In the News

Canara Bank, one of India’s largest and oldest state-owned banks, has completed its migration from Windows XP. They have moved around 33,000 PCs to a modern version of Windows operating system realizing the potential security vulnerabilities and monetary hazards. To this, Karan Bajwa, Managing Director, Microsoft India, said, “Running unsupported technology especially in the BFSI sector carries huge risk. Canara Bank is amongst the progressive PSU banks in India that have taken the decision to move off Windows XP. They understand how debilitating and damaging the security breaches can be after support ends. We urge all businesses to complete their migration immediately, if they haven’t already.”

Microsoft ends technical support for its most popular operating system (OS) Windows XP globally from Tuesday, April 8. Customers will no longer receive new security updates, hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates for their XP OS.

Microsoft is making efforts to help the small and medium enterprises segment expand and adopt its cloud offering. The article highlights the findings of the study commissioned by Microsoft and independently conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm and a leading adviser on business strategy that adoption of IT business solutions by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) resulted in creation of new jobs and brought revenue growth in a period of three years, compared to SMEs that were using little technology.

Updates on the BUILD conference in San Francisco, where Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the availability of Office for iPad – a product aimed at end users. He also discussed his vision for the company and reiterated that the focus was on three groups – end users, developers and IT professionals. The article discusses the announcement of Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), a cloud-based tool that IT managers can use to manage the smartphones and tablets that employees in their companies use.

Snippets from an interaction with Amrish Goyal, Windows Business Group, Microsoft India who talks about the extended support provided by Microsoft post Windows XP. The story also showcases the urgency amongst the banks and PSUs to upgrade to newer technology. He said, “We encourage everybody to upgrade at the earliest. The cost of extended support is high. Generally, support for an average computer costs around $200 a year. So, our idea is to provide support only in extreme circumstances.”

Key insights from Jospeh Landes, General Manager, DPE —Microsoft, on the sidelines of BUILD conference in San Francisco. Joseph said, “The fact that more than 10 per cent of the apps are being developed by Indian citizens is a great thing. People want to tap in and acknowledge the power Indian developers have. There is no secret that India has a lot of software developers.”

“Having grown up in India, the idea that I would have the opportunity to talk to all of you as CEO of Microsoft was beyond my wildest dreams. Admittedly, my interests at that time were a bit more focused on cricket than on technology. It is amazing though, to think of the advancements in technology over the past few years and the opportunity for developers in India today” says Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

Microsoft is focusing on the small and medium enterprises segment for the expansion and adoption of its cloud offering. The findings of The Boston Consulting Group India (BCG) states that over the past three years IT-enabled SMEs grew their revenues 20 percentage points faster and cloud services are playing a key role in SME growth. Meetul Patel, General Manager – SMS&P, Microsoft India, said, ” Today, the availability of services delivered through pay-as-you-use cloud computing is enabling SMEs to substantially reduce upfront investments in server and networking infrastructure.”

We take a look at the best camera and photography apps on Windows Phone. This is an exclusive on the Windows Phone OS that speaks positively about the apps available on our platform. A recent surge in adoption of the platform has caused app developers to take notice and we are now starting to see not just amazing hardware from Nokia, but also a great set of apps.

Governments could lose more than $50 billion in dealing with costs associated with malware on pirated software, shows a study by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and research firm IDC. The study, titled ‘The Link between Pirated Software and Cyber security Breaches’, expressed concern over the potential impact of cyber security threats on nations. David Finn, Executive Director and Associate General Counsel, Microsoft Cybercrime Centre, said, “Cyber criminals are profiting from any security lapse they can find, with financially devastating results for everyone.”