Author: Microsoft Stories

Microsoft seems to have allowed Chrome OS and Linux users to make audio calls by using Skype for Web. However, the company has not made any official statement regarding the update. A simple sign-in procedure now allows users to make voice calls through Skype for Web. Earlier, only instant messaging support was provided to Chrome OS users through Skype for Web. Even though the audio calls can now be made via Chromebooks, video call support has not been provided to Skype for Web on Chrome OS for now.

CNN has decided to part ways as it will withdraw its app from the Windows platform from July 18. The popular news app has now recommended Windows Phone users to refer to their website if they wish to follow their news. In a farewell message, CNN said: “This application will be retired on Monday, July 18. Thank you for being a loyal CNN user. Please visit our mobile web site to continue to get the latest domestic and international news: www.cnn.com.”

Microsoft has rolled out new features for developers of its Skype Bot platform making the bots better suited to group conversations. “Make Skype Bots that are more productive or just entertaining for groups of users. Bots can now be a part of and respond to group conversations,” the company said in a blog post. In addition, the update allows developers to create visual cards for users to facilitate bot-aided interactions with image cards, carousels and receipts.

Microsoft’s Xbox Anywhere initiative, which would bring all their Xbox games going forward to the PC, was certainly ambitious and staggering in its scope. Yusuf Mehdi, CVP of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, explained: “Every new title published from Microsoft Studios will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store.” The revised statement, however, states: “Every new title published from Microsoft Studios that we showed onstage at E3 this year will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store.”

Satya Nadella described how he puts on a HoloLens, every morning, to look at a virtual and interactive calendar projected on a wall of his house. The system was intelligent, productive, and futuristic: everything he hopes Microsoft will be during his tenure. “No matter where we work in the future,” Nadella says, “Microsoft will have a place in it.” The company’s “conversation as a platform” offering, which it unveiled in March, represents a bet that chat-based interfaces will overtake apps as our primary way of using the internet.

OK Go’s song “This Too Shall Pass” is merely a serviceable song with an interesting video that features contraptions inspired by Rube Goldberg. Microsoft and the University of Washington have deemed it important enough to write it to the largest DNA storage trove created to date. So the 2010 music video is only a small, 202-megabyte cache added to the whole of Project Palix, a partnership between Microsoft and researchers at the University of Washington in conjunction with startup Twist Bioscience.

Microsoft is working on a new offering called Dynamics 365 that will combine its current ERP and CRM cloud services into a single bundle and include applications purpose-built for specific business functions. Jujhar Singh, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, explained, “Our new role-based approach will give customers the flexibility they need to support modern, more agile, more diverse employee roles enabling them to access functionality across all applications within Dynamics 365.”

Microsoft has confirmed that it will add a wheelchair option to Xbox avatars in the near future. Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, confirmed the news on Twitter saying, “No petition needed, we hear you. This is something that we’ve already looked at, not far off.” Mike Ybarra from Xbox then tweeted a “sneak peek” of what to expect from the update with a picture of two avatars using Xbox-themed wheelchairs.

The Xbox One Software Preview, which is set to give a taste of what’s in store in terms of interface overhauls later this year, received an update. The new build will fix a number of bugs and issues.

SUSE has joined the Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Alliance as part of its ongoing strategy to enable customers to quickly respond to changing business needs. Nicole Herskowitz, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Microsoft Azure, said, “The Enterprise Cloud Alliance provides the opportunity to enhance our strategic relationship with SUSE and increase awareness of SUSE Linux Enterprise for customers searching for best-in-class enterprise solutions. SUSE is one of the first open source vendors to join the Microsoft Partner Network and the Enterprise Cloud Alliance and provide the benefits of open source technology in Microsoft Azure.”