Microsoft Azure VMs will get ARM support from Ampere Altra CPUs. If you’re unfamiliar with Ampere Computing, it is a startup that develops CPUs for servers. Microsoft has been a customer of the company since last year. At the time of the introduction, Microsoft said the following about bringing ARM support to cloud VMs: “The new Azure Virtual Machines, featuring the Ampere Altra Arm-based processor, further extend our portfolio of compute solutions to help customers manage complexity and seamlessly run modern, dynamic, and scalable applications....

However, the name change did not reflect the service on Windows 10, which maintained the Windows branding. Microsoft now says it will also be rebranding Windows Defender ATP to Microsoft Defender ATP on Windows. Microsoft says the reason for the rebrand is because the Defender ATP service will be rolled out to more non-Windows devices and platforms. The change in branding is already underway through the latest Windows 10 20H1 previews on the Insider....

More specifically, the company will integrate InsideSales Playbooks into its platform. With this feature, customers will get enhanced tools for their sales teams. Playbooks is a solution that provides teams with recommendations, such as accounting costs and contact prompts. The platform is built on artificial intelligence (AI), which is where Microsoft comes in. InsideSales says the data needed for its AI needs large data. Microsoft can supply this data with ease, including considerable enterprise data from LinkedIn....

The offending update is Windows 10 build 18362.267 (KB4505903). Issued for the current Windows 10 version 1903, the update was originally released on July 26. It is worth noting that this update was/is optional so if you have not yet downloaded it you should probably avoid. If you’re worried about missing out on the security patches, they were all bundled into KB4512508, which rolled out this month through Patch Tuesday....

Microsoft says the new flaw would allow attacks to run malicious code even with limited system privileges. The malware could elevate privileges to gain complete control and Windows system access. It is worth noting the print spooler is on all versions of Windows, not just Windows 10. In its notes, Microsoft points out an “attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights....

Microsoft confirmed this week it will now miss its financial estimates across its personal computing business for its fiscal third quarter. That guidance was originally offered earlier this year before coronavirus broke out. Personal computing is the division that includes money made from Surface devises and Windows licenses. Microsoft says the cause of the recalculation is due to supply chain constraints following “Although we see strong Windows demand in line with our expectations, the supply chain is returning to normal operations at a slower pace than anticipated at the time of our Q2 earnings call,” Microsoft said in a press release....

It seems Microsoft isn’t shy to invest more than GitHub’s $7.5 billion purchase price, and Pull Panda is looking like a strong choice. The tool was created just six months ago by founder and CEO Abi Noda, and quickly became popular in thousands of organizations. “Today, thousands of organizations around the world use our products to complement their daily development workflows,” said Noda in a statement. “Joining GitHub will allow our products to be fully integrated and offered to millions more developers around the world....

According to the data watchdog, authorities in Europe are concerned by Microsoft’s data management. If problems are found it would be a rare example of Microsoft has been troubled by recent antitrust laws. “Though the investigation is still ongoing, preliminary results reveal serious concerns over the compliance of the relevant contractual terms with data protection rules and the role of Microsoft as a processor for EU institutions using its products and services,” an EDPS statement issued Monday states....

Clearing up a Mess Until now, Windows 11 has given users one chance to see and choose from browser alternatives before hiding them. Unless you choose “always use this app” this time, the browser will not become default. Sure, this is the same as normal, but changing a default on Windows 10 is relatively easy. All you need to do is right click a file, web link, app, or shortcut and choose the “open with” option and then “always use this app”....

In its July 2022 report, the researcher points out Edge is continuing its steady upwards growth. During the month, the browser took 10.84%, up 0.2 points from June 2022. Google Chrome still remains the dominant browser on desktops, with a 66.19% market share. However, that is a decline of 0.74 points from the previous month. Apple’s Safari is the third on the list thanks to macOS. The browser remained unchanged with a market share of 8....

It is an interesting development considering WebP has moved from the next big image format to nearly dead. It is a lossless and lossy image compression format that was debuted by Google in 2010. The company views the format as a replacement for JPEG, GIF, and PNG through improved compression, smoother animations, and better transparency. Opera soon adopted WebP after Google Chrome, but other major browser manufacturers were more cautious....

In recent months, such as in September, Microsoft has been throwing new tools at Excel. October has been slightly more modest but still provides some handy new additions. Starting with Microsoft Excel for the web, users can now leverage a new utility that allows them to efficiently search commands through a shortcut menu. This is a quicker alternative to moving through numerous menus or learning more complex shortcuts. Instead, simply bring up the quick shortcut menu to access commands....

1 CoroWare goes silent, Plumb accused of sexual harassment2 Microsoft reviewing the complaint In addition, GI accuses Jonathan Plumb of unlawful behavior. The lawsuit mentions that Plumb was drinking with an underaged GI employee, and harassed the agency’s general manager, Jennifer Kelly. But let’s start from the beginning. Genesis Industries entered a contractual relationship with CoroWare, a Microsoft supplier, which paid the modeling agency. Jonathan Plumb approached GI in early 2015 to “provide ambassadors” for HoloLens events promoting the product....

So, is Microsoft Flight Simulator now a Microsoft Series X|S exclusive? Remember, that is something Microsoft said would not happen this early in the lifecycle of the new consoles. It seems so, which is a problem considering tens of millions of users are still on Xbox One. Of course, Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the most demanding games ever created. It is a one-for-one recreation of the whole world on a map that is completely open....

Among them is Azure Data Lake. Microsoft Flow users can now automatically read and write data to an Azure Data Lake account to increase productivity. They’ll also be able to use Bitbucket, automating aspects of a project’s life cycle via GIT revision control. Eventbrite targets a different audience. The self-ticketing platform lets venues manage their events with little overhead. Microsoft Flow functionality brings triggers for event creation or orders. Users can copy events to other systems and keep logs....

If you are unfamiliar with Microsoft Garage, it is Microsoft’s incubator division. A skunkworks of sorts, Garage allows employees to collaborate without being confined to their specific sectors. Programs and tools created in the Garage are not supposed to replace Microsoft’s core services. Still, some of the Garage’s most successful apps have been folded into Microsoft products. Whether SketchPal achieves the same remains to be seen. It is a free app that as the name suggests is focused on sketching, specifically on Microsoft’s new line of Surface devices....

Photos will now scan your OneDrive images and use AI to organize your photos depending on the month, categories, colors, and faces. It’s powered by a new search bar, which also introduces automatic tagging and indexing to better find images. As a result, clicking it will bring up an interface of people and tags, grouping pictures of the same person together in an album. It can also identify objects, so typing in “cup”, “phone” etc, will bring up images of that icon....

During the trial of the four-day work week, Microsoft Japan allowed employees in its Tokyo base to have each Friday off during August. These employees were compensated with “special paid leave”. Furthermore, the company announced a support program for employees. This provides workers with access to expenses for travel during the trial. “‘Work-Life Choice’ aims to create an environment where each employee can choose a diverse and flexible way of working according to the circumstances of their work and life,” Microsoft Japan previously said about the trial....

It seems that work on the Andromeda OS, at least, is ongoing. As reports suggested, Microsoft is still working on a dual screen device, and its software has a number of mobile-specific references. The folks at Aggiornamenti Lumia discovered these references in Andromeda-specific language packs on the Microsoft Store. They contained explicit references to “AndromedaOS”, and “FactoryOSAndromeda”. Surface Phone Still Possible? They also mention features like call recording, flipping the device over to answer, and ‘please text me’ commands....

As the name suggests, Microsoft Launcher Preview gives users early access to features in exchange for testing them. The app will become the Alpha testing ground for Microsoft Launcher. Microsoft has the preview differs from the full launcher app because it is built on a new codebase. Essentially, this allows features to be tested without disrupting stable builds. Because of this, the app will not function as a genuine launcher as it will be missing some core features....