Microsoft

According to NetMarketShare, in July Windows 10 grew its usage share by 0.83 percentage points -- its largest increase in three months. (This, remember, is an OS that only managed to gain a grand total of five percent share in an entire year).

With a new major update to the operating system right around the corner, you might expect Windows 10 to have grown its share by a similar figure in August, but no. It's back to the glacial growth we usually see for the new OS.

Digital assistants can do many things well, but no single one can do everything that we need. That's why we use different ones, depending on what we want to do and what device we are using. But what if they could talk to each other, so we wouldn't have to switch between them anymore?

Amazon and Microsoft have decided to do just that, announcing that Alexa and Cortana will soon be able to work together to help users do what they want much more quickly and easily. Here's what that means for the two tech giants' customers.

With over 100 million monthly subscribers, it's not surprising that Office 365 is a popular target when it comes to attempting to steal credentials.

A new report from Barracuda Networks looks at how phishers are sending out authentic-looking emails purporting to be from Microsoft asking users to reactivate their accounts.

The Windows Insider Program might still be fun for some members, but for others it is getting to be a confusing chore. Don't get me wrong, it is cool that Microsoft lets fans try these pre-release builds of Windows 10, but lately there have been too many builds, requiring too much user effort, with little to no payoff. Remember folks, the operating system should never be the star of the show -- it should fade into the background as you do things with it.

Today, Microsoft releases yet another Windows 10 Insider Preview Build -- 16278 for PC. Sorry Windows 10 Mobile users -- you are being left out of this party. Unfortunately for PC users, this new build is quite bland, once again focusing on fixes. This shouldn't be surprising, however, as the company is now focusing on making things stable for an upcoming gold version of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. To make things worse, the company has also removed yet another feature from the upcoming version of the OS -- taking HDR screenshots with the Xbox app.

Microsoft's Groove Music Pass is an exceptional streaming music service. If you spend a lot of time on Windows 10, it is the best music experience on the platform. The app is well designed, and it fits in with the overall Windows 10 motif. It can even be used on Xbox One. Groove offers a really good selection of tunes too -- right up there with its competitors.

Believe it it not, Microsoft's service is cross-platform, also working natively on Android and iOS. The mobile apps are decent, but not fantastic. Fans of macOS and Linux-based desktop operating systems, such as Ubuntu and Chrome OS, can also use the service thanks to the brilliant web-based player. If this all sounds good to you, I have some great news. As part of a Labor Day promotion, Microsoft is offering an insane seven months of the service for the price of just one month. Yes, really.

Windows Phone isn't just an embarrassment to Microsoft, it has also been a waste of time and money for consumers that were saddled with a poor experience. A lack of apps and unconvincing tile-based user interface meant Windows Phone never really had a chance -- it was pretty much dead on arrival. So, this year, Microsoft abandoned it, leaving many users without support and, ultimately, forcing them to buy new devices.

Unfortunately, not only did Microsoft's failed mobile experiment hurt the average consumer, but businesses and organizations too. One of the saddest cases is the NYPD, which trusted Microsoft and equipped its officers with Windows Phones -- the Lumia 830 and the Lumia 640XL. These brave men and women deserve the best technology and equipment, yet when it came to smartphones, they were given some of the worst. So, now, its officers are effectively handcuffed by obsolete and unsupported tech. Thankfully, according to the NY Post, the department is finally looking to replace these Lumia devices -- at the taxpayers' expense of course. Thanks, Microsoft!

The Xbox One X is an expensive upgrade to the existing Xbox One consoles. It features improved specifications, as well as the ability to run games at 4K with HDR. While the Xbox One S can output 4K, that is only for TV and movies -- not games. With all of that said, you would think that Xbox One X wouldn't be terribly popular since its pricey benefits are only beneficial to some.

Well, if you thought Xbox One X was merely a niche product, you would be wrong, apparently. According to Microsoft, pre-orders for the "X" variant of its gaming console are not only selling very well but breaking records too. It claims that Xbox One X pre-orders have sold faster than ones for both the original Xbox One and Xbox One S.

Microsoft has announced a major shake-up in the testing for Windows 10 S.

The software giant has announced that its new OS can now be tried out by all members of the Windows Insiders program.

The star of today is undoubtedly Galaxy Note8, but Samsung's new smartphone is not the only thing to get excited about. For those enrolled in Microsoft's Insiders program, there is a new Windows 10 build to install.

Microsoft just pushed out Preview Build 16273. This is just one day after releasing a new Windows Server Insider build. While the server build had literally zero new features, the new Windows 10 build does have some; there is a new font and emoji notifications. Unfortunately, the Insiders Program is getting quite confusing. Dona Sarkar tries to explain it all, but you might be left with smoke coming out of your ears. What was once a fun way to test early builds of Windows is beginning to get very convoluted.

There have been various controversies with Windows 10, from issues with privacy and telemetry, to ads and forced upgrades. Following a court case, Microsoft has vowed to never force upgrade files onto users again.

Windows users in Germany were particularly unimpressed when Microsoft forcibly downloaded many gigabytes of files to upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10. Having held out for 18 months, and losing its case twice, Microsoft has finally agreed to stop its nefarious tactics.

The Windows Insiders program is both cool and annoying. It is cool because it lets enthusiast users experience new Windows features and contribute feedback to make the operating system better. It is a bit annoying, as these testers aren't paid for their volunteer efforts. Even worse, the Insider builds will seemingly never end, meaning some users will forever be using an unstable operating system. Yes, that is their choice, but sometimes people can't help themselves. Hell, it can be argued that their feedback is tainted, as they are maybe never really experiencing the stable releases.

Microsoft has chosen to expand the Insiders program to Windows Server too. Today, the company pushes out Server Preview Build 16267, but there is something weird -- the company forgot to include any new features! In fact, the announcement literally says "There are no new features in build 16267." OK, yes, I am being facetious (and a bit snarky) when I say Microsoft "forgot" to include features, as technically updates and fixes alone are worthy of a new build. Still, for all the effort put in by the testers, a feature or two would be appreciated -- throw em' a friggin' bone!

Microsoft and Red Hat have a longstanding enterprise cloud partnership, and today the two tech giants reveal an expansion which sees Windows Server containers receiving native support on the OpenShift platform.

Support for Windows Server containers on OpenShift will first be available as a Technology Preview next spring, before reaching general availability later down the road.

The Xbox One X will not hit store shelves until November 7, but, as you may know, it is slated to be available for pre-order well ahead of its big release.

And, like expected, pre-orders for the Xbox One X just kicked off. On offer is a special edition of Microsoft's latest and greatest gaming console, which is dubbed Project Scorpio Edition. The price?

Later on today you will be able to learn everything you could possible want to know about the Xbox One X. Microsoft is holding a press conference at Gamescom in Germany and you can watch it here, live.

The presentation kicks off at 12:00PM PT / 3:00PM EST / 8:00PM BT / 9:00PM CET, and Microsoft has already made it clear that pre-order details will be revealed.

At GamesCon later today, we're going to hear about Microsoft's Xbox One X but it's looking as though there's also going to be some news about the Xbox One S.

Microsoft accidentally -- probably -- posted about an Xbox One S Minecraft Limited Edition on the Minecraft Facebook page. The video included a link to the pre-order page for the console.