In the News

Microsoft’s Windows 10 has overtaken its ancient cousin, Windows XP. According to data from Net Applications, the new operating system was running on 11.9 percent of personal computers in January. Windows XP, released in 2001 (and no longer receiving updates or patches from Microsoft), was used by 11.4 percent. Microsoft jumpstarted use of the Windows 10 software by offering it as a free upgrade to users of Windows 7 and 8. 200 million people were reportedly using Windows 10, and customers have been got the software at a faster rate than any previous operating system.

Microsoft will start to roll out the new Windows 10 operating system as a recommended update, in phases, starting from January 8, 2016. Users whose computers are set to automatically download and install recommended updates, will begin to see an installer for the new operating system pop up, prompting them to upgrade their computer. Although the Windows 10 updater will automatically download the upgrade to such computers, users will have the final say on whether they want to switch.

Microsoft released cumulative update 10586.71 for Windows 10 Mobile beta testers. The update prepares the OS for a broad deployment to older phones. Officially, Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 10586.71 contains bug fixes, including performance and reliability improvements, upgrades to the Edge browser, and power improvements as well, said Gabe Aul, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Engineering Systems Team. The most recent releases of the update have been performed with a broader rollout of Windows 10 mobile in mind.

BIO-key International, Inc., an innovative provider of strong biometric authentication solutions, announced the successful completion of its tour with Microsoft. The tour featured BIO-key’s low-cost, high-quality fingerprint scanners and software solutions as part of the U.S. launch of Windows 10 for Business and Office 2016. Microsoft presented BIO-key as its only biometric solution partner on the highly successful launch, attended by thousands of IT leaders from Microsoft’s largest enterprise customers.

Microsoft has announced the availability of new analytics, security and collaboration capabilities in Office 365 enterprise plan E5. The new Office 365 E5 plan is designed to modernize voice, video, and meeting experiences, while saving considerable time and money on an enterprise’s communication infrastructure. The update will enable a broad range of live data to be monitored and analyzed through easy-to-use dashboards, interactive reports, and data visualizations with Power BI.

Microsoft has recently announced the first technical preview of Microsoft Azure Stack, which it claimed as the only hybrid cloud platform consistent with a leading public cloud. Azure Stack assists organizations deliver Azure services from their own datacenter. This model cuts across infrastructure, applications and people, and requires a hybrid cloud approach that provides consistency across private, hosted, and public clouds.

Training 4 Microsoft CRM are proud to announce the release of the UK’s first Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 training courses exclusive to Training 4 Microsoft CRM. Since November 30th Microsoft have been rolling out the latest release of their Customer Relationship Management service – Dynamics CRM 2016 along with a host of new essential tools and features for both online and on-premise customers. Training 4 Microsoft CRM includes courses for all types of CRM users, including Sales and Services teams, Administrators and Developers.

Members of the Xbox One preview program can now access the newest update to the consoles dashboard. This update contains a number of changes that will alter the appearance of the dashboard. The most significant among the changes is the ability to actually move pinned content around. This will allow users to have their favorite games front and center, even if they are dealing with the 1TB console. This way they can have a ton of games open simultaneously on the dashboard.

The last day to claim free storage on Microsoft’s OneDrive is today. The company is offering the original capacity of 15GB free storage as promised. The 15GB free storage comes from activating a copy of Office 365. An additional 15GB can be availed if one activates cloud storage for camera roll on the OneDrive app for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Today is the last day one can opt in of the free storage.

Microsoft is geared to boost the ecosystem for Indian data scientists by giving students the opportunity to learn and test their data analytical skills. As part of this scheme, the company in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, concluded the first-ever Data Science Student Challenge (DSSC), on Saturday. The 24-hour global hackathon series, inaugurated as part of Pravega 2016, the annual tech festival of the Institute, witnessed participation by close to 200 students.