Microsoft

The Ignite conference in Atlanta might be keeping many Microsoft employees busy, but it hasn’t stopped developers working on the next big update of Windows 10.

A week after Build 14931 arrived on the Fast ring, Windows Insiders are today being treated to another new update -- Build 14936 for PC and Mobile.

At the Microsoft Ignite event, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant announced a new cloud partnership with none other than Adobe.  This one works both ways. On one side, Microsoft "will make Adobe Marketing Cloud its preferred marketing service for Dynamics 365 Enterprise edition", and, on the other side, Adobe will "make Microsoft Azure its preferred cloud platform for the Adobe Marketing Cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Document Cloud".

Interestingly enough, Adobe has so far used Amazon Web Services, but it was left unclear if this means Amazon is getting the boot or not.

Cloud-based unified communications are an attractive option for businesses, but a lack of effective management and monitoring tools is holding back many from deploying the technology.

Managed cloud services company Unify Square is addressing this with the launch of an extended lineup of Skype for Business (SfB) cloud and hybrid services to help enterprises transition from on premise, to hybrid or full cloud deployments.

For many people that work in the corporate world, Skype for Business (formerly Lync) is an indispensable collaboration tool. Not only does it keep employees under the same roof connected, but it keeps remote workers in the loop too. Quite frankly, working remotely without Skype for Business would be a real chore -- it is that good. It can even be quite brilliant for remote group meetings -- connecting two rooms in different buildings.

Today, Logitech announces a device called 'SmartDock', which it designed in collaboration with Microsoft. This is a hardware solution that is designed to make Skype or Business easier to use in conference and meeting rooms. It is essentially a dock that turns a Surface Pro 4 into a centralized communication hub.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update introduced a cool dark theme to the operating system, transforming the look of the user interface.

It’s a fairly global theme -- it affects much of the UI, although not all elements of it. File Manager, for instance, keeps the light look.

With many cyber attacks now initiated through the browser, endpoint security is something all businesses need to take seriously.

Among today's announcements at Ignite, Microsoft trailed security enhancements across a range of its products, including the Edge browser. Windows Defender Application Guard will be available to Windows 10 Enterprise users from next year and aims to make Edge the most secure business browser.

Two months ago, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the software giant would be changing how it monitors the growth of Windows 10, tracking monthly active users -- rather than devices --  after it became clear slow sales of Windows Phones meant the new OS wouldn't hit the company's stated goal of one billion devices by mid-2018.

Today, at Ignite, however, Microsoft announced another devices milestone, saying the new OS is now running on 400 million devices. It’s a big number, but it does show that growth is slowing significantly, now that Windows 10 is no longer free.

Microsoft Ignite, the software giant’s enterprise focused tech event, starts today, September 26, in Atlanta, Georgia.

The five-day event, previously hosted in Chicago, will cover all of the hot tech topics, including cloud, productivity and collaboration, machine learning, and the Internet of Things.

Minecraft is a worldwide phenomenon. Heck, it is even being used in classrooms for education. For many, including yours truly, the game's popularity is a bit of curiosity. The graphics are rather poor and the entire thing just feels very rudimentary. With that said, it does not require a lot of resources, meaning it runs well on modest hardware -- this is likely a huge driver of its success. It even has special 'editions' for Windows 10, Samsung Gear VR, and mobile (Pocket).

Today, at MINECON 2016, Microsoft announces that it will bring some very important updates to the game next month. While the previously announced 'boss battles' will become available on October 18, there are some even more impressive things coming that day too, such as something called 'Add-Ons'.

British telecommunications company BT has announced  a new offering, expanding the cloud choice for its customers. BT Computer for Microsoft Azure allows BT’s customers to order Microsoft Azure together with BT’s cloud.

With the new offering, according to BT, customers will be able to create hybrid cloud infrastructure with a single service wrap, on a single bill.

Back in January, Microsoft announced Minecraft: Education Edition. Later, the company released an 'early access' version to some educators. At the time, some folks were dubious that a video game could serve as a legit tool in the classroom. With that said, Minecraft isn't really a video game in the traditional sense -- it can be viewed more as a virtual world. In theory, the platform could better engage young students when compared to, say, sitting in a dull classroom and staring at a chalkboard.

Whether Minecraft: Education Edition will be a success remains to be seen, but we will find out soon. You see, on November 1, the tool will leave 'early access' and become available to all educators. It will be sold, of course, on the Windows Store. It will cost $5 annually per user, but Microsoft promises price breaks for school districts that purchase certain licenses. In other words, larger districts can likely negotiate to pay less per user.

Microsoft has authorized a share buyback program that will see the company reacquiring $40 billion of its own shares, just over nine percent of the company.

This is the fourth $40 billion buyback program launched by the company, which said that it will complete the first round by the end of this year. Microsoft's most recent buyback was first announced in 2013 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016.

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has already ripped into Microsoft and Windows 10 for "blatantly disregarding user choice and privacy", and now consumer group Which? says Microsoft "must act over Windows 10 woes" and "do better".

Which? says it has received well over 1,000 complaints about Windows 10, with PC users claiming the new OS has brought them nothing but problems.

A week ago, Microsoft rolled out its first really big new Windows 10 Insider Preview build since the Anniversary Update. As well as fixing a lot of problems, Build 14926 introduced some experimental new features, including the ability to "snooze" a tab in Microsoft Edge.

Today, Microsoft releases Build 14931 to the Fast ring, but unlike recent builds it’s only available for PC. Build 14926 introduced a couple of big problems for Mobile last week, so Microsoft has decided to hold off issuing a new build until they are fixed.

15 months ago, in an effort to make it as easy as possible to upgrade to its new operating system, Microsoft introduced a Get Windows 10 app for Windows 7 and 8.1 that allowed users to reserve their upgrade.

While this tool was innocuous enough to start with, it soon turned into something much more akin to malware, becoming harder and harder to kill, and employing all manner of scummy methods in an effort to trick users into installing Windows 10 against their wishes.