In the News

Microsoft is testing out three new Surface all-in-one devices to release later this year, according to a report from The Verge. While no one is sure what an all-in-one Surface device would look like, The Verge reports that sources close to Microsoft suggest the company is looking at “traditional PC form factors” to add to the Surface lineup.

Office AND Outlook have been reinvented, collaboration tools like Slack are finally useful, and devices are evolving for new digital workflows. “Office productivity” has meant Microsoft Office and Outlook on a Windows PC for nearly two decades, and most of us take it for granted as part of the technological woodwork. But the digital office has undergone a fundamental, positive change in the past few years, one that should cause a rethink by users and IT alike.

Microsoft has announced that it has open sourced PowerShell. The task automation and configuration management framework has also debuted on Linux platform to deliver the same experience on the open source operating system that was initially exclusive to Windows. “Microsoft wants to earn customers’ preference as the platform for running all their workloads – Linux as well as Windows. This new thinking empowered the .NET team to port .NET Core to Linux and that in turn, enabled PowerShell to port to Linux as well,” writes Jeffrey Snover, Technical Fellow at Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Group, in a blog post.

More than 30 major technology and communication companies said on August 19, 2016 they are joining the US government to crack down on “robocalls”, automated and prerecorded phone calls. Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Apple, BlackBerry and Nokia are among members of the ‘Robocall Strike Force’. The strike force hopes to implement Caller ID verification standards to help block calls from spoofed phone numbers and consider a “Do Not Originate” list for governments, banks or others.

In an effort to make people switch to Microsoft Edge, the company will now pay users to use the browser. Edge can deliver 36-53 percent more battery life while doing daily tasks, including watching videos on YouTube, browsing internet or checking in with friends on social networks. Microsoft Rewards, a rebranding of Bing Rewards, is only available in the US so far and offers points for using Edge and Bing, as well as shopping at the Microsoft store, CNET.com reported.

The article is about the games releasing on Xbox One. Worms W.M.D. is one of those games which is going to release on Xbox one on August 23, 2016. The worms are back for more destruction and mayhem in this 2D side scrolling multiplayer brawler. The other games releasing in this batch are Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Valley, and King of Fighter XIV.

Even though there are many types of productivity software available out there, office suites are arguably the most commonly used. And when it comes to office suites, Microsoft Office is pretty much the gold standard. Whether we talk about MS Office as a whole, or take its constituent applications (e.g. Word, PowerPoint and Excel), the sheer number of advanced features offered is amazing. However, some of the popular Microsoft Office alternatives are: Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice, WPS Office, Softmaker FreeOffice and NeoOffice.

The Microsoft Accelerator hosted 15 startup CEOs (out of +500) for its First Global Startup Roadshow in Silicon Valley and Seattle in June. The aim of the five-day event was to help these startups in their mission to penetrate the US market and help them strengthen their presence and scale up. In addition, Microsoft also hosted Silicon Valley investors for 1:1 “speed dating” with the CEOs who are about to disrupt their industries. The startups also got the opportunity to leverage Microsoft’s internal resources for face-to-face meetings with Microsoft Executives from various fields including business, marketing and sales groups.

Technology is playing a big role in the ongoing Krishna Pushkarams. The tech-savvy Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has asked officials to use the latest technology for effective networking of the huge contingent of government Officers and staff besides scores of volunteers working to make the 12-day-long festival a success in Krishna, Guntur and Kurnool districts. Kaizala, an Android app developed by Microsoft, has made life easy for the multi-disciplinary teams deployed at the Pushkar ghats and Pushkar Nagars. It facilitates privacy-based sub-groups which can be coordinated as per requirement.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella turned 49 on August 19, 2016. A Microsoft veteran, Nadella was named to the top position in February 2014. He succeeded Steve Ballmer, who was software giant’s CEO for 14 years. 9 interesting facts about him are: He studied at Manipal University, joined Microsoft in 1992, married his childhood sweetheart, loves cricket and poetry, happens to be the highest-paid tech CEO, Bill Gates was his mentor, he is a Seattle Seahawks fan and is currently working on his book.