Microsoft last week revealed a price hike in Microsoft Certifications that'll go into effect throughout many parts of the world starting in July.

The price hikes will affect the following certifications: Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS), Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP), Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD), Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST), Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA), Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD), Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA).

Microsoft said it doesn't expect to increase the price of Microsoft Certified Master (MCM), Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA), Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA), and Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certification exams.

Microsoft isn't raising the price of exams uniformly around the world: The retail price for Microsoft Certification exams in the U.S. and Canada will rise from $125 to $150, but it'll remain unchanged in counties like Ireland, Spain and Greece, whose economies are still shaky.

Microsoft says it'll use the price hike to Boost the Microsoft Certification program with new certifications and question types, as well as frequent test updates and better test security.

The move came as a surprise to partners, and those who've been adjusting their businesses to meet the new terms of Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) said the timing is unfortunate. However, Microsoft plans to offer partners "substantial savings" on test fees for Microsoft Certifications required to attain MPN competencies. Details on these offers are on the agenda for this year's Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), to be held from July 10-14 in Los Angeles.

MPN adds a great deal of weight to the technical skills partners carry, and many have had to make difficult choices as part of their migration to MPN. In MPN, the old Gold and Silver rankings are now being used as indicators of a partner's skill level within 29 distinct MPN technology competencies.

To obtain Gold, partners must hire or contract with four Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs), and the requirement for Silver is two MCPs. This is in addition to the business model changes Microsoft is pressing partners to make as part of the software giant's march in cloud computing.

In light of all these changes, it's understandable that some partners would be irked by the addition of an additional cost burden.

"Not only are they eating administrative costs to realign ourselves with Microsoft, we’re coming off a tough few years of lackluster IT spending and dealing with cloud solutions that are trying to capture a significant amount of value from the channel ecosystem," said Travis Fisher, executive vice president at Inacom Information Systems, a Salisbury, Md.-based solution provider. "I can’t imagine a worse time for increased certification costs to take effect than right now."

Next: Certifications Are Just Part Of Microsoft Partners' Costs

Microsoft, through its testing partner Prometric, offers a 30 percent discount to partners that purchase an 8-pack of test vouchers, which includes one free "re-take" for those who don't pass the first time. There are seven exams required for the MCSE certification, which adds up to $1,050 without the discount.

But as Fisher notes, exams costs are only part of the equation when it comes to obtaining a Microsoft certification. When everything is taken into account, he estimates that Inacom invests around $10,000 per person for certifications every three to five years.

"Let’s be honest: The real costs of obtaining any certification come in the form of boot camps, which cost around $3,500 per week, payroll expenses, and lost productivity," Fisher said.

It's unlikely that higher certification costs are going to dissuade Microsoft partners that have begun their move to MPN, particularly because like MPN itself, the test price hike will likely provide partners better visibility and differentiation within the Microsoft channel.

"This will definitely raise costs in the short-term, but fewer partners will achieve and maintain these certs, allowing them to differentiate themselves as experts in a way that other partners can’t," said Rick Oppedisano, executive director of partner and channel Sales at Azaleos, a Seattle-based Microsoft solution provider.

Dave Sobel, CEO of Evolve Technologies, a Fairfax, Va.-based Microsoft partner, was surprised by the price hike, but says it won't affect his company's MPN plans.

"It's unfortunate that it's coming in the midst of their move over to MPN, and it matters because we're trying to get a bunch of people trained," he said. "But Microsoft has long been quite generous in giving training incentives to partners, and this isn't an unreasonable increase."

Ever since Windows 11 was released, the discussion on whether the OS is a faster performer than Windows 10 and Linux has been a hot topic. When it comes to the latter, several performance comparisons of it vs Windows 11 have suggested that Microsoft's OS has not been the consistent better performer. In fact, on several occasions, it has fared worse.

Data from September 2021, back when Windows 11 was not even generally available (G.A.), showed that Linux had a big lead in certain workloads and was also faster on average. Windows 11 got one back with Intel's 12th Gen chips thanks to special optimization. A newer kernel version did not help either as Linux was often seen lagging behind.

However, things started to shift around the middle of 2022 as Linux was finally getting specific optimizations related to the Big-Bigger design on 12th Gen Intel. And it was not just Team Blue as the same was holding true for AMD's Ryzen as well.

Speaking of Ryzen, the latest testing conducted on a Zen 4 APU shows that not only has Linux caught up to Windows 11, it has even surpassed it and by a very large margin in some cases. This is two years since the Windows 11 was out and the next OS is apparently launching in another in 2024.

In case you are wondering which model was tested, it was a Ryzen 7 PRO 7840U. As mentioned above, it's part of the Phoenix lineup, which is Zen 4 mobile and has RDNA 3 graphics on-board. The previous Ryzen test was also with an APU but that was in the form of a Ryzen PRO 6850U, which was Zen 3+ and had RDNA 2 iGP (integrated graphics).

The testing was conducted by Phoronix and although Windows 11 did win in several instances, the margins when it lost were generally far wider.

First up they have a couple of benchmarks measuring path tracing and ambient occlusion (AO) using Intel's OSPRay. As you can see below, Ubuntu is nearly twice as fast especially in the AO test.

In vkpeak FP16 Vulkan performance, Ubuntu 23.10 shows its prowess in terms of compute throughput.

The biggest performance gap is seen in CPU mining performance with Onecoin as Ubuntu shows around two and a half times or roughly 150% better hash rate.

The geometric mean of all the results are given below and the Linux distro is seen to be roughly 10.5% faster than Windows 11:

You can find the full test results on Phoronix's website at the source link below.

Source and images: Phoronix

In this episode of Microsoft Weekly, they look at fixed Windows 11 bugs, even more deprecated features, the upcoming Moment 5 update, the final browser and app updates in 2023, gaming sales and discounts, and more.

Table of contents:

1. Windows 11 news
2. Updates are available
3. Gaming news
4. A blast from Microsoft's past

Windows 11

Here they talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.

Let us start with some good news: Microsoft has finally fixed an annoying bug causing File Explorer to pop on the screen for no reason. The latest non-security update, released on December 4, contains the necessary fix that somehow slipped under their radar. Feedback Hub is full of people complaining about this infuriating behavior, but the fix is finally available, albeit with a massive delay.

Another patch Microsoft made available to its users is related to the recently discovered printing bug and uncalled HP Smart application. The company released a special troubleshooter, and you can use it to restore the missing printer metadata, remove the HP Smart program, and fix the "No tasks are available" error.

In addition, Microsoft fixed the bug with the broken Narrator during the initial setup after clean-installing Windows 11 version 23H2. You can now get the updated Windows 11 images from the official website or via the Media Creation Tool app. If you rely on the built-in Narrator, it will work without issues when setting up a clean Windows 11 23H2 installation.

The week went with some bad news, too: the latest Windows updates allegedly break Wi-Fi connections to 802.11r access points commonly used in businesses, schools, and universities. A few of them have already published advisories recommending customers to uninstall December 2023 updates. Shortly after that, the company acknowledged and quickly resolved the problem using the Known Issue Rollback system.

On the technical side, Microsoft updated the list of supported processors in Windows 11, adding recently announced Intel chips. Even though AMD also unveiled a new lineup of mobile CPUs, they are still missing in the documentation.

Microsoft is done updating Windows 11 in 2023, so now all eyes are turning to 2024. They know that the company plans a big client update, but there is also one more "Moment" update coming to Windows 11. A new report revealed that the "Moment 5" update could land somewhere at the end of February or March 2024. It will not bring much, but you can expect a few solid additions.

As for Windows 10, whose end of support is getting nigh, it might soon send over 240 million computers to landfills. Of course, customers can continue using their devices with the unsupported OS or pay Microsoft for extended security updates. The latter, though, might become a big problem.

Finishing the Windows section with a weird one: here is a MacBook running Windows 10 Mobile and UWP apps. No one knows how, no one knows why ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Windows Insider Program

The Windows Insider team is having some well-deserved rest during the holiday season. Therefore, there were no new preview builds this week. Also, there will be no updates next week. Come back in January 2024 for new updates in the Canary, Dev, Beta, and Release Preview Channels.

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

The recently released Windows 11 version 23H2 introduced a feature called "Dynamic Lighting," which lets control RGB lights on compatible peripherals without installing additional software. Although plenty of mice and keyboards already support Dynamic Lighting, ASRock is the first manufacturer to implement Dynamic Lighting support in their motherboards. The corresponding update is now rolling out to some Intel and AMD mobos.

Microsoft Edge Insiders have a new quirky feature to test: Super Drag and Drop. Turning it on allows the user to open a link, text, or picture in a new tab by simply dragging it slightly. When pulling a portion of text, the feature opens a new tab and looks for it on the internet using your default (a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one) search engine. Check out this article to learn how to enable Edge Super Drag and Drop.

AVIF support is another feature coming soon to Microsoft Edge. Version 121, scheduled to arrive at the end of January 2024, will finally catch up with Chrome, Safari, and Firefox in terms of AVIF image support.

Microsoft also deprecated Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Edge. This will not affect "regular customers" since MDAG for Edge is a business-focused feature that opens untrusted websites in isolated environments. This is the thirteenth deprecated feature since September 1, 2023.

To finish the section about Microsoft Edge, here is a new version of the MSEdgeRedirect tool. Its latest update introduced so-called "Europe Mode" you can use to uninstall Microsoft's browser on systems outside the European Union.

What will affect regular customers is the deprecation of Windows Mixed Reality, a major headlining feature from the early Windows 10 era. Windows Mixed Reality Portal and Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR are no longer in development, and they will soon be removed from Windows. Despite that, Microsoft will continue working on its HoloLens headset for the US Army.

Interestingly, Microsoft's HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset was spotted on the state-run TV in China, raising questions about US-made technology used by the Chinese military. Mind explaining this, Microsoft?

Copilot received a unique addition to its already rich feature set: You can now ask Copilot to write songs and generate music. It became possible thanks to collaboration with a company called Suno. The latter has a dedicated site and $10/mo service that lets you generate up to 500 songs and even upload them to streaming services to get some money.

Firefox users received a big update for their beloved non-Chromium browser. Version 121 is now available in the Release channel with AV1 improvements on Windows, Voice Control on macOS, a new compositor on Linux (this one delivers plenty of great improvements), and more.

Google also released a last-minute update for Chrome before the end of 2023. The update focuses on improving your security by running the browser's safety checks in the background, checking for browser leaks, compromised extensions, outdated browser versions, website permissions, and more.

Other notable updates released this week include the following:

Here are the new drivers released this week:

Finally, here is our weekly Microsoft 365 Roadmap recap detailing upcoming features, such as performance improvements for Teams when running in Safari and Firefox and file templates for OneDrive on the web.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.

Microsoft Flight Simulator received the final update for 2023. Called European CIties 1, it delivers graphical and detail improvements for five cities in Europe (The Hague, Brussels, Kosice, Zagreb, and Cadiz) and a new premium plane: the Cessna T207A Turbo for $14.99. All that content is now available for get from the in-game marketplace.

Despite receiving a fair and well-deserved share of beating for shipping Fallout 76 in a disastrous state in 2018, Bethesda is not giving up on the title. Quite the opposite: the game keeps on getting new updates, and 2024 will bring even more. Look out for new areas and quests in Atlantic City and more areas across the US.

Blizzard also revealed some of its plans for the upcoming year, which will mark the studio's 20th anniversary. In 2024, gamers can expect Season 4 of World of Warcraft, a new expansion called "The War Within," and more.

In March 2024, the world will see the release of South Park: Snow Day on PC, Xbox, Nintendo, and PlayStation. The game will be available for $29.99, and true fans can show their love by ordering the Collector's Edition with a few neat additions, such as a snow globe with Cartman inside, a talking toilet paper holder (also Cartman-shaped), a beanie, a collection of Tarot cards, and the original soundtrack.

Insomniac Games had a really tough week. The studio was hacked by a ransomware group that leaked more than 1.6TB of data after not getting a $2 million ransom. The stolen data includes employees' personal info and files from the recently released Spider-Man 2 on PlayStation 5.

Leaks like that often reveal plenty of interesting information, such as no X-Men games for Xbox until at least 2036. You can bet more will appear on the surface of the internet soon.

Finally, Valve now lets you recap your gaming addiction habits in 2023 with the annual Steam Year in Review 2023. In addition, you can nominate your favorite games for The Steam Awards 2023, another yearly event that recognizes the best titles of the year.

In addition to launching the final sale of 2023, Valve released a new beta update for the Steam client on supported platforms. One of the most notable changes is the ability to hide those socially unaccepted games from your profile without turning the latter private. So, if you have one or several games you are a bit ashamed of, it is now much easier to conceal them.

NVIDIA's GeForce NOW received eleven more games you can play without owning powerful PC hardware. The latest additions include Monster Hunter: World, RIDE 5, Dark Envoy, Loddlenaut, and others.

Deals and freebies

Now to everyone's favorite part: deals and freebies. The Steam Winter Sale is now in full swing, which means there are plenty of games to buy with discounts and never launch them. You can also check out the latest edition of their Weekend PC Game Deals series, where they cover the hottest deals on popular titles.

A blast from Microsoft's past

John Callaham's weekly "Look back" series provides throwbacks into the past, detailing the company's products, partnerships, mishaps, and successes from years ago.

This week's blast from the past is for oldies to shed a tear and younglings to learn what the early days of the internet looked like. This week marked 29 years since the release of Netscape Navigator, one of the early internet browsers for personal computers. To pay respects to what is no longer with us, check out this look-back article about the launch of Netscape Navigator 29 years ago.

By the way, Netscape Navigator is not the oldest internet browser: Mosaic was released more than one year earlier, and they also have a look-back article detailing its launch on Windows.

Let's move from browsers to operating systems: did you know Microsoft once held a full-blown musical to promote Windows XP? You can check out this "embarrassing high-tech event of the year or the millennium" here.

Finally, here is a quick look back at the OQO ultra-mobile PC running Windows XP and Windows Vista. This small handheld computer was not a commercial success, but it managed to show up in multiple TV shows and movies. This look-back article details the story of the OQO and its mini computers.

You can find other issues of the Microsoft Weekly series using this link. Also, you can support Neowin by subscribing to their Newsletter to get regular news recaps delivered directly to your email.

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Composing music usually takes years of practice, study, and mastery of theory. But the barrier to entry is getting lower all the time. Following on the heels of Google's AI music generator, Microsoft is rolling out a Copilot AI feature to create songs, complete with written lyrics and singing.

One of the oft-spoken fears about the current AI revolution is that Artificial Intelligence might replace high-skill jobs in creative fields. That concept may have seemed impossible a year ago, but things have changed rapidly. Take music, which is a complex thing to create. Earlier this year, Google rolled out a test AI that can compose short, simple music from a written prompt. The results weren't anything to write home about, especially given the 30-second limitation, but they were still impressive, considering how quickly it worked.

Now, Microsoft is showing off a similar tool. The company is working with Suno, an AI company focusing on music generation. Suno now exists as a plugin for Copilot's online interface, though for the moment, it's limited to the Edge browser. You can head to Copilot, turn on the Suno plugin, and describe a song you'd like to create. You can even get the music or share links directly to the results, as we've done below.

We tried it, and in about 10 seconds flat, Copilot created a 47-second song with written lyrics and a voice singing them. The voice itself is somewhat clear, but you may have trouble understanding some of the singing unless you're studying the lyrics as you listen. Copilot says you can specify song lengths using "long, longer, or longest" in the prompt. They generated a 60-second song with that last option. Oddly, the AI had a suggested prompt to ask questions about the AI songs, like what instruments it used, but then refused to answer.

Microsoft's blog post also didn't answer several important questions. Suno's AI service is available separately and has both free and subscription options. But Suno states in its FAQ that you can only use generated songs commercially on a paid account. Microsoft's blog doesn't mention anything about commercial rights. When they asked Copilot, it provided a somewhat confusing answer:

That's a good question. The songs that I create for you using my internal tools are for personal and non-commercial use only. You cannot use them for any commercial purposes, such as selling, licensing, or monetizing them. ?

Exactly who owns the copyright is always a question with AI-generated content. Suno claims it owns the copyright for any generated content on free accounts, and you own it if you subscribe. But here, Copilot suggests you should "obtain the proper rights and permissions from the original creators...of the songs," when in theory it created the song.

Most AI is trained on existing content, often without creator permission, which has led to questions of copyright and several lawsuits. Google and Microsoft have promised to shield users from such lawsuits. But, it may be best to tread carefully before selling any Copilot-created music.