Microsoft

With just a couple of weeks to go until the official launch of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft is hard at work squashing the main bugs and polishing the release.

Insiders on the Fast ring have had access to all of the new features and changes in the Fall Creators Update for a while, and it won’t now be long until non-Insiders finally get their hands on the full thing.

Microsoft has announced plans to close down its Groove Music Pass subscription service. The company is also going to kill off the ability to purchase music from the Windows Store.

Microsoft is partnering with Spotify, and offering a seamless migration from Groove Music to its former competitor. The cull is coming on December 31, and after this date the Groove Music app will no longer offer the option to stream, purchase, and download music.

Visual Studio Code is an amazing cross-platform code editor which has managed to attract a significant following in recent years, not least because of its support for extensions. In just a couple of clicks, users can add various languages, like Python, Ruby and Java, and create new software.

For example, if you want to write Java code, there is a pretty nifty extension made by Red Hat, called Language Support for Java(TM) by Red Hat, that features things such as IntelliSense and basic Eclipse and Grade project support. And, now, Microsoft is building upon it by adding a debugger to the mix.

Each month, NetMarketShare reports on the state of the desktop operating system market. Its numbers are often interesting, and occasionally initially wrong (this month, for example, they showed a sizeable growth for Linux, before being corrected).

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is due to begin rolling out this month (even though over a third of users still don’t have the Creators Update), and Microsoft will be hoping this big new feature release will give its operating system a major boost. But how is Windows 10 doing at the moment, and when will it finally overtake Windows 7?  Read on to find out.

Skype is an important communication service thanks to its cross-compatibility. There are clients for Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and even desktop Linux. It may not offer the best user experience, but it is passable, making it a solid choice for those that need to keep in touch across long distances.

Today, Microsoft releases a refreshed preview of Skype for Linux. There are both DEB and RPM packages available, making it easy to install on, say, Ubuntu, Debian, or Fedora. In fact, I successfully installed it on Pop!_OS earlier today. Believe it or not, the new interface is quite nice, making it something I could possibly enjoy using on my Linux machine.

A bug has been uncovered in Internet Explorer which makes it possible for websites to view anything that is typed in to the address bar. This means that web addresses and search terms could be accessed by a hacker or malicious website.

The vulnerability was discovered in the very latest version of Internet Explorer, and Microsoft is yet to release a patch for it. Discovered by security researcher Manuel Caballero, the attack can be made completely invisible to a victim.

With new preview builds for the Fall Creators Update focusing purely on fixing stability and performance issues as Microsoft rushes towards its release, it’s the Redstone 4 branch (aka Skip Ahead) where you’ll find new additions beginning to appear.

The latest release for this branch introduces a sizeable number of improvements, as well as a big leap forward in build numbers, jumping from 16362 to 17004.

Speaking at the Ignite 2017 conference, Microsoft said that the LTE version of the Surface Pro will be available to purchase on December 1. This is not the first time we have heard about the cellular-enabled Surface Pro, but now we have a date to look forward to.

While the on-sale date is just over two months away, we may well learn more about the Surface Pro LTE at Future Decoded in London next month. Leaks from an online retailer have revealed what specifications will be available.

The photos and videos coming out of Puerto Rico following the devastating Hurricane Maria have been heartbreaking. The little island has been destroyed -- the people have no electricity, but even worse, food and water are scarce, and tensions are running high, leading to very dangerous conditions.

Unfortunately, government aid has not been coming fast enough, with President Trump blaming the fact that Puerto Rico is an island for his poor performance in this regard -- seriously. Luckily, the private sector is stepping up to help their fellow US citizens. People and organizations are donating money, and today Microsoft announces that it is enabling free Skype calls to Puerto Rico area codes 787 and 939.

The Windows Insider team have been busy this week at Microsoft Ignite, but that doesn’t mean that development on the forthcoming Fall Creators Update has slowed at all.

With just a matter of weeks to go until the rollout begins, Microsoft has yet another new build available for testers on the Fast ring (not Skip Ahead).

Microsoft continues to show its support for open source software, and now the company has joined the Open Source Initiative (OSI). Joining as a Premium Sponsor, Microsoft will help to promote open source development, communities and software.

The company joins the likes of Facebook, Google, GitHub and IBM, and it says that it will increase its advocacy for the use, contribution and release of open source software. The sponsorship is described as "a significant milestone for the OSI."

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is set to begin its rollout in a matter of weeks, yet over a quarter (27.5 percent) of Windows 10 users still haven’t received the Creators Update.

According to the latest figures from AdDuplex, while the Creators Update found its way on to another 7.5 percent of computers this month to give it a 72.5 percent share, it’s still well short of the 91.2 percent that the Anniversary Update reached before the Creators Update was released. AdDuplex warns that as a result of slow rollouts like this, fragmentation will only increase in the future.

At Microsoft Ignite in Orlando, Microsoft today announced Office 2019. The next version of the office suite is scheduled for release sometime in the second half of 2018, with preview builds being made available in the middle of the year.

Despite Microsoft's love of the cloud, the company recognizes that not all customers are quite ready to go all-in. With this in mind, Office 2019 includes numerous new features that are not cloud-specific, and the suite is described as "a valuable upgrade for customers who feel that they need to keep some or all of their apps and servers on-premises."

I have to admit that when I wrote the April Fools piece Bill Gates loves his new iPhone 5s, can now beat Bono at Candy Crush a few years ago, I did not expect the former Microsoft CEO to actually abandon Windows Phone for a rival platform. But, it happened -- though I was only half right.

Bill Gates did not switch to the iPhone (although the new iPhone line is pretty cool), going with an Android smartphone "with a lot of Microsoft software" instead. This is huge, if you think about it, as Gates basically acknowledged that Windows 10 Mobile just isn't good enough for him.

Microsoft is using its annual Ignite event this week to show how technology can be used to help customers innovate and transform their business processes.

Announcements have covered Office 365, Windows 10, Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft AI as well as a look at how quantum computing may help solve some major challenges.