In the News

Microsoft Ventures in India announced the graduation of 17 technology startups, 16 of which constituted the fourth batch of its Accelerator program and another from an earlier batch. Ravi Narayan, Director, Microsoft Ventures in India, said, “Over the course of the last two years, Microsoft Ventures has emerged as a key player in the Indian startup ecosystem, working closely by pooling its resources with other accelerators, incubators and industry bodies, with the single objective of helping startups. While each of us are putting in a lot of efforts, many of these are fragmented and don’t have the potential of making a significant impact. We felt the need for a forum which brings together all the stakeholders and provides them with a platform to discuss current initiatives, decide on actionable follow-up steps and measure the progress over a period of time. ‘Think Next’ is that forum, and we are confident it will provide a strong boost to the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

Microsoft showcasing its Skype Translator app at the inaugural Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. At the event, with Microsoft’s CEO and Re/code’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher looking on, Gurdeep Pall, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Skype and Lync demonstrated the new app which translated his conversation with a German colleague in real time. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, said, “We are entering a new era of more personal computing” and how Microsoft’s goal was to create computing experiences that are “more natural, more human, more like us.”

The article reports about the 8 useful Windows Managers for Linux users which includes Compiz Fusion, Compiz, Metacity, Blackbox, Fluxbox, FVWM, Enlightenment and Openbox. Compiz Fusion is the result of a merge between the well-known Beryl composite window manager and Compiz Extras, a community set of improvements to the Compiz composite window manager. Compiz Fusion aims to provide an easy and fun-to-use windowed environment, allowing use of the graphics hardware to render each individual window and the entire screen, to provide some impressive effects, speed and usefulness.

Microsoft plans to boost its Azure cloud services with its acquisition of Capptain, whose product helps developers track and analyze usage of their Web and mobile apps and implement customer retention strategies. “We are hard at work integrating Capptain’s solution with the wider Microsoft Azure suite of services so that enterprises can not only build mobile apps to engage customers and employees, but also analyze and optimize that engagement,” wrote Microsoft official Omar Khan.

Microsoft Corp announced it would integrate Salesforce.com Inc apps into its cloud-computing platform, giving a boost to one of new Chief Executive Satya Nadella’s high-priority initiatives. As part of the tie-up, Salesforce’s popular customer-management apps will be made available on Windows desktop PCs and mobile devices, while Salesforce users will be able to access Microsoft Office content.

Impending elections and lower profits from government sector investments led the software market in India to grow at a slower pace of 9.9 percent to $3.78 billion in 2013, research firm IDC said. Microsoft continued to lead the India software market with a share of 30 percent in 2013, posting a jump of 13 percent over previous year owing to OS upgrades and Windows XP migration.

To cash in on the rising demand for Smartphones, Microsoft Devices launched Nokia XL, the company’s flagship large screen offering of affordable smartphones, in Kerala. T S Sridhar, Director-South Nokia India, a subsidiary of Microsoft Mobiles Oy, said, “India is the third largest smartphone market with 44 million smartphones sold last year in the country.” To allow consumers to enjoy apps on Nokia XL, Microsoft Devices has tied up with Airtel to give users free download of Android Apps for six months.

Microsoft India has announced a permanent price drop on its bestselling consoles – the 250GB Xbox 360 and the 250GB Xbox 360 with Kinect. While the 250GB Xbox 360 will now be available to consumers at a discounted price of Rs. 21,990, the 250GB Kinect will cost Rs. 31,990. These consoles are currently available in the market with additional freebies (Free Games or Xbox Live Gold Membership). Anshu Mor, Director – Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft India, said, “We are committed to offer great experiences to our consumers at compelling price points. This price drop on 250GB Sku’s, coupled with our recently launched Xbox Live Gold Rush promo, will provide great value to our community of fans and gamers.”

GoDaddy, the world’s largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, is addressing a conference of Web professionals, domain investors and resellers to help accelerate the adoption of domain names and websites among SMBs in India. Through a long-term strategic partnership with Microsoft, GoDaddy will offer Office 365 as a premium business-class email and productivity tool to its small-business customers in India.

The article reports about some games including game: Dark Souls 2 which is available on Xbox 360. A single player/ multiplayer action role playing third person game for the Xbox 360 console, Dark Souls 2 is set in a wicked and hostile world named Drangelic to which the protagonist, the cursed Undead, and others of his like are drawn to.