In the News

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.

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global security software solutions leader, announced the integration of Trend Micro Deep Security into the Microsoft Azure Security Center. Customers will now have access to a single view of all Azure subscriptions, live workload monitoring capabilities, and suggested remediation steps to address security issues. Nicole Herskowitz, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Microsoft Azure said, “With the dynamic capabilities of Trend Micro Deep Security integrated in the Azure Security Center, customers will now be able to easily identify security and configuration issues, and quickly address them.”

Conversations will be more exciting for iOS and Android users now, thanks to Microsoft Translator. The company had incorporated smartwatches into its Android Microsoft Translator app earlier this year. The updated Android and iOS version of the app will now allow back and forth conversation: One person can speak into the phone, and the translation appears on the smartwatch, and vice versa. These conversational features will work for Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish languages.

Microsoft has released a new update for Xbox Fitness that does not require Kinect. With this, Xbox Fitness expands its reach to a much larger number of Xbox users. The company announced that the update will now let users experience the world’s best workouts on Xbox One. It would also allow them to download their purchased workouts.

Microsoft has announced that SmartScreen will now protect users from drive-by attacks in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11. These attacks are malicious web attacks that tend to start on trusted websites, targeting security vulnerabilities in commonly used software. If SmartScreen finds a website to be potentially malicious, users will see a red warning and the content won’t render in either Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10.

Microsoft Lumia 550 with 4G LTE is the cheapest smartphone to run the latest Windows 10 OS for mobile. It has been launched in India for Rs 9,399 and the phone will go on sale starting December 23. It comes in matte black and glossy white body with a 4.7-inch HD screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 1.1 GHz quad-core processor, five-megapixel rear camera with auto-focus and LED Flash and a two megapixel front camera.

Indian Industries Association and Microsoft have come together to enable 20,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Uttar Pradesh with cloud technology. Sudhir Nayar, Director, Partner Sales, Microsoft India said, “With the recently launched Windows 10 on PC and phone, devices like the Lumia 950 and our cloud-based services, businesses can access new markets, engage with customers more efficiently, and manage their costs better. Microsoft, in association with IIA and with the commitment of our partners like Pentacle IT Solutions aims to enable MSMEs across the country to grow with technology helping them accelerate their business.”