger and noise over nothing… I feel like we have kind of an unspoken contract with Microsoft. As power users… Microsoft will always give us these workarounds or at least allow them to exist.”

• New OneDrive App Hidden

  • The new OneDrive app is probably already on your computer. Find it in AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\OneDriveApp.exe.
  • The photo experience in the new app is notably improved.

Richard’s RunAs Radio Pick ([143:26])

• Podcast Episode: Retiring NTLM
  • Guest Steve Sifus talks about the hard road to phase out NTLM authentication—a venerable but insecure protocol.
  • “It’s so vulnerable… a lot of hardware is built to use it only, old printers and all kinds of things. So it’s not an easy problem.”

Richard’s Whiskey Pick: Holiday Soft Red Wheat Bourbon ([147:57]–[159:52])

• Missouri Straight Bourbon, rich in US distilling history and flavor (corn-sweet, wheat-mellow). 50% ABV, $55. “One of the oldest distilleries in the United States, full stop… sweet notes, but not like corn flakes.”

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 03:33 — Windows 10 End of Life: What’s Real, What’s Not
• 11:48 — Patch Tuesday, Windows Insider/Feature Updates
• 27:55 — Copilot/Insider Channel Additions, The End of Apps
• 49:08 — Hardware: Snapdragon X Desktops, Entry-Level Laptops
• 59:37 — Intel’s Arrow Lake Launch & PC Sales/Market Trends
• 69:06 — Global PC Market, Tariffs, Enterprise Buying
• 86:11 — AI/End of Apps Future, Local AI, Platform Disruption
• 111:52 — Microsoft’s Own AI Image Model, Browser Evolution
• 134:54 — Back of the Book: Tips, RunAs Radio, Whiskey

Tone & Style

• Engaged, friendly banter with “deep dive” tangents characteristic of veteran analysts.
• Mix of practical advice, wry industry perspective (“drugs really help” for Windows design quirks), and forward-looking speculation.
• Not afraid to challenge mainstream narratives or call out both Microsoft and industry critics when warranted.
• Memorable, irreverent moments (AI stipple portrait, whiskey lore, “never seen my bottom but I know it exists because it’s killing me right now” ([22:58])).

Closing Summary

This episode gave listeners a reassuring reality check on Windows 10’s “end of support,” with detailed info on continued options and a broad view of the ongoing evolution in Windows and the PC ecosystem. The panel thoroughly explored not just what’s new in features and hardware, but how AI is transforming—and perhaps ending—the traditional idea of “apps.” The result is a rich mix of news, context, and provocative thinking: perfect for any user, power user, or tech watcher who wants to understand where Microsoft and personal tech are really heading.