TOP STORIES #64

The big news this week was Microsoft's launch of the CoPilot+ PC's and the Build conference, and of course the CoPilot + AI PC was hyped like crazy - lots more on this below.

Next week, when the dust has settled, there will probably be more serious news about what was announced at Build.

Last Week's TOP STORIES #63 is here.

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Hardware

Intel's next-gen Lunar Lake processors will launch in new AI PCs sooner than you think

Intel is promising that you will see its Lunar Lake generation of CPUs with 45 TOPS NPU processing ability to compete with ARM sooner than you may think. From what we can see from Dell's major roadmap leak, it does look like we may very well see computers with this CPU before the end of the year. So, as interesting as the Qualcomm CPU's may look it may be worth holding off any big decisions for a few months so we can let the dust settle.

You can read more about the latest roadmap announcements here.

Microsoft announces Surface Laptop with Snapdragon CPU

Microsoft has announced its first "next generation" ARM-based CoPilot+ laptop. Given that it is the first generation of the "new generation" and Microsoft's third attempt (more on that below), this piece of hardware is impressive.

What is even more mind-blowing is that this will look quite "old school" in a year from now when the next generation CPU's are released. Read more about the Microsoft announcement here.

NB!!! All the big brands like Dell, HP, Lenovo etc.... are releasing computers like this, so it is important to consider your options.

It is highly recommended that you contact your First Tech account manager to make arrangements to see this new generation of laptops in action.

See the Thunderbolt story below.... it's great to be buying these fancy new notebooks that are NOT Intel-based and thus have no Thunderbolt ports, but now you may need some extra assistance in deciding what docking solutions you may need.......So when you are talking to your FTG hardware specialists, it is important to bring up the question of docking bays that you can standardise on.

Is Thunderbolt 3/4/5 (Intel only) compatible with USB 4?

Thunderbolt is proprietary to Intel and strictly controlled when it comes to the certification of devices - USB-4 not so much, and that's a problem......

USB-4 is an open standard that is used by everybody else - AMD and Qualcomm - and with the latest ARM Windows 11 based computers being released, USB-4 is going to be something you will need to know a lot more about as there is a huge ecosystem of Thunderbolt peripherals that you now need to know if your new computer will connect to them and know what docking unit to get. Here is a Windows Central article that helps you understand some of the complexity. That article, in turn, refers to a more detailed comparison between the standards here.

Microsoft

Build Conference

The big news of the week was the Build Conference preceded by the announcement of the CoPilot plus PCS.

Here is a video summary of the key announcements from the build conference. Of course, Microsoft's announcements influenced much of this week's letter.

Windows 11 24H2 Preview released

Though the Microsoft AI announcements this week have been very impressive, the reality is that the next big release of Windows 11 is on track for a release in September/October but does not yet have AI features like Recall integrated into the preview for you to test.

You can read more about what is available and how to install it here, and more detail here on what to expect in the final preview.

CoPilot Plus PC's

Hype Alert!!!

Try not to get sucked into the hype relating to the announcements regarding AI capabilities on Qualcomm-based PCs ahead of Intel and AMD (here is an article that "de-hypes" Recall). The first batch are based on Qualcomm, but the rest are coming soon. The significance of Windows now being available on ARM-based devices is huge, but it is important that you do not rush into making major decisions around buying these new ARM-based notebooks too hastily.

The most interesting feature is Recall, but actually this is not a new idea - Microsoft had a feature called timeline in Windows 10, but stopped supporting it in 2021, and this capability has been available on MAC's as a product called Rewind for more than a year.

Directions on Microsoft has also published a blog on their thoughts regarding Microsoft's latest attempt to entice companies to use ARM, and makes a good point that this is actually Microsoft's third attempt. You can read more here.

Of course, Recall alone, if used, will require around 50Gig of local storage, which underscores my recommendation going back quite some time to make sure your new PC's have a minimum of 512Gig storage with 32 Gig RAM for this and MANY other reasons in the future.

You can read more about how Recall works here in addition to all the links above.

Mandatory MFA for Azure Clarified

Earlier this month Microsoft made an announcement that MFA will be required for all Azure users which caused a bit of drama because Microsoft was not very clear on the details.

Basically Microsoft clarified with the following: "In addition, service accounts, managed identities, workload identities and other token-based automation accounts will be excluded from the MFA requirement, NajShahid from Microsoft said. For cases where no workaround is available, there will be an exception process, which Microsoft will detail via official notifications."

Directions on Microsoft has a great summary of this change in MFA requirements here.

It is recommended that you contact your First Tech account manager to put you in touch with our Azure experts to assist with any challenges or questions you may regarding this change.

Microsoft reminds everybody that Windows 10 is "EOL"

Microsoft recently launched a page that reminds you about Windows 10 coming to the end of support. Actually, there is a whole raft of products coming to the end of their useful lives, which I'll be addressing in #65 next week. In the meantime, you can start preparing to mourn the end of Windows 10 here (unless you want to spend a serious amount of money to extend support).

Cloud & AI

Is GPT-5 next?

It seems that increases in intelligence are still exponential, but they are not likely to follow the GPT 3 -4- -5-....... naming convention. One reason may be that the increase in intelligence will not be deserving of a version number increment. Whatever names these new intelligences are given, what is sure is that we are close to "human brain" capability.

These are incredible things to ponder - you can read more here.

Security

Recall and Security

This is unleashing a huge debate when it comes to what could happen with your data dutifully recorded by Recall - and for sure understanding how to make sure computers are secured is becoming increasingly important. You can read a great article on this debate here. Just imagine how hectic this is going to get when Recall records all your audio and video as well

BitLocker used against you.

Here is news of a new attack that uses BitLocker against yourself to ransom you. Once code-execution capability has been obtained, it is effectively "game over".

This serves as a reminder that you can never be vigilant enough to be able to pick up signs that you may be under attack, and to constantly be reviewing your attack surface exposure. You can read more about this new nasty attack here.

What's up at FTG

CoPilot Readiness Workshops are available You can register for them here or here.

Copilot for Security Join BUI, (FTG’s Azure, Cloud and Security specialists) for an exclusive one-on-one demo session featuring Microsoft Security Copilot!

This is a prime opportunity for your team to experience the forefront of technology with our latest release. Dive into discussions about defining and understanding the consumption needs specific to your organisation.

Reserve your spot now! Sign up here.

NEW! FTG's BUI MonthlySecurity Blog

FTG's Azure and security division has launched a blog focused on Security - what's new, what changed and what you need to do to maintain a good security posture. The blog will be published monthly - and here is the 1st one - it's only 4mins long, and has some interesting information about:

New Recommendations in Entra ID
Entra Admin Center Updates
Conditional Access Policies Renaming
Phasing Out Legacy Identity Protection Policies

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