Author: Microsoft Stories

Microsoft has open-sourced its Visual Studio Productivity Power Tools and made them available on GitHub. First released in 2010, the tools serve as extensions for improving developer productivity. Justin Clarebert and Michael Dick, Microsoft senior program managers for Visual Studio, said, “Making the current set of tools available to the community is important to us, and we hope it will also inspire developers with concrete examples of what can be achieved with extensions of their own.”

Microsoft retreated from an earlier retirement date for Windows 7 and 8.1 support on newer hardware. The company revealed that it would now support them on PCs running Intel’s Skylake silicon until July 2018. Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s top Windows and devices Executive, said, “As partners make customizations to legacy device drivers, services, and firmware settings, customers are likely to see regressions with Windows 7 ongoing servicing.”

Microsoft India has tied up with the Government of Telangana as part of its Microsoft Openness Day in Hyderabad. The event aimed to create specific solutions for issues related to women’s safety, transport and other key areas on Azure cloud platform. The six-hour Open Hack challenge saw participation from close to a 1000 developers. Narendra Bhandari, General Manager, Developer Experience and Evangelism, Microsoft India, said, “The IP of the solution developed will rest with the developers. The top 5 to 10 ideas will be mentored by entrepreneurs and members from the state government. Mature ideas will also be taken to the Microsoft Bizspark.”

Three new games have become backwards compatible on the Xbox One. Xbox One gamers can now play Alan Wake, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Pac-Man on their consoles.

Microsoft announced a plan to bring Hololens headwear to select Lowe’s locations. Customers will be able to see things like kitchen cabinets, countertops and appliances as part of a finished renovation in VR with Hololens. Microsoft also says Hololens will allow Lowe’s to “bring customers a new way to experience full-scale design and appliance options while maximizing precious floor space in the store.” Microsoft imagines a time when one can digitally furnish an entire home with VR before having the furniture delivered.

Microsoft Studios’ upcoming exclusive gaming title Quantum Break will reportedly run at 720p resolution on Xbox One. The third-person shooter game will be released on April 5 across Xbox One and Windows PC.

Microsoft’s browser, Edge, debuted with Windows 10. Its latest preview on both the PC and tablet now supports extensions. The first three are: Microsoft Translator that automatically translates a web page to one of over 50 supported languages, an early version of the Reddit Enhancement Suite, and a mouse gesture app for better control of the Edge browser experience using the mouse or touchpad. More extensions like the Adblock Plus Ad blocker, the LastPass password manager, the Evernote note-taking tool and Amazon are slated to become available for Edge over the course of the year.

The Surface Pro 4, Microsoft’s fourth generation 2-in-1 device, is renowned as a laptop-first product. It is thinner and lighter than its predecessor and measures around 8.5mm thick. The rear of this device is made of silver metal with the Windows logo right in the centre. The kickstand mechanism on the Surface Pro 4 is quite sturdy and the hinge can stretch back almost all the way. It comes in multiple variants depending on the processor, RAM and storage configuration users select.

An upcoming update to Xbox One will enable it to run Universal Windows Platform apps designed for Windows 10. At the ongoing Game Developers Conference (GDC 2016), Jason Ronald, Partner Director of Program Management, Xbox and Windows Platform said that Xbox One will soon be able to run certain Windows 10 apps. The Universal Windows Platform, he added, will open up to run more advanced graphics settings.