Microsoft

When StatCounter released its operating system usage share figures last month it showed the gap between Windows 7 and Windows 10 had narrowed significantly.

It looked, based on that data, as if the new operating system would overtake the old one during November, but surprisingly that didn’t happen.

According to the latest figures from NetMarketShare, Windows 10 is edging closer to Windows 7’s usage share, but it still has a way to go until it overtakes it.

In October, Windows 10 saw its slowest growth in months, posting a gain of just 0.17 percentage points. In November, however, it’s a very different picture.

At 2015’s Build developer conference, Microsoft announced that it anticipated over 1 billion Windows 10 devices to be in consumers hands within 2 years, but thanks to the failure -- and ultimate death -- of Windows 10 Mobile, that was clearly never going to happen, and Microsoft was forced to admit as much a year ago.

When the OS was offered as a free download, initial growth was strong, with Windows 10 finding its way on to 350 million devices in the first year. But growth slowed significantly once the free period ended.

Microsoft is working in earnest on the next feature update of Windows 10, codenamed Redstone 4. It’s already released a number of builds to Insiders in the Fast ring, and today the software giant revealed some of the big new features users can look forward to.

However, it also delivered something of a bombshell to Insiders keen to test forthcoming features and changes for themselves -- future additions aren’t going to be available to all.

Microsoft released the Creators Update for Windows 10 back in April, but it was a glacial, and at times problematic, rollout. A fortnight after the initial launch, Microsoft warned users to wait until they were offered it, rather than opting for a manual update, and even when it was finally made available to (almost) all, the take up was very low.

Its successor, the Fall Creators Update, launched in October, at which point a quarter of Windows 10 users still didn’t have the Creators Update.

Starting next year, it will no longer be possible to log into Skype using your Facebook account. Thanks to the rollout of the updated Skype experience, as of January 2018, Skype users will need to log in using their Microsoft account.

This is not a change that is likely to affect regular users of Skype, but for anyone who rarely uses it, it is something of a pain.

A key piece of software that has been missing from Chromebooks is now available to everyone -- Microsoft Office. Microsoft has made its office suite available for a range of platforms over the years, but Chromebook support has been notable by its absence. Now, without announcement from the company, this changes.

It's great news for anyone who has been put off by the idea of using a Chromebook because they couldn't use their favorite software. The arrival of Office is partly thanks to the appearance of the Play Store on Chromebooks.

If there is someone in your life that loves technology, and you want to get them a really great Christmas gift, look no further than the Microsoft Store. Seriously folks, if you want to delight someone special, just get them an Xbox One or Surface. If Microsoft's Surface-branded computers are too expensive, there are plenty of other Windows 10 devices from which to choose too.

Understandably, buying such extravagant gifts might be a hardship financially, so if you have been waiting for the best time to make that purchase, please know that now is when you should finally pull the trigger. You see, Microsoft's Black Friday 2017 has gone live a day early! Yes, you can score a great deal on Surface, Xbox, and Windows 10 devices right now. Here's the details, y'all.

Microsoft is back to rolling out new Insider Preview builds to the Fast ring on a weekly basis.

The latest release, Build 17046, introduces a number of improvements, changes and fixes. So what’s new this time around?

My last column was about the recent tipping point signifying that cloud computing is guaranteed to replace personal computing over the next three years. This column is about the slugfest to determine what company’s public cloud is most likely to prevail. I reckon it is Amazon’s and I’ll go further to claim that Amazon will shortly be the new Microsoft.

What I mean by The New Microsoft is that Amazon is starting to act a lot like the old Microsoft of the 1990s. You remember -- the Bad Microsoft.

Since Vista, Windows has included a security feature known as ASLR. Address Space Layout Randomization uses a random memory address to execute code, but in Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 the feature is not always applied properly.

A security analyst discovered that in the last three versions of Windows, ASLR was in fact not using random memory addresses, essentially rendering it useless. The good news is that there is a fix -- but you will have to apply it manually.

It's always great when something is free, but there is the danger that it becomes undervalued. That's precisely what seems to have happened with Microsoft's beta exam program, so the company has decided to start charging candidates to sit exams.

This is not so much about using the exams as a way of filling Microsoft's coffers, but more about trying to ensure that people who want to take the exams are able to. The Windows-maker says that there have been many instances of no-shows, and this is depriving others of a seat.

Last week, Microsoft rolled out Windows 10 Insider Build 17035 to users on the Fast ring (and Skip Ahead), but didn’t make it available to all. A bug affecting PCs with AMD processors meant that Microsoft was forced to block the new release on those systems.

The latest new build, Build 17040, fixes that issue, meaning it’s available for all Insiders to download from today.

Learn the art of configuring, deploying, managing and securing Windows 10 for your enterprise.

Microsoft’s launch of Windows 10 is a step toward satisfying the enterprise administrator’s needs for management and user experience customization. This book provides the enterprise administrator with the knowledge needed to fully utilize the advanced feature set of Windows 10 Enterprise.

Buying an Xbox One game as a gift for Christmas, birthday, or other occasion no longer means having to hit the stores, or buy a gift card. Microsoft has now opened up digital game gifting to everyone.

While this is not a completely new option, it was previously only possible to send games to people via Xbox Live. Now you can buy a digital game for a friend or family member, and send it to them via email.