In the News

Nikhil Srivastava, an Indian mathematician from Microsoft Research India, became the first joint winner of the prestigious 2014 George Polya Prize for finding a solution to a problem that had eluded mathematicians for more than half a century. Srivastava, who has a PhD from Yale University and is presently based in Bangalore, is part of a three member team which found a solution to the Kadison-Singer conjecture that pertains to the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics.

Next week’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference is set to attract a large number of attendees to Washington DC, where Microsoft is expected to unveil its latest plans for Azure, alongside other roadmaps for fiscal 2015.

The Windows Phone version of Blackberry’s messaging service—BBM is now ready for public testing, having entered the open beta phase. Interested users can download the test version, which supports group chats of up to 50 contacts and includes photo album sharing features.

Satya Nadella unveiled his first vision statement as chief executive officer, saying that more engineering and organizational changes are needed as he attempts to turn around the software maker. “We’ve got to back it up with products people love and that’s what we’re galvanizing to do,” Nadella said in an interview.

Microsoft Corp has said that it has freed at least 4.7 million infected personal computers from the control of cyber crooks in its most successful digital crime-busting operation, which interrupted service at an Internet company last week.

A new report by mobile advertising firm AdDuplex has found that the US is leading the way when it comes to the number of active Windows Phone devices, followed by India, and Brazil. The report is based on data gathered from 11 global apps and games that serve AdDuplex ads.

Microsoft has launched a brand new app for video editing on Windows Phone 8.1 devices simply called Video Tuner. The app brings in a few new impressive features like live previews while editing and much more, setting it apart from other third party apps.

With the SMB market estimated to witness huge growth, IT sector spending is set to cross Rs 1,00,000 crore by 2018. Meetul Patel, General Manager, SMSP, Microsoft India, said, “SMBs represent a significant part of India’s economy. Their contribution to the country’s growth can further increase through greater adoption of technology. Microsoft is proud to work with associations like NASSCOM to help SMBs unleash their potential through emerging technologies like cloud services.”

Twitter has finally rolled-out a major update to its Windows Phone app, seven months since the last update

Small and medium businesses are expected to spend about USD 18.5 billion (Rs 1.11 lakh crore) on information technology by FY2018, driven by the growing adoption of cloud and mobility solutions, a Nasscom study has said. According to the study, conducted by research firm Frost & Sullivan (F&S), Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs) spent about Rs 47,200 crore (USD 8.7 billion) on IT in FY2013.