Microsoft faces massive class action payouts in cloud computing pricing case
Microsoft could be hit with over £1 billion ($1.27 billion) in charges if a huge class action case brought against the firm by UK businesses succeeds.
The case centers around Windows Server, with Microsoft being accused of overcharging customers for the software. The licensing terms of the associated Azure, the lawsuit says, mean that users are channelled towards using Microsoft’s cloud offering because it pushes up the prices of services from rivals like Google and Amazon.
Microsoft and Atom Computing set to launch commercial quantum computer next year
Quantum computing has up to now been one of those things that's always seemed to be on the horizon but just tantalizingly out of reach.
Now though, Microsoft in partnership with Atom Computing have used the Ignite conference to announce a breakthrough in quantum computing that they say will allow them to deliver quantum computers based on this technology to commercial customers next year. Those machines will feature over 1,000 physical qubits.
Azure outages should spark new urgency for a multi-cloud approach
July 19th 2024 will go down as a tough day for many IT teams, and the day started even worse for businesses using Microsoft Azure and its supported services. In addition to the widely publicized global outage caused by a CrowdStrike update, Microsoft Azure's Central US Region was down for five hours due to an unrelated failure, impacting millions of business users worldwide.
As if that wasn't enough, less than two weeks later, Microsoft Azure experienced another global outage lasting more than six hours. According to the company's service status page, it was Microsoft's 8th service status-related incident.
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Cloud Software Group and Microsoft announce $1.65 billion cloud and AI partnership
Cloud Software Group and Microsoft have announced an eight-year strategic partnership agreement, with Cloud Software Group committing $1.65 billion to Microsoft’s cloud and generative AI capabilities. This collaboration aims to strengthen the Citrix virtual application and desktop platform and develop new cloud and AI solutions with an integrated product roadmap.
Under this partnership, Citrix, a business unit of Cloud Software Group, will be the preferred Microsoft Global Azure Partner solution for Enterprise Desktop as a Service when collaborating with joint Azure customers. The companies will jointly support customer success by offering tailored solutions, expert guidance, and support to accelerate customers’ cloud journeys. Citrix will also leverage Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud solution, integrating the benefits of the Citrix platform with Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365.
Microsoft cites continuous innovation of Windows 11 and app compatibility improvements as it kills Test Base for Microsoft 365
Microsoft has announced that is it transitioning Test Base for Microsoft 365 to end-of-life in just a few weeks. The EOL process for the service started at the beginning of March and will be complete by the end of May.
As Test Base for Microsoft 365 is not something that everyone will have heard of, Microsoft explains that it is "a cloud-based app testing service on Azure that evaluates the compatibility of applications with new Windows releases or updates". The company has decided that it is no longer needed because so much work has been done with Windows 11 that app compatibility issues are rare.
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Managing spending is the biggest cloud challenge
For the second year running managing cloud spending is the top challenge facing organizations, according to the latest Flexera State of the Cloud Report.
The survey of over 750 respondents shows more than a quarter of them spend over $12 million a year on cloud (29 percent), and 22 percent spend that much on SaaS.
Rising hyperscaler cloud costs prompt companies to take action
New research from Civo finds 64 percent of users of AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud have seen an increase in cloud costs in the last 12 months.
This comes at a time when public cloud services are coming under scrutiny from the Competition and Markets Authority for their billing and pricing tactics.
Microsoft has started referring to its CBL-Mariner distro as Azure Linux
While it came as a bit of a surprise when it first became public, it has been known for some time that Microsoft has its own Linux distro called CBL-Mariner. The name has been questioned by many, and it is in the process of changing.
The CBL-Mariner moniker is set to become a thing of the past as the distro transitions to being known as Azure Linux.
Companies overspend on Kubernetes thanks to underutilization of resources
Kubernetes is one of the most widely used container tools, but failure to accurately forecast resources leads to overprovision, waste and overspending.
A new report from Kubernetes automation platform CAST AI reveals high levels of underutilization are costing businesses more than necessary.
Over 80 percent of organizations have open ports on public-facing cloud assets
A new report reveals that 81 percent of organizations have public-facing neglected cloud assets with open ports, making them prime targets for attackers who routinely perform reconnaissance to detect exposed ports and known vulnerabilities.
The report from Orca Security is based on analysis of data from billions of cloud assets on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud scanned by the Orca Cloud Security Platform in 2023.
Cloud storage vulnerable to ransomware attacks
New research from Dig reveals that cloud assets like Amazon S3 buckets and Azure Storage accounts are being left open to ransomware attacks thanks to poor configuration.
It shows that only 31 percent of S3 buckets have versioning enabled, an essential for data recovery, while just two-thirds of sensitive buckets have logging enabled, a prerequisite for detection. In addition 72 percent of remote CMK buckets are not actively monitored.
Microsoft shocks the Linux community by attending Ubuntu Summit 2023
The annual Ubuntu Summit is where people who love Linux and open-source software gather to see what’s new. This year, it’s happening in the lovely city of Riga, Latvia, from November 3-5, 2023. And guess what? Microsoft, the big name we often connect with paid software, is joining in. This new partnership hints at more teamwork between big tech companies and open-source communities.
Microsoft being part of the Ubuntu Summit 2023 shows that it's warming up to open-source software. Those attending the summit, in person or online, will get to hear from Microsoft experts. They’ll talk about cool stuff like using Linux on Windows, creating apps with .NET 8 on Ubuntu, and how Microsoft’s Azure can work smoothly with Ubuntu's snapshot service.
Over half of Azure and Google Cloud deployments fail CIS benchmarks
Cloud misconfiguration is a critical issue as it amplifies the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access. But new research from Qualys shows that many cloud deployments on major platforms are failing Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks.
The report finds that on average, 50 percent of CIS Benchmarks are failing across the major providers. The average fail rate for each provider is 34 percent for AWS, 57 percent for Azure, and 60 percent for Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
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