For a long, long time, Windows looked like Windows. The version numbers and features changed, but the basic structure of the computer didn’t. With Windows 8, Microsoft tried to completely change things… and we know how that went over. So Windows, by and large, went back to being Windows. And people were mostly grateful for that.
Now, though, the whole platform is once again up in the air. To hear Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tell it, you may not even use your own computer for long! The future, Microsoft believes, is agents. And so it is putting agents in every nook and cranny of Windows, starting with the taskbar.
On this episode of The Vergecast, Nilay and David try to figure out what Microsoft is up to, and what a big push toward agent-ifying your computer might actually look like. They also talk about the launch of Gemini 3, Google’s best model yet, and whether Google is starting to build a lead over the rest of the industry.
After that, the hosts discuss the end of the Meta antitrust trial, in which Judge Boasberg found that Meta was not a monopoly. Boasberg’s opinion is a smart and somewhat cutting take on the current state of the web — and includes some Greek philosophy, which we can’t help but talk about. This case definitely isn’t over, but it’s looking good for Meta so far.
Finally, in the lightning round, it’s time for a jam-packed episode of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, followed by talk of Matter 1.5, MS NOW’s rebrand, and the Boox Palma 2 Pro’s screen.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on Microsoft and Google:
And in Meta monopoly news:
And in the lightning round: