Author: Microsoft Stories

The beta for Forza Motorsport 6: Apex is now available for all Windows 10 players. It will be available through the Windows Store with an 18.8 GB download. The beta will run throughout the summer and will have updates like wheel support. Forza Motorsport 6: Apex is a free to play version of the popular Xbox One racing simulator. It features 63 cars and six tracks and is touted as a “lighter” version of the original game.

Nuspay, a technology leader in global digital currency, announced that it has selected Microsoft Azure for its Next-Gen Digital Currency Platform. Microsoft delivers more than 200 cloud services, including Bing, MSN, Outlook.com, Office 365, OneDrive, Skype, Xbox Live and the Microsoft Azure platform. These services are hosted in Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure composed of more than 100 globally distributed datacenters, edge computing nodes, and service operations centers.

Microsoft provided the hardware specifications for its augmented reality headset, the HoloLens. The HoloLens is made of Microsoft Windows 10.0.11802.1033 (32-bit) OS, Intel Atom 1.04 GHz 64-bit capable CPU, HoloLens Graphics, 8086h (Intel) GPU, 114MB dedicated video memory, 980MB shared system memory, 2GB RAM, 64GB storage, 900MB app memory usage limit, 16.5Wh battery, 2.4-megapixel photo camera, 1.1-megapixel video camera at 30fps.

Microsoft is releasing a new SharePoint, introducing phone apps designed to fix the product’s lack of mobile integration, and updating the OneDrive file-sharing apps. The software maker will offer free migrations for customers of its Office cloud software who want to switch to OneDrive from Box or Google Drive. Jeff Teper, Microsoft Vice President who founded the SharePoint business, said, “We’ve played a bit of catch up with the niche file-sharing solutions.”

Microsoft wants to make an ecosystem of intelligent digital assistants that use contextual and personal information to rapidly deliver customized services. The company’s vision is to replace applications with bots, that take action triggered by keywords. Facebook Messenger just got added, which increases the reach of bots using Microsoft’s Bot Framework tremendously. Users can interface with these intelligent digital assistants using a feature phone as well.

Windows 10 is on pace to power 20% of all Windows desktop systems by the end of June. Data from Net Applications pegged Windows 10’s user share, a proxy for the percentage of personal computers worldwide that ran the OS at 15.3% in April, a 1.2-percentage point increase from the month prior. Net Applications tallied unique visitors to clients’ websites to come up with its measurements. Microsoft intends to release the year’s major upgrade to Windows 10, dubbed “Anniversary Update,” this summer.

Microsoft announced the availability of Dynamics CRM Online services from its local datacenters in India. Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India, said, “We are the first hyper-scale global cloud provider to offer cloud services from local datacenters in India. With a complete portfolio of cloud services Microsoft Azure, Office 365, and now Dynamics CRM Online, we will continue to lead the market by offering ‘cloud-on-your-terms’. In the first six months of our local cloud launch, we have seen 50 of top 100 companies listed on the BSE, adopt Microsoft cloud to drive their digital transformation.”

Microsoft’s E3 2016 will focus not just on Xbox, but also Windows 10. This is the first time that the company will focus on PC gaming at E3 since they started attending the convention. Microsoft will be airing their E3 showing on Spike TV, as well as live on Xbox, and on xbox.com. Halo Wars 2, Gears of War 4, Sea of Thieves, ReCore, Forza Horizon 3, and Crackdown 3 might be some of the games to be showcased.

Paragon Solutions, an advisory consulting and systems integration firm, announced it has renewed its Microsoft Silver Competency in Content and Collaboration. As a member of the Microsoft Partner Network, Paragon has continually achieved Microsoft Partner competency certification for its SharePoint expertise since 2009. Microsoft Partner competencies enable partners to demonstrate their capabilities and expertise with Microsoft’s technology portfolio.