Recent News

Microsoft’s Garage project has already released Keyboard for Excel, Send, and Next Lock Screen apps for Android users. Now, a new Android app named Parchi, which is also a release from the Microsoft Garage project, is available to download via Google Play. The app is available in limited markets including India and is currently not available to download in the US.The app is compatible with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean & above, and is just 3.6MB in size. Parchi is a quick note-taking app allows users to jot down small bites of information.

Microsoft has initiated a four-pronged process of graduating from the GSOC (global security operations centre) model to a Virtual SOC that will be proactive in terms of ensuring security of its employees and protection of assets. “We are going to run all our communication into Hyderabad. That’s all of non-life safety traffic, routine communication,” said, Michael Foynes, senior director (global operations) for Global Security.

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 is in the spotlight as the company announces new initiatives to broaden enterprise adoption of its upgraded hybrid device and Windows 10 operating system. Redmond is announcing two additions to its Surface Enterprise Initiative, a program announced in September to help businesses navigate the process of buying and implementing Surfaces for employees. It also has plans to expand its current number of resellers. While the commercial response for Surface Pro 4 has been positive, “almost equally important for business is the infrastructure for managing thousands of devices,” said Brian Eskridge, Senior Manager of Microsoft’s Windows.

Akamai Technologies, Inc, the global leader in content delivery network (CDN) services, and Microsoft Corp. have announced a partnership in which access to the Akamai CDN will be fully integrated into Microsoft Azure. The forthcoming Azure CDN offering is designed to optimize performance of content and applications deployed and delivered on Azure. “Through this strategic partnership, Microsoft and Akamai are helping usher in the next generation of content delivery tailored for cloud platform customers of all sizes,” said Bill Staples, Corporate Vice President, App Platform, Microsoft Azure. “The Azure CDN combines the intelligent cloud services of the Azure platform with the delivery advantages of Akamai’s world-class and massively-distributed CDN. Further, Azure customers can leverage Akamai’s unique CDN, acceleration and security product portfolio that can be managed and purchased through a single enterprise agreement.”

One of the challenges that business intelligence software users face is generating the right sort of visualizations for the data they have. That’s why Microsoft announced support for custom visualizations across its Power BI service. Developers can now use tools provided by the company on Github to create .pbviz files that can then be imported directly into Power BI’s web interface for use in analyzing data. Microsoft will be reviewing all of the submissions in its gallery, Technical Fellow Amir Netz said in an interview. It won’t be going over them with a fine-toothed comb, just looking hard enough to make sure that they work and aren’t hiding malicious code.

Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality headset won’t ship to developers until early next year, but the company is already looking to PC makers for future versions. The first collaboration could come from Asus, which has been talking to Microsoft about building its own HoloLens headset. Microsoft’s Windows and devices head Terry Myerson said the decision is ultimately up to Asus, with CEO Jonney Shih saying the company was “still evaluating” the possibility.

Microsoft is making innovative moves under the leadership of Indian origin CEO Satya Nadella as it has just announced a Linux powered operating system for datacenter networking. Principal Architect, Azure Networking, Kamala Subramaniam, wrote on the company blog, “The Azure Cloud Switch (ACS) is our foray into building our own software for running network devices like switches. It is a cross-platform modular operating system for data center networking built on Linux. ACS allows us to debug, fix, and test software bugs much faster. It also allows us the flexibility to scale down the software and develop features that are required for our datacenter and our networking needs.”

As part of the Microsoft’s ‘Giving Campaign’, employees handed over sanitation facilities to 42 schools in Telangana, Haryana and Karnataka. This also marked the culmination of a six-month long awareness campaign about sanitation and hygiene for 10,746 students in these 42 schools. The campaign was run with help from Charities Aid Foundation. The employees handed over the sanitation facilities to school authorities, teachers and students at GGHS, Mustaidpura Government School in the presence of Ravi Kumar Deputy District Education Officer, Government of Telangana and Amit Sircar, General Manager, Managing Director, Microsoft Services Global Delivery.

As Ubisoft gears up towards the release of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, the company is clearly attempting to focus not just on the scope of this new game’s world, but also just how good that world is going to look. This new concept art shows off some of the historical figures that are going to be in the game including people such as Karl Marx, Florence Nightingale and Charles Dickens. Syndicate is coming to the PC, Xbox One and PS4 on October 23, 2015.