Flashback Friday: How two university dropouts created Microsoft
Bill Gates is a legendary figure, and not just in the world of technology. With countless awards and titles attached to his name, he has over the years been consistently recognized as one of the world's wealthiest, most powerful and most influential individuals. Also, anybody who can call themselves a 'philanthropist' in today's world has, more often than not, probably achieved something pretty grand.
However, back in the day, Gates was merely a university dropout with a thirst for hacking computer systems. True, the university was Harvard, but Gates wasn't exactly on course to becoming the multi-billionaire entrepreneur he is today.
Remembering Paul Allen
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen died on Monday at age 65. His cause of death was Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, the same disease that nearly killed him back in 1983. Allen, who was every bit as important to the history of the personal computer as Bill Gates, had found an extra 35 years of life back then thanks to a bone marrow transplant. And from the outside looking-in, I’d say he made great use of those 35 extra years.
Of all the early PC guys, Allen was probably the most reclusive. Following his departure from Microsoft in 1983 I met him only four times. But prior to his illness Allen had been a major factor at Microsoft and at MITS, maker of the original Altair 8800 microcomputer for which Microsoft provided the BASIC interpreter and where Allen was later head of software.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 19H1 Build 18262 to the Fast and Skip Ahead rings
The Windows 10 October 2018 Update was a real mess for Microsoft, not to mention for those users who installed it and lost their data. That feature update is back with Windows Insiders for further testing, and it likely won’t be long until it’s re-released.
In the meantime, Microsoft is busy working on the next feature update, due out next Spring (the Spring 2019 Update, perhaps?), and today the software giant releases a new build to Insiders on the Fast and Skip Ahead rings.
Windows 10 October 2018 Update nearly ready for re-release
The problems with the recent Windows 10 October 2018 Update have been well documented. If it wasn’t deleting your files, then it was stopping Edge working, and not playing nicely with display drivers.
Microsoft responded to the negative feedback by "pausing" the update after a matter of days, and went to work on addressing the problems, rolling out a new test version to Windows Insiders last week.
Bye bye, TLS 1.0 and 1.1: Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla and Google all wave adieu to old security protocol
As part of a coordinated movement between four of the biggest names in tech, the old TLS 1.0 and 1.1 security protocols are to be killed off in Safari, Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome in 2020.
Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla and Google have come together to purge the internet of these old and buggy protocols, noting that most people have now moved to TLS 1.2, if not TLS 1.3. Although 94 percent of sites already support version 1.2, a tampering off period over the next 18 months will give everyone a chance to catch up.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen dead at 65
Paul Allen is dead. Sadly, the Microsoft co-founder succumbed to cancer today -- non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, to be exact. His death is a bit of a surprise, as earlier in the month, he shared on Twitter that his prognosis was good. Unfortunately, as we learned from the death of Steve Jobs, money can't guarantee life -- an important thing to reflect on when feeling down about being broke. Good health is priceless.
While less famous than Bill Gates, Allen (the bearded one above) was still a tremendous force in the world of technology. The icon earned billions of dollars thanks to his time at Microsoft, something he used to become a big name in the world of sports -- surprising for a tech guy. He purchased both an NBA team (Portland Trail Blazers) and an NFL franchise (Seattle Seahawks). While I am sure he loved both teams, the latter was probably closer to his heart. You see, Allen was a significant presence in Seattle, WA -- the place he was born and died. He was probably beyond proud when he brought a Super Bowl championship to the city he loved so much.
Bad Intel audio driver kills sound in Windows 10 -- here's how to fix the problem
Microsoft has had a tough time of it lately. The Windows 10 October 2018 Update deleted files for some users, introduced display audio problems, and broke Edge and Windows Store apps. It was so awful, that Microsoft was forced to pause the update, and send it back for testing.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, an Intel audio driver was incorrectly pushed to devices via Windows Update late last week, which unfortunately killed the audio for those who received it.
Microsoft employees use open letter to urge company not to get involved in JEDI military project
Last week, Google said that it had concerns about the use of AI in the US Department of Defense's JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) project, and as such it would not be bidding for the contract.
Now Microsoft employees have published an open letter expressing their concerns about JEDI, the secrecy it is shrouded in, and the potential for it to cause harm or human suffering. The letter has a simple message: "Microsoft, don't bid on JEDI".
Microsoft joins Open Invention Network and open sources its patent portfolio
Microsoft has joined the "largest patent non-aggression community in history", the Open Invention Network (OIN), effectively open-sourcing almost its entire patent portfolio.
The company has shown increasing warmth to the open source community in recent years, and this latest move means that other OIN members will have access to its patents -- with the exception of those relating to Windows and desktop applications. The OIN embraces -- as Microsoft has done of late -- Linux "as a key element of open source software".
Microsoft has bumped up the price of Windows 10 Home by nearly $20
You'd be forgiven for not having noticed, but Microsoft has quietly -- virtually silently, in fact -- increased the price of Windows 10 Home.
Previously available for $119.99, the operating system will now set you back $139 -- a $19.01 increase. While it's fair to say that the price increase of close to $20 won't affect too many people -- there are just a handful who don't either opt for an upgrade, or buy it pre-installed -- Microsoft did a great job of introducing the new price by stealth.
Microsoft fixes Windows 10 October 2018 Update data deletion issues, delivers new test version to Insiders
Yesterday was supposed to be the day when the Windows 10 October 2018 Update started to properly roll out to users, but due to a number of well publicized problems, most notably with the OS deleting user data, Microsoft was forced to change its plans.
It "paused" the update last week in order to investigate the problems, and now has an updated version of Windows 10 1809 ready for Windows Insiders to test and provide feedback on.
Windows Insiders reported the Windows 10 file deletion problem to Microsoft months ago
The purpose of the Windows Insider program is to let users test out pre-release versions of Windows 10 months in advance, so they can try out new features, and report problems.
In theory, this means when a new Windows 10 feature update rolls out to the public, all of the major bugs should have been squashed. Unfortunately, that’s often not the case, and occasionally really bad bugs -- like user personal data getting deleted by the update -- make it through the testing process. When something like this happens, it’s easy to think the issue simply failed to get picked up by Insiders, but actually that’s not the case.
Microsoft pulls the problematic Windows 10 October 2018 Update
Microsoft made its latest Windows 10 feature update available to download on Tuesday, and shortly afterwards the problems started. It didn’t play nicely with some Intel CPUs, Edge and Windows Store apps didn’t work for some users and, most damningly, the update was found to be deleting personal files.
In the face of so many problems, Microsoft had to do something, and it has. The update has been pulled.
Windows 10 October 2018 Update breaks Microsoft Edge and Windows Store apps for some users
Every time Microsoft rolls out a new Windows 10 feature update we hear of problems being encountered by early adopters, even though the update undergoes serious testing through the Windows Insider program.
The Windows 10 October 2018 Update only became officially available on Tuesday, and already it’s had to be blocked on certain Intel CPUs and, most damningly, it’s been found to be deleting user data (thankfully there’s a way to get the content back). Now it seems the new update is also causing problems with Microsoft Edge for some users.
People love Microsoft's Your Phone so much, it's the top trending Android app in the Google Play Store
Having abandoned its own mobile operating system, Microsoft is increasingly embracing Android and iOS and improving interoperability with Windows. A recent example of this is the Your Phone Companion app which makes it possible to send texts from your computer and easily access photos stored on your Android phone.
The ability to access and use a phone via Windows 10 has gone down very well -- as the interest in our story about the app showed. So well, in fact, that the Your Phone app is the number one trending app in the Google Play Store.
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