Seemingly having learned nothing from its AI Twitter chatbot, Tay, Microsoft is experimenting further with bots. At Build 2016 today, the company announced Skype Bots and the Skype Bots Platform.

Designed to "bring expertise, products, services and entertainment" to Skype conversations, Skype Bots can be programmed to respond to chats -- and Microsoft will no doubt be hoping it is not left making another red-faced apology if things go awry. It's all part of Microsoft's vision of "conversation as a platform" and bots are available for the Windows Desktop, Android, iPhone and iPad versions of Skype.

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Apple has been hugely successful in building up an app ecosystem over the years, Microsoft rather less so. Today at Build, the Windows 10 manufacturer announced a tool that it hopes will bolster the number of apps that appear in the Windows Store: Desktop App Converter, part of the Project Centennial program.

The tool has been designed to make it possible for developers to convert legacy desktop apps into Windows Store-compatible AppX apps. The quick-and-easy conversion to Universal Windows Platform apps will enable developers to bring their creations to not just Windows 10 on the desktop, but also Xbox One and the Windows Mobile platform.

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At Build 2016, Microsoft revealed that Windows 10 has now been installed on more than a quarter of a billion devices. But Build is about looking forward, not to the past or present. Windows 10 may have been lapped up by hundreds of millions of users, but there is already demand for the next big update -- and it's just on the horizon in the form of Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

Due for release late summer -- although no date has been given at this stage -- Windows 10 Anniversary Update is described as an "interim release", but one that will feature "significant new features". Timed to coincide with Windows 10's first anniversary, the update will enable developers to make use of hundreds of new features in an updated API set.

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Well folks, today we witness history. For the longest time, Microsoft and the Linux community have been like Ford and Chevy, or Coke and Pepsi -- bitter rivals. Users have often chosen a side, and then hated the other. Of course, Windows has many more followers on the desktop -- Linux is largely insignificant in that regard. Mobile and servers are a different story, but I digress.

Today, pigs must be flying, as Microsoft does the unthinkable, and brings Ubuntu binaries and Bash Shell to Windows 10. Steve Ballmer would be rolling in his grave -- if he were dead, that is.

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Since releasing Windows 10 last year, in late-July, Microsoft has provided a couple of updates on the adoption rate of its latest operating system. In early January, for instance, we were told that over 200 million active devices were running Windows 10 across the globe -- at the time, NetMarketShare placed it at 10 percent usage share.

Nearly three months later, we can expect Microsoft to boast even higher adoption figures. And, with Build 2016 underway, the software giant reveals that, indeed, there are many more devices now running Windows 10, over 270 million in fact.

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Potential security vulnerabilities in Microsoft SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) environments are a concern for 70 percent of IT professionals, according to a new survey, with 65 percent planning to conduct an SCCM security review in the next year.

The results of the study of more than 150 professionals by security company Adaptiva have been released to coincide with its launch, along with Windows Management Experts, of a new security auditing service for SCCM users.

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It is not easy for Western tech companies to do business in China. The local government imposes all sorts of restrictions and makes various demands to allow outside players to operate in the country or use their products. Some companies give up altogether, by either exiting the market or not even attempting to enter it, while others try to accommodate China's requests.

When it comes to selling Windows 10 to China's government, Microsoft has taken the second route by agreeing to deliver a customized version of its latest operating system to the country's agencies. The deal was made public last year, in December, and the software giant just announced that a first -- China edition, if you will -- release is now ready.

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Since the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft has -- for want of a better way of putting it -- pissed off a tremendous number of people for the way it has tried to force the latest version of the operating system onto people. Some people found set up files were automatically downloaded, others were forcibly upgraded practically against their will, but plenty of people have been irritated by constant nagging about the availability of an upgrade they’re simply not interested in. Never 10 is a new tool that should mean the end of this pestering.

Various tools and techniques have been spawned as a result of things, providing fans of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 with ways to avoid Windows 10 and Microsoft's adverts for it. Maybe you're holding out for more feature-complete builds from the Redstone branch, or perhaps you just don’t like change. You would think that Microsoft would understand that 'no' means 'no' but there have been countless stories of people who have declined the Windows 10 upgrade finding themselves subjected to continued nagging. A registry hack can be used to block nags and upgrades, but Never 10 is a free portable app that does the hard work for you.

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With Live Tiles, Microsoft has promised much but delivered little. This could be about to change. We're just days away from Build 2016, and there's a great deal of excitement about what could be revealed. Live Tiles, it seems, could be about to evolve into something useful.

The schedule for the developer conference has been posted online, and it sees Microsoft is entering full-on tease mode.  At a session called 'What's New for Tiles and Toast Notifications', Microsoft promises a couple of surprises. Build is aimed at developers so it's hard to predict exactly what's in store, but Microsoft's description of the session is certainly titillating.

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When a product is announced, but then never released, it is often referred to as vaporware. This can be both hardware and software. While some of this perceived vaporware fades into the annals of tech history, sometimes it becomes an actual product, thus shaking its "vaporware" moniker.

Microsoft's Surface Hub was beginning to enter into the vaporware category, and for a while, I feared it would never see release. After delays and price-hikes, Microsoft's product is finally shipping to business clients. This is particularly great news, as it is one of the company's most exciting products in years.

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If you are going to use Windows, you might as well use Windows 10 -- why not? If you use Windows 10, and you are fairly tech-savvy, enrolling in Microsoft's Insider program can be quite rewarding. It allows you to get early access to beta builds for the newest version of the operating system.

While being an unpaid beta tester for a billion dollar company is not an attractive prospect for everyone, many people find value in trying new features before the general public. Today -- the same day Canonical releases a new beta of Ubuntu -- Microsoft announces Build 14295 for PC and Mobile. Unfortunately, it is quite the boring release, mostly featuring bug fixes. Yawn.

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Microsoft's first tentative steps into the world of artificial intelligence outside of China did not go well. Less than 24 hours after being unleashed on Twitter, the AI chatbot Tay was pulled offline after people quickly learned that it was possible to train the bot to post racist, sexist, and otherwise offensive material. Great fun was had by all!

All except Microsoft, that is. The company was not only forced to pull the plug on Tay, but today was compelled to issue an apology for "unintended offensive" caused. Twitter users treated Tay as some people would treat an infant -- taking great pleasure in teaching it swearwords and other inappropriate things to say. Maybe it was when Tay was talked into becoming a Trump supporter, but Microsoft is now seeking to distance itself from tweets sent out by the bot that "conflict with our principles and values".

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Today on its Transparency Hub, Microsoft published the latest of its transparency reports. This time around the report has been expanded to include details of revenge porn removal requests, in addition to the usual information about FISA orders, and other content removal requests from law enforcement agencies.

In keeping with previous reports, this one shows that the United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, France and Germany are collectively responsible for the vast majority (76.8 percent) of content removal requests. While Microsoft is still not able to report exact figures when it comes to FISA requests and National Security Letters, the USA Freedom Act means that the numbers can be revealed "in narrower ranges of bands of 500 versus 1,000".

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The number of software vulnerabilities has increased over the last year, but the majority of them are in non-Microsoft products.

This is a key finding of the latest Vulnerability Review from Flexera Software, which in 2015 recorded 6,081 vulnerabilities in 2,484 products from 263 vendors. This compares to 2014's figures of 15,698 vulnerabilities in 3,907 products from 514 vendors.

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Proving that artificial intelligence has the potential to go horrendously wrong, Microsoft has been forced to pull the plug on Tay, its artificial intelligence-powered chat bot that had been unleashed on Twitter. Initially designed as an exercise in engaging millennials, it didn’t take long for Tay to go rogue -- albeit with a little help from a number of hardcore users.

Microsoft was almost certainly proud of bagging itself a verified account on Twitter for Tay, but it really didn’t take long for things to turn sour. Twitter users quickly learned that the very nature of an AI bot meant that it was ripe for moulding, and it was a mere matter of hours before the bot had been transformed from a mild-mannered female Twitter user into a Nazi-loving racist who hates feminists and loves Hitler... and Donald Trump.

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