Recent News

Microsoft Ventures India is looking to take its JumpStart start-up helpline to the next level by building it up as an outbound call engine that could be used by entrepreneurs to generate business leads. Rajinish Menon, Director, Startups at Microsoft Ventures India, said, “As a pilot, we will offer startups from the accelerator batches access to the outbound engine. We are open to integrating the service with some of the citizenship services offered by governments where JumpStart professionals can answer entrepreneurship questions.”

“Windows 10 unlocks new experiences for customers to work, play and connect. Windows 10 embodies what our customers (both consumers and enterprises) demand and what we will deliver,” state Microsoft’s official blog. For the tech major, the Windows segment now constitutes the third largest money generator for Microsoft, behind its Office and its enterprise software operations. Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner has said the coming Windows 10 OS as being “the best enterprise release we’ve ever done.”

Amazon has announced some great discounts on games for the PlayStation3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, and 3DS consoles. The sale will run through till next week on Saturday, December 20, 2014.

On 11 December, Microsoft announced two new updates to Bing search – international hotel booking support across 22 countries including India. In partnership with TripAdvisor, Bing will now allow users to internationally book hotels across 22 different countries in 14 different languages. Users will also directly get rates, and reviews for different hotels from Bing search via TripAdvisor.

Mumbai-based Covacsis Technologies has developed an Intelligent Plant Framework (IPF) solution using Microsoft SQL Server 2014 that brings Internet of Things to the shop floor in process and discrete manufacturing. “Most of our customers are already on the Microsoft technology platform and our offering is aligned to their IT infrastructure roadmap,” said Tarun Mishra, Founder and CEO, Covacsis Technologies. Tyler Bryson, General Manager, Marketing and Operations, Microsoft India, said, “One third of the virtual machines running in Microsoft Azure are using SQL Server 2014. SQL Server 2014 is fast becoming the database of choice for SMBs as well as large enterprises.”

Metadata Technologies, provider of Microsoft Dynamics CRM solutions and services in India and the Middle East, announced the global launch of its new generation Online Real Estate CRM solution “Property-xRM” built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. “With the increased growth in the Real Estate Market, the industry is witnessing a buyer’s market, thereby triggering the need for sellers to adopt a customer centric business model equipped with state of the art systems,” said Rasheed Muhammed, Managing Director, Metadata.

Microsoft has purchased HockeyApp, a Germany-based mobile-development services company, company officials announced, this being Microsoft’s fifth offshore acquistion in 2014. HockeyApp provides mobile crash analytics and app distribution for developers building apps on iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

Microsoft customers in the US can now use Bitcoin to add money to their accounts, the global computing giant announced. Users can take funds from their Bitcoin wallets and convert them into dollars to make purchases from the Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox Games, Xbox Music, and Xbox Video stores. The new feature comes as a direct result of Microsoft’s integration with Bitpay, a Georgia-based company for electronic payment processing of Bitcoin.

Poorly designed advertisements from companies with a questionable reputation may not only annoy visitors to your web page but also hurt your business in the long-run, says a Microsoft study. “The practice of running annoying ads can cost more money than it earns, as people are more likely to abandon sites on which they are present,” said Siddharth Suri of Microsoft Research. The findings appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research.

Microsoft Asia-Pacific recently announced its 2014-2015 class of education innovators featuring 23 Microsoft Showcase Schools and 173 Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Experts from 10 countries across the region. “These APAC Microsoft Showcase Schools and Innovative Educator Experts are leading the way in transforming learning environments and delivering more personalized education to students,” said Beth Watson, Education Director, Public Sector, Microsoft Asia-Pacific.