February has come and gone without the highly anticipated Windows 10 Mobile upgrade for legacy Lumia handsets. In an email to partners, seen by VentureBeat, Microsoft is now targeting a release this month, to occur after the regular monthly service updates for the two Windows 10-powered handsets already on the market, the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. Unlike the previous schedule this one separates the upgrade from the service update. In other words, whereas the February rollout would have seen the update bundled into the upgrade, in March they are…
Category: Microsoft
News collection from Microsoft world. What’s new with .NET and Windows? New features on Azure? New projects around the world
Davos: Smart machines set to transform society
Artificial intelligence will spur economic growth and create new wealth. Machines that “think” like humans will help solve huge problems, from curing cancer to climate change. Yet millions of human workers will need to retrain, as robots make their existing jobs redundant. These are the contrasting messages provided by the world’s leading technologists during the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, as political and business leaders ponder how best to respond to the rise of smart machines. Sebastian Thrun, the inventor of Google’s self-driving cars and an honorary professor…
Microsoft cuts off Windows 8’s security updates on January 12
Windows 8 is about to get a lot less secure. After January 12, Microsoft will stop offering security patches for the three-year-old operating system. Users will have to upgrade to either Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 to keep receiving updates. As Ed Bott notes Windows 8 is an exception to Microsoft’s typical support lifecycle policy, which provides 10 years of security fixes after the initial launch date. That’s because Microsoft considers Windows 8.1—a meaty update released nearly one year after Windows 8—to be a service pack, rather than an entirely…
Support Ending for the .NET Framework 4.0, 4.5 and 4.5.1 on Tuesday
In less than a week Microsoft will formally end support for versions 4.0, 4.5, and 4.5.1 of the .NET Framework. Users should upgrade to a later version such as the slightly incompatible .NET 4.5.2. Before we move on, it should be noted that this only affects the 4.x series. The much older .NET 3.5 SP 1 will continue to be supported. In this context, support means having access to technical support, security updates, and hotfixes. Compatibility When upgrading to .NET 4.5.2, ASP.NET developers may see a compatibility issue. Though considered…
Microsoft is pulling the plug on Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 next Tuesday
Microsoft is ending support for Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 next week on January 12th, releasing a final patch encouraging users to upgrade to one of the company’s more recent browsers. The end of support means that these older versions of Internet Explorer will no longer receive security updates or technical support, making anyone who uses them much more vulnerable to hackers. A recently-announced patch will deliver the last few bug fixes, as well as an "End of Life" notification telling users to upgrade to IE 11 or Microsoft…
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explains why it doesn’t matter if only a handful of people have a Windows phone
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has explained in an interview with BuzzFeed why the company is not concerned about the market share of its mobile operating system, which is about 1.7% globally. He said the company would be doing a “disservice” to itself by measuring its success solely by market share. “If you think of this more like a graph,” he said of how people use products, “these [devices] are all nodes. Sometimes the user will use all of these devices … sometimes they’ll use only one or two of our…
What’s New in Visual Studio Update 1 for .NET Managed Languages
Hold on to your hats, cowboys and cowgirls! A lot of exciting things are coming out of the .NET Managed Languages team for Visual Studio 2015 Update 1. Read on to learn more about new IDE features, interactive C#, new code analysis management, Visual F# improvements, and the new F5 experience for Roslyn open source development. New Editor Features Now that we have Roslyn in Visual Studio 2015, we can leverage its power to create the smartest IDE out there. The improvements we’ve made to the IDE experience in Update…
Microsoft’s new Windows 10 build allows you to text from your PC, but it’s the bug fixes that impress
Unfortunately, it requires an upgrade from Windows Phone 8.1 – again. Microsoft launched build 10572 of Windows 10 Mobile to its insiders, together with a few nifty improvements on the messaging fronts. But, as before, you’ll still need to first downgrade to Windows Phone 8.1 to take advantage. Microsoft did say, however, that this two-steps-back, one-step-ahead approach will soon stop, and users in the Windows Insider program will once again be able to upgrade from Windows 10 preview builds without having to downgrade first. But the new build offers several…
Microsoft Announces Office 2016 Will Arrive September 22
Microsoft announced this morning the official launch date for the long-anticipated new version of Microsoft Office: Office 2016 will be broadly available starting on September 22, the company says. Meanwhile, Office Customers with volume licensing agreements will be able to download the software on October 1st. The updated version of Office includes a number of new features for desktop customers, including the ability to co-edit documents at the same time, sync files to OneDrive in the cloud, and more. Alongside the announcement of the launch date, Microsoft noted a few…
Microsoft’s Windows 95 is 20-years-old today
When Microsoft kicked off work on Windows 95 way back at the beginning of the 90s, the company wasn’t to know how much of an impact it would have on our lives two decades on. In one fell swoop the new version of Microsoft’s OS brought a swish graphical user interface (GUI) to desktops for the first time and the much vaunted Start menu began life inside the mid-1995 edition of the OS. You only need look at the disquiet that surrounded its removal from Windows 8 and subsequent return…
Microsoft now has six million Windows Insiders
In a video posted earlier (see it below), Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella once again accepted the challenge of former NFL player Steve Gleason, who suffers from ALS, and poured a bucket of ice cold water over his head along with Terry Myerson and members of the Windows 10 team. At the same time, Myerson, head of the Windows and Devices division, confirmed that six million have signed up to the Windows Insider program that sees users able to test preview releases of Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile, according to Windows…
Windows 10 uses peer-to-peer networking to distribute updates by default
Now that Windows is a service (WaaS), which means it will constantly be updated rather than have big regular updates, Microsoft has put some features in to Windrows 10 to speed up the delivery of those updates. One feature that may have escaped your notice is called Windows Update Delivery Optimization (WUDO). This feature isn’t mentioned in the "Get Started" app but needs to be searched for in the documentation. This new Windows 10 feature works in a similar way to torrent technology which uses a peer to peer network…
Microsoft may be interested in buying struggling chip vendor AMD
Microsoft may be interested in buying AMD, according to a new report citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. Microsoft has a lot to gain by acquiring AMD’s APU business, given the Redmond giant’s ambitions in the console gaming segment. Both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 use AMD’s Jaguar-architecture APU, and if Microsoft were to buy AMD, Sony will have to shell out a significant amount of money to Microsoft on each PlayStation sold. The vendor can side with other chip manufacturers, but that will mean designing a new…
Windows 10 to come on USB sticks in addition to DVD
According to information obtained by Winfuture.de, Windows 10 may be sold on USB drives in addition to DVD disks. The unnamed source of Winfuture’s information also reports that both the 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 10 will be available on the thumb drive, and the customer will be able to choose which version to install. This is an added advantage of placing the Windows 10 install files on a USB drive as historically DVD copies will solely be for either a 32 or 64 bit system. If true,…
Could Microsoft’s biggest Windows 10 feature be AllJoyn powered interoperability?
The new, more open Microsoft has been implementing support for a lot of popular cross platform and open source technologies previously held at a distance by Redmond. Recently we’ve heard of support for open source projects like Node.js and SSH. But last November, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would work with a new technology called AllJoyn and this led Time magazine to speculate that it could be the biggest secret Windows 10 feature. AllJoyn is a protocol or common language that allows for devices to talk with each other…
Microsoft explains what you’ll lose by upgrading to Windows 10
Microsoft announced today that it will be launching Windows 10 on July 29th, encouraging Windows 7 and 8.1 users to reserve their free upgrade with a notification in their task bar. However, while the company has been busy highlighting all the shiny new features in the upcoming OS, it’s been a bit quieter when it comes to spelling out the limitations — including making updates automatic for Windows 10 Home users. Firstly there are the software losses. Most of these will only affect a small number of users, but upgrading will mean…
New report claims Microsoft has bought Wunderlist for up to $200 million
A couple of weeks after rumors first hit the Internet that Microsoft might be in talks to acquire the popular “to-do” app Wunderlist, a new report claims that the acquisition is a done deal. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has purchased the company behind the app, the German-based 6Wunderkinder, for between $100 and $200 million. Neither company has officially confirmed this deal, but the WSJ claims that the Wunderlist team will remain in its home office in Berlin, Germany to continue working on the app. If the report…
Future Decoded 2015 – your future starts today!
Join us at Future Decoded, a unique experience from Microsoft that brings together some of the world’s technical experts to explore the opportunities that will define your success in the 21st Century. Following last year’s inaugural event, we’re back with an even greater line up of industry superstars to inspire you. Register your interest now to attend deep dive technical sessions, share learnings and network with tons of other developers and IT Professionals. There has never been a more exciting time to work in the tech industry.
Office apps for Android phones are now available
There is no denying that Android is the world’s most popular mobile phone operating system with Google saying last year that on any given thirty-day rolling period there are more than a billion users of the OS. So when you are working to get your productivity software into the hands of a billion users, you can’t ignore the OS. Microsoft has already released and today they are taking it one step further with Office apps for the phone as well. If you want to try these apps out, you will…
Microsoft study shows that tech is shortening your attention span
Think the abundance of technology in your life is making it harder to concentrate for long periods? Microsoft might just have some evidence to support your theory. It recently published a study (conducted using both surveys and EEG scans) suggesting that the average attention span has fallen precipitously since the start of the century. While people could focus on a task for 12 seconds back in 2000, that figure dropped to 8 seconds in 2013 — about one second less than a goldfish. Reportedly, a lot of that reduction stems…
Microsoft offers IT guidance to prepare for Windows as a Service
When Windows 10 arrives this summer (and Windows Server 2016 next year), Microsoft is going to be making some noticeable changes to how and when it delivers security fixes, hotfixes and rollups. What can IT pros do now to prepare for the new Windows world order? Company officials provided some potentially controversial suggestions and guidance during Microsoft’s Ignite conference in Chicago. In a session entitled “Getting Ready for Windows 10: Servicing Windows Client and Server in a Managed Environment Today” (Video and slides available here; a good summary from…
Microsoft’s New Edge Browser Is A Windows-Only Play For Now
Microsoft has no immediate plans to let its new browser out of Windows 10. The software giant indicated today that it has no current intention of shipping Edge, formerly known as ‘Project Spartan’, on other platforms. I confirmed the strategy with Microsoft after the announcement. It might sound odd, but that Microsoft is not working to release Edge on other platforms is notable. The company has pursued an aggressive cross-platform strategy in recent years, shipping even its crown jewels on rival platforms. Microsoft is waging a double war: Rebuild Windows…
Microsoft backtracks on free Windows 10 update for pirates
The confusion has revolved around Microsoft’s offer to give free Windows 10 updates to people running Windows 7 and 8.1. In a statement last March, Windows chief Terry Myerson was reported to have said that the offer would extend to pirated copies, too. Microsoft quickly began issuing vague clarifications, while still implying that there would be a way to upgrade at no cost, even if pirates would be required to pay eventually. Now, we’re finally getting a full clarification: there’s no free upgrade at all. Pirates just have to pay.…
Windows 10 to Come in at Least Seven Packages Targeting Consumers, Education, Enterprise and Mobile
While Windows 10 is designed to run across phones, tablets, PCs and more, Microsoft confirmed Wednesday that it plans to package up the software slightly differently for separate markets. Windows 10 will be released in at least seven different flavors if you count the versions offered for home, education, enterprise, internet-of-things devices as well as standard and enterprise editions of Windows 10 for phones and small tablets. To be clear, apps created for Windows 10 will run on all the flavors, with some tailoring needed to make apps work across…
Why Visual Studio Code?
Visual Studio Code provides developers with a new choice of developer tool that combines the simplicity and streamlined experience of a code editor with the best of what developers need for their core code-edit-debug cycle. Visual Studio Code is the first code editor, and first cross-platform development tool – supporting OSX, Linux, and Windows – in the Visual Studio family. At its heart, Visual Studio Code features a powerful, fast code editor great for day-to-day use. The Preview release of Code already has many of the features developers need in…