Author: Microsoft Stories

Microsoft is introducing a tool designed to smooth businesses’ move to the cloud. The company this week will roll out an early preview edition of “Azure Stack,” a set of software that allows businesses to use a common set of tools to manage programs running on their own servers, as well as on Microsoft’s data centers. The platform is designed to give developers and information technology managers the ability to use the Azure cloud-computing platform programming interface and tools to run their own data centers.

Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC and Olio Devices Inc. signed a patent licensing agreement covering wearable devices. Nick Psyhogeos, president of Microsoft Technology Licensing, said, “Mutually beneficial and collaborative patent licensing agreements like this one promote innovation and lead to better products and experiences for consumers.”

With the Type keyboard attachment and the Microsoft Surface Pen, this tablet gave us over 8 hours of battery life. On our test bench this tablet fared better than some of the mid to high end full time laptops. On PC Mark 7 it scored 4,773 points indicating very good performance and on 3D Mark Vantage it scored 5,362 points showcasing mediocre performance. Combined with the keyboard attachment the price goes over a lakh. However, when you compare it to the Apple iPad Pro (in India), the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is still cheaper (with the stylus and keyboard) and has much more to offer with a brilliant Windows 10 OS.

Microsoft has updated its Office suite of apps on iOS with added features that make the most of newly introduced 3D Touch input method. With the update, Word, Excel and PowerPoint can be easily accessed via the ‘Peek’ and ‘Pop’ feature to launch these apps immediately or and open recent documents. 3D Touch integration also allows users to create or open documents, spreadsheets or PowerPoint slides straight from the home screen app icon.

After initial reservations, the Centre is now open to allowing pilot projects and technological experiments by companies such as Google and Microsoft for expanding their Internet reach in India. “We must be liberal in permitting experimentation of new technology for connectivity. Let there be pilots, Project Loon and Microsoft’s project (White Spaces), let the new experimentation happen… When the results come, we will take policy initiatives consistent with security requirements. I am very open with experimentation of new products,” said Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Skype has now received a much needed update which hides your IP address by default. The move is essentially aimed at protecting the privacy of Skype users, as earlier users could see each other’s IP addresses. The new update is primarily addressed at gamers, given the booming popularity of the online gaming space.

Microsoft’s Mimicker Alarm for Android wakes your body up and then attempts to get your mind churning. Once the alarm wakes you up, the Mimicker alarm asks you to choose from three different games to get your mind ready for the day in 30 seconds. The games include taking selfies, pictures of coloured objects and repeating phrases.

Microsoft continues to bolster the lineup of Xbox 360 games that are playable on the Xbox One, thanks to their backwards compatibility initiative- over 100 games are playable on the system. The crown jewel of this batch is The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings– the excellent Xbox 360 version of CD Projekt RED’s second entry in the Witcher saga can now be played on the Xbox One, allowing many the chance to play through more of Geralt’s adventures. Check out the full list of games.

Microsoft is going to try and capitalize on what has been a pretty good end of 2015 with an event better start to 2016 by showing off what it plans for this year at a special event in February. The company is going to unveiling its complete line-up for the rest of the year, while also showing some new things surrounding its operating system, Windows 10.

Microsoft has rolled out an update for its Skype app on Android with new features that now lets users schedule Skype calls in Outlook. It also integrates Microsoft Office apps for Google’s platform. Although you could already schedule Skype calls using Outlook, users can schedule calls in Outlook using Skype. All you need to do is to tap on the person you want to plan a call with and then click on the ‘Schedule a call’ option inside the Menu tab in the Skype app. Using calendar is also possible. You would have to create an event and send the invite.