In the News

In the wake of cybercrimes and terrorism, the Indian government and major private players are working together at multiple levels to boost cyber security in various agencies. According to Microsoft, it is working with the government on setting up the Cyber Security Engagement Center under the Digital Crimes Unit of the company. The company said it would offer cyber security services to various agencies of the Indian government, including the defence forces and power plants in the country. “The centre will work with law enforcement agencies as well as customers and help stakeholders fight cybercrimes,” said Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft Corporation.

The attention of all businesses in India is fixed on February 29 – the day Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Union Budget 2016. The Indian IT industry too has expectations from the government. Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India, said, “I am looking forward to the government presenting a growth-oriented budget that addresses gaps and sets a clear way forward to ensure that the optimism is not short-lived.” Key things Microsoft India Chairman expects from the Budget are: Creation of the right environment for India’s startup ecosystem, making technology access a reality, boosting technology adoption for citizen services, addressing regulatory and tax issues for the software industry, rolling out of GST and boosting skill development.

Twitter user WalkingCat leaked a video online recently for a HoloLens app in development called Actiongram. It provides hologram models that can mix and match to record an augmented reality video right from the AR headset. The new Start menu includes live tiles, Cortana integration, an app menu, and also the usual Wi-Fi, sound, and battery tools.

Microsoft has united with other industry leaders to create Open Connectivity Foundation, committed to bolster the industry standards for the Internet of Things (IoT). The software giant has joined the world’s largest open IoT standard group, with other founding members like Cisco, Electrolux, General Electric, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, etc. The foundation will create a set of open specifications and protocols to enable devices from a variety of manufactures to securely and seamlessly interact with one another, thereby accelerating industry innovation for all of the users.

Microsoft Surface Pro 5 will reportedly be launched in October this year as an update to the Surface Pro 4. The hybrid tablet is said to be priced at $899 for the entry-level model going higher at $999 and $1,599 for more advanced models. The company seems to have addressed the battery life issue that users faced in the Pro 4 device.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition – a remaster of the 2006 Xbox 360 classic received rave reviews last year. The company had announced in 2015 that the game would be coming to Windows PCs. Although unavailable for download currently, the recommended requirements have been indicated, hinting at a sooner release.

Titled ‘Carmageddon: Max Damage’, a new game in the series will be available for Xbox One. The entry is described as one where “opponents are a bunch of crazies in a twisted mix of killing machines” and the way to score points and win is by “mowing down the local inhabitants”. The game will be available both offline and online, with multiple modes enhanced by 90 power-ups.

Microsoft recently highlighted its Azure datacenter support for open source software. The company announced that Linux images are now present in Azure Marketplace. Also the Azure Container Service preview, which is based on joint efforts between open source companies like Docker and Mesosphere, can now be obtained primarily for testing. “We offer the best enterprise-grade support of the public cloud, by offering a fully integrated support experience with co-located Red Hat and Microsoft support engineers sitting side-by-side to help you when you need it,” said Corey Sanders, Director, Program Management for Azure, Microsoft.

Microsoft has started testing a premium version of the Outlook.com Premium with a limited number of users. “Outlook.com Premium is not an existing offering, it is an experiment that we are piloting. The new version enables users to set up new custom domain accounts. The previous program required the user to manage the process of purchasing a domain. The company is now evaluating the appeal of custom domains with them managing the processes of domain procurement.

Microsoft released an update for its Translator app on iOS and Android that gives each of the versions a new feature. Android users will have an offline AI-powered translations engine. Microsoft says the offline mode offers “near online quality” right now by using its first Deep Neural Network-powered engine. Users need to download the additional free language packs first, which are available in French, German, Chinese (simplified), Italian, Russian, Polish, Vietnamese, Spanish and Portuguese.