Welcome to Notepad, a newsletter on Microsoft’s era-defining bets by Tom Warren

I’m excited to announce Notepad, a new weekly newsletter I’ll be writing at The Verge. 

Notepad is an inside look at my notes on Microsoft, a company I’ve spent the past 20 years trying to make sense of through my reporting, scoops, and analyses. This newsletter is designed to uncover the secrets and strategy behind Microsoft’s era-defining bets on AI, gaming, and the future of computing.

Whether it’s Windows, a new AI Copilot, the next Xbox, or every Michael at Microsoft being added to a mysterious email list, Notepad is the place to get the very latest on all things Microsoft. Expect to read exclusives and analyses you won’t find elsewhere, interviews that go deeper on Microsoft’s big bets, and some gossip from inside the walls of Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington.

You can sign up here. New subscribers receive a one-month free trial with the option to pay $7 per month or $70 per year. Free subscribers will receive a collection of important Microsoft stories you might have missed, occasional previews of what full access gets you, and some of my Microsoft reporting for The Verge.

And check out our bundled plan, where you can get both Notepad and Command Line by Alex Heath for a discounted rate of $100 a year.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve broken thousands of stories on Microsoft. Some of my early important reporting included details on a Windows 2000 source code leak, thousands of Hotmail account passwords that were posted online, and regular scoops on Windows releases. I led the technology news site Neowin as editor-in-chief in the early 2000s, then went on to create WinRumors — my own blog all about Microsoft — in 2010.

I also spent more than a decade working at a variety of multinational investment banks, building up a strong background in software and Windows engineering before selling WinRumors to Vox Media and joining The Verge full time in 2012.

At The Verge, I’ve broken news on some of Microsoft’s biggest acquisitions, interviewed key executives at the company, and written crucial analyses on where Xbox and Microsoft’s design philosophy are heading next.

Notepad will continue my expertise in covering Microsoft, and I want it to feel like a direct connection to me and an important resource for you. I’ll be encouraging feedback on what you’d like to read more of and areas where I can go deeper in reporting about Microsoft.

Lastly, I want to thank all of my colleagues who helped make this newsletter possible, especially Thomas Ricker, Esther Cohen, Jake Kastrenakes, Kara Verlaney, Helen Havlak, Nilay Patel, Will Joel, Graham MacAree, and Cath Virginia.