Podcasts about Azure

Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ The Shift from Attention to Trust In this compelling episode, Ashleigh Vogstad, CEO of Transcends, joins Vince Menzione to discuss the tectonic shifts occurring in the global partner ecosystem. Ashleigh shares her firsthand experiences studying AI at Oxford, the rise of the “Trust Economy,” and the controversial Amazon vs. Perplexity lawsuit. They dive deep into the practicalities of becoming a “Frontier Firm,” the importance of building proprietary AI agents, and the ways Gen Z and AI-driven marketplaces are revolutionizing the buyer journey. Whether you are looking to win Microsoft Partner of the Year or navigate the demise of traditional SaaS, this conversation provides a strategic roadmap for leading through the AI revolution. Key Takeaways The economy is shifting from a focus on human attention to a foundation of verified trust. Future commerce will involve “selling to machines” as AI agents begin making purchasing decisions on behalf of humans. Microsoft is prioritizing “Frontier Firms” that integrate AI into every customer interaction and internal process. Gen Z buyers are prioritizing product value and “dupes” over traditional brand names, with 75% of buyers expected to be Gen Z by 2030. To win Partner of the Year, organizations must publicly celebrate “better together” stories with validated customer wins. Modern leaders should transition from a “growth mindset” to a “frontier mindset” to keep pace with rapid technological change. https://youtu.be/xJmd43NvfnI If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Trust Economy, Selling to Machines, Amazon vs Perplexity Lawsuit, Frontier Firm, AI Agents, Copilot Studio, Anthropic Claude, Microsoft Partner of the Year, B2B Marketplaces, Gen Z Buyer Behavior, Digital Freedom, AI Therapy, Ray Kurzweil Singularity, Substack Growth, Co-selling Partnerships, MCI Funding, Azure Accelerate, Agentic AI, Transcending Tech, Ashleigh Vogstad. Transcript Asleigh Vogstad Audio Podcast [00:00:00] Ashleigh Vogstad: The attention economy is about selling to human beings. Now, if you look at something like the Amazon versus Perplexity lawsuit, the whole underlying premise is around the shift of no longer selling to humans directly, but of selling to machines. [00:00:19] Vince Menzione: We just finished Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat here in beautiful Boca to a sold out crowd. Today I’m joined by Ashley Waad. The CEO of transcends for this compelling discussion. Ash, welcome back to the podcasts. [00:00:34] Ashleigh Vogstad: It’s so good to be here, Vince. Thank you. Uh, [00:00:37] Vince Menzione: so well, we’re back in Boca again and we were just here yesterday for the Ultimate Partner Executive Winter Retreat in person. [00:00:44] Vince Menzione: What a great event we had together. [00:00:46] Ashleigh Vogstad: It was phenomenal. Thank you so much for having us there and on stage and, and genuinely the community is like a family, so seeing so many familiar faces and spending some quality time was just great. [00:00:57] Vince Menzione: It has really, truly become like family. It really, I’m, I’m, I’m having so much fun with this and getting to watch. [00:01:04] Vince Menzione: Not just our business grow and our community grow, but to see all of our friends and, uh, organizations like Transcends that have been with us since the beginning, since the very first ultimate partner acting even before the first ultimate partner. And, uh. We were just talking about. I’d love to catch up with what you’ve been doing. [00:01:22] Vince Menzione: Like you just came, you’ve been on a whirlwind. I mean, you’re always, every time like it’s, where’s Ash? She’s, uh, she’s on a plane again, or she’s on, she’s on the slopes. But tell us where you were just this week. [00:01:34] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. The week started in a snowstorm, actually transporting myself from Whistler. I didn’t know if I would make it to the airport, but then down to Silicon Valley and [00:01:45] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:01:46] Ashleigh Vogstad: Wow, that place is just inspiring and eyeopening. I mean, seeing the Nvidia campus, a MD, it’s really just other worldly and it had me reflecting on, it’s [00:02:00] Vince Menzione: not Whistler. Yeah, it’s [00:02:02] Ashleigh Vogstad: definitely not Whistler. Definitely not Whistler [00:02:05] Vince Menzione: about, [00:02:06] Ashleigh Vogstad: um, yeah, it just had me reflecting on being down there. I used to spend a lot of time in the Valley around 2017 and. [00:02:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: In this theme of AI and kind of what’s really coming, I was, I was thinking about, I had met this woman, Julia Moss Bridge, who’s a neuroscientist studying ai. She had a project called Loving Ai, and I was down there when they had borrowed Sophia, this humanoid robot from S and Robotics. [00:02:32] Vince Menzione: Oh yes. Yes. [00:02:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: Really interesting. [00:02:34] Ashleigh Vogstad: Sophia’s actually a citizen of Saudi. Mm-hmm. First, first robot to actually be made citizen of a country. So they had Sophia set up and the part that was just mind boggling at the time was that Sophia was hosting in real life therapy sessions with actual human beings sitting across the table. And what really struck me as. [00:02:59] Ashleigh Vogstad: Kind of just, you know, that was only eight, nine years ago. And that was esoteric. Wacky and [00:03:05] Vince Menzione: eerie. [00:03:05] Ashleigh Vogstad: Weird. [00:03:05] Vince Menzione: Eerie at the time. [00:03:06] Ashleigh Vogstad: Incredibly eerie. Yeah. I mean, a, a human getting, uh, you know, therapy sessions from a robot sitting across the table. Yeah. And it just had me thinking how far we’ve come today. In 2025, Harvard Business Review said that therapy is actually the number one use case for ai. [00:03:26] Vince Menzione: I’ve heard that. That is striking. I go back to COVID. We were having this conversation last night at at the dinner for the Ultimate Partner event, and I think that COVID allowed us to transcend, [00:03:42] Ashleigh Vogstad: mm-hmm. [00:03:42] Vince Menzione: No pun intended there, but actually accelerate where we are today, that the acceptance of AI and the acceleration, or the ability to accept change so quickly. [00:03:56] Vince Menzione: Started with COVID because we were so, so we were forced on whatever it was, March 10th I think, here in the United States to shut down everything and move to this remote life. [00:04:08] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm-hmm. [00:04:09] Vince Menzione: And I think we’ve been shocked by that. I think our systems have all been shocked by that. And then here comes chat GBT in November of 2022 and we’re like. [00:04:20] Vince Menzione: Shocked in some respects, but like really everyone has embraced it in such a strong way, and now we’re getting. It’s almost daily update. You know, we’re gonna talk, I know we’re gonna talk about Anthropic and some of the things that’s been happening just in this last month that are striking and changing that have a lot of organizations trying to navigate, which is what, you know, you, you help organizations do. [00:04:43] Vince Menzione: But it feels like this is happening so fast and will continue to happen so fast. And as I said yesterday, I don’t know what this world’s gonna look like by 2030. [00:04:53] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, and I think the thing is, is that nobody knows what the world is gonna look like in 2030. I’ve been reading Ray Kurz Well’s, the Singularity is nearer, so the original book, the Singularity is near and he’s known to be a very accurate predictionist on the future. [00:05:11] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. But even with someone like that, you know, there, there nobody really knows what the world is gonna look like. And when you talk about COVID. At transcends, we have a value of digital freedom. So I founded the business in 2018, which was pre COVID. I as a fully remote organization, and at the time that was, you know, more groundbreaking, but then very quickly with CI that, that became the so-called new normal. [00:05:37] Ashleigh Vogstad: But we’re always thinking about. You know, remote first doesn’t mean remote only, and I think in this tide of what you’ve talked about, technological change being more acceptable and the pace of change. One of the interesting things that we see as a go-to-market agency is that in-person events are increasing. [00:05:56] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:05:57] Ashleigh Vogstad: People want and crave the face-to-face. Just like with the ultimate partner series. [00:06:02] Vince Menzione: I felt it. So it was striking yesterday. It, it seems like it’s, again, this was event number nine for us, but to see the, um, uh, receptiveness isn’t the right term, but it was this, uh, people, the, the embracing. Of seeing each other and hugging each other and being in the same room with each other. [00:06:22] Vince Menzione: And even people that didn’t know each other, like by the, the, as the day evolved, this, uh, connection that they all seemed to have with one another during the sessions and participating, everyone actively participated in the sessions. And, um, I said this in the beginning, we’re not a Slack channel and we’re not like some post on LinkedIn. [00:06:43] Vince Menzione: Uh, we’re there, there’s no playbook that’s set today around partnerships or even go to markets and marketing that we could espouse and say, this is the playbook for the next year. Right. It’s, it’s changing so rapidly. [00:06:55] Ashleigh Vogstad: So rapidly, [00:06:57] Vince Menzione: and you’ve embraced it. And I, and what we’re gonna talk about right now, I mean, I, I, you know, you’ve embraced AI in such a strong way. [00:07:04] Vince Menzione: Um, personally and with your business, I want to, I wanna dive in here a little bit. First of all, a couple things For those of those who are listening who don’t know you, I think maybe just a moment about transcends and your role, and then I wanna dive in on how you’re thinking about ai because I know you’re doing some things personally. [00:07:22] Vince Menzione: I want you to share that with, with our listeners and viewers today. [00:07:25] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, great. And I just wanna comment that it was a cool moment yesterday being up on stage with yourself and Mark Monday from ServiceNow and having the audience so engaged and active and Nina Harding from Microsoft stepping up and entering the conversation. [00:07:40] Vince Menzione: So cool. [00:07:41] Ashleigh Vogstad: It just made for such a collaborative experience, which was a cool moment, but yeah. Um, so. I founded this business, transcends a go-to-market agency after being at Microsoft myself. And really our differentiation is deep strategic partnerships with hyperscalers, whether that’s AWS, Google, Microsoft, and you know, that. [00:08:03] Ashleigh Vogstad: It comes with a challenge to be on the leading edge of technology. [00:08:08] Vince Menzione: Yes, [00:08:09] Ashleigh Vogstad: it, it’s really an imperative for our business and we are an AI first firm. Microsoft talks a lot about Frontier Firm, and I’ll take a, a different kind of angle on it. You know, when I think about Frontier. I now think about it as instead of the growth mindset, I now think about a frontier mindset. [00:08:28] Vince Menzione: Frontier mindset. You have to change my principles. [00:08:32] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, maybe, like you said, the world is changing so rapidly. Yeah, it’s [00:08:36] Vince Menzione: changing rapidly. [00:08:36] Ashleigh Vogstad: And what a frontier mindset means is that as we’re approaching work for our clients, we are thinking about AI innovation in every single customer. Interaction, customer innovation. [00:08:49] Ashleigh Vogstad: So today we’re building AI agents into much of the work that we’re delivering for clients. And as a business owner and leader, I’ve been challenged to also think critically around how I’m choosing to run the company. And right now we’re going through a huge overhaul of where we have data sitting in silos and different applications. [00:09:09] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yep. And getting that into one place with one view so we can start layering on more insight. AI innovation. [00:09:17] Vince Menzione: Yeah. And data’s such an critical part, part of this, as we, we talked about yesterday. But you know, even the, what you said, which is, would, would’ve been striking a year ago to say, we’re an AI first, uh, agency isn’t as striking anymore. [00:09:32] Vince Menzione: Uh, we heard Nina when we were having this conversation on stage yesterday, say that it’s an imperative at Microsoft that the agencies that they choose to work with, the third party vendors that they work with have to be an AI first organization. I have to be a frontier firm, and so I’m a, I am sensitive to the word frontier firm. [00:09:53] Vince Menzione: I understand why Microsoft uses it and I understand the value of what we used to call, you know, customer zero or back in the day we used to say eating your own dog food, but essentially being an organization that has leaned in, in a way, and with ai. Even more so, so important to do it. So tell us, I know you’ve done some things personally as well, but tell, tell us what you’ve done with the organization. [00:10:18] Vince Menzione: Uh, you talked about data and making data available and having, having a true data state as opposed to silos of data, but then you also made some personal investments and sacrifices. I would say. [00:10:30] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. [00:10:30] Vince Menzione: Yeah. In terms of what you’re doing around ai, [00:10:32] Ashleigh Vogstad: so I mean, let’s start on the personal side. I’m the CEO of my organization, and you can read in books or news articles that it is critical for AI transformation to start at the C-suite and specifically in the CEO seat. [00:10:46] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:10:46] Ashleigh Vogstad: And that really. Landed for me and so I’m personally leading in About two weeks ago, I built an agent, just end-to-end on my own, got into copilot studio. Wow. Got comfortable with the interface. You know, I was clunky moving around in there at first, chose my model. You know, I went with one of the anthropic Claude models for this particular project and built up an agent that can deliver executive communications like. [00:11:14] Ashleigh Vogstad: Thought leadership blogs, uh, LinkedIn posts, but in a particular human being’s voice by ingesting things like their social profiles, their SharePoint sites, where they live and work. And it has been so surprising doing an ab test between just what a chat GBT or a copilot could produce. [00:11:32] Yeah. [00:11:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: In comparison with the authenticity of the voice coming from the agent. [00:11:37] Ashleigh Vogstad: Uh, it was just a really cool experience to roll up the sleeves and get in there. But also I think the, the investment that you’re referring to is, I made a big decision to return to school and uh, got accepted to go to Oxford. [00:11:52] Vince Menzione: Wow. [00:11:52] Ashleigh Vogstad: And I’m studying artificial intelligence there. [00:11:54] Vince Menzione: That is incredible. That is incredible. [00:11:57] Vince Menzione: Oxford, uh, we’ve heard of that school before here in the United States. [00:12:03] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, it’s been a really great experience. It’s in person, so I’m traveling there about every 60 to 90 days and living on campus. I mean, really, Oxford isn’t. Formally a campus, it’s sort of a, a city and a university all, all ruled into one and the experience has been really powerful. [00:12:21] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yes. One of the things I wanted to get outta the program was a more global perspective, and it’s been fascinating to me that about half the faculty so far, or or professors, guest lecturers that have been coming into the program have been from China or very direct experience working in the Chinese market. [00:12:38] Vince Menzione: That is fascinating. [00:12:39] Ashleigh Vogstad: It’s been a completely different view. Or for example, you know, really digging into some of the legal cases that are driving precedence for how AI is interacting with corporations. [00:12:51] Vince Menzione: Mm. [00:12:51] Ashleigh Vogstad: One of the big ones for me has been looking at Amazon versus p perplexity. This is still a live case that’s happening right now. [00:12:58] Ashleigh Vogstad: And you know, I think it was Forbes magazine that the headline was the End of Commerce for this case because it’s really about. How human beings are being replaced with machines and hearing some of the world’s leading thinkers, leading AI researchers on these topics has just been really expansive. [00:13:19] Vince Menzione: It’s fascinating. [00:13:20] Vince Menzione: I mean, it’s, this started a couple years ago with, uh, Hollywood, in fact. Suing the industry or suing the technology companies with regards to, uh, employment, right? Mm-hmm. About the, the, uh, copyright infringement and what’s gonna happen in the entertainment industry. And I think that was just a one very small example. [00:13:40] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, voice people think about DeepFakes. Yeah. And they think about video, but actually voice is a big issue. And you look at the, um, you know, the what happened between Scarlett Johansson and her voice in her, and then open AI rolling out a voice that sounded identical. Sounds like her. [00:13:59] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:13:59] Ashleigh Vogstad: To Scarlett Johansen and, and where that went. [00:14:01] Ashleigh Vogstad: It’s, it, this is a new ground for, for everybody that we’re going through right now. [00:14:07] Vince Menzione: It is. We can dive and go in so many different directions, but let’s talk about marketing and advertising since that’s kind of. Transcends core, and a lot of the people that watch and listen to us are in the partnership world. [00:14:22] Vince Menzione: They’re leading organizations, they own organizations, the the chief executives or CVPs of organizations. Let’s talk about advertising and where that’s going. [00:14:32] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, great. [00:14:33] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:14:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: I mean, uh, I love Marshall McCluen. He’s a Canadian theor, uh, media theorist, and in 1964, he very famously said, the medium is the message. [00:14:43] Ashleigh Vogstad: And what that really means when you peel back the layers is that every type of communication medium has these inherent biases. And I think what we’re experiencing right now is this new medium of artificial intelligence, and I’m really interested in exploring what that means for the media world. So. If I gonna take you back to 1997, there’s this really famous, the Innovator’s Dilemma. [00:15:10] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yes. Kind of a classic business 1 0 1 type book by Clayton Christensen. Yes. And he talks about this theory of disruption where new technologies, emerging technologies start at the low end of the market. They gain this momentum and they eventually displace incumbents. And you know, sometimes seemingly out of nowhere. [00:15:28] Vince Menzione: Yeah. And Microsoft was a good example of this at that time. [00:15:32] Ashleigh Vogstad: Def, [00:15:32] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:15:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: All the big players. All the big players. I mean, Google go for search as well, right? So that’s one of the classic examples. And so. If we look at storytelling technology, you have things like chat, GBT and Sora entering the scene. And in the beginning, you know, they’re producing a shitty first draft. [00:15:51] Ashleigh Vogstad: Uh, you know, it’s things like post-apocalyptic dogs with five finger human beings. Yeah. Things like this. But, you know, and they really lacked emotional resonance. But as we all know. That’s not the case anymore. No, it’s [00:16:05] Vince Menzione: not. [00:16:06] Ashleigh Vogstad: AI is increasingly producing content that is very powerful and is starting to resonate with people. [00:16:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, I’m definitely not a neuroscientist, but if we, we look into the neuroscience, it’s your cortical sal circuit that. Kind of is responsible for pattern recognition and it compares what you’re seeing in the real world with what you expect to see. So when you take this into a space of advertising, you know, if there’s an ad that is AI generated, that is just weird and kind of. [00:16:38] Ashleigh Vogstad: Tweaking for you. [00:16:39] Vince Menzione: Like that robot we were talking about earlier, [00:16:41] Ashleigh Vogstad: like the robot we were Exactly, yeah. Like Sophia, you enter what psychologists call the uncanny valley, so it’s like what you’re looking at isn’t exactly what you’re expecting to see and the Spidey sense is, is tweaking. You know, that’s a low place of emotional resonance. [00:16:58] Ashleigh Vogstad: This world is changing really, really quickly and we’re seeing AI generated media make huge impacts in the market Now, tools like Luma Dream Machine, I mean, it’s incredible what they can achieve today. [00:17:11] Vince Menzione: It’s fascinating. We see it in, you know, I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. That’s sort of the world of our business community, and you can very easily detect when someone is doing a post. [00:17:22] Vince Menzione: Or they’re writing an art, whatever they’re doing. Right. Some type of draft of something. Uh, and you can tell when it’s ai, I mean, it’s so easy to tell, and even people are generating reports and claiming that their research papers or studies or whatever they call them, uh, and it’s AI generated and it’s just the authenticity isn’t there. [00:17:39] Vince Menzione: The, the sense that this is real. That it can be trusted is not there. And I think trust is what we’re talking about here too, as well. [00:17:47] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. I mean, let’s go to authenticity ’cause that’s super important. Yeah. And I know a lot of your listeners, you come from the hyperscaler world of partnerships. You need to have that differentiated, better together story. [00:17:59] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. It’s really important to have an authentic voice in market. And I think about that also in terms of platforms and channels. We’re seeing a decrease in certain major social media platforms, and yet Substack spiked 48% in monthly active users last month. [00:18:15] Vince Menzione: That’s [00:18:16] fascinating. [00:18:16] Ashleigh Vogstad: Um, you know, and I think that one of the reasons is it’s viewed as a more authentic channel where you’re getting thought leadership from people that you’re, you know, genuinely interested in hearing their, their points of view. [00:18:28] Ashleigh Vogstad: And I think that’s really an important piece in here. [00:18:31] Vince Menzione: Yeah, you mentioned this yesterday and you had me thinking about it as well because we have used LinkedIn for everything internally, our newsletter, which has been around for six or seven years now. But that Substack is really, and I go to Substack too, to, if I really wanna dig in on a topic. [00:18:47] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm. [00:18:47] Vince Menzione: And there’s a particular author that I like their point of view, I’ll follow, I’ll follow them on Substack. [00:18:53] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. I mean, and this comes, maybe brings us around to who is the buyer and who is the audience, and who do we need to be thinking about when we’re designing sales and marketing programs. And really we’re, we’re shifting into the place of the Gen Z buyer by 20 30, 70 5% of buyers are gonna be Gen Z. [00:19:12] Ashleigh Vogstad: They’re gonna control 12 trillion in. Spend [00:19:16] Vince Menzione: by 2030. ’cause we, we’ve been, we’ve been saying that the millennial is the new buyer the last three years. I think Jay said it right here at this stage. [00:19:23] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm. [00:19:24] Vince Menzione: Um, so now it’s Gen Z. [00:19:27] Ashleigh Vogstad: And they’re buying online. Yeah, they’re buying in marketplaces. Yeah. So a stat recently was that roughly half of them made purchases on the social platforms of YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok in the last month. [00:19:39] Ashleigh Vogstad: I mean, that buyer behavior of being inside. Social type application and directly making a purchase. And I think in the B2B world, we need to take lessons from here and start thinking more front and center than we even have been around marketplaces. I mean, part of my reason for being in Silicon Valley this week was to celebrate a $12 million transaction that happened via Marketplace and two years ago that would’ve been a huge deal. [00:20:06] Ashleigh Vogstad: Huge, [00:20:07] Vince Menzione: huge. [00:20:07] Ashleigh Vogstad: And, and it still is a really big deal, but these things are becoming. More and more common experiences. Very much so. We need to be there and in that conversation. [00:20:16] Vince Menzione: So how are you thinking about it? How are you directing your clients to behave or act around it? What are you, what are you doing exactly that we could take to this community perhaps and share with them. [00:20:28] Ashleigh Vogstad: I’ll bring it back to the authenticity piece because you need to have a product that delivers value first and foremost. There is, there is no substitution for that. Yeah, and what I would say is. One of my professors at Oxford, Eric Zow, he has this theory that I’m really digging into and finding very fascinating, which is that for the last several decades we’ve been in the attention economy, and that’s shifting to the trust economy. [00:20:55] Ashleigh Vogstad: Now the attention economy is about selling to human beings. Yeah. It’s about the, the business model is essentially that you need human being eyeballs on lists of recommendation links. Yeah. Whether that’s from Google or from, you know, searching, shopping on Amazon, you get this list of recommendation links and the economic engine that drives that business model is advertising. [00:21:19] Ashleigh Vogstad: Now, if you look at something like the Amazon versus Perplexity lawsuit, the whole underlying premise is around the shift of no longer selling to humans directly, but of selling to machines, or in other words, agents who are making purchases, s on behalf on your behalf. And an agent isn’t going to be razzle dazzled by some inauthentic story. [00:21:44] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:21:44] Ashleigh Vogstad: They’re gonna be looking for third party validation on Exactly. You know, they need to be sure that they’re making the right decision. [00:21:51] Vince Menzione: They’re gonna look at surveys, they’re gonna look at customer comments. Like if I went through my Amazon site and I was looking to see what people said about the purchase or the product and specifically Exactly. [00:22:01] Vince Menzione: The agent’s gonna do this on my behalf, is what you’re saying. [00:22:04] Ashleigh Vogstad: This is what I’m saying. Yeah. And, and. I believe that to layer on top of, you know, Eric Z’s philosophy, I’ve been thinking about this in terms of the hyperscaler world, and I think that this is the time to lean into co-selling partnerships. [00:22:18] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, because being third party validated by somebody like AWS Microsoft and having all that co-sell data, what are your recent wins? Yes, that’s really high integrity, trusted data source for an agent to make a purchasing decision, and marketplaces are a key part of that. [00:22:35] Vince Menzione: So we’ll move from AI will take a, a more active role in the marketplace. [00:22:40] Ashleigh Vogstad: I definitely believe so. [00:22:42] Vince Menzione: Which makes total sense. I, you know, we’ve been doing this for nine or 10 years now, and when I was at Microsoft, we started co-selling. In fact, it was, uh, Aaron Feiger was up on stage yesterday talking about it. Right? January of 2016, co-selling began. [00:22:55] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm. [00:22:56] Vince Menzione: And there were only a few companies doing it. [00:22:59] Vince Menzione: Right. So she worked with one of the very first ones that were doing it. Uh, the challenge we have today is there are tens of thousands of partner organizations in the marketplace that are all trying to get the attention of the Microsoft sellers. Hmm. As, or the Google sellers or the AWS sellers and tell their story. [00:23:19] Vince Menzione: And a seller only has so many minutes in a day, they have a quota that they have to hit. These quotas are tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars of annual quota of cloud consumption. And I wanna sell my $50,000 widget, whatever it is. Yeah. Right. And I, I don’t understand why I’m not getting a callback. [00:23:38] Vince Menzione: And this, this is the dilemma we’ve faced because of, because of this, uh, scarcity of time and this over overwhelming of tech, you know. Tech, tech buyers trying to make this all happen, so now the AI can come in and help me solve for it as a seller, right? [00:23:55] Ashleigh Vogstad: The AI is definitely acting as an interface to make recommendations to field sellers in different organizations and. [00:24:04] Ashleigh Vogstad: To, to kind of take this on a, a tangent. Dupes. So a dupe. I know people of my generation, we’d think about this like a knockoff Right. You know, a knockoff handbag. [00:24:15] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:24:15] Ashleigh Vogstad: Dupes have exploded. [00:24:16] Vince Menzione: Fake. Fake Rolexes. [00:24:18] Ashleigh Vogstad: Exactly. The fake Rolex for sure. And I think it was in December, P WC rolled out a survey. 81% of Gen Z were planning to purchase a dupe this holiday season. [00:24:29] Vince Menzione: That’s wild. [00:24:30] Ashleigh Vogstad: Dupes can be, you know, we gave luxury, good examples, but Louis [00:24:34] Vince Menzione: Vuitton and yeah. So, [00:24:35] Ashleigh Vogstad: but furniture, these sorts of things. And the important takeaway here for tech is the same principle will land, is that people are looking for value out of a product, not necessarily a name brand. AI is accelerating this whole process, and agents are gonna be looking at the same thing. [00:24:56] Ashleigh Vogstad: They’re looking for that authenticity in terms of the actual product value. So, you know, beware there’s lots of disruption happening in the market right now with this dupe mentality, which is actually a cultural shift talking about I appreciate value over a superficial. Brand name. In some cases, there’s also a, a small contrary trend where certain luxury goods are rising because yes, things are never that simple. [00:25:22] Vince Menzione: So you work with a lot of these tech companies, a lot of SaaS companies, is we, we call them ISVs, we also call them, uh, software development companies. Now we keep changing these acronyms around. Uh, there’s been a lot of, uh, consternation in that segment, I would say, around ai. Right, because a lot of them are getting told that they’ll be outta business in a few years. [00:25:43] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. I think Satya Nadella famously said this last year that SAS will go away. Right? He’s predicting the demise. How do you help some of these organizations to differentiate? And there’s some of these are huge value organizations. We have have them in the room with us, ServiceNow and Veeam and Adobe. [00:26:01] Vince Menzione: Um, how do you help them achieve their results? ’cause that’s what you, you know, your organization is really helping these organizations to achieve their pinnacle as a partner. What do you, what do you say to them now and how do you help them through this time? [00:26:16] Ashleigh Vogstad: I’m on the side of the fence that I really can’t see an organization ripping out something like Salesforce, Adobe, ServiceNow. [00:26:24] Vince Menzione: Agreed. [00:26:24] Ashleigh Vogstad: I mean that the amount of change management and. The extent to which these, these platforms are embedded, actually running and operating organizations. I personally, if, if we’re calling those companies, SaaS companies, I don’t agree that that layer is gonna go away. I mean, we’re seeing these organizations lean into AI in a huge way to borrow Microsofts. [00:26:50] Ashleigh Vogstad: Term, you know, they’re all becoming frontier firms. [00:26:54] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:26:54] Ashleigh Vogstad: So where I would go to, to answer that question, we do work with many, you know, organizations on that caliber, on things like their marketplace strategy on how to light up the fields of different hyperscalers. It really does come down to things like having a strong drumbeat with the Microsoft field, celebrating your win stories. [00:27:15] Ashleigh Vogstad: Maybe that’s where I’ll land as Please do the marketer, because it sounds so simple, and I don’t know why we kind of continue to come back to this, but we’re talking about that third party validation and really, um, in order to have that, like what the hyperscalers want is you jointly celebrating success. [00:27:36] Ashleigh Vogstad: Here’s the kicker. Publicly. [00:27:38] Vince Menzione: Publicly, [00:27:39] Ashleigh Vogstad: you know, you need a customer story on your website, a press release that contains a quote from your customer. Ideally, also a quote from an executive at one of the hyperscalers. Like, actually lean in to live the value of your better together story. And when you do that, when you, when it comes around to partner of the year time, and we talk to you about, okay, what client stories are we gonna feature? [00:28:03] Ashleigh Vogstad: We’re even gonna know because when we Google you, we can see the public press of the joint wins that you’ve been celebrating. And I can tell you that that is a huge indicator on whether or not you’re well-placed to be in the 4% of partners who actually win Partner of the Year award’s. [00:28:20] Vince Menzione: Fascinating to me. [00:28:21] Vince Menzione: ’cause to me it would feel like table stakes maybe ’cause where we sit is ultimate partner and where this room sits with all the top partners that I just assume that everybody follows that. That, that guidance. [00:28:34] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm. [00:28:34] Vince Menzione: And so this is really impactful and I want to get here because I know you spent a lot of time here and we’ve talked about it before, but I think the partner of the year awards, when we first met many years ago, that was a you, you’ve expanded the business, but that’s still a core mission and and value that you bring to the community and to the partner ecosystem is helping them through this process. [00:28:55] Vince Menzione: So I know that that’s gonna be coming up soon, so I thought maybe we’d spend a couple moments on that. [00:29:00] Ashleigh Vogstad: Partner of the Year awards, regardless of which partner, I mean, Salesforce has their own awards there. There’s more and more award programs coming out, and they’re a great way to celebrate the incredible work that your organization has done. [00:29:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: Jay McBain is brilliant on this. He’ll talk a lot about the increase in valuation. Yeah. The, the increase in stock valuation or the likelihood that if you’re looking to be acquired, that you’re acquired within 12 months of a partner of the year win it. It’s really impressive. There is strong business value there. [00:29:33] Vince Menzione: He like, he likes, he likes to tell the story of that when the award is handed to them and they go back into the audience, that the private equity people are all over them right then and there and making offers. I mean, that’s the visual that you get [00:29:47] Ashleigh Vogstad: and it’s very powerful. Yeah. Very powerful. It’s very powerful and it, it can make it worthwhile to invest in the process, but don’t invest in the process if you haven’t been investing in the process for the 12 months. [00:29:57] Ashleigh Vogstad: Prior, [00:29:58] Vince Menzione: exactly. [00:29:58] Ashleigh Vogstad: The Microsoft field or you we’re talking about Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards. They need to know about your win that that needs to be top of mind for them. Yeah. How much Azure revenue is it driving? Was it a huge marketplace? Build sales and. You know, one of the questions I get asked a ton, everybody wants to know how do we get money out of the hyperscalers? [00:30:20] Ashleigh Vogstad: How do I get access to marketing development funds or all these different programs? Yeah. You know, at Microsoft, some of these programs are like EI and customer investment funds or Azure Accelerate, you know, and there’s millions and millions and millions of dollars in these, these buckets of funds, but. [00:30:36] Ashleigh Vogstad: An interesting point of view is that it’s actually a scorecard metric for many people at Microsoft who have partnership roles for you to be drawing down those funds. [00:30:45] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:30:45] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, your interests are actually aligned here, and so again, when it comes to Partner of the Year awards, how much money have you pulled down? [00:30:54] Ashleigh Vogstad: How much have you been an activating partner of key Microsoft programs that they’re pushing? What are you doing with marketplace rewards? How are you resing? Those into your business. These are the types of things that you really wanna be thinking about. Sitting it. You know, this time of year we probably will get the awards were likely be due in July. [00:31:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: They haven’t officially announced timelines, but you’ve got a few months to start moving these pieces into place. [00:31:18] Vince Menzione: And there are quite a few of them. And to your point, Nina, when she was up on stage here yesterday, there were at least 10 or 12 award. Uh. Funding categories that were on her, that were on her slide. [00:31:31] Vince Menzione: Her partner, her partner slide. So, [00:31:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: and what great looks like for a partner is that you understand your end-to-end funnel as it is mapped to Microsoft’s SEM model, the Microsoft customer Engagement model. Mm-hmm. The first stage there, inspire and design. That’s really the marketing space of lead generation. [00:31:50] Ashleigh Vogstad: So how are you generating leads with webinars, in-person, event activations, digital campaigns, and then at the very end, in the fifth column, you have the Microsoft outcomes that you’re driving. Yes. Whether that’s Azure consumed revenue, marketplace build sales, co-pilot, monthly active usage, these sorts of things. [00:32:10] Ashleigh Vogstad: And in each of those SEM swim lanes. There’s Microsoft funding associated to it. And that’s one of the things that Nina Harding was showing yesterday. When and where does it make sense to make requests for EA funds versus Azure accelerate the MCI funding? There’s different workshop proof of concept funding, and those all fall at specific stages in that EM model. [00:32:33] Vince Menzione: And what you’re also pointing out in this conversation is that the co the partners need to understand that mm, they need to understand MM. We talked about it years ago. I’ve had, haven’t had anybody on stage recently talk about m You could probably take us through that if we wanted to devote some time here, uh, and then understand all of those categories and how to access those funds. [00:32:52] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, it’s critical and. The number one place we point partners, if you want a quick overview of what that looks like is to Microsoft’s FY 26 solution playbooks. Nice. They’re available on the web for download. There’s, well, there used to be three, but they’ve added a few agen being, being one. So, so there’s a handful of, they had [00:33:11] Vince Menzione: simplified it, now they’re, now they’re expanding it back again. [00:33:14] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, exactly. I think there’s now a breakout for security as well. Yes. So take a look at those playbooks. It will map programs and incentives very specifically to each solution area and to each sales play that are gonna be available to you. And then we’re always happy to guide people through the details [00:33:32] Vince Menzione: as well. [00:33:32] Vince Menzione: I love that. I love that. And reach out to the. Ashley is just amazing at this process. I’ve, I’ve watched her for years now, work with some of the top, what have become the pinnacle partners of Microsoft and with the award season coming up. So we wanna make sure we have a plug there. But I also wanna talk about like, podcasts with you. [00:33:50] Vince Menzione: Um, you’ve been on this podcast multiple times, been in the studio before doing this, and I understand you have your own podcast now. So tell us about that. [00:33:58] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, Vince, I just wanna say. As a friend and a mentor. You’ve been so inspiring. Thank you. And I think from years ago when we met, there was this seed in my brain of, you know, I, I should really get out there. [00:34:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: And you talk a lot about growth mindset and fear setting is, is one of Tim Ferriss’s terms? Yes. And models. [00:34:21] Vince Menzione: I love Tim Ferris. I’ve been, been a fan of his for 10 years now. So that’s settled. We all got started with this. Sorry. Sorry, I [00:34:26] Ashleigh Vogstad: interrupt. No, no, not at all. [00:34:27] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:34:28] Ashleigh Vogstad: And. I think it’s just been, it’s been back there. [00:34:31] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. That I’m really passionate around having voice is how I think about it. And as a marketing agency, we’re really amplifying the voice, um, or helping companies to find their voice, particularly in hyperscaler partnerships. And what better way to assist, you know, authentically the amazing people in our network, in our community and our clients than with our own channel where we can celebrate their stories and success? [00:35:00] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:35:01] Ashleigh Vogstad: So the podcast is called Transcending Tech. It’s about [00:35:06] Vince Menzione: very cool transcending tech. Just so you don’t [00:35:08] Ashleigh Vogstad: transcending tech. [00:35:08] Vince Menzione: It’s out there now. [00:35:10] Ashleigh Vogstad: It, we just released our first episode. Okay. I think two days ago. [00:35:13] Vince Menzione: So by the time we’re live, yes. We’ll, we’ll be able to access it. Good. [00:35:17] Ashleigh Vogstad: You will be able to access it. [00:35:18] Ashleigh Vogstad: The first episode is with Alyssa Fit. Patrick from Elastic. [00:35:21] Vince Menzione: Oh my goodness. [00:35:22] Ashleigh Vogstad: And the concept of the podcast, it’s long form and it’s really about getting to the people behind the platforms. [00:35:29] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:35:29] Ashleigh Vogstad: And to the stories that transcend technology. So we’re here to get to know the human beings behind. Agents. [00:35:38] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:35:38] Ashleigh Vogstad: And taking the time to, to go in deep and really explore that. [00:35:43] Vince Menzione: So I am excited to see all the developments here with the, with the podcast. And you’re gonna be joining us again. You were just here, you in Boca. But you’ll be joining us again in Bellevue. Not too far a little bit. Closer ride or travel, uh, for you to come to Bellevue. [00:35:57] Vince Menzione: We’re gonna be hosting the first ultimate partner live, which is our larger events in this beautiful facility, this new Intercontinental hotel, which is fabulous. And, uh, you’re gonna be taking a more active role. Your leadership around AI is. Palpable and we’re gonna love to have you on stage and talking through some of the changes. [00:36:17] Vince Menzione: I, I suspect by the time we get to Bellevue we’ll have a lot more to talk about. That hasn’t even happened yet. [00:36:23] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, I’m really excited. I’ll have been through my next cohort at at Oxford, kind of coming out hot from there back to the Pacific Northwest, and really excited to just share the learnings and Awesome. [00:36:35] Ashleigh Vogstad: Genuinely. It’s also helping me in my own research, really formulate particularly around the role of ag agentic AI in hyperscaler partnerships. [00:36:43] Vince Menzione: That’s so cool. And then what I’ll say is this, and I don’t know, we on the space perspective, and I’ll, the team will probably hang me for this because we haven’t done it yet, but if you wanna bring the podcast along with you, there might be, we’ll see if we can find an extra room for you to set up. [00:36:58] Vince Menzione: If you wanna do some interviews while you’re. In, at the event. So [00:37:02] Ashleigh Vogstad: you’re so generous, Vince. [00:37:03] Vince Menzione: That’s [00:37:04] Ashleigh Vogstad: amazing. [00:37:04] Vince Menzione: Thank you. Again, I can’t say for certainty yet, but, uh, let’s see, let’s see what happens with that. So, uh, let, let’s, uh, you know, I always, we, we have known each other for years and I just assume everybody knows this amazing Ashley sda. [00:37:19] Vince Menzione: But, um, we always, I like to ask this question because it helps us kind of dig in a little bit about you personally. And it’s my favorite question. I ask all my guests this question now, and it’s, um, you’re hosting a dinner party, Ashley, you are, pick a pace, place, you wanna have this dinner. We could talk about parts of the world. [00:37:36] Vince Menzione: You’ve traveled all extensively. Uh, and you can invite any three people, guests from the present. Or the past to this amazing dinner party you’re throwing. Whom would you invite and why? [00:37:52] Ashleigh Vogstad: It’s a beautiful question, Vince and. Instantly I go to a place in terms of the location, since you asked that part, which was surprising. [00:38:01] Ashleigh Vogstad: I, I like that is my home. I, I love where I live up in Whistler, Canada and [00:38:08] Vince Menzione: I hear it’s beautiful. I haven’t been yet, [00:38:10] Ashleigh Vogstad: it’s so gorgeous and it’s, it’s my own sanctuary. You know, I live on a plane 75% of the time and coming back to that place is really grounding for me. Yes. So, so I would love to have it at, at my home and to invite. [00:38:24] Ashleigh Vogstad: Pippa Malrin would be one. She, Pippa [00:38:26] Vince Menzione: Malrin. [00:38:27] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. She’s sure. I get an advisor to the White House for many administrations. Okay. She’s an economist and she just has really interesting perspective on geopolitics. Uh, I follow her on Substack ’cause she’s a big substack. Okay, now [00:38:41] Vince Menzione: I need to look. This is awesome. [00:38:42] Vince Menzione: The [00:38:43] Ashleigh Vogstad: mal, she’s fantastic. I would say Dr. Lisa Sue, the CEO, Dr. Lisa of a md. [00:38:49] Vince Menzione: Okay. Yes, yes. I know a little bit about her. [00:38:51] Ashleigh Vogstad: So she was one of Time Mag, I think she was the only woman in Time Magazine’s, group of people of the year, which was basically this AI cohort in including, you know, the Elon Musks of the world. [00:39:03] Ashleigh Vogstad: Uh, it’s just so impressive what she’s doing with leadership in a MD. I don’t think it’s as public as. Anybody else who is on the cover of that magazine, but it’s incredibly powerful. [00:39:14] Vince Menzione: Yeah, they’ve made a com uh, turnaround’s probably not the right word, but it seems like they’ve made a tremendous, uh, gains turnaround probably in the last few years. [00:39:23] Ashleigh Vogstad: I would say that many would say turnaround. And then lastly is Dr. Fefe Lee, who. For those in the AI space, particularly AI research space. I mean, she’s arguably number one. Um, she’s leading at Stanford currently. [00:39:37] Vince Menzione: Wow. This is gonna be a heady conversation, but you know, I love conversations. So if you don’t mind, maybe I’ll bring dessert and come, come in for a few moments, maybe do some podcast interviews there. [00:39:48] Vince Menzione: How’s that? [00:39:49] Ashleigh Vogstad: That sounds absolutely perfect, Vince, [00:39:50] Vince Menzione: so, so good. So good to have you here today. So great. Good to have you in the studio again, and, uh, excited for transcends and all the great work you’re doing. Um. This time with ai. I think you, uh, we talked about this a little bit last night. I think you’ve made some really wise, personal and professional decisions about how to lead and how to take this forward and not kind of rest on your laurels, which you see so many organizations do People fear change [00:40:17] Ashleigh Vogstad: Hmm. [00:40:18] Vince Menzione: And you embrace it, which is just, it’s astounding to me that you do that and, um. I look forward to working with you in the future and for years and years to come. So I will ask you one more question though, because we are still at the precipice of these tectonic shifts and we’re still early in 2026. And so for our listeners and our viewers today, what would be the one thing you would tell them that they need to go do now that possibly they haven’t done yet as they prepare for 2026 and beyond? [00:40:52] Ashleigh Vogstad: The generic phrase would be, be curious, but if we want an action, it would be go build an agent. [00:40:59] Vince Menzione: Go build an agent [00:41:00] Ashleigh Vogstad: if, if you haven’t already. Yeah. And, and I’m, yeah. Speaking hopefully to like a business audience, you know, to, to anyone. Yeah. Really, um, find something that is interesting that you’re passionate about. [00:41:12] Ashleigh Vogstad: A, a use case that it doesn’t have to be some big thing. It could be quite mundane, but just something that’s gonna help you in your role. It’s, you know, what is creativity is an interesting question, and I can tell you that sitting down and hands-on keys and actually creating something is, is a beautiful, powerful experience. [00:41:32] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Awesome. All right. We’re all gonna go create agents this weekend, so thank you for listening. Thank you for viewing the Ultimate Guide to partnering on our YouTube channel, ultimate Partner, and on each end of your platforms at the Ultimate Guide to partnering. Thank you for being with us and supporting us all these years. [00:41:50] Vince Menzione: Thank you. Don’t forget, ultimate Partner Live is coming soon, May 11th through the 13th in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I hope to see you there.

For many homesteaders, the dream is complete self-sufficiency. Producing all your own food. Depending on no one. Living independently.But is that really possible? And more importantly, is it even the right goal?In this episode of Everyday Homesteading, we're sharing why complete self-sufficiency is actually a myth and what matters far more: building practical skills and strengthening community.We discuss how focusing on skills rather than trying to do everything yourself leads to more resilience, less overwhelm, and greater freedom in your homesteading journey.You'll learn how to shift your mindset, avoid burnout, and build real, lasting resilience for your family.Read the full blog post here: https://homesteadingfamily.com/self-sufficiency-is-a-myth/Thanks to Azure Standard for sponsoring this episode! Azure has been our trusted source for bulk foods and pantry staples for years. When we can't grow or produce something ourselves, Azure Standard is often our first choice. Get 15% off your first order of $100 or more using coupon code "HOMESTEADINGFAMILY15" at checkout: https://homesteadingfamily.com/main-azure-standard-bTime Stamps:0:00 - Introduction - Azure Standard - Main Topic~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MORE ABOUT US!WELCOME! We're so glad you're here! We are Josh and Carolyn Thomas. Together with our eleven children, we are The Homesteading Family where we're living a self-sustainable life in beautiful North Idaho. Let us welcome you and show you a bit about us here: http://bit.ly/HFWelcomeVideoGrow, Preserve & Thrive with us!Visit us on our blog: https://www.homesteadingfamily.comFacebook at https://www.facebook.com/homesteadingfamilyInstagram: https://instagram.com/homesteadingfamilyRumble: https://rumble.com/HomesteadingFamilyA few highlights you don't want to miss are our FREEBIES!!Healthy Healing at Home – Learn how to confidently use herbal medicine in your home with this FREE 4 video workshop: https://homesteadingfamily.com/HHHytYour Best Loaf – A Free 4 video workshop teaching you how to make great bread at home, every time, regardless of the recipe you are using: https://homesteadingfamily.com/free-bread-workshopYou know that every month, we send out a physical magazine to over 10,000 subscribers? Each issue has seasonal recipes, fresh inspiration for your kitchen, practical homesteading tips, and traditional wisdom from seasoned homesteaders. This magazine equips you to thrive on your homestead, whether you're in the city, a suburban neighborhood, or on 40 acres. Subscribe today for just $9 a month.

Cisco SD-WAN Bug Actively Exploited, MCP Azure Takeover Demo, CarGurus Data Leak, and Secret Service Scam Recovery Host Jim Love covers four cybersecurity stories: CSA warns a critical Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN controller vulnerability (CVE-2026-20127) has been exploited since 2023, enabling authentication bypass and rogue peering sessions, and orders U.S. federal agencies to inventory systems, collect logs and forensic artifacts, hunt for compromise, and apply Cisco's fixes by 5:00 PM ET on February 27, 2026, with no workarounds. At RSA, researchers show how flaws in Model Context Protocol (MCP)—a key integration layer for agentic AI—could lead to remote code execution and even Azure tenant takeover, highlighting rising enterprise risk. ShinyHunters reportedly published 12.4 million stolen CarGurus records, raising phishing and fraud concerns tied to vehicle shopping and financing context. Finally, an Ontario tech support scam victim recovers funds through coordinated work by Ontario Provincial Police and the U.S. Secret Service, which traced and froze the money in time. Cybersecurity Today  would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale.  You can find them at Meter.com/cst LINKS Cisco Advisory Cisco Security Advisory – CVE-2026-20127 Authentication bypass vulnerability in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sdwan-rpa-EHchtZk CISA Supplemental Hunt and Hardening Guidance (Cisco SD-WAN Systems) https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/supplemental-direction-ed-26-03-hunt-and-hardening-guidance-cisco-sd-wan-systems Threat Hunt Guide (Technical PDF) Cisco SD-WAN Threat Hunt Guide (jointly referenced in federal guidance) https://media.defense.gov/2026/Feb/25/2003880299/-1/-1/0/CISCO_SD-WAN_THREAT_HUNT_GUIDE.PDF 00:00 Sponsor Message 00:19 Cisco SD-WAN Under Attack 02:48 MCP Azure Takeover Demo 05:28 CarGurus Data Dump 07:16 Secret Service Scam Recovery 09:24 Closing Sponsor Thanks

In just six months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) more than tripled the amount of data stored on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform,The Guardian reports, "at the same time that its arsenal of surveillance technology ballooned." This week, tech workers with the No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) campaign staged a protest and informational picket at Microsoft's global headquarters in Redmond, WA, demanding that Microsoft cancel all contracts that provide technological support for Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and ICE's campaign of terror in the US. We speak with Ibtihal, a former software engineer at Microsoft and an organizer with the NOAA campaign.    Additional links/info:  No Azure for Apartheid Instagram and Linktree Harry Davies & Yuval Abraham, The Guardian, "ICE reliance on Microsoft technology surged amid immigration crackdown, documents show" Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, "'Microsoft workers refuse to be complicit in the genocide'" Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, "Microsoft cancels Israeli spy unit access after tech worker revolt" Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "The biggest labor story in the US right now is happening at Microsoft" Featured Music:  Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits:  Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor 

In just six months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) more than tripled the amount of data stored on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform,The Guardian reports, “at the same time that its arsenal of surveillance technology ballooned.” This week, tech workers with the No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) campaign staged a protest and informational picket at Microsoft's global headquarters in Redmond, WA, demanding that Microsoft cancel all contracts that provide technological support for Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and ICE's campaign of terror in the US. We speak with Ibtihal, a former software engineer at Microsoft and an organizer with the NOAA campaign. Additional links/info: No Azure for Apartheid Instagram and LinktreeHarry Davies & Yuval Abraham, The Guardian, “ICE reliance on Microsoft technology surged amid immigration crackdown, documents show”Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “‘Microsoft workers refuse to be complicit in the genocide'”Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “Microsoft cancels Israeli spy unit access after tech worker revolt”Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “The biggest labor story in the US right now is happening at Microsoft”Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme SongCredits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Realities Remixed, formerly know as Cloud Realities, launches a new season exploring the intersection of people, culture, industry, and tech. Energy transportation is a deeply local business, safely delivering gas and electricity, more and more from renewable sources, directly to the communities it serves. Technology and AI help make that possible by strengthening safety, bringing companies closer to customers, and enabling teams to build the future together. This week, Dave, Esmee, and Rob are joined by John Koerwer, CIO of UGI Corporation, to explore explore why “the business” and tech still struggle to speak the same language, nd what helps close the gap.TLDR00:35 – Introduction01:17 – Hang out: new toys and coffee07:55 – Dig in: the business - tech divide21:07 – Conversation with John Koerwer59:40 – The amazing AI technology in The Sphere's version of The Wizard of OzGuestJohn Koerwer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-koerwer-46102127/HostsDave Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/Esmee van de Giessen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmeevandegiessen/Rob Kernahan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-kernahan/ProductionMarcel van der Burg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-vd-burg/Dave Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/ SoundBen Corbett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-corbett-3b6a11135/Louis Corbett:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-corbett-087250264/ 'Realities Remixed' is an original podcast from Capgemini

William and Eyvonne tackle the biggest AI stories of early 2026. They dissect Matt Schumer’s viral “Something Big is Happening” essay – agreeing professionals need to skill up now while pushing back on the doomsday framing with real-world examples from engineering disciplines. The conversation takes a fascinating turn as Eyvonne draws a parallel between AI-assisted... Read more »

A Pew Research Center study shows 54% of teens between 13 and 17 years old use chatbots for school assignments, a California judge dismisses a trade secrets lawsuit from xAI against OpenAI, and Japan’s antitrust authority raids Microsoft Japan’s offices over suspected violations of the antimonopoly act with Azure. MP3 Please SUBSCRIBE HERE for freeContinue reading "Study Shows Over 50% of Teens Use Chatbots for Schoolwork – DTH"

Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM This episode explores how organisations can move from AI curiosity to real value using Microsoft Copilot and agents, drawing on practical insights from Yves Habersaat. The conversation focuses on adoption that starts where people already work, keeps early use cases simple, and scales only when the need is clear. It also covers real-world agent scenarios, model choice, and why low-code tools are often enough to deliver results quickly. 

What does it take to get your SaaS offering on multiple cloud providers? Richard chats with Steve Buchanan about his new role at JAMF, which focuses on a mobile device management product for Apple devices. Originally built as a SaaS product on AWS, Steve is helping to build out the JAMF stack on Azure to support a broader range of customers. Steve talks about Kubernetes as the common ground among the major cloud players, but you need to dig into the rest of the tooling to minimize differences across implementations. That means cloud-agnostic tools for deployment, identity, instrumentation, and more! The good news is that there are plenty of tools out there to help you, but it does take time to work out your suite of tools to get consistent results, no matter where the backend resides.LinksJAMFOpenTofuElastic Kubernetes ServiceAzure Kubernetes ServiceGoogle Kubernetes EngineMicrosoft IntuneiOS and IntuneOktaPrometheusGrafanaSteve's Pluralsight ClassesKAgentSOC 2 Type 2Recorded January 8, 2026

Xavier Perret, directeur de l'entité Azure chez Microsoft, était l'invité de Frédéric Simottel dans Tech & Co, la quotidienne, ce mercredi 25 février. Il s'est penché sur la représentation de la fin de GPT-4.0 dans la série Pluribus d'Apple TV,sur BFM Busi

Mercredi 25 février, Frédéric Simottel a reçu Fanny Bouton, directrice du quantique chez OVHCloud, Thomas Serval, PDG de Baracoda, Stéphane Zibi, consultant spécialiste en transformation numérique et en IA, Léa Benaim, journaliste BFM Business, François Hernandez, vice-président de Samsung Electronics France, Sylvain Trinel, journaliste BFM Tech, et Xavier Perret, directeur de l'entité Azure chez Microsoft, dans l'émission Tech & Co, la quotidienne sur BFM Business. Retrouvez l'émission du lundi au jeudi et réécoutez-la en podcast.

In this episode, we're not diving deep into a single feature of Azure - instead, we'll talk and share our insights on how to build a career working with Microsoft security. What should you know? What's relevant? What's less relevant? What are the core skills you should have? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:51) - Show content starts.Show links- No links this week :)- Give us feedback!

 Community Shout Out:Customery by Neil BenssonArchitects Accelerator | Untethered 365 by Sean Astrakhan News

公取委が日本マイクロソフトに立ち入り調査　独禁法違反の疑い　複数の報道。　公正取引委員会が2月25日、日本マイクロソフトの本社（東京都港区）に立ち入り調査を行ったという。NHKや読売新聞など、複数の報道機関が報じた。日本マイクロソフトが提供するクラウドサービス「Azure」への誘導を目的に、自社のソフトウェア製品を他社のクラウドサービス（AWSやGoogle Cloudなど）での利用を認めなかったり、認めても料金を高額に設定したりするなど、独占禁止法に違反する行為を行った疑いがあるという。

On this episode of The Classic Hits Show Broadcast live on Liffey Sound 96.4FM on 20th February 2026 we had with a live in studio performance from and interview with the super musician Roven Ordiales ( https://www.instagram.com/rovenordiales?igsh=MWFvZXQ4M2ozMGxrMA== ).   It was a great craic agus ceol show and we had great chats about MyBand ( www.instagram.com/myband_thedublinsoundsociety ) Music, gigs, mental health and more

Free DNA Activation Masterclass + 21-Day Abundance Meditation: https://masterclass.samuelbleemd.com/dnaPeptides I use personally to regenerate, heal, and stay sharp:https://limitlesslivingmd.com/samuelIn this episode, Dr. Samuel B. Lee, MD delivers a focused solo transmission on the distortion of modern twin flame teachings, the mechanics of trauma bonding, and the sacred science of rebuilding love through the 12th dimensional avatar Christos template. He explores how relationship patterns form through early imprinting, how frequency resonance shapes attraction, and how the Azure ray point supports wholeness before partnership. The conversation also introduces eternal union arc codes as a pathway toward love rooted in coherence, devotion, and truth.Dr. Lee shares how emotional intensity can be misread as spiritual alignment. He emphasizes nervous system regulation and direct connection to Source as foundations for lasting union. This episode covers attachment wounds, subconscious programming, lineage trauma, and phantom soulmate projections. It also offers practical relational tools, including consistent communication rituals and inner work that restores safety in the body. The episode closes with a guided meditation to strengthen the tri-wave field and embody sacred union from overflow.Sacred Truths & Lessons from This Episode:• Wholeness Begins Within the Azure Ray Point• Frequency Resonance Shapes Attraction and Relationship Patterns• Trauma Bonding Often Comes From Early Nervous System Imprinting• Love and Truth Move Together Through Coherence• Sacred Union Supports Authenticity, Not Self-Abandonment• Eternal Union Arc Codes Invite Co-Creation and Shared Mission

Join Dan Vega and DaShaun Carter for an insightful session with Bruno Borges, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft, as we dive into the next generation of AI-assisted development. In this episode, we explore the GitHub Copilot CLI and the new Copilot Java SDK, uncovering how these tools are transforming the terminal into a powerful environment for Spring developers. Learn how to go beyond simple autocomplete, using agentic workflows to automate complex tasks like upgrading Spring Boot versions, refactoring legacy code, and streamlining Azure deployments. We'll also discuss how the Copilot Java SDK allows developers to embed AI capabilities directly into their own JVM-based tooling and CI/CD pipelines. You can participate in our live stream to ask questions or catch the replay on your preferred podcast platform.Show Notes: Bruno on X/TwitterBruno on LinkedInGitHub CopilotCopilot SDK

Send a textThis episode covers the latest updates in cloud computing, including AWS Spot Interruption metrics, new EC2 instances, Azure and GCP enhancements, and cost management innovations. Perfect for cloud professionals seeking actionable insights and industry trends.keywordsKey topics:AWS Spot Interruption MetricsNew EC2 Memory-Optimized InstancesAzure and GCP Cloud EnhancementsCost Management and Optimization StrategiesCapacity Constraints and AI Impact

Mickey-Jo is sharing reviews of four plays he's seen in the last couple of weeks in London:• Shadowlands, by William Nicholson at the Aldwych Theatre• Deep Azure, by Chadwick Boseman at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe • Guess How Much I Love You?, by Luke Norris at the Royal Court Theatre• Man and Boy, by Terence Rattigan at the Dorfman Theatre at the National Theatre Check out what Mickey-Jo thought of the writing, creative choices, and performances in each!check out Mickey-Jo's brand new substack newsletter:www.mickeyjotheatre.substack.com•00:00 | introduction01:40 | Shadowlands07:52 | Deep Azure15:10 | Guess How Much I Love You?20:31 | Man and Boy28:22 | conclusionAbout Mickey-Jo:As one of the leading voices in theatre criticism on a social platform, Mickey-Jo is pioneering a new medium for a dwindling field. His YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MickeyJoTheatre⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is the largest worldwide in terms of dedicated theatre criticism, where he also share features, news and interviews as well as lifestyle content for over 95,000 subscribers. With a viewership that is largely split between the US and the UK he has been fortunate enough to be able to work with PR, Marketing, and Social Media representatives for shows in New York, London, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Toronto, Sao Pãolo, and Paris. His reviews and features have also been published by WhatsOnStage, for whom he was a panelist to help curate nominees for their 2023 and 2024 Awards as well as BroadwayWorldUK, Musicals Magazine and LondonTheatre.co.uk. Instagram/TikTok/X: @MickeyJoTheatre Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most organizations struggle to balance building their own AI infrastructure with leveraging reliable, scalable solutions. Oded Sagie and Perry Krug reveal how partnering with Pinecone transformed their approach—turning complex infrastructure challenges into seamless, "boringly reliable" systems. Discover how this shift unlocked faster innovation, lower operational overhead, and the peace of mind to focus on delivering real customer value.In this episode, you'll break down the core architectural innovations behind Pinecone's platform, including its adaptive indexing and serverless design, which support workloads from low-latency high-throughput applications to massive multi-tenant environments. Oded shares real-world lessons on choosing build vs. buy—highlighting the long-term costs of ownership versus operational simplicity and scalability. Perry dives into how Pinecone's managed vector database facilitates rapid deployment on cloud platforms like Azure, helping teams focus on their core product, not infrastructure.If you're navigating the complexity of deploying AI at scale—especially in industries demanding high reliability and performance—this episode is your game plan. Perfect for data engineers, AI leaders, and CTOs ready to ditch operational headaches and embrace "boringly reliable" technology that accelerates innovation while minimizing risk. Tune in to discover how to build smarter, scale faster, and focus on what truly matters—your customers.Apple @ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/generate-now/id1566458654Spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/show/43XcU8A1dsNfW3YGT8KXhp?si=62e09c6df65b4dc9&nd=1&dlsi=e9e6a138e7064929Youtube @ https://www.youtube.com/@generatenowpodcast/featuredConnect with Oded @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/odedkal/Perry @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrykrug/James @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmcaton/

Send a textWant a clear path from CISSP to top-tier pay without getting lost in buzzwords? We break down five high-income specialties that pair perfectly with CISSP leadership: modern GRC, cloud security as code, AI ethics and governance, advanced identity, and software supply chain security. Along the way, we unpack how AI reasoning tools like Claude Code Security are reshaping AppSec by cutting false positives and detecting logic flaws scanners miss, and we translate that shift into concrete workflows, better guardrails, and faster delivery.We start with the career pivot many leaders are making—moving from generalist security management to “decision architect.” That means pairing risk fluency with hands-on understanding of Terraform, Kubernetes, and CI/CD gates, then proving value through resilient architectures and evidence-driven dashboards for boards. You'll hear why GRC is exploding under new enforcement trends, how to automate continuous evidence to beat audit fatigue, and where vCISO opportunities command premium rates when strategy meets measurable outcomes.From there, we get practical. We walk through cloud guardrails that stop drift before it hits prod, share how to navigate shared responsibility with AWS and Azure, and outline identity-first zero trust that tames API key sprawl and enables passwordless access. On AI, we go deep on shadow AI containment, prompt-injection red teaming, model transparency, and data loss prevention tuned for embeddings—governance that accelerates, not blocks. Finally, we turn to software supply chain security: SBOM mandates, signed artifacts, dependency risk, and the DevSecOps policies that keep pipelines moving while raising assurance.If you're mapping your next move, we also compare salary bands across roles and highlight bridge certifications—CISM for program leadership, AI governance credentials for compliance depth, and CISA for audit rigor—to level up fast. Subscribe, share this with a teammate plotting their niche, and leave a quick review to tell us which specialty you're pursuing next.Gain exclusive access to 360 FREE CISSP Practice Questions at FreeCISSPQuestions.com and have them delivered directly to your inbox! Don't miss this valuable opportunity to strengthen your CISSP exam preparation and boost your chances of certification success. Join now and start your journey toward CISSP mastery today!

Dočkáme se Windows 12? A vlastně – zajímá to ještě někoho? Není verzování operačních systémů už stejně abstraktní a nic neříkající záležitost jako číslování webových prohlížečů? Ať jsou Windows klidně jaká jsou, ale hlavně bez věčných chyb. A tady Redmond stále selhává. Možná by všem pomohlo, kdyby z nich Microsoft udělal POSIX-like OS. Ideálně Linux. Jistě, byla by to revoluce, bylo by to zpočátku extrémně těžké, ale výhledově by to dávalo ekonomický smysl, když dnes firmu živí hlavně Azure a podnikové aplikace. Tomáš do redakce přivezl kapesní AI superpočítač Nvidia DGX Spark a Kuba jej hned zabavil. Řekneme si, k čemu taková mašinka vlastně je. Tak třeba na ní rozjedete svobodný velký jazykový model GPT-OSS-20B od OpenAI s dvaceti miliardami parametrů, aniž byste propálili výplatu za elektřinu. Má to jen jeden háček. Tahle legrace stojí sto tisíc. Program pořadu 00:29 Bude Windows 12?12:06 Nvidia DGX Spark23:21 Windows na Linuxu

Join us as Chris gets brutally honest about tech employment in the AI era: what's dying, what's thriving, and how to position yourself to survive the chaos. Chris walks through the current state of tech layoffs hitting record numbers while companies post record profits, the disappearance of entry-level roles, and practical strategies for navigating this unprecedented moment. You'll learn about skill development in the AI era, why fundamentals still matter more than hype, how to build resilience through community, and what hiring managers are actually looking for right now. This episode doesn't sugarcoat the challenges from hollowed-out expertise at major companies to early-career professionals wondering if their degree still matters, but it also provides actionable guidance on positioning yourself and why humor and human connection remain irreplaceable in an AI-driven world. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Setting the Tone 3:09 Chris Miller's Background & Journey 7:30 The Current State of Tech Employment 12:45 Layoffs vs Record Profits Discussion 18:22 Entry-Level Roles Disappearing 24:16 What Skills Actually Matter Now 30:41 Building Career Resilience 36:52 The Fundamentals Still Win 42:18 Community & Support Networks 47:35 Practical Job Search Strategies 52:14 What AI Can't Replace (Yet) 55:06 Things We're Thankful For 59:00 Wrap-up & Resources How to find Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-t-miller/ https://www.chrismiller.com/ Links from the show: https://roadmap.sh

In episode 279 of our SAP on Azure video podcast we talk about SAP Business Data Cloud, Datasphere and Microsoft Fabric.With all the excitment about the SAP Business Data Cloud, I recently searched for the Microsoft Fabric and SAP integraton and found several older blog posts from Ulrich Christ, with 90.000, 115.000 and almost 200.000 views. So there is definetly an interest in integrating SAP data with Fabric. Because of that I am really happy to have Ulrich with us again to provide us with an update on the latest SAP integration with SAP Business Data Cloud, Datasphere and Fabric. Want to register for the planned preview for SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Microsoft Fabric: http://aka.ms/SAPinFabricPrprFind all the links mentioned here: https://www.saponazurepodcast.de/episode279Reach out to us for any feedback / questions:* Goran Condric: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorancondric/* Holger Bruchelt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holger-bruchelt/ #Microsoft #SAP #Azure #SAPonAzure #Fabric #Datasphere #OneLake- 0:00 Intro- 1:45 SAP Data in Mircosoft Fabric- 2:00 Unifying data in OneLake - Shortcuts- 3:30 Cross-cloud mirroring- 5:00 Petabyte scale data movement- 6:25 SAP Connectivity Options- 10:25 SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Microsoft Fabric- 12:25 What is SAP Business Data Cloud?- 16:00 SAP BDC Connect for Fabric - Bi-directional zero-copy sharing- 18:30 Mirroring for SAP via SAP Datasphere- 21:15 High-level Architecture - Mirroring for SAP- 22:50 Demo - Starting with Datasphere- 24:50 Demo - Looking at the Fabric side- 32:25 Business Process Solutions (Enterprise Insights)- 33:00 Introducing Business Process Solutions- 33:35 BPS Architecture overview and scope

Episode Links:Rhode Island Sea Grant Aquaculture Training CourseAzure Cygler – Rhode Island Sea Grant Staff ProfileAzure Cygler – Coastal Resources Center ProfileRoger Williams University: Shellfish and Aquaculture ProgramNOAA Sea Grant NetworkCheck out our website!: https://www.globalseafood.org/podcastFollow us on social media!Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | InstagramShare your sustainability tips with us podcast@globalseafood.org!If you want to be more involved in the work that we do, become a member of the Global Seafood Alliance: https://www.globalseafood.org/membership/  The views expressed by external guests on Aquademia are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Aquademia or the Global Seafood Alliance. Listeners are advised to independently verify information and consult experts for any specific advice or decisions.

Realities Remixed, formerly know as Cloud Realities, launches a new season exploring the intersection of people, culture, technology, and society. Hosts Dave Chapman, Esmee van de Giessen, and Rob Kernahan unpack 2026's defining trends, from AI and sovereignty to adaptability and automation, offering fresh insight, candid reflections, and forward‑looking conversations shaping the year ahead. TLDR00:20 – Introduction of Realities Remixed02:30 – Why the show evolved?04:50 – Dig in with the team: Predictions for 202606:40 – Macro trends13:00 – Sovereignty 17:40 – Agentic AI22:17 – Human–AI interaction26:06 – Cloud trends30:42 – AI scaling, domain‑specific models35:03 – Adoption lag39:34 – Physical AI43:47 – Quantum computing48:21 – Hardware acceleration50:30 – Cybersecurity52:38 – Season outlook HostsDave Chapman:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/Esmee van de Giessen:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmeevandegiessen/Rob Kernahan:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-kernahan/ProductionMarcel van der Burg:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-vd-burg/Dave Chapman:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/ SoundBen Corbett:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-corbett-3b6a11135/Louis Corbett:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-corbett-087250264/ 'Realities Remixed' is an original podcast from Capgemini

Kat Traxler, Principal Security Researcher at Vectra AI, returns to the podcast to discuss her AI-powered vulnerability research workflow. She explains how she uses two different AI models to act as the “blackboard” while she applies her expertise to triage AI-generated ideas to increase her productivity. She also asks a concerning question: As AI automates... Read more »

Kat Traxler, Principal Security Researcher at Vectra AI, returns to the podcast to discuss her AI-powered vulnerability research workflow. She explains how she uses two different AI models to act as the “blackboard” while she applies her expertise to triage AI-generated ideas to increase her productivity. She also asks a concerning question: As AI automates... Read more »

Kat Traxler, Principal Security Researcher at Vectra AI, returns to the podcast to discuss her AI-powered vulnerability research workflow. She explains how she uses two different AI models to act as the “blackboard” while she applies her expertise to triage AI-generated ideas to increase her productivity. She also asks a concerning question: As AI automates... Read more »

I'm joined by Nirmal Mehta of AWS and Viktor Farcic from Upbound, to go through our 2025 year in review. We look into the AI tools that consumed us this year, from CLI agents to terminal emulators, IDEs, AI browsers - what worked, what flopped, what's worth your time and money, and what we think isn't!Check out the video podcast version here: https://youtu.be/mnagfUsh5bc

Welcome to Episode 421 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode Ben sits down for a conversation with Frank Lesniak, the lead of the Microsoft 365 team at West Monroe. In this episode, they dive into the intricacies of mergers and divestitures within Microsoft 365 environments. They discuss the initial due diligence phase, planning and approach, building and configuring new environments, and the final migration and cutover phase. Frank shares insights on common challenges such as integration of different licensing models, the handling of workstations and applications, and the importance of security assessments. The episode provides a detailed look at the methodology and tools used by Frank’s team to streamline these complex processes. Your support makes this show possible! Please consider becoming a premium member for access to live shows and more. Check out our membership options. Show Notes Frank Lesniak on LinkedIn West Monroe Frank Lesniak Github Microsoft 365 tenant-to-tenant migrations Microsoft 365 inter-tenant collaboration Tenant life cycle considerations in multitenant solutions Frank Lesniak Frank Lesniak is a Sr. Cybersecurity & Enterprise Technology Architect at West Monroe with nearly 20 years of experience leading consulting engagements involving Microsoft infrastructure technology. His expertise spans modern cloud systems like Azure, Microsoft 365, and Entra ID to classic platforms like Windows Server, Active Directory, and SQL Server. His recent focus has been on Microsoft platform cybersecurity and automating technical processes using PowerShell. In his role, Frank establishes technical project methodologies, leads teams, automates associated processes, and creates internal software products at West Monroe and in the open-source community. About the sponsors Would you like to become the irreplaceable Microsoft 365 resource for your organization? Let us know!

Join us as Marian explains what AI governance means for vSphere administrators and why it matters now. Marian walks through practical governance frameworks that vSphere admins need to understand, from IEEE 7000 series standards to mapping governance controls onto infrastructure you already manage. You'll learn what your CISO will ask for, how to respond using your existing VMware stack, and why governance isn't about slowing innovation� it's about enabling it safely. This episode covers real-world scenarios from data lineage and model transparency to integrating governance tools with existing infrastructure, and addresses the gap between compliance requirements and practical implementation for virtualized environments. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Introduction 5:16 Marian's Background in Tech & Governance 6:37 What is Governance? 12:45 IEEE 7000 Series Standards Overview 18:22 AI Governance for vSphere Admins 24:16 Data Lineage & Model Transparency 30:41 Risk Assessment Frameworks 36:52 Practical Implementation Strategies 42:18 Integration with Existing Tools 47:35 Common Governance Challenges 51:12 Vendor Landscape Discussion 54:27 Missing Innovation in the Space 58:09 Wrap-up & Resources How to find Marian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariannewsome/ Links from the show: https://ethicaltechmatters.com/

Welcome to another episode of SOURCE CODE.At Finovate, a leading Fintech conference “where you see the future of fintech first”, startups demo their solutions in seven minutes. This series is everything else - the human story behind the innovation. In every great story, there's a hero on a quest and a guide who's walked the path before. In b2b fintech, the customer is the hero. Today's founder? They're the guide.We're going back to the origin - before the demo, before the product - to understand the journey that led here. This story is about Philipp Buschmann, founder of Aazzur, a leading embedded financial services provider. The interview was recorded at Finovate Europe 2026.  Philip embodies The Captain archetype - a decisive leader who guides others through complex transformation with clarity and confidence. He built Azure to empower companies to achieve embedded finance without needing deep technical expertise, making the impossible accessible. Like all great captains, he inspires trust through clear vision, tirelessly enabling others to succeed, and stays focused on his true goal: helping his clients become Heroes in their own industries.LinksAazur on Finovate: https://informaconnect.com/finovateeurope/sponsors/aazzur/Philipp Buschmann on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippbuschmann/Company website: https://www.aazzur.com/Subscribe to the newsletter:Source Code is a series from the Investology podcast, produced by Orama:https://orama.tv/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit investorama.substack.com

Azure Standard founder David Stelzer joins Ginny Yurich for a direct, fascinating conversation about how food quality, farming practices, and community are tied together. David tells the origin story of Azure: his family's early move away from chemical-intensive farming, the hard years of transition, and the moment they lost a major buyer forcing him to start delivering organic grains himself, one small route at a time. That scrappy beginning grew into today's nationwide drop system (now 3,000+ locations), where families can access organic and carefully vetted products at scale while staying connected to independent farms and producers. Along the way, David explains what healthy soil actually does, why nutrient density matters, and why he believes rebuilding health has to start with rebuilding what we grow and what we eat. If you care about feeding your family well without getting lost in labels and marketing, this episode will give you a bigger framework—and a practical path forward. Learn more about Azure Standard and all they have to offer here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Perform 2026 felt like a turning point for Dynatrace, and when Steve Tack joined me for his fourth appearance on the show, it was clear this was not business as usual.  We began with a little Perform nostalgia, from Dave Anderson's unforgettable "Full Stack Baby" moment to the debut of AI Rick on the keynote stage. But the humor quickly gave way to substance. Because beneath the spectacle, Dynatrace introduced something that signals a broader shift in observability: Dynatrace Intelligence. Steve was candid about the problem they set out to solve. Too much focus on ingesting data. Too much time spent stitching tools together. Too many dashboards. Too many alerts. The real opportunity, he argued, is turning telemetry into trusted, automated action. And that means blending deterministic AI with agentic systems in a way enterprises can actually trust. We unpacked what that looks like in practice. From United Airlines using a digital cockpit to improve operational performance, to TELUS and Vodafone demonstrating measurable ROI on stage, the emphasis at Perform was firmly on production outcomes rather than pilot projects. As Steve put it, the industry has spent long enough in "pilot purgatory." The next phase demands real-world deployment and real return. A big part of that confidence comes from the foundations Dynatrace has laid with Grail and Smartscape. By combining unified telemetry in its data lakehouse with real-time topology mapping and causal AI, Dynatrace is positioning itself as the engine behind explainable, trustworthy automation. When hyperscaler agents from AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud call Dynatrace Intelligence, they are expected to receive answers grounded in causal context rather than probabilistic guesswork. We also explored what this means for developers, who often carry the burden of alert fatigue and fragmented tooling. New integrations into VS Code, Slack, Atlassian, and ServiceNow aim to bring observability directly into the developer workflow. The goal is simple in theory and complex in execution: keep engineers in their flow, reduce toil, and amplify human decision-making rather than replace it. Of course, autonomy raises questions about risk. Steve acknowledged that for now, humans remain firmly in the loop, with most agentic interactions still requiring checkpoints. But as trust grows, so will the willingness to let systems self-optimize, self-heal, and remediate issues automatically. We closed by zooming out. In a market saturated with AI claims, Steve encouraged listeners to bet on change rather than cling to the status quo. There will be hype. There will be agent washing. But there is also real value emerging for those prepared to experiment, learn, and scale responsibly. If you want to understand where AI observability is heading, and how deterministic and agentic intelligence can coexist inside enterprise operations, this episode offers a grounded, practical perspective straight from the Perform show floor.

Global technology spending is projected to reach $5.6 trillion by 2026, with nearly two-thirds of this investment directed toward software and computer equipment, particularly servers, according to Forrester. Generative AI is cited as a primary driver of this increase, shifting the balance of power toward cloud providers such as AWS and Azure. This escalation has implications for operational margins and the position of IT service providers, as businesses increasingly migrate complex workloads to cloud infrastructure ecosystems.Supporting data shows a disconnect between tech employment trends and hiring activity. In January 2026, technology companies cut approximately 20,155 jobs, mainly in telecommunications, while job postings for tech positions rose by 13% compared to the prior month, based on CompTIA analysis. Dave Sobel interprets this as a shift away from permanent IT headcount to project-based, AI-focused engagements. This development places pressure on service providers, who must adapt to buyers reallocating spend from traditional staffing models to short-term, outcome-oriented contracts.Adjacent discussion covered two press releases: VirtuaCare launched a support offering for Windows-based MSPs needing Apple expertise, delivering an externally verifiable, Apple-certified service. In contrast, Miso announced a roadmap for an autonomous AI L1 technician but did not substantiate claims with deliverables or customer data. Dave Sobel emphasized the need for MSPs to demand piloting, outcome metrics, and auditable product maturity, warning against reliance on unproven AI solutions and highlighting the risk of outsourcing as only a temporary solution.The core implication for MSPs and IT providers is a need for tactical negotiation and operational risk management. Dave Sobel recommends using AI first to reduce internal labor costs before introducing it as a client offering, prioritizing outcome-based pricing and adjusting contracts to retain value from efficiency gains. Providers should avoid becoming displaced labor, rigorously test new technologies before adoption, and remain vigilant regarding vendor claims. The emphasis remains on capturing and defending margins through accountable operations and contract governance rather than chasing speculative innovation.Three things to know today00:00 Tech Spending Hits $5.6T but MSPs Face Margin Squeeze Without AI Pricing Reset05:31 VirtuaCare Ships Apple Support; Mizo Announces Roadmap—One's Testable Today08:17 MSPs Must Capture AI Efficiency Value or Face Margin CompressionThis is the Business of Tech.   Supported by:  Small Biz Thought CommunityCheck out Killing IT

On this episode, I go into an update on the Secure Boot certificate update, the upcoming Windows 11 26H1 release, recent Azure outage, signs Microsoft will be focusing on quality and more! Reference Links: https://www.rorymon.com/blog/patch-tuesday-news-azure-outage-impacted-windows-updates-wom11-26h1-info/

Join us as Peter explores the core principles and practices of FinOps that help organizations optimize cloud spend without slowing innovation. Peter walks through what FinOps really is, why it matters beyond just cost cutting, and how engineers can collaborate effectively with finance teams to design cost-aware architectures. You'll learn about the three phases of FinOps (Inform, Optimize, Operate), how to get leadership buy-in for cloud initiatives, and practical strategies for managing cloud costs from the architecture phase through operations. This episode covers real-world scenarios from hybrid cloud cost tracking to building cost models before migrations, and explains how FinOps fits into your existing team structure regardless of organization size. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Introduction 6:10 Peter's Background & Journey to FinOps 10:45 What is FinOps? 16:32 The Three Phases: Inform, Optimize, Operate 22:18 Getting Leadership Buy-In 28:45 Cost-Aware Architecture Design 34:20 Hybrid Cloud & On-Prem Cost Tracking 40:15 FinOps Team Structure & Roles 46:30 Tools & Platforms Discussion 52:14 Accounting & Finance Collaboration 54:13 Starting FinOps Before Cloud Migration 57:17 FinOps for Small Teams & DBAs 1:00:13 Wrap-up & Resources How to find Peter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petercrenshaw/ Links from the show: https://finops.org https://finopsweekly.com https://thefrugalarchitect.com

On Cloud Realities, the real insight rarely came from technology alone, it emerged at the intersection of People, Culture, Industry, and Technology. In the remix we bring back familiar voices and topics while going deeper into the wider impacts, influence, and potential of today's tech across society. The 2026 season trailer, arriving a little later than planned, opens with this renewed focus and sets the stage for Episode 1, launching on February 19. Here's a quick trailer to get you ready!TLDR00:11 The emergence of insight from Cloud Realities01:00  Where the magic happens 01:42 The real impact on People, Culture, Industry and Tech HostsDave Chapman:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/Esmee van de Giessen:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmeevandegiessen/Rob Kernahan:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-kernahan/ProductionMarcel van der Burg:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-vd-burg/Dave Chapman:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/ SoundBen Corbett:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-corbett-3b6a11135/Louis Corbett:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-corbett-087250264/ 'Realities Remixed' is an original podcast from Capgemini

Silver, Gold and Crypto (oh my) Hang on – Wild ride here Superbowl, Olympics- Wait until you hear about the CAPex spending! Shakeup in Dietville PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts! Click HERE for Show Notes and Links DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Interactive Brokers  Warm-Up - Silver, Gold and Crypto (oh my) - Need a stock for CTP - Hang on - Wild ride here - Superbowl, Olympics- Wait until you hear about the CAPex spending! - Shakeup in Dietville Markets - Massive moved during the week - - Bitcoin clipped $60k before rebounding - DJIA tops 50,000 for the first time - Wait until you hear about the CAPex spending! - CAT == 1,100 points on the DJIA in 2026 Superbowl and Superbowl ads - Game review - Any ad stick out? - $10M per ad this year - Half Time with Bad Bunny? - Anthropic busting on OpenAi Last Week! - Massive moved - quick calc showed that about $1T was wiped from market caps in the sell-off, particularly in tech names. - HOWEVER - Friday alone is estimated to have added $1.5T to market cap AI Ripping Through - Plenty of names getting cooked over AI announcements - First it was the software companies - Now there are names in legal and finance that got clocked - Today - Altruist.ai can do tax planning and that hurt companies in financial space Earnings Season Update - Reporting so far: 59% of S&P 500 companies have reported Q4 2025 results. - Beat rate: 76% have topped EPS estimates (vs. 5-yr average: 78% (slightly lower) vs. 10-yr average: 76% (in line) - Magnitude of beats (aggregate): earnings are 7.6% above estimates vs. 5-yr average: 7.7% (about the same) vs. 10-yr average: 7.0% (a bit better) - Nothing great,  like Goldilocks Earnings Highlights - Palantir (PLTR): Reported strong Q4 results early in the week , beating estimates with revenue ~$1.41B (vs. ~$1.33B expected) and EPS $0.25 (vs. $0.23). Guidance for 2026 was upbeat (~61% revenue growth). Shares rallied sharply initially (~7–11% post-earnings), but gave back some gains amid broader tech volatility (e.g., down ~11–22% in parts of the week from peaks). - AMD: Reported mid-week, beating EPS (~$1.53 vs. lower expectations) with solid data center growth (~39%). However, Q1 guidance disappointed relative to high expectations in the AI chip space. Shares sank dramatically — down ~15–17% the next day, with some reports noting up to 20%+ drops at points, contributing to broader chip sector pressure. - Alphabet (GOOGL/GOOG): Reported beating on revenue (~$113.8B) and EPS (~$2.82), with strong core performance. But capex guidance for 2026 ($175–$185B, roughly double prior levels) sparked AI spending worries. Shares dipped post-earnings (down ~0.5–5% initially, flat to lower the next day, with some volatility pulling it below key moving averages). - Amazon (AMZN): Reported after hours on February 5, with mixed results — EPS ~$1.95 (narrow miss vs. ~$1.97 expected), but solid overall. The big negative was a surprise $200B capex forecast for 2026 (well above expectations), tied to AI/cloud buildout. Shares plunged sharply — down ~7–10% in after-hours/extended trading, with Friday moves around -5–8% in some sessions. Recent Tech CAPEX announcements - Amazon (AMZN) — Guided to approximately $200 billion in capex for 2026 (a massive jump from ~$125–131 billion in 2025, with ~80% likely AI-related per analyst commentary). This was the largest single-company figure and a major surprise, contributing heavily to the week's "wild" reactions. - Alphabet (GOOGL/GOOG) — Guided to $175–185 billion in capex for 2026 (roughly double the $91 billion spent in 2025, far above analyst expectations of ~$115–119 billion). Emphasis was on AI compute capacity, servers, data centers, and networking to meet demand for Gemini and cloud services. - Meta Platforms (META) — Guidance from late January (but heavily discussed last week): $115–135 billion for 2026 (up significantly from ~$70–72 billion in 2025, potentially an ~87% increase). - Microsoft (MSFT) — No new full explicit 2026 guidance in early February (fiscal year runs July–June), but recent quarterly run-rate and analyst projections put it around $97–145 billion (with some sources citing ~$105 billion or higher based on Q2 spending trends and signals of continued growth from prior levels of ~$88 billion in FY2025). ------!!!!Combined 2026 capex projected at $635–665 billion (low/high ends) or up to $650–700 billion in some reports — a ~60–74% increase from their collective ~$381 billion in 2025. Market Reaction from all of this.... - Markets were a bit spooked on the Anthropic announcement earlier in the week - software sold off and set a sour mood - Microsoft dumped pretty hard as the amount of spend was higher than anticipated, especially with some slower growth in Azure. - Amazon took a beating on the increased spend they anticipate *(extra by $50B) - BUT: Friday markets rallied as there was realization that the $200B spend by Amazon would seep into the economy and fuel infrastructure spending along with chips, tech etc. Other Earnings of Interest -  Reddit reported fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday in which the social media company beat on the top and bottom lines. - The company said it expects first-quarter sales to come in the range of $595 million to $605 million, which is higher than Wall Street expectations of $577 million. - Reddit also announced a $1 billion share repurchase program. - Reddit gets about $250 million a year from OpenAi and Google to have your data for training their LLMs While we are on the subject - Friday, DJIA hit 50,000 - first time ever! - Up 1,200 point of which approx 350 was from caterpillar and 280 was from Goldman Sachs Hats off to WalMart - Walmart Inc. shares pushed its market capitalization past $1 trillion on Tuesday for the first time ever| - Big transformation over the pst year - Walmart has maintained its appeal to households looking for value, its online offerings are drawing new, wealthier shoppers seeking convenience. Google Bond Offering - Issuing several tranches of bonds, denominated in Stirling - one as long as 100 years - Would you buy that? - The Google parent is set to raise $20 billion from a US dollar bond offering on Monday — more than the $15 billion initially expected — and is also pitching investors on what would be its first ever offerings in Switzerland and the UK. - The latter would include a rare sale of 100-year bonds, the first time a tech company has tried such an offering since the dotcom frenzy of the late 1990s Fat Profits in Dietville - Really interesting sequence of events happening... - Hims launches compounded pill at prices as low as $49 per month - Analysts cite questions on efficacy, legality of pill - Hims' move shifts focus from Novo's strong Wegovy pill launch - Broader obesity market whipsawed as pricing pressure rises THEN.. - Hims and Hers Health shares dive 14% after hours on Friday (Down 25% on Monday) - FDA cites concerns over quality, safety, federal law - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it would take action against telehealth provider Hims & Hers, for its $49 weight-loss pill, including restricting access to the drug's ingredients and referring the company to the Department of Justice for potential violations of federal law. AND.... - Eli Lilly last Wednesday posted fourth-quarter earnings and revenue and 2026 guidance that blew past estimates, as demand for its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro soars. - The pharmaceutical giant anticipates its 2026 revenue will come in between $80 billion and $83 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $77.62 billion, according to LSEG. - Meanwhile, NOVO had a really bad outlook that took the shares down 13% after the report. Japan Markets Soar - Japanese stocks jumped to a record high Monday, leading gains in the region after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi won a landmark election victory. - The ruling Liberal Democratic Party captured a two-thirds supermajority in the 465-seat lower house, public broadcaster NHK reported. - Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped past 57,000 for the first time before paring gains to close 3.9% higher at 56,363.94, while the Topix also notched a record high, closing at 3,783.94, up 2.3%. Employment Report? - Government shutdown is forcing them to postpone again (Which is dumb) - Number due this Wednesday - Maybe because of this:U.S. employers announced 108,435 layoffs for the month, up 118% from the same period a year ago and 205% from December 2025. The total marked the highest for any January since 2009. - At the same time, companies announced just 5,306 new hires, also the lowest January since 2009, which is when Challenger, Gray & Christmas began tracking such data. - Also, job openings fell sharply in December to 6.54 million, to their lowest since September 2020. - Available jobs are down by more than 900,000 just since October. - NO! Ai and advancements in tech have noting to do with this! NO NO NO M&A - Texas Instruments Inc. has reached an agreement to buy Silicon Laboratories Inc. for about $7.5 billion, deepening its exposure to several markets for chips. - Silicon Labs investors will receive $231 in cash for each share of the company's common stock and the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027. - The transaction still needs to win approval by investors in Silicon Labs and shares of Silicon Labs surged by 51% to $206.48 after the announcement. Inflation - This helps - PepsiCo (PEP.O), opens new tab will cut prices on core brands such as Lay's and Doritos by up to 15% following a consumer backlash against several previous price hikes, the snacks and beverage maker said on Tuesday after it topped fourth-quarter results. Miran - Moving - Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran is leaving his post as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, CNBC has confirmed. - He joined the CEA in January 2025, but had been on leave from that post since last September when he filled the unexpired term of former Fed Governor Adriana Kugler.- He reamins on Fed board No Biggie???? - There are some astonishing cased being reported of Bad AI in the operating room - JNJ's TruDi Navigation System - Since AI was added to the device, the FDA has received unconfirmed reports of at least 100 malfunctions and adverse events. - At least 10 people were injured between late 2021 and November 2025, according to the reports. Most allegedly involved errors in which the TruDi Navigation System misinformed surgeons about the location of their instruments while they were using them inside patients' heads during operations. - Cerebrospinal fluid reportedly leaked from one patient's nose. In another reported case, a surgeon mistakenly punctured the base of a patient's skull. In two other cases, patients each allegedly suffered strokes after a major artery was accidentally injured. Cuba - The main airport has putt out a bulletin that they are out of Jet Fuel - Blackouts and lack of other fuels are creating big problems - No airlines have stopped running at this point, but many will as they cannot refuel - This is a bigger problem for cargo planes (supplies) that may not be able to risk flying to Cuba as they will not be able to get out. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? ANNOUNCING THE WINNER OF THE THE CLOSEST TO THE PIN CUP 2025 Winners will be getting great stuff like the new "OFFICIAL" DHUnplugged Shirt!     FED AND CRYPTO LIMERICKS   See this week's stock picks HERE Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter

We’ve spent a decade figuring out how to (more or less) securely authenticate humans. Now AI agents are crashing the party, and identity just got a whole lot more complicated. Today we sit down with Dan Moore, Senior Director of CIAM Strategy and Identity Standards at FusionAuth, to explore the collision course between artificial intelligence... Read more »

In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, John Siefert, host and CEO, Dynamic Communities and Cloud Wars, is joined by Jen Harris, CEO of TMC, to explore how AI agents, automation, and mindset shifts are redefining business. Their discussion spans TMC's acquisition of TMG, leadership in the partner ecosystem, and why reimagining work is critical now, setting the stage for conversations at the 2026 AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA.Key TakeawaysAI Requires Commitment, Not Caution: Harris emphasizes that half-measures slow progress more than they reduce risk. Organizations that just try one thing often abandon AI too quickly because early results aren't perfect. She notes, “You fail first at new things,” adding that true adoption requires patience, leadership backing, and a willingness to accept short-term discomfort for long-term gains.Solutions Beat Technology Stacks: Customers no longer want disconnected tools; they want outcomes. Harris explains that clients expect partners to “meet them where they are,” combining Power Platform, Azure, data, and AI into real solutions.Mindset Is the Real Bottleneck: While AI is already embedded in daily life, Harris observes resistance when it enters core business roles. “It's not quite here yet” is often code for fear of job impact. She challenges leaders to reframe AI as a workload reducer, asking, “What if it would make you less busy?”Reactive Roles Are Disappearing: Harris highlights a coming shift as agents take over repetitive, reactive work. Professionals who built careers on being indispensable specialists must evolve. People will move toward proactive creation, strategy, and value generation.Human Connection Still Matters: Despite rapid automation, Harris stresses that humanity isn't going away. Reflecting on in-person events, she says, “Look at you — you came out of your offices on a cold day, and we're talking.” AI may scale intelligence, but trust, inspiration, and shared understanding still comes from people. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Welcome to episode 342 of The Cloud Pod, where the forecast is always cloudy! Justin, Ryan, and Matt are in the studio today to bring you all the latest in cloud and AI news this week. How do you feel about ads? How do you feel about ads while using AI? We've got options! We've got a round-up of tech Super Bowl ads, AI ads, Earnings reports (who frankly need the ad revenue), and a plethora of Opus 4.6 announcements, plus more. Let's get started!  Titles we almost went with this week ChatGPT Goes Full Mad Men: Your AI Assistant Now Comes With Commercial Breaks Heroku’s New Feature: No New Features AWS Gives EC2 Instances a Storage Growth Spurt: 22.8TB of Local NVMe Now Available Identity Crisis Averted: IAM Identity Center Learns to Replicate Itself JSON Schema Enforcement: Because Your LLM Needs Structure in Its Life From Zero to Admin in 480 Seconds: A Serbian Speedrun Story From Proof of Concept to Proof of Claw: DigitalOcean Tames AI Agent Infrastructure Azure’s Growth Hits the Clouds: Microsoft’s 39% Increase Still Not Enough for Wall Street One Lake to Rule Them All: Microsoft and Snowflake Finally Stop Fighting Over Your Data Free Lunch Officially Over: ChatGPT Learns That Servers Cost Money Claude Won’t Sell You Anything (Except Maybe Peace of Mind) IAM Identity Center Goes Multi-Regional: Because One Region to Rule Them All Wasn’t Enough Databricks Takes the Base Out of Database with Lakebase GA I'm a Chrome Tab hoarder General News  01:30 Superbowl Ads of Note OpenAI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCN9iCXNJqQ Microsoft CoPilot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndj9Jk-tGKo Base44?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKEUWtqvsis  Gemini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1yGy9fELtE Anthropic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmnjDLwZckA  ai.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7I-D4YXbzg&t=3s 16:35 Justin -If you ever want to knowif there's a bubble, spending dumb money on the Super Bowl on an ad that makes no sense is probably your number one clue.”  16:53 It's Earnings Time! Microsoft (MSFT) Q2 earnings report 2026 Microsoft Q2 2026 earnings show Azure cloud growth slowing to 39% from 40% in the prior quarter, missing analyst expectations of 39.4% and causing shares to drop 7% in after-hours trading.  The company’s gross margin hit a three-year low at 68% due to substantial AI infrastructure investments totaling $37.5 billion in capital expenditures, up 66% year over year.

Microsoft Patches Four Azure Vulnerabilities (three critical) https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability Evaluating and mitigating the growing risk of LLM-discovered 0-days https://red.anthropic.com/2026/zero-days/ Gitlab AI Gateway Vulnerability CVE-2026-1868 https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2026/02/06/patch-release-gitlab-ai-gateway-18-8-1-released/

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ https://youtu.be/-flNeKF6CxQ?si=xIIQ4LUl7oraQjkg Microsoft’s Cyril Belikoff joins Vince Menzione to reveal the seismic shift occurring within the newly reimagined Microsoft Marketplace. As the industry moves toward a predicted $300 billion partner opportunity by 2030, this discussion deconstructs the evolution of the “Frontier” vision, the launch of the AI apps and agents category, and the critical “Resale Enabled Offer” (REO) that is currently doubling deal sizes for early adopters. Whether you are a software company looking to scale globally or a reseller aiming to stitch together complex AI solutions, the message is clear: the flywheel is already spinning, and those who wait for a “perfect strategy” risk being permanently displaced by more agile competitors who are getting their feet wet today. Key Takeaways The Microsoft Marketplace has been reimagined into a single destination for discovering, buying, and deploying AI apps and agents. Analysts predict a staggering $300 billion opportunity for partners within the Microsoft Marketplace by 2030. The new Resale Enabled Offer (REO) allows software companies to authorize channel partners to resell on their behalf across specific geographies with minimal overhead. Cloud migration is far from over, as massive amounts of on-premise data and ISV apps still need to be modernized for the AI era. Marketplace deal sizes are doubling as customers use Azure commitments to retire their marketplace acquisition costs. Successful partners are moving away from “boiling the ocean” strategies and instead focusing on transacting one or two deals to learn the ecosystem’s mechanics. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags: Microsoft Marketplace, AI apps and agents, Resale Enabled Offer, REO, Cyril Belikoff, Azure Marketplace, AppSource, cloud solutions, software companies, digital transformation, AI strategy, channel led sales, ISV solutions, cloud migration, Azure commitments, Microsoft Cloud, Frontier vision, MSP opportunity, marketplace transacting, AI monetization, global scale, procurement, IT deployment, technical modernization, partner ecosystem, business applications. Opening Lines: [00:00:00] Cyril Belikoff: Marketplace is really the extension of our vision for Frontier, uh, and the Microsoft Cloud. You know, the, the Microsoft technology takes a customer a long way, but in many ways to complete the thought. If you’re in football terms, you want to cross over the line and score touchdown. You can’t just get, uh, to the red zone. [00:00:20] Cyril Belikoff: You actually need partner solutions. [00:00:26] Vince Menzione: So let’s, let’s kick off to Marketplace a little bit right, too, because, uh, it’s been a big year for Marketplace, or 20, the first half of 2026 fiscal year 2026 has been a big year. A lot of announcements, a lot of things going on in the world, in marketplace. Where do we wanna start there? Let’s recap some of it. [00:00:44] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. Um, so, um. It feels like a long time ago, but in, at the end of September, [00:00:51] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:00:52] Cyril Belikoff: Um, at the AR tour, uh, in Chicago, we announced a new Microsoft marketplace. We reimagined that experience. It’s a new customer experience, single destination for customers to. You know, discover, find, try, buy, and deploy cloud solutions, AI apps and agents all in one place. [00:01:11] Cyril Belikoff: And so historically, we’ve had a little bit, uh, of decentralization. We had this thing called the Azure Marketplace and AppSource for different experiences. AppSource was more for teams and, and copilot. Um, and, and office, Azure Marketplace. Of course, that was for Azure. We brought all of that into one place. [00:01:30] Cyril Belikoff: So customers, whether they are looking for a SaaS solution running on Azure, an agent that snaps into copilot, an experience that runs in our security store, now they can go to one place. Um. marketplace.microsoft.com. It’s one, it’s the new Microsoft marketplace. And we have an, of course, we have a, we had, we launched a brand new category, AI apps and agents, and we launched that category in September. [00:01:54] Cyril Belikoff: Uh, bringing together numerous, uh, uh, partner offerings. Yeah. And today we have the largest catalog, um, probably in the mid four thousands of AI and agents. Wow. Available to customer. So fantastic. There was, there was quite a big moment in September. Um, and then fast forward a little bit to November, we announced a resale enabled offer, um, at Ignite [00:02:15] Vince Menzione: eo. [00:02:16] Vince Menzione: Eo [00:02:16] Cyril Belikoff: eo. I, [00:02:17] Vince Menzione: I like EO reminds me of the band back in the day. [00:02:19] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. R Speedwagon. There you go. Uh, well, and it’s, it’s not that far from it because Oreo accelerates. Yeah. Um, what partners can do, uh, with the marketplace and really connects. Software companies and resellers, which I’m sure we’ll talk about in a second. [00:02:34] Cyril Belikoff: But that’s really the recap, um, of, uh, you know, the new Microsoft marketplace, how we enabling it for, uh, for partners through the the resell enable offer. [00:02:45] Vince Menzione: So, I know we talked on this a little bit, but I wanna maybe just expand on it. What does the frontier push and the marketplace evolution mean for partners? [00:02:53] Vince Menzione: Because I, I think it’s huge for both, for these partners to really monetize and accelerate their success working with you. [00:03:00] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. So, um. Marketplace is really the extension of our vision for Frontier, uh, and the Microsoft Cloud. You know, the, the Microsoft technology takes a customer a long way, but in many ways to complete the thought and to, you know, uh, uh. [00:03:20] Cyril Belikoff: If you’re in football terms, you wanna cross over the line and score a touchdown, you can’t just get, uh, to the red zone. You actually need partner solutions. [00:03:28] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:03:29] Cyril Belikoff: Uh, and so that’s where the partner solutions, combined with Microsoft’s first party offerings become a really, really. Great offering and powerful offering for our customers to, to become Frontier. [00:03:40] Cyril Belikoff: So we have obviously a ton of AI experiences, our own co-pilot experiences, uh, Microsoft Foundry, which is a platform for ai, but in, in many ways, we need those industry solutions. We need those AI apps and agents from partners to complete that offering. And that’s really. How it comes together and, uh, you know, uh, I heard you from o was just on before me. [00:04:01] Cyril Belikoff: They actually predict that the Microsoft marketplace, uh, is a 300 billion partner opportunity by 2030. Yeah, they’re talking about, I think, mid eighties growth. We have literally seen our business for the last three years, and we are in the middle of our, uh, you know, third year doubling. And so when you get three or four years of doubling every year, that’s compounded doubling. [00:04:24] Cyril Belikoff: Um, so, uh, we have seen lots of momentum from customers, lots of interest. We’ve made it, you know. Interesting for customers. Um, and incentivize our customers with their Azure commitments that can retire their marketplace, uh, acquisitions that way. We’ve made it, we’ve put incentives for partners and for our own sellers. [00:04:44] Cyril Belikoff: So we really creating the flywheel for everybody in the market to see value from, uh, the marketplace. So. Like, like, like you mentioned, like m the, uh, you know, suggested [00:04:55] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:04:55] Cyril Belikoff: It’s only exploding the opportunity on marketplace. [00:04:58] Vince Menzione: Well, and you both touched on the fact that the data is not in the cloud yet. [00:05:02] Vince Menzione: Not all the data that needs to be in the cloud in order to drive the future of where we wanna go from a society. Mm-hmm. And from a business application perspective needs to be in the cloud. So huge opportunities for partners around data states, around securing that data, governing that data, and so on, on top of all the business applications, [00:05:19] Cyril Belikoff: right? [00:05:19] Vince Menzione: As promise. So incredible. Yep. So let’s [00:05:22] Cyril Belikoff: talk about, yeah. The call migration. The call migration, people think that is over and it’s long from over because customers have plenty, uh, on premise, uh, not only Microsoft technology, but the, the, the, the software company or the ISV app that sits on top of it. Yeah. [00:05:36] Cyril Belikoff: And that needs to be migrated, managed, modernized, um, and marketplace is a big part of that too. Um, but there’s so many services and, um, opportunities around it. [00:05:45] Vince Menzione: Incredible opportunity. Let’s talk about the channel and the channel opportunity. You, you touched on this earlier, right? So this really lighting up the channel. [00:05:53] Vince Menzione: I saw this loud and clear when we were at Ignite. Like this is a huge opportunity for the Es, for the resellers, for all the partners. And as part of REO, you’ve got huge opportunities you’re laying out for them for the 500,000 part partners. You know, we talk about the Bill Gates moment down here in Boca. [00:06:09] Vince Menzione: This is where it all started. Uh, yep. How, how do you think about marketplace in the channel today? [00:06:16] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. You know, it’s, um, it’s vital. You know, we have a customer need, um, from. The smallest is small business all the way to enterprise. And the really, the only way we serve that, the only way we know how to serve that is with our partners from the largest of partners that serve our top enterprises down through, um, what we call small and medium and then down to our small business. [00:06:41] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:06:41] Cyril Belikoff: Um, and so, you know, we have seen our. You know, while our, we’ve seen a doubling of our business, we’ve seen three, three and a half to four x doubling of our channel led sales. [00:06:53] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:06:54] Cyril Belikoff: Um, over the last year. And so while our overall business is doubling, channel is accelerating even, you know, even more. [00:07:02] Cyril Belikoff: And so there, there’s a need from our customers because they buy from our channel and there’s obviously a need from the channel. And so we created this resale enabled offer. As you mentioned, we, um. We announced private preview in September and launched GA at Ignite. So, you know, uh, November, just before Thanksgiving holiday and retail Enable offer is all about scale and how we connect a, a, an independent software vendor or a software company. [00:07:27] Cyril Belikoff: To authorize a channel partner to resell on their behalf on a particular geography. And then that allows software companies to expand into new markets with very little overhead. And it allows the channel partners to create a set of offerings, not only from one partner, but you might have multiple software companies or applications that you stitch that are together to create an end-to-end customer offering or experience. [00:07:51] Cyril Belikoff: And so we are seeing, we are seeing many to many relationships. So software companies might authorize many resellers, many markets they’re in, for example. Yep. And then resellers, um, they’re, they’re becoming authorized resellers from many software companies so that they can really stitch together, end into end solution. [00:08:09] Cyril Belikoff: And it, we’re loving it and we are getting great feedback. It is early days for our global availability for, uh, re office, which. But we had partners that were literally waiting, um, uh, and waiting for deals. And within the first week there was, they were, uh, processing the, the Oreo deals at, at, at quite large scale already. [00:08:31] Cyril Belikoff: So. We are excited about the feedback that we’re getting. We, as you know, we, we stay close to that feedback and we listen well, um, and adjust from it. So we got more work to do, but, um, it’s a great opportunity for, to connect our, our multiple types of partners, software companies, and resellers. [00:08:48] Vince Menzione: Yeah, I agree. [00:08:49] Vince Menzione: And you know, I talk to a lot of these organizations myself, and there is palpable excitement. In the channel from Distees that were sort of disengaged a couple of years ago, maybe, trying to figure out where they were gonna monetize. And the other way area that’s aligned to this as well is the Ms. P community. [00:09:06] Vince Menzione: So these MSPs are getting bigger and bigger, and organizations like Accenture, Avanade, and ndl. Or becoming MSPs or creating Ms. P practices within their own firms. But there’s even these smaller MSPs, but many of ’em are getting to a billion dollars or more. These were little mom and pop companies years ago, but the customer so needs to have, you know, especially with ai, right? [00:09:27] Vince Menzione: Because we’re in a constant state of evolution right now. I need somebody that can help me on the tooling and then also help me on, you know, getting the tooling to work. And so, uh, we’re seeing a lot of excitement from that. Community, which wasn’t really as engaged with Microsoft the way they that they are now. [00:09:43] Vince Menzione: They’re really getting engaged in a big way. [00:09:46] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah, it’s promising. Like you say, you know, the, the, we’re all learning this new AI world and obviously marketplace has taken off. We’ve had the classic SaaS solutions or cloud solutions on marketplace for a while, but really un having the local partner that’s close to the customer, what the customer’s trying to need to do and be able to connect the, the traditional. [00:10:07] Cyril Belikoff: Software as a service applications with these new AI experiences and really, uh, stitch them together and help them operationalize, you know, in their own, you know, cus in their own terms and what they’re trying to, uh, do is so important. You know, um, and to your point there, there are large, they’re the large ones that are seeing opportunity on the marketplace. [00:10:27] Cyril Belikoff: But the, you know, when you get down to, uh, medium and smaller businesses, they really need their local friendly resetter to help them. [00:10:35] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:10:35] Cyril Belikoff: Uh, so you’re right. We are seeing an, a new en energy engagement from not only our existing 500,000 partners, but a bunch of those new ones. [00:10:44] Vince Menzione: So, uh, again, second week of 2026, and people are really just starting to wake up from the holidays. [00:10:50] Vince Menzione: Now they’re getting ready for their s ks. All these partners are lining up and getting their teams aligned. Uh, you’re in front of them. Let’s have a conversation like what should they be doing better and differently? What do they need to go do now? It’s 2026. [00:11:06] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah. Um, you know, first of all, if you’re a software company, you know, understand what the, the Microsoft marketplace can help you with, uh, can help you scale to global markets, remove burdens like tax, um, a processing, engaging with customers. [00:11:21] Cyril Belikoff: Um, we’re seeing an acceleration and doubling of, uh, not an acceleration deals, but doubling of deal sizes, as you know, through the marketplace. Uh, and there. It helps with engagement at different types of companies, whether it’s, or different types of, uh, roles in a company, whether it’s a, a procurement person or an IT person or a business person. [00:11:42] Cyril Belikoff: So, you know, get onto the marketplace, create offerings, um, and give us feedback. And then on the reseller side, um, also lots of opportunities, you know, register as, as a reseller, um, you know, understand the benefits and. The, the Azure sponsorships that we have available for you, that you can close deals with their, their, their credits and, and incentives that we provide to you. [00:12:06] Cyril Belikoff: And then figure out how you do your first deal with a software company. Um, yeah. You know, a lot of people will say like, should I have a big strategy? And Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you want to, that’s okay, but just getting into. Uh, the marketplace, figuring out one or two deals, transacting and seeing the opportunity is many ways the best way to do it and to learn it yourself. [00:12:28] Cyril Belikoff: And then you figure out, okay, where, where’s the opportunity for me in this deal? Am I in the transaction? Uh, am I in the services around the transaction or combination? Um, and just getting your feet wet will get you going and, and, uh, get you learning. [00:12:42] Vince Menzione: You know, I think about this in the, the time the partners are, they have this huge opportunity with Microsoft around marketplace and then thinking about how they build their own ecosystem. [00:12:52] Vince Menzione: And like you said, don’t, don’t try and boil the ocean, right. Don’t try and do it all at once. Mm-hmm. But start out small, but understand, you know, work with the Microsoft teams, understand how, how co-selling works, how to engage with the, with the Microsoft organization. How to, how to be up on marketplace, how to situationally. [00:13:09] Vince Menzione: You know, Jay and I were talking about this 28 moments and he talked about a deal that started out as an AWS deal, but it wound up a Microsoft deal because NTT and Software one were involved in the in the deal and influencing the customer’s decision process. Right working with Microsoft. And so we just need to be smarter, I think. [00:13:28] Vince Menzione: I think today it’s a very different model than it was 20 years ago when you and I got started in this business. Uh, yeah. And people just really need to go think about this more strategically in how they build this. [00:13:39] Cyril Belikoff: It’s great. I totally agree. Um, like I said, getting your feet wet, understanding the co-sell to your point and, and, and how Microsoft sells. [00:13:48] Cyril Belikoff: Um, and then understand what customers are trying to, you know, get, get, get out of it with their, their Azure commitments and how they can retire their Azure commitments through purchases on marketplace, which in sense them, um, to also work on the marketplace. So you, I think partners will find Microsoft sellers. [00:14:04] Cyril Belikoff: Own compensation, um, incentive to work. We’ll find that customers are incentive to transact on the marketplace. And so just enter that, you know, triangle and, and get engaged and, uh, and learn and then give us feedback. Like, like I’ve mentioned many times with you, we, uh, we take feedback every month from customers and partners in, in forums like this, um, in other forums, and then we evolve and, you know, build out, uh, stronger experiences. [00:14:31] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Cyril, I want to thank you again. So great to have you join us today and, uh, so excited to continue our, our mutual relationship and our beneficial relationship in 2026. So thank you again for everything you do and supporting us. [00:14:45] Cyril Belikoff: Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Happy New Year to yourself and uh, and your community and, uh, thanks so much again. [00:14:50] Cyril Belikoff: Appreciate it. [00:14:50] Vince Menzione: Thank you, Cyril. The Ultimate Partner Winter Retreat is gonna be here in the Boca Studio. This is the third year that we’re gonna be here in Boca. This is always a favorite of our community members, our executive members, our sponsors and speakers. We’ll all be here in the studio, which is a really intimate setting. [00:15:12] Vince Menzione: We can see upwards of 40, 50 people. Uh, we’ll be hosting an incredible dinner at the Boca Resort overlooking the golf course. That’s an incredible property and, uh, we’d love to have you join us. Thank you for being part of the ultimate Partner community, and I hope to see you this year at one of our events. [00:15:30] Vince Menzione: Thank you.

Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).Windows Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026 There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances What did Microsoft really promise? Not much Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool Microsoft earnings deep dive Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too) Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft AI Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI Xbox and games AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027 We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4 Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units Tips and picks Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: zscaler.com/security

Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).Windows Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026 There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances What did Microsoft really promise? Not much Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool Microsoft earnings deep dive Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too) Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft AI Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI Xbox and games AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027 We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4 Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units Tips and picks Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: zscaler.com/security

Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).Windows Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026 There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances What did Microsoft really promise? Not much Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool Microsoft earnings deep dive Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too) Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft AI Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI Xbox and games AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027 We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4 Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units Tips and picks Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: zscaler.com/security

Ned and Kyler sit down with Tikhon Jelvis to discuss Haskell and other niche programming languages. They explore how this decades-old language isn't just surviving, but thriving. They also break down how Haskell can provide distinct advantages over traditional programming, especially for complex domain modeling and concurrent applications. Episode Links: Copilot Language Haskell Project Haskell... Read more »