Author: Microsoft Stories

Add-ins have been an important part of the Microsoft Office suite as they allow users and third party developers to extend the capabilities and functionalities of Office. Users can spruce up Microsoft Office, and add custom commands and new features to Office programs that help increase productivity by using add-ins. Further, users can develop own custom add-ins to give the documents distinct style and class.

Facebook has made its WhatsApp instant messaging smartphone service available on Mac and Windows desktops. The app runs on Windows 8 and above and Mac OS 10.9 and above. To sync the newly-launched Facebook-owned desktop app with smartphone, open the app and scan the QR code with phone. The new app has built-in desktop notifications feature and a user can pin a new Facebook Live Tile that will show the user latest updates from friends, family and Pages.

iBall launched two CompBook laptops on Windows 10 OS, starting from Rs 9,999. The launch is aimed at bridging the gap between consumer needs and the devices currently available in the market. Priyadarshi Mohapatra, Country General Manager, Consumer Channel Group, Microsoft India, said, “We are making an effort to bring new users into the fold of Windows10 by offering them the latest and most powerful computing experience at a much more affordable price point.”

Universal Windows Platform (UWP) lets Windows 10 developers create a single version of software to run across all Windows devices including PCs, smartphones, tablets, and the Xbox One. Microsoft will update Windows 10 with two new key features for UWP. The first is support for AMD Freesync and Nvidia G-sync in Universal Windows Platform games and apps. Second is the unlocked frame rate for Universal Windows Platform (UWP) games and apps.

Bell Business Markets and Microsoft Canada announced Bell as the first Canadian telecommunications provider to offer businesses access to Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute. Janet Kennedy, President, Microsoft Canada, said, “We are thrilled to announce the opening of our Canadian data centers and are excited to welcome Bell as an Azure ExpressRoute partner. Bell’s capabilities to operate enterprise class networks, along with their sizeable reach and availability in Canada, will significantly help to extend Azure services. This can further Canadian business innovation and competitiveness in a cloud-first, mobile-first world.”

Mobile database platform Realm is launching support for Microsoft’s Xamarin platform. The new Realm was made specifically for Xamarin. The Realm team also had direct insight from Xamarin on best practices for structuring APIs and taking advantage of the C# programming language. With Xamarin support, Realm now covers Android, iOS, JavaScript and .NET.

This summer, a spate of new features will be added to Windows 10 Anniversary Update. The full Windows Ink experience is still months away longer. But thanks to the recent, massive Windows 10 Build 14322 that Microsoft released to its Insider beta testers, there is a chance to try out several aspects of Windows Ink, including Ink Workspace, Sketchpad, Sticky Notes, and more.

Microsoft plans to shut its MSN China portal in June but remains committed to China. The company said in a statement, “Microsoft will be shutting down the MSN portal in China on June 7. Microsoft is deeply committed to China, offering a range of products including Windows 10, cloud services to customers, and hosting the largest research and development centre outside of the US.”

Microsoft India inaugurated Microsoft Openness Days, the first-ever open source conference of its kind for developers in India. Speaking on this occasion, Narendra Bhandari, General Manager, Developer Experience and Evangelism, Microsoft India, said, “We are thrilled to host this unique, first-ever conference for cloud open source developers, and thank the Government of Telangana for their continued support. It is energizing to see young talent, develop technical solutions which will help us transform into Digital India.”

Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik claimed that the top 50 of the 100 Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) companies have adopted the Microsoft cloud infrastructure, within the first six months of its launch. He said, “We are the first hyper-scale global cloud provider to offer cloud services from local data centers in India. In the first six months of our local cloud launch, we have seen 50 of the top 100 companies listed on BSE adopt Microsoft cloud to drive their digital transformation.”