Author: Microsoft Stories

A MoU on establishing an “IoT Industry Development Center” was inked in October of 2015 between Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan and Microsoft. Steven Shaw, General Manager, Microsoft Taiwan, said, “DevDays Asia signifies that Microsoft embraces openness through our actions and broader product roadmap. We work together with our partners to establish a complete IoT ecosystem through the exchange of technologies and the promotion of certification programs. For we understand that everything will be connected in the future, whether the back-end storage analytics or the front-end sensing devices. No single company can meet all the demands of IoT applications.”

Dell is launching the Dell IoT Solutions Partner Program for the advancement of Internet of Things technologies and solutions. The program builds an ecosystem of partners like Microsoft, OSIsoft, PTC, SAP, Software AG, GE, and others. Caglayan Arkan, General Manager, Worldwide Manufacturing, Microsoft, said, “Microsoft is continuing its work with Dell across our offerings for every IoT scenario, from the Azure IoT Suite to Windows 10 on the Dell Edge Gateways. Our collaboration will help both companies to ensure that our customers receive a world-class ecosystem of devices and services and time to production at industry-leading speeds.”

Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City are getting remastered versions to be sold as part of an anthology package for the Xbox One on June 10. Apart from the first two titles of the series, the Batman: Return to Arkham collection will also include “all previously released DLC and additional content.”

Microsoft and T-Mobile US are joining several big companies in allowing users to make free calls to Ecuador after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the country. Microsoft will allow people to use Skype to make free mobile and landline calls to Ecuador “for the next few days.” Microsoft and T-Mobile, including AT&T and Sprint, offering similar benefits for people to reach loved ones in Ecuador.

Software services are becoming more important to people’s lives than the physical gadgets they’re accessed from. It’s an argument put up by Microsoft recently. It’s also a theory that’s in vogue from Silicon Valley to Wall Street. In an increasingly Internet-connected world, software services are power players. Among the 6,500 words strong post by Microsoft was an explanation of what CEO Satya Nadella really means when he repeats the mantra that the world is mobile-first, cloud-first.

New data from Synergy Research Group shows that Microsoft is now poised for leadership in the enterprise SaaS market. Since 2015, Microsoft has grown its SaaS revenues more rapidly. It has achieved the second highest 2015 revenue growth rate among the top ten SaaS companies. SAP, Adobe, IBM and Workday all achieved 2015 growth rates in excess of 50% and Oracle too is now surging ahead.

The latest version of Outlook for Android now supports Android Wear-based smartwatches. This new version, currently making its way onto Google Play, lets users check notifications, read incoming messages from Android Wear smartwatch. They can either reply to the messages using canned replies or dictate the reply to the app. Outlook for Android is a free download from the Google Play store.

Windows users running Apple’s QuickTime are being advised to uninstall the program after the discovery of a number of Zero day vulnerabilities. The Windows app has not had an update pushed since January and researchers from IT security company, Trend Micro, have published a blog post advising windows users to uninstall the app immediately. According to the post, there are two reasons for this call to action.

Dark Souls III is a critically acclaimed third person action role playing game in a fantasy setting. The game sees the return of Director Hidetaka Miyazaki to the groundbreaking series, after he sat out Dark Souls II. It was released in March for Japan, and got a worldwide release in April. The season pass gives users access to the DLCs, but those investing in one now will have to wait a while before any DLC is available.