The battle between Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services has been heated for months, and experts everywhere are placing bets on who’s going to win the race. In the end, choosing between Azure and AWS would depend on what you need and what they offer.
Which one is better? There is simply no blanket and definitive answer to that question. Both AWS and Azure have free offerings and trials, so give each one a test run to help you get a feel of what to pick! Let us find this in below infographic comparing various aspects.
Microsoft announced a deal of $26.2 billion today to acquire professional social platform LinkedIn for $196 per share.
Picture Credit : LinkedIn
Immediately, shares of LinkedIn surged 47 percent after the announcement to near $193, while Microsoft's stock was down 3.2 percent. Trading in Microsoft had been halted briefly for news pending before the announcement of the all-cash deal.
Jeff Weiner will stay on as CEO of LinkedIn and will report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The deal was unanimously approved by both companies' boards, and is expected to close by the end of the year. The acquisition is still subject to approval by LinkedIn shareholders and regulators.
"The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world's professionals," Nadella said in a statement. "Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet."
Since a year we are hearing the news of Windows 9 launch. In between Windows upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1. A preview version of Windows 9 is now expected to be unveiled and it seems that we have a set date. Microsoft has scheduled to reveal Windows 9 on September 30, 2014.
Windows 9 - What's special?
Windows 9 is the product name for the next major Operating System from Microsoft.It is likely to be the numeric names given to the various versions of Windows according to its release.
What is meant by the word “Threshold”?
Threshold is the codename for the next version of Windows after Windows 8. Threshold is rumored as Windows 9. Actually the codename refers to the wave of operating systems across Windows-based phones, devices and gaming consoles.
Any chance for 64 Bit platform ?
Since years, people have been saying that Microsoft should move to 64 bit platform. Once again, this is not going to be a controversial release. When a smartphone iPhone's iOS has 64 bit support then why not for Windows.
Windows 9 Release Date?
The rumor says that it will be available in April 2015 when Microsoft might release this Operating System to the public. In January 2014, Paul Thurrott, a Microsoft analyst said he believes the company plans to release Windows 9 (codenamed Threshold) in April 2015, less than three years after the release of Windows 8.
Some Rumored Features Of Windows 9?
Here are some of the rumored improved features of Windows 9 :
1. Desktop And Modern UI :
Microsoft is planning to further merge the Desktop and Modern UI. Microsoft will allow Modern UI apps to run in the desktop. It will also allow Modern UI apps pinned to the Start Menu instead of a Start Screen. We can see it with Windows 8.1 already and may continue with subsequent updates for Windows 9 too.
2. Modified Start Button :
Windows users felt helpless when they didn't find the most popular "start button" in Windows 8. Later on, in its Windows 8.1 update they included the start button. Windows has been doing R&D with its start menu button and it is expected that we will find some refined and better version with more categorized view of apps listings.
Image Source : Chip.de
3. Redesigned UI :
A big move was there when Microsoft released Windows 8 after Windows 7. It was a total change on how Windows looks and users were experiencing comfortability issues with the new interface. In this case, there will be subtle changes but nothing aggressive like what they did previously.
4. Improved Integration With Bing :
Microsoft continues to run its search engine Bing along with all its OS versions. So, Windows 9 will be no exception. It is also expected that there will be some improved and categorized integration with Bing what we see now in the next version of Windows.
5. Windows and Azure For Cloud Storage :
Microsoft has been pushing to leverage Azure for cloud storage. Microsoft may integrate parts of the Operating System into the cloud for storage purposes for string files, pictures, videos and other stuffs.
6. Balanced Power Management :
Microsoft has already improved the power management feature with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 and this was very much expected. Subsequently it is very much expected to get more efficiency with its next version of Windows.
7. Gesture Recognition Feature :
Seeing other competitors, Microsoft may also integrate the gesture recognition feature in Windows 9. You can expect that it would introduce gesture based computing.
8. Enhanced Security :
Windows 9 could be better equipped with its security features along with fingerprint recognition. Microsoft has been using a good security feature from Windows 7 onwards and it is expected that it will continue this even it will improve with its major release.
Also find the below leaked video over net that reveals new Notification center in Windows 9.
As of now we can hope that the above features would be included in Windows 9. Lets wait for any further update from Microsoft Windows team regarding its forthcoming Windows 9.
Microsoft has re-introduced MSN which looks totally different than its previous pattern and view. A major makeover on MSN website has been made. It encourages viewers with the company’s mobile and cloud strategy . They also emphasize on “premium” content from media partners and offers quick access to personal productivity tools via its Services Stripe at the top of the MSN homepage.
You will be getting an Services Stripe option at top of the page which has “easy access to personal services to stay on top of what’s happening in your life. With a quick hover, you can easily check your e-mail, browse your OneDrive, or even access your OneNote notebooks. We’ve also integrated popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, Office 365 and Skype.”
It also offers shopping lists, a savings calculator, a symptom checker and a 3D body explorer.
Moreover it enables users to customize the site by reorganizing categories and interests to suit their tastes and requirements.
Microsoft also revealed that it will release a suite of MSN apps across iOS and Android to go with its corresponding Windows and Windows Phone apps. Users have to make a list of the favorite links and then the preferences will be connected across MSN, Cortana, Bing and other Microsoft services.
As per Microsoft, “One of our goals was to make it simple to personalize what you want to see regardless of which device you use. Whether it is your watchlist of stocks in MSN Money, your favorite sports teams in MSN Sports, or your recipe collections in MSN Food & Drink, those things will always be with you at your PC at work, on your iPad in the living room, or on your Android phone when you are on-the-go.”
This time its opponent is Microsoft, not Apple. And yes once again Samsung is back in court over a patent dispute. Microsoft accused the South Korean Smartphone maker of neglecting to pay Android licensing fees in violation of a patent agreement reached by the two firms in 2011. Under the agreement, Samsung is required to pay a royalty for every Android-powered Smartphone it sells.
Microsoft also declares that Samsung has been in breach of contract for the past 11 months. Microsoft deputy general counsel David Howard wrote in a blog post that “After becoming the leading player in the worldwide Smartphone market, Samsung decided late last year to stop complying with its agreement with Microsoft. In September 2013, after Microsoft announced it was acquiring the Nokia Devices and Services business, Samsung began using the acquisition as an excuse to breach its contract. Curiously, Samsung did not ask the court to decide whether the Nokia acquisition invalidated its contract with Microsoft, likely because it knew its position was meritless. Microsoft and Samsung have a long history of collaboration. Microsoft values and respects our partnership with Samsung and expects it to continue. We are simply asking the Court to settle our disagreement, and we are confident the contract will be enforced.”
Samsung has not commented yet on this matter. Some other brands that make Android devices — including ZTE, LG, HTC, Acer and Barnes & Noble — have also signed agreements with Microsoft to avoid patent lawsuits. Although Google is the creator of the Android platform, Microsoft holds the patents. Microsoft maintains that the codes Google uses for Android and Chrome copy its technology, violating its patents. Google has called these patents “bogus.”
Once Microsoft was not interested to suggest companies, customers and partners to get on the cloud but now they are suggesting that. The software giant's message delivered Monday at the first day of the week-long Worldwide Partner Conference.
Kevin Turner, chief operating officer of Microsoft told that “We’re well into [a mobile-first, cloud-first world], not at the beginning."
Information Week reported that WPC attendees were given a lot of information and they thanked to executive vice-president Scott Guthrie. He threw “a slew of stats” at people including the fact 57 per cent of Fortune 500 companies use Azure. Microsoft Azure serves more than 300 million users and the software giant generate more than 13 billion authentication requests each week.
Phil Sorgen, corporate vice-president at Worldwide Partner Conference wrote in his blog Microsoft is easing the transition for partners to ensure they come on to the cloud and embrace it. He also added "Another way we are helping partners transition to the cloud is by providing the tools and resources to get started on our new cloud services. Today we’re announcing Azure Machine Learning University, a portfolio of online self-service learning assets designed to get partners started with Azure ML. Machine Learning University will provide partners with an overview of Azure ML, and walk through the data science life cycle from importing data to building predictive models and deploying in production.”
Microsoft has always kept their commitment and it will definitely show how it is more valuable, less expensive for partners. They are encouraging people to join Microsoft in embracing the “mobile-first, cloud first world.” Lets see how it takes on other cloud computing services.
Microsoft’s Bing has managed to beat competitor Google in making a place inside Apple's iOS. Apple announced during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference this week that Bing would be the new default Web search provider in iOS.
Some sources revealed that Apple has also incorporated Bing into Yosemite, its new Mac OS X release and has opted for Bing.
Microsoft's Bing said in a blog post that “As the world of devices constantly changes and new form factors come into play there will be a need to better use information, either by seeking it out or having it pushed to you, and take action/ Bing has shifted its focus to be in position to be the search for this new, changing world. You should expect relevant information to come to you when and where you need it. You should expect experiences to adapt to you and your context, instead of the other way around. You should expect proactive experiences that anticipate what you need. You should expect information to be actionable for what you need at home or work. Only Bing and Microsoft can provide all of this, and we couldn’t be more excited for the next five years and beyond.”
Its been long that we hear about wearable devices from big brands like Google, Samsung, Apple and LG. Now the software giant Microsoft is entering into this space. They will be introducing a new product to the market this year. Microsoft’s watch is reportedly found surprising with capabilities of measuring heart rate and syncing with iPhones, Android phones and Windows Phones.
Credit : Internet Image
Forbes published the the news and was termed “surprising,” that may be a bit of a stretch. It seems that the fact behind this "surprise" was not deciding to introduce such a product but that it has taken this long for the news to leak the news to market. According to the post, the smartwatch will use Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect division’s expertise to measure heart rate with a battery that will last for 48 hours.
Microsoft has been considering to grasp the newer technology trends by introducing newer products. Its also been reported that this smartwatch will be able to sync with other smart devices from various rival brands available in market. We know the fact that consumers are looking at other companies before turning to Microsoft for these kind of wearable products. It will be a tough job for Microsoft to make some of those customer motivated in buying its products.
As of now it can be predicted that the highly expected things from Microsoft's wearable devices will be price, functionality and features. Though it may surprise us with much more unexpected things also once it launches in the market.
China has banned Microsoft’s Windows 8 from all the government devices and government computers. It seems this is a step taken as a revenge for Microsoft's decision to discontinue support for its very old operating system Windows XP which is still popular in China.
But the Chinese government made the announcement restricting the OS in a notice about the use of energy-saving products and in regards to the concerns for security as reported by the country’s official news source Xinhua.
Xinhua also reported that “The Chinese government obviously cannot ignore the risks of running OS without guaranteed technical support. It has moved to avoid the awkwardness of being confronted with a similar situation again in future if it continues to purchase computers with foreign OS.”
This report indicated all desktops, laptops and tablet PCs purchased by central state bodies were affected by the decree, but the personal computer market should not be affected.
Microsoft said it was surprised by China’s decision, but said it would continue to offer older versions of its software to placate the government.
A Microsoft spokesman told the BBC.“We were surprised to learn about the reference to Windows 8 in this notice. Microsoft has been working proactively with the Central Government Procurement Centre and other government agencies through the evaluation process to ensure that our products and services meet all government procurement requirements. We have been and will continue to provide Windows 7 to government customers. At the same time we are working on the Window 8 evaluation with relevant government agencies.”
Microsoft pulled support for its 13-year-old operating system April 8, meaning there will be no more security updates. Windows XP was released in 2001 and from quite sometime Microsoft has been trying to obsolete its older products.
Bing’s homepage is getting better with the help of Microsoft’s first ever voice-activated digital assistant Cortana. Microsoft has introduced a set of personalized cards on the Bing homepage to help users keep track of items that are important to them such as weather, news or stocks. Users have to sign in to their Microsoft account and set up their interests in Bing settings with the help or its newly introduced voice-activated assistant.
A blog post said that “When it’s appropriate, Bing will let you know if for example your stock changes or flight is delayed. The best part? As long as you’re signed in, Bing will remember your interests and notify you, as appropriate, across a range of Bing-powered Microsoft services, such as Cortana and the Bing Sports app.”
Cortana was brought as beta in the U.S., was designed to be like a real personal assistant.
Microsoft also claims that “Cortana is the only digital assistant that gets to know you, builds a relationship that you can trust, and gets better over time by asking questions based on your behavior and checking in with you before she assumes you’re interested in something. She detects and monitors the stuff you care about, looks out for you throughout the day, and helps filter out the noise so you can focus on what matters to you. To develop Cortana, we talked to a number of real personal assistants. One technique these assistants spoke about was keeping track of the interests and preferences of their bosses in a notebook,” Belfiore said. “We thought… what a great idea! So all the stuff Cortana curates for you is stored in Cortana’s Notebook. This information enables Cortana to be proactive and helpful throughout the day.”
Microsoft Office for iPad was launched last week and since launching the app has been downloaded more than 12 million times as per a tweet of Microsoft. Revenue generated by Microsoft has not been revealed yet. Microsoft's Office for iPad apps are free, so the only way the company would have generated revenue is if the new Office users opt for in-app subscription purchases. Satya Nadella speeded up the long-anticipated app and ignored Microsoft’s previous strategy of linking the app with Windows only.
Microsoft's Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote together received more than 12 million users and this is not including the new user database. So it can be assumed that it might have acquired some millions in a day.
Microsoft released the iPad app last week, and they said that the app/software had been “reimagined, while retaining what people love about Office.”
As per Microsoft, Word, Excel and Powerpoint “have the robust capabilities and familiar look and feel that is unmistakably Office, while offering a fantastic touch experience built from the ground up for iPad."
Much awaited "Office for iPad" has arrived now. Microsoft has finally launched it on iOS platform. CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella has encouraged the effort to be neutralized, which made MS office files run on iPads.
Microsoft has “reimagined” Office for iPad, “while retaining what people love about Office. We hope you’ll be as pleased with the results as we are,” as stated in a blog post.
Image Credit : Google
Company also added that Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint “have the robust capabilities and familiar look and feel that is unmistakably Office, while offering a fantastic touch experience built from the ground up for iPad."
The free apps offer users the documents they want. Microsoft has also committed to provide the look just as good on iPad as they do on PC.
Microsoft is also bringing Office apps to the Windows Store and other popular platforms and has made Office Mobile for iPhone and Android phones available for free.
Microsoft is going to offer its operating system free for Indian smartphones companies. It competes with Google massively popular free operating system Android. Microsoft is keeping in touch with Indian phone companies since last year to produce affordable Windows Phone devices as per several internet source.
Microsoft has agreed not to charge its usual licensing fee for the Windows Phone OS in Indian market. Microsoft has also declared a low-cost version of the Microsoft Office suite dubbed Office 365 Personal for smartphones.
Chris Schneider in a post on the Office Blog states that “It’s designed for an individual, allows for one PC or Mac and one tablet to be connected to the service and will be available for $69.99 USD/year or $6.99 USD/ month. We recognize that there are households of all shapes and sizes and we’re committed to delivering the right Office for everyone – whether that be one person or an entire household.”
Office 365 Personal would be released this spring. This is the latest version of Microsoft Office 365 Home. It provides five desktop and five mobile licenses for $99. It will include 60 minutes of Skype calls per month and 20GB of Microsoft OneDrive storage space.
It seems that Microsoft has taken a very smart move with making its OS free for smartphones.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates communicated with Reddit users for a Q&A session. There are different type of questions he was asked but Gates answered them. Even he discussed about his new role at Microsoft that will be much more hands-on than past few years since he left the post CEO to concentrate on the charitable foundation he runs with his wife Melinda Gates.
Image Credit : Reddit
Gates expressed that he will work closely with Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella in an advisory role, but also cleared that two-thirds of his time will be spent on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and only one-third on Microsoft's new profile.
“I will focus on product work mostly, make sure we pick ambitious scenarios and that we have a strong architecture to deliver on them. I encourage good work (hopefully),” he wrote.
His main areas of focus will be on connected devices and well-integrated software.
“I am excited about how the cloud and new devices can help us communicate and collaborate in new ways. The OS won’t just be on one device and the information won’t just be files — it will be your history including being able to review memories of things like kids growing up. I was thrilled Satya asked me to pitch in to make sure Microsoft is ambitious with its innovation. Even in Office there is a lot more than can be done.” he expressed about his new role.
He added that “We need to have trust in the way information is protected and gathered. There is a role for the government to try and stop crime and terrorism but it will have to be more open. I do think terrorism with biological or nuclear weapons is something we want to minimize the chance of.”
Bill Gates has been doing remarkable jobs and took beneficial decisions for Microsoft since decades and hope that he does continue the same pace with Microsoft.
Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft has ended up his long tenure as a CEO. Microsoft’s board of directors made the announcement after months of speculation on who would replace outgoing Steve .
Image Credit : Microsoft
Satya Nadella is the new CEO and is effective now. He will be there in Microsoft’s board.
Nadella has been a longtime engineering executive and would be a natural choice to keep the software giant's technology and trends changes and uptodate.
Chairman John Thompso said that “Satya is clearly the best person to lead Microsoft, and he has the unanimous support of our Board. The Board took the thoughtful approach that our shareholders, customers, partners and employees expected and deserved.”
Microsoft founder and board member Bill Gates will be acting as Nadella’s advisor. He will help the new CEO in shaping technology and product directions in correct manner.
Gates added that “His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Microsoft needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth. He is proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together.”
Lets see how Microsoft works in its future ventures.
Finally Microsoft is re-branding its very popular online storage service SkyDrive and the new name would be OneDrive after losing its trademark dispute with BSkyB.
There is no official launch date yet revealed by Microsoft. Its website says only that OneDrive is “coming soon.” Microsoft will take care about the current SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro users' data for transferring to its new service on rolling out. All of users content will be available on OneDrive and OneDrive for Business respectively.
Why “OneDrive?”
Microsoft stated in the OneDrive blog, “we know that increasingly you will have many devices in your life, but you really want only one place for your most important stuff. One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents. One place that is seamlessly connected across all the devices you use. You want OneDrive for everything in your life."
Microsoft’s OneDrive suggests that new features are on their way and quoted as “Get ready for an even better place to store and share your favorite things across all your favorite devices,”
OnDrive website blog states “One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents.”. So it is expected that the new added feature could be related to photos and videos sharing.
The following video will introduce you to the Microsoft's re-branded product OnDrive.
Microsoft keeps relaunching its products with some added features and after a little bit modifications. Lets see what extra can Microsoft provide users with the new OneDrive.
Once Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) used to be the most used web browser worldwide. But gradually the number of users came down and it is observed that it is trying very hard in recent competitions with other brands to make a come back in the niche market. With a new campaign in their website rethink, it wished to catch the stream line like it used to hold in earlier days.
"What if Internet Explorer could show you a web that did things you didn't think were possible? From gaming to entertainment, we are helping to create entirely new experiences on the web that are fast, beautiful and perfect for touch. See for yourself below." rethink-ed by Microsoft.
Nowadays people are keen in using more popular browsers like Firefox and Chrome. Microsoft hasn’t given up the hope. In its latest release, IE11 is coming with support for touch screen devices and is faster and more efficient as a whole.
Microsoft made partnerships with Red Bull, Atari and GlacierWorks and other developers. The main effort is to help create a new experience for IE11. So it launched its “Rethink IE” campaign to create some positive response among the internet users news about the browser.
The very new IE’s features would provide a full screen browsing, multitasking, reading view and a feature that allows users to pin websites. Although it comes with a similar look to Windows 8 with its tiled menu comforts tablet users too.
“We are helping to create entirely new experiences on the web that are fast, beautiful and perfect for touch,” quoted by Microsoft's Rethink website. Lets see the response from internet users with the new features IE11.
Microsoft has been experimenting and changing the interface and features in its new office tools since few months. And now it has updated some Outlook tools to help users cleaning their inboxes. Microsoft has upgraded the methods of categorizing and searching for messages along with adding improvements to its Sweep to delete feature for inbox.
Outlook principal group program manager Mike Schackwitz said in a blog post “If you’re like the average Outlook.com customer, you’ll receive over 10,000 personal e-mails over the next 12 months, and 80 percent of that will be the newsletters, offers and updates that often clutter your inbox. That’s a lot of e-mail to deal with. It’s why the Outlook.com team spends much of our energy on giving you tools that make it easy to get to the e-mail you care about.”
Sweep allows users to clear their in-boxes with a bulk delete function. Now it will be easier to use with a simpler interface requiring fewer clicks.
Schackwitz added “One of the most commonly-searched criteria is for people, so we now show your contact names and pictures together when you’re looking for them. Searching for a contact will find all e-mail from any e-mail address they have, so you don’t have to remember whether that e-mail came from their personal address or their work address.”
This updates include also include more keyboard shortcuts and improvements to video and chat capabilities for Skype, Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and other such platforms— will roll out to users in the next few weeks.
Microsoft has acquired Cloud Customer Service Firm Parature Inc. in a bid to make Microsoft Dynamics’ vision of “helping organizations deliver amazing customer experiences” into effect in real.
Though the terms are not disclosed yet but it is being reported the purchase is costing $100 million.
Tricia Morris in a Parature blog post mentioned that “It all adds up. Microsoft + Parature = Amazing. We’re very excited to share this news with you as we head into the New Year. This acquisition will add world-class customer care capabilities to further accelerate Microsoft Dynamics’ vision to help organizations deliver amazing customer experiences, and bring together two companies dedicated to customer care and innovation.”
Microsoft declared that it will continue to offer Parature services and support all new and existing customers. Parature has 70 million users worldwide that include more than 500 well-known brands, including Ask.com, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, IBM, Saba Software Inc., Tagged Inc. and Threadless.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM corporate vice-president Bob Stutz mentioned “Customers are more connected and better informed than ever before. Organizations are looking for business solutions that can strengthen their ability to connect with customers on their own terms, using whatever device and whatever channel they prefer. Parature is a perfect fit for every business and will enable us to offer customers one of the best cloud-based solutions for customer self-service. This is a compelling combination for organizations committed to delivering the best service experience that consistently exceeds their customers’ expectations.”
Worldwide software giant Microsoft rolled out Mobile Office to Windows mobile devices long back, and now announced on Wednesday that Office Mobile for Android is now available for download.
The app allows Office 365 subscribers basic editing tools for Word, Excel and PowerPoint files as well as document synchronization.
Office Mobile App for Android smartphones joins identical offering by Microsoft for Apple's iPhone. Microsoft hasn't said when Office Mobile apps would be available on Android or Apple tablets, and recommends users use the Office Web Apps for those devices. Requirements for the Office Mobile for Android app include smartphones running the Android OS 4.0 or higher paired with an Office 365 subscription, priced at $100 per year for Home Premium and $150 for Small Business Premium.
Microsoft is still favoring its own Windows mobile OS over others, a move that has VARs like Falcon wondering if the Redmond, Wash.-based company's decision was intentional in order to push customers to its Surface tablet and Windows 8 convertible devices. If Microsoft is perpetuating its closed ecosystem mentality, Falcon said, "it runs the risk of further alienating mobile customers who have already taken a pass Microsoft and are now Google or Apple customers."
You can download the app from Google Play store. Click here to download and install.