Articles about Microsoft

It’s been two weeks since Microsoft rolled out a new Windows 10 build to Insiders on the Fast ring. Build 16241 came with a sizeable number of improvements and fixes, with a large number of those focused on the Mixed Reality side of things.

Today the software giant pushes out Build 16251, and the main focus here is on cross-device web-browsing -- that is linking your PC and Android phones together (support for iPhone is coming soon) so you can browse the web on your mobile device and then continue browsing the same site on your PC.

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Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (aka Redstone 3) is nearly done. Microsoft is just working to kill all the bugs and stabilize the release now.

It won’t begin the official rollout for a while -- and if the speed of the Creators Update rollout is anything to go by you likely won’t get it for months anyway -- but the software giant is already looking to the future, and Redstone 4. Insiders who want to remain on the cutting edge at all times will be given the chance to 'skip ahead' and start receiving builds from that future branch if they wish.

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Yesterday, I wrote how Microsoft’s simple graphics program Paint was getting killed off after 32 years’ service, but it seems it’s not dead yet.

Microsoft is going to be retiring it from future versions of Windows 10, but you’ll still be able to get Paint from the Windows Store.

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Microsoft has beaten analyst expectations once again with better than expected quarterly earnings.

The Redmond, Wash.-based giant has released its latest quarterly earnings, for Q4 FY2017, showing a non-GAAP revenue of $24.7 billion and GAAP earnings of $0.83 per share. Non-GAAP operating income sat at $7 billion.

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HoloLens 2 is in the works, and Microsoft has revealed that the second version of its mixed reality headset will feature an AI chip. The company has turned to custom silicon when it comes to bringing artificial intelligence to HoloLens, but while Microsoft has designed the chip, it is manufactured by a third party.

Speaking at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference Harry Shum, executive vice president of Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence and Research Group, said the second version of the Holographic Processing Unit (HPU) will feature the AI chip so processing can be carried out onboard rather than in the cloud.

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Among the list of features set to be removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is Microsoft Paint, a fixture of Windows since the operating system’s first release back in 1985.

Microsoft doesn’t give any explanation as to why it’s being removed. Indeed, in the list of features being dropped it simply says "Microsoft Paint." Everything else in the list, including Outlook Express, has at least a one-line explanation. What a sad, inglorious ending.

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Just like Facebook did with Facebook Lite and Facebook Messenger Lite, Microsoft is launching a cut-down, data-sipping version of LinkedIn for mobile users. LinkedIn Lite launches in India initially, and is designed for countries with limited mobile internet access.

This is an app designed for emerging markets, and as such it is Android-only; there are no plans for an iOS version. While LinkedIn Lite is starting out its life in India, it will eventually spread to a further 60+ countries.

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Each new big update for Windows 10 introduces a wealth of new features. The forthcoming Fall Creators Update will be no different, delivering lots of improvements as well as new components like OneDrive Files On-Demand, and My People.

But when Microsoft giveth, it also taketh away, dropping various features and functionalities from its new build. In preparation for the release of the Fall Creators Update, Microsoft has released the full list of features that will be removed or deprecated from the new version.

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Microsoft has announced its entry into the smart office market with the launch of a new thermostat.

GLAS, which was revealed in a YouTube video this week, targets businesses and stores looking to establish a smarter, more connected workplace.

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Earlier in the week, I wrote about how the Windows 10 Creators Update was incompatible with certain PCs already running Windows 10. Devices powered by Intel’s Atom Clover Trail CPU couldn’t install the latest feature update, even though upgrading from Windows 8x to Windows 10, and the Anniversary Update, worked fine.

A post from Acer suggested that it was a temporary glitch and that Microsoft was working to address the incompatibility, providing a glimmer of hope for users of the affected devices, but it turns out that’s not the case.  Atom Clover Trail processors won’t be supported in the Creators Update or any future feature updates.

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Calling the next big Windows 10 feature update the "Fall Creators Update" always seemed like a bit of an odd decision when countries outside of the USA and Canada use Autumn, and not Fall, to describe the season that follows summer.

So when it was reported, earlier in the week, that the update would be called the Autumn Creators Update for some parts of the world, we weren’t entirely surprised. The new name appeared on Microsoft’s regional pages, so it seemed pretty official. But, as it turns out, that’s not the case at all.

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OneDrive "Version History" is a really useful feature of Microsoft's cloud storage offering. If you aren't familiar, it lets you restore older versions of files when you need to do so. Did you mess up something you are working on and need to roll back? No problem. Well, actually, that isn't entirely true. There is one big problem -- it only works with Microsoft Office files.

Starting today, that problem is no more, however. Yes, goods news, OneDrive users -- Microsoft is now offering Version History on all files -- finally. In other words, you can leverage the safeguard on any file that you desire -- even if it isn't an Office file. With that said, the Windows-maker is gradually rolling it out, so you might not have it right away -- patience, OneDrive users...

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The Windows 10 Creators Update rollout began in April, but unless you took it upon yourself to manually update your PC, there’s a good chance you won’t have been offered it, especially if have an older system. In June, according to AdDuplex, just 35.7 percent of Windows 10 users were running the latest feature update.

AdDuplex has just updated its figures for July, and this shows that 50.1 percent of Windows 10 users now have the update. That might seem like a big jump forward, but to put the speed of the upgrade into context, three months after its rollout began, the Anniversary Update was already on 3/4 of all PCs.

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Since Microsoft is working on making Windows 10 available on ARM devices, it was only a matter of time before questions arose on the possibility of the full-blown Windows 10 also making its way to smartphones.

After all, the ARM hardware that underpins the upcoming PCs is also available on smartphones. The first processor to power these devices is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835, which is found on Android flagships like Samsung's Galaxy S8 and HTC's U11. Previous chips in this line can be seen in Lumia handsets as well.

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Microsoft is delivering on its plan to bring two updates per year to Windows Server and the company has revealed the first-ever Insider build of the operating system.

Users who are registered with a corporate Active Directory credential can download Windows Server Insider Preview Build 16237. Microsoft has made sure that this update adds many new features that highlight the company's interest in microservices and containers.

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