Recent News

Speaking at the 38th Skoch Summit that deliberated on Digital India focused on improving citizen-government interface and making governance efficient and transparent, Karan Bajwa, Managing Director, Microsoft India, emphasised on the need for creating a digital identity for every citizens. “The goal of the government should be to digitally empower at least one person in every household. This will create the capacity on the ground that will make the vision of Digital India a reality,” he said.

Microsoft has refined how Office 365 handles bulk promotional emails from vendors like Amazon and eBay, adding what it describes as a “simple, intuitive control” to the security engine in Exchange Online so that Office 365 admins can fine-tune the treatment of these messages for their domain. “Bulk email can be a real nuisance for users. We hope that this feature will help you better manage the amount of bulk email your organization receives,” wrote Microsoft officials Shobhit Sahay and Chris Nguyen in a blog.

A customized video approach developed at Microsoft Research India prefers local people for training farmers instead of agricultural experts. “It’s a unique way of doing really targeted behavioural change,” said Julia Lowe, programme officer with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is helping fund the programme. “It will be particularly meaningful when it comes to more personal behaviours—health practices, household decision-making.” Digital Green was founded by employees of Microsoft Research India, which conducts research in computer science and software engineering.

The annual Time magazine best invention of the year round-up is out and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 finds pride of place in it. The report says Microsoft’s latest “hybrid” bundles the power of a laptop into a svelte 12-inch tablet and can run desktop apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. “That, as well as a slim, detachable keyboard cover and a built-in stand that makes the Surface usable on a desk, makes it more suitable than other tablets for professionals like doctors and businesspeople,” the report said.

Microsoft India on Friday sent invites for an event scheduled on Wednesday, where it is expected to launch the first Microsoft-branded smartphone, the Lumia 535. The invite sent by the company reads, “Five days to magic of triple 5”. That, of course, is a pointer to the “5x5x5” Microsoft Lumia 535, which, the company says is their “’5x5x5’ smartphone package bringing a 5-inch screen, 5-megapixel front- and rear-facing camera, and free integrated Microsoft experiences (such as Skype and OneNote) to more people at an affordable price”.

Microsoft India in partnership with Ubisoft, announced a new Xbox One “Assassin’s Creed®” bundle with Kinect featuring “Assassin’s Creed Unity”. Priced at Rs 45,990, the Kinect bundle will be available exclusively on Amazon.in. Anshu Mor, Director – Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft India, said, “Assassin’s Creed is one of the biggest franchisees on our platform and we’re excited to deliver exceptional value and choice for our fans in an effort to help make Xbox One the best place to play.”

Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will include support for customized web-based app stores for enterprise users. In other words, Microsoft will let organizations curate their own app stores with complete control over what apps they offer and which employees can download them. This feature is not for individuals buying computers for their personal use, but is meant for bigger organizations. Microsoft will releasing Windows 10 next year, and is allowing enthusiasts to test the new operating system through its Windows Insider Program.

Microsoft’s last Nokia Lumia phone, the Lumia 730, also known as the ‘Selfie-phone’, has been used to capture the world’s largest selfie featuring 1,151 people. Taken in Bangladesh on Saturday, the image was captured by the Lumia 730’s 5 MP front-facing camera, which has a wide angle lens for selfie photography. Microsoft says this was an attempt to break the world record of “a selfie with the most number of people with recognizable faces”. The company says it is still awaiting official confirmation from Guinness to enter the record books.

India has over 80 incubators and accelerators, five set up by multinational companies, 25 privately run and 50 public incubators. Amid this explosion, Microsoft Ventures’ accelerator program, which has been around since 2012, has decided to re-position itself and be a true blue ‘accelerator’ than being just another incubator of technology ideas. “Acceleration is when you have built the first product and you have some customers, and then you try to grow 10 times,” said Ravi Narayan, director and Microsoft Ventures India. “We clearly want to be only in the acceleration space.”

Joseph Landes, General Manager, Developer, and Platform Evangelist, Microsoft, explains how Azure enables customers to extend their on-premise investments into the public cloud and choose between infrastructure and platform services. “The three enhancements—hyper-scale, enterprise-grade, and hybrid cloud—are brought together to make Azure a totally differentiated cloud platform for Indian customers,” Landes said.