It might not get the same kind of attention as Google and Apple, but Microsoft is still one of the biggest and most powerful tech companies operating today. It runs Azure, one of the biggest cloud computing services, and maintains Windows 11 and the whole Office suite of software. It also makes plenty of Surface hardware and has a whole slew of gaming products, including the Xbox Series X. But the company is ever expanding — building new hardware, acquiring new game studios, and making sure that even if Microsoft doesn’t run your phone, it can touch plenty of the apps on it.
Pause updates “for as long as you need.”
A smaller taskbar is also on the way later this year.
Chessington World of Adventures is getting a new rollercoaster, “interactive adventures,” and, of course, a bunch of block-built attractions. There’s no exact opening date yet, but in the meantime, fans in Buenos Aires will be able to craft gear and explore “iconic Minecraft biomes” at Minecraft Experience: Moonlight Trail when it opens this May.
The Copilot buttons in Windows 11 have been getting out of control, and Microsoft is now starting to walk some of them back. It’s all part of the sweeping changes coming to Windows 11 to improve performance, reliability, and user experience. Microsoft says it’s “reducing unnecessary Copilot entry points, starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets and Notepad.”
According to Microsoft, MAI-Image-2 offers improvements like “enhanced photorealism” and more reliable text generation in images. It’s rolling out now in Copilot and the Bing Image Creator.
Starting May 31st, 2026, the Microsoft-owned SwiftKey will stop supporting Google and Apple accounts, according to Windows Central. Though you don’t need an account to use SwiftKey on its own, you’ll need to sign in with Microsoft to continue syncing your most-used words across devices and receive personalized typing suggestions.
Apple’s new affordable MacBook should have the Windows world rethinking things.
Microsoft’s big GDC announcement turned out to be bringing Xbox mode to every Windows 11 PC, starting next month. It’s the latest encouraging sign after Xbox’s big leadership shakeup, but Microsoft has work to do to earn back users’ trust.
Brick_wall_56:
On the surface, this seems great. I’m a moron who has my PC hooked up to my living room TV with Steam Big Picture mode booting at launch. I yearn for something like this.
But I have absolutely zero faith in Microsoft pulling this off in any way that makes me want to turn it on. There’s not a single MS product I enjoy using at this point, and I have no idea why this would be any different.
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
We’d heard it was at the Game Developers Conference and here it is: the original metal X prototype, which predated the Bill Gates / The Rock stage reveal of the actual console. Also see a few other items from Xbox history in my quick gallery:
We’re in line for Microsoft’s keynote, but look what we spotted at its booth at GDC! “Cross-platform is the future of the Xbox ecosystem,” it writes. “Build for Xbox on PC.” Again, the future of Xbox is W.
These images posted to X by the official Microsoft Game Dev account actually appear to show existing dev kits for older console models like the Xbox One and Series X — but given they’re tagged as a “sneak peek” for GDC 2026, the Project Helix hardware may be revealed soon.
Fortune has a report on how Epstein got into Gates’ inner circle, and then leveraged a bridge player rumored to be Gates’ ex-girlfriend against him: “The richest man in the world is so cheap, his former bridge girl and toy, lives on a friends sofa,” Epstein wrote. Epstein wanted Gates to manage a “donor-advised fund” to reduce his taxes.
Microsoft sure seems to be hinting so! And I suspect Tom is right about what that means. (Better W than L, right?) The company will be at GDC on Wednesday with a “Building for the future with Xbox” keynote session.
The Cowork integration was built in close collaboration with Anthropic and aims to help Copilot perform “long-running, multi-step tasks,” according to Microsoft’s announcement. The feature is in testing and will be available to preview later this month through Microsoft’s Frontier program.
Prompted by recent GitHub outages, OpenAI is in the early stages of developing its own code repository, with completion still months away. The company is considering making it available to OpenAI customers, putting the ChatGPT creator in direct competition with Microsoft, a company holding a significant stake in OpenAI.
[The Information]
AI companies could stand together to draw red lines on military AI — why aren’t they?
The Asus NUC 16 and Dell Pro Desktop for Windows 365, both arriving in Q3 2026, are the latest “Cloud PCs” from Microsoft, following the Windows 365 Link from 2024. They’re designed for businesses accessing Windows from the cloud with added security features like a “small, locked-down operating system” called Windows CPC.
[Windows Experience Blog]
Tom Warren joins Decoder to discuss what Phil Spencer’s departure means for the future of Xbox.
Epstein “found success boring into the inner sanctums of Microsoft,” according to The New York Times, more so than any other major tech company. New Justice Department documents show he spent a decade networking with top Microsoft executives, including Bill Gates, Nathan Myhrvold, and Steven Sinofsky, even after serving time for soliciting a minor.
[The New York Times]
Microsoft gaming CEO Asha Sharma says almost nothing’s been decided about the future of Xbox, telling Windows Central:
Right now, I need to learn, candidly. About the ‘why’ of these decisions, what we were optimizing for, and what the data says about the Xbox strategy today. That’s the honest answer. I’m looking at lifetime value, not just what happened in a previous moment, or in short term efficiencies and things like that. The plan’s the plan until it’s not the plan.
Nothing might be the right thing to promise at a moment like this. But she also says hardware news announcements are coming.
Microsoft has a new gaming CEO who wants to bring Xbox back from the brink.
Over the last few years, Microsoft has been bringing its big exclusive franchises to rival platforms like PlayStation and Switch. Satya Nadella even said he wanted to “get rid of” console exclusives — that might not be a great move. But the new Xbox boss seems open to the idea that the console’s identity hinges on exclusives.
Windows MIDI Services is ready for primetime and brings support for MIDI 2.0 and improvements to MIDI 1.0 to Microsoft machines. This includes support for higher resolution expression, loopback, and bidirectional communication with MIDI 2.0 hardware. Now with the major OS providers onboard, maybe adoption of MIDI 2.0 will pick up steam.
[Windows Experience Blog]
Like Phil Spencer, Bond had a note for the employees at Xbox as she announced her departure, which she shared on LinkedIn Friday evening.
Bond:
I’ve decided this is the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally. We’re living through a transformative technological era that will shape the next generation of our industry, and I’m energized by what’s ahead. This moment also presents a unique opportunity for fresh eyes and new leadership to guide the team into its next chapter.
The big shakeup at Xbox means that Asha Sharma is taking over for Phil Spencer as CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Her previous role at Microsoft was AI-focused, and here’s what she has to say about utilizing AI for games:
As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.
