Author: Microsoft Stories

Microsoft has revealed that it is taking a tougher stance on ad-supported software that utilize man-in-the-middle (MiTM) techniques to intercept the network communication between the Internet and the PC to inject advertisements and promotions. The company announced that every advertising-based software needs to use the browser’s official supported methods for installation, execution, disabling and removal. Microsoft has pointed out that this can be fixed, if any unofficial route to control and change the browser settings is stopped.

Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., is now providing dedicated, high-performance connectivity to Office 365 through Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute. As an Azure ExpressRoute partner, it enables dedicated bandwidth up to 10G to ExpressRoute ports, with direct connections to Microsoft Azure and Office 365. Zayo’s dedicated ExpressRoute connections provide customers with inherent security, predictable network performance, and the capability to better manage network capacity and costs.

Black Ops 3 will be receiving its first major DLC pack Awakening. The new game comes with four new maps for multiplayer and the first episode of Der Eisendrache, a new Zombies campaign set during World War II and features Richtofen, Nicolai, Takeo, and Dempsey as playable characters. The Awakening DLC is expected to release in March 2016 for Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles.

Rise of the Tomb Raider, the second chapter in a third-person video game series now has a playable demo for the Xbox One. It is a timed-exclusive on Microsoft’s console systems for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Rise of the Tomb Raider, released in November 2015 for the Xbox ecosystem, is currently available for Rs. 3,000 owing to Microsoft’s end of the year sale for Xbox.

Snapdeal, in collaboration with Microsoft India, organized a two-day Hackathon that saw engineers jointly identify real-life business needs, develop technology concepts and in-house solutions. Continuous coding led to the development of winning ideas like dynamic machine-based personal assistant for sellers and message-based listing modifiers to ease the online selling process. Mr. Harish Vaidyanathan, ‎Lead – ISV Business at Microsoft India, said, “Technology is changing the face of the ecommerce industry in India. Omni-channel retailing is the new norm in the industry and powered by Cloud technologies, sellers are focusing on delivering differentiated customer experiences.”

Microsoft has acquired Talko, a second startup founded by entrepreneur Ray Ozzie. A mobile messaging app that was launched in fall 2014, Talko will join Skype. Talko’s dozen employees, who are in Boston, Seattle and San Francisco, will join Microsoft’s Skype team, without Ozzie. The idea behind the app, with voice, text and conferencing features, was to make it easier for teams “on-the-go” to communicate effortlessly with each other.

According to an article in the latest edition of Barron’s, Microsoft shares could rise 30% in the next 18 months, thanks to its cloud computing business. Many big investors believe that the company is worth far more than the average analyst price target of $57 a share.

Microsoft’s end of the year sale for the Xbox Store, Countdown, is starting from today. The sale is for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners, and promises for “up to 40 to 60 percent off” on digital games, with the discount stretching to more than 60 percent on some deals. There is more for Xbox Live Gold members, as they can avail another 10 percent on all purchases. It will continue into the first week of January.

Microsoft launched Microsoft Apps, a new application that gives users of Google’s operating system a one-stop shop to find apps like Word, Cortana and Bing. Users can download the app to their devices, browse and download any number of Microsoft apps. The app happens to be just a simple, straightforward directory of all the Android applications available from the company.

Microsoft has acquired Metanautix, a Palo Alto, California maker of business data tools. Its technology, designed to connect and analyze companies’ data across different database software and storage locations, will help Microsoft integrate it into its own data tools, including SQL Server and Cortana Analytics Suite.