Windows Weekly Ep. 964: Happy New Year! - Paul & Richard Get Toasty by the Fire
Date: December 28, 2025
Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell
Episode Overview
This special year-end edition of Windows Weekly departs from tech news and instead brings together Paul Thurrott and Richard Campbell—literally, side-by-side—to swap stories, reminisce about their histories, talk about their families, and toast the holidays. Host Leo Laporte steers the conversation with warmth and humor, encouraging a relaxed, personal vibe. Largely skipping all current Microsoft drama, this episode is filled with tales of personal and professional journeys, favorite gadgets, and a playful look at the world of tech past and present.
Festive Setup & Banter
00:00 – 06:50
- Paul and Richard join Leo from Pennsylvania, cozied up by the fire. They share the scene—Surface Studio, HP Omnibook, whiskey, gin, rum, and mutual ribbing about their holiday attire.
- “It’s really, truly a Christmas miracle.” – Leo [01:16]
- Stories swap immediately: favorite drinks, a little lampooning of each other's gear (“This thing is hot.” – Paul [02:42]) and attire (“Paul’s wearing shorts... look like you could be a school crossing monitor at a Christmas school.” – Leo [02:59])
Family Holidays & Childhood Memories
06:50 – 17:19
Paul’s Best Christmas Gift
- Leo asks: “What was your favorite Christmas memory, Paul?” [09:02]
- Paul: “Getting Barry Manilow’s greatest hits as a young man really was…” [09:09]
- He genuinely appreciated it—and still saw Barry live just last year.
Richard’s Holiday Tech Origin Story
- Richard: “My father… an electrical engineer, got me my first soldering iron.” [11:57]
- Anecdotes about being forced to solder as practice, turning passions into life skills and jobs.
- “Never forget your first [soldering iron], do you?” – Leo [12:08]
Fateful Blow-Up Stories
- Richard recounts blowing a capacitor in the service room as a youth, the mentor Tyler’s reaction (“So what have we learned?” [17:08]), and the long-term love for hands-on tech.
Family Histories and Influence
17:20 – 41:13
- Both hosts describe how their parents’ careers and interests shaped them.
- Paul: Dad was a Boston cop, then worked for Lutron (“the heart of Lutron country,” [18:49]); mom was a nurse.
- Richard: Dad was an electrical engineer working on S100 bus cash registers (computers for POS systems), mother was office manager.
- Nostalgic for the heyday of Radio Shack and electronics stores where you could buy resistors from bins.
- “One of the saddest things of the modern age is the stores where you… you can’t go buy those anymore” – Leo [14:06]
World Travel, Family Backstories, and Migration
41:14 – 62:36
Paul’s Mexico City Adventure
- Paul shares how he and his wife ended up buying a home in Mexico City after decades of European travel plans were derailed by COVID.
- “I have an idea. You’re going to want to interrupt me. Just let me get through this. I think we should go to Mexico.” – Paul [25:50]
- Describes finding and buying an apartment on a whim, leading to “Eternal Spring”—a book, website, and YouTube channel chronicling their experience.
Richard’s Trans-World Family
- Scottish ancestors emigrated to Canada, with family moving to New Zealand; mother’s side has wild stories of rubber-smuggling ancestors and wartime intelligence.
- “Move to a different hemisphere. So my grandmother, grandfather moved back to BC and my father married a Kiwi and had me.” – Richard [33:59]
Jokes About Nationalities and Shared Heritage
- Banter about being Canadian, New Zealander, relationships with the US and Australia; mutual ribbing about sheep and cows.
- “You both worship the same king.” – Leo [39:30] (re: King Charles for Canada/NZ)
Tech Nostalgia — First Computers, Favorite Products, Early Days
62:37 – 88:13
Early Microsoft Experiences
- Paul’s first impressions were negative—back in the Amiga and Commodore days.
- “My earliest understanding of Microsoft was really negative because I had Amiga, they did the basic, I hated it.” – Paul [43:45]
- Turning point with Office 6 and Windows 3.1/95 era (“I thought that was where they started to pick up a little bit of... good design.” [44:47])
- Group shares memories of early database programs, DBASE, buying kits, writing software, and hardware hacks.
- “Kids today, you don’t remember, you don’t know… and we suffered.” – Leo [54:43]
Favorite Old Hardware and Gaming Memories
- The gang swaps stories of Intellivision, Amiga, Northstar Advantage computers, and the dawn of multitasking.
- “We suffered....” [54:49]
- “Sea Battle was amazing” – Paul [48:59]
- “If a guy skated straight at you on the upper board, you hit him with your stick just right, he would flip over the board.” – Richard [49:39]
COMDEX/Trade Show Anecdotes
- Descriptions of staying in Vegas dump hotels, grabbing pounds of printed flyers, carrying out “free chlamydia” from Circus Circus [59:22], and the surreal nature of those early tech conventions.
Inside Microsoft — Executives, Influence, Company Directions
88:14 – 89:01
Microsoft Execs, Past and Present
- Colorful stories: Ballmer’s pint-of-honey rituals, demanding style, and his “nice shirt” moment with Paul [66:54], Panos Panay drama (“He locked the door behind me… Like a mob meeting.” – Paul [64:16]), leaks, and hardware announcements.
- Satya Nadella — his tenure, transition to AI, and speculation about Microsoft’s next era.
- “He was the Bing guy.” – Paul [73:59]
- Reflections on cloud, AI, AWS—what the world knows (and doesn’t know) about Microsoft and competitors.
- “If I were to say it’s the cloud, that would be like, well, that’s electricity.” – Leo [75:33]
Favorite Microsoft Products & Their Legacy
89:02 – 89:49
- Early items: Professional BASIC, Office, Visual Studio (“I like the realignment of the leadership and some of the new people are coming into play.” – Richard [88:13])
- Wistfulness for the time when Windows was the center of everything at Microsoft, and how the company is undergoing a new generational shift.
- “It’s a new era.… Leadership is split up a little bit more between different people.” – Paul [88:49]
Economic Outlook, AI Bubble, and the Future
89:50 – 90:27
- Discussion about AI, the tech market, and the potential for a bubble/crash reminiscent of 2000/2008; nervous gallows humor about investments and economic resilience.
- “Look, the plane’s crashing. You’re just hoping for a water landing.” – Paul [84:53]
Hopes for 2026 & Closing Toast
90:28 – end
- Paul hopes for clarity and opt-in AI approaches for Windows 12.
- Richard is excited by new company leadership and the opportunities for a new generation at Microsoft.
- Universal appreciation for the audience, Leo’s gentle digs about drinking, and the show’s unique holiday flavor.
- “You’re all winners in my eyes, guys. Well, except for you, Kev Brewer. You’re kind of a…” – Paul [80:03]
- “The clothes are only coming off at this point, Leo.” – Paul [90:43]
- “Watching the world burn… No, there’s not going to—bring the marshmallows.” – Richard [90:19]
Memorable Quotes
- “Better than like little bits of iron or something, you know… I mean.” – Paul, after Richard’s capacitor story [16:29]
- “My earliest understanding of Microsoft was really negative because I had Amiga, they did the basic, I hated it.” – Paul [43:45]
- “It’s a Pennsylvania old Fart. It’s nice. Local holiday tradition.” – Paul [07:45]
- “We know you’re in there. Come on… with our checks. Yeah, classic.” – Paul on Boston cops [19:48]
- “The unsung hero who is now… Hopefully a little bit all the drunk.” – Paul, about their producer [80:24]
Highlight Timestamps
- 09:02 — Christmas memories and best gifts
- 15:25 — Spectrum analyzer explosion/early hardware hacking
- 25:50/27:03 — The decision to move to Mexico City
- 33:59 — Richard’s sprawling family migration story
- 43:45 — Paul’s earliest distaste for Microsoft basic
- 54:43 — “Kids today, you don’t remember, you don’t know... and we suffered.”
- 66:54 — Paul’s “Nice shirt” Ballmer encounter
- 84:53 — “Look, the plane’s crashing: you’re just hoping for a water landing.”
- 88:13 — New Microsoft leadership and Richard’s hopes for VS2026
- 90:43 — Paul jokes about “the clothes only coming off at this point”
Tone & Atmosphere
- Laid-back, warm, and irreverent, with plenty of laughter, gentle teasing, and a genuine sense of friendship.
- Openness and nostalgia dominate—a break from the usual format, inviting listeners into the hosts’ personal worlds.
- A mixture of candid storytelling, tech reminiscence, and forecasts, providing both entertainment and insight for die-hard fans and casual listeners alike.
Conclusion:
No Microsoft news or technical deep-dives this week. Instead, listeners get holiday cheer, life stories, real talk, and a sense that, even in the fast-changing world of tech, some traditions and friendships (and old hardware) never go out of style.