In the News

Microsoft has announced the introduction of free Skype Meetings in US. It is an online tool that will enable small businesses to hold HD video conferencing on its Office Blogs. Skype Meetings will give the user’s ability to share screens over the conference calls, join in on a Skype meeting using a personalized URL, message one another, share PowerPoint presentations and their screens during the call. The new feature also has a laser pointer and whiteboard function to add productivity and make the presentation more engaging.

Rockstar’s iconic western, Red Dead Redemption has just been revealed to be getting backwards compatibility on the Xbox One. This will happen as early as July 8 and will apply not only to the main game but also its much loved expansion named Undead Nightmare. This announcement has been made by Microsoft’s Major Nelson via his Twitter account, and has pleased many since it was the most requested to get this feature.

Microsoft is on a mission to modernize Skype and with that is bringing some much needed features that will help it keep up with its competitors in the messaging space. Skype is now rolling out new features that lets users send across files that are up to 300MB in size to friends and groups. The Skype team also announced that files can now be shared even if recipients are offline. Moreover, the same files can be downloaded more than once, so there is no need to ask for the same file once again in case users happen to modify or lose the original.

The Xbox Ultimate Game Sale, Microsoft’s version of a summer sale for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows 10 titles will officially be underway on July 5th but Larry Hryb did recently outline the deals that players could expect. There are 250 deals in total ranging with some games being discounted by more than 60 percent.

According to the latest statistics revealed by the company, almost 45% of all PC gamers are now using Windows 10. This makes it the most used OS on Valve’s service by any metric, and it also indicates that by and large, PC gamers are upgrading to Microsoft’s new offering en masse. Windows as a whole has 96% of all PC gamers.

WISeKey International Holding Ltd, a leading Swiss-based cybersecurity company, announced its participation in Microsoft CityNext, a global initiative empowering cities, businesses and citizens to re-imagine their futures and cultivate vibrant communities. Per Bendix Olsen, Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector, said, “We’re thrilled to partner with WISeKey on Microsoft CityNext. While cities are feeling the strain from economic challenges, Microsoft CityNext ushers in innovative technology solutions to create opportunities for cities and their citizens, enabling them to accomplish what they never thought possible. We’re inspired by our diverse partner ecosystem and know that working together we can help cities realize their full potential.”

Microsoft has made hardware more of a priority in recent years, what with the Surface Pro line of tablets and Surface Book laptop. But these devices might be just the beginning of Redmond’s PC push. If a couple new reports are any indication, the company is also about to jump into the desktop PC game. Windows Central informed that the company is hard at work on the Surface AIO, an all-in-one desktop PC that could soon join Microsoft’s existing Surface product lineup.

Ultimate gaming is soon going to be more fun with Microsoft starting the Xbox summer sale from July 5 with discounts between 40 to 60 percent on over 250 games. In addition, Microsoft will also offer Xbox One consoles with special pricing. Xbox Live Gold members will receive an additional 10 percent discount. The games will also include Xbox 360 hits which can be played on Xbox One. Phil Spencer, wrote, “We believe gaming should be fun for everyone.”

Though support for Xbox Live Anywhere will be added to Windows 10 with the Anniversary Update in August, the service itself will launch on September 13. The service essentially allows players to purchase a game digitally on Xbox One and receive it for Windows 10 at no extra cost. The ability to share progress, Achievements and much more has also been promised. Titles which support Xbox Play Anywhere will be marked on Xbox.com to avoid any confusion.

Microsoft named Gavriella Schuster as its new Global Channel Chief. Schuster, a 21-year Microsoft veteran takes over Microsoft’s channel at a time of major transition and transformation. In her new role Schuster is tasked with guiding tens of thousands of partners as they transition to a cloud solutions business model and tackle the massive Windows 10 upgrade cycle. Schuster said, “There’s more opportunity now than there has ever been for our partners, not only cloud and customers embracing cloud, but what customers are calling their No. 1 priority, which is their own digital transformation.”