CIO India: Microsoft looks for Office Beta testers

Microsoft put out a call for commercial and consumer beta testers to put upcoming versions of Office through the wringer. The announcement did not specify which editions of Office would be given early to testers, but most pundits assumed they would certainly include the suite on Android, possibly also the long-awaited touch-first productivity apps for Windows 8 and 8.1. “The family of products include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Visio, Access, Publisher and Outlook applications, as well as the Exchange, SharePoint and Project server products and cloud services,” Microsoft said in a short message on its Pre-Release Programs website.

The Times of India: Your next Windows Phone device may have a Canon

Post the agreement, it is possible that Microsoft uses Canon’s imaging technology in its Windows Phone powered smartphone devices. “This collaborative approach with Canon allows us to deliver inventive technologies that benefit consumers around the world,” said Nick Psyhogeos, general manager, associate general counsel, IP Licensing of the Innovation and Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft. “Microsoft believes cooperative licensing is an effective way to accelerate innovation while reducing patent disputes.”

Zee News: Microsoft ramps up protection for Outlook email

Microsoft said that it is scrambling Outlook email messages in transit to thwart spying by governments. “We are in the midst of a comprehensive engineering effort to strengthen encryption across our networks and services,” Microsoft vice president of trustworthy computing security Matt Thomlinson said.

SiliconIndia: Microsoft launches its first Android handset, the Nokia X2

Microsoft has successfully unveiled the Nokia X2, the first Android Smartphone at an affordable price of 99 euros (Rs. 8100). The handset comes with wide range of exotic features and provisions with makes it exclusively predominant. Timo Toikkanen, Head of Mobile Phones, Microsoft Devices Group, said, “The Nokia X family is going from strength to strength, with the Nokia X Smartphone achieving top-selling status in Pakistan, Russia, Kenya and Nigeria, while earning the third-best-selling Smartphone spot in India”. X2 is a much needed update to the highly criticized Nokia X but how far will it repair the damage done is yet to be seen.

BGR.in: Xolo Q900s Windows Phone 8.1 smartphone announced for Rs 11,999 ahead of launch in July

Xolo has launched its first Windows Phone-powered smartphone Win Q900s in the Indian market. Xolo Q900s is priced at Rs 11,999. However, the device is available at a special introductory offer price of Rs 9,999 with online retailer Snapdeal. As reported, the device is one of the lightest smartphones in the world, weighing just 100 grams. The dual-SIM smartphone is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 400MHz Adreno 302 GPU. It has 1GB RAM and 8GB internal memory, which is expandable via micro SD card up to 32GB.

India Infoline: Sonata wins Microsoft Country Partner of the Year award

Sonata has won the 2014 Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Award for India. The company was honoured among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. The Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Awards honour partners at the country level that have demonstrated business excellence in delivering Microsoft solutions to multiple customers over the past year.

EfyTimes.com: Blue Star Infotech successfully implements Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP at Komli Media

Global software services and solutions provider, Bule Star Infotech Limited, announced that it has successfully implemented Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP at Komli Media, which is Asia Pacific’s leading digital media technology platform. The implementation is helping Komli Media in fortifying their existing services by gaining control over core business processes, perfecting supply chain and at the same time helping employees to perform effectively across Asia Pacific.