Articles about Microsoft

You might think you have the best programmers in the world, but chances are there’s a kid in his parents’ basement somewhere who’s smarter than all your engineers combined.

That’s why bounty hunting for bugs has become hugely popular among software makers, employing pretty much every hacker worldwide in their search for overlooked bugs. Microsoft is one of such companies, and it’s using the Black Hat conference to promote its new bug bounty program, which sees the bounty doubled.

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Microsoft is taking steps to try to ensure that the apps that people want to see on Windows are actually available. We've already seen the company woo developers with tools such as Project Westminster to make it easier to create Universal Windows Apps, and Astoria to help convert Android apps for Windows.

Project Islandwood was the same idea, but for iOS apps -- the idea is that by making it easy to convert apps for Apple's platform into Windows apps, Microsoft can use developers to plug the 'app gap'. To spread the project's net further, it has now been released under the name Windows Bridge for iOS and -- more importantly -- it has been released to GitHub as an open source tool under the MIT license.

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Satya Nadella is a man with a formidable challenge. Microsoft CEO's predecessor, Steve Ballmer, squandered the company's mobile fortunes. From smartphone platform leader a decade ago, the software-and-services giant is a category also-ran in 2015. Microsoft has no independent mobile platform future. The war is over. There remains this: Making alliances with old enemies to preserve existing territory, while using the foothold to reach into new frontiers.

Made available August 5th, Outlook for Apple Watch is a very smart move and metaphor for what went wrong on Microsoft mobile platforms and what has to go right to preserve and extend the legacy applications stack. While Windows 10 makes its way to Lumia devices, the future is Android and iOS and how the company supports them with contextually meaningful cloud-connected apps and services.

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It’s been a week since Windows 10 was released, and the biggest issue about Microsoft’s latest OS seems to be in the nature and the amount of private data it collects.

We recently wrote about Cortana, the digital assistant, and how much it collects, and now Microsoft has updated its terms of service agreement to better clarify what it collects and how it uses such data.

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Apple Watch has been quickly gaining the support of major iOS developers, as more and more top titles have been updated to work well with the best-selling smartwatch on the market. So it should come as no surprise that Microsoft, with its increasing focus on mobile, has introduced Apple Watch support in the latest version of its Outlook mobile email client.

Apple Watch users have been able to take advantage of Outlook features prior to this update, which bumps up the app's version number to 1.3.5, but in a more restrictive manner. The official support, however, brings some new features that make Outlook much more useful on the smartwatch.

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Microsoft has announced its presentation building app, Sway, is now out of preview and available to anyone with a Microsoft account via Sway.com.

The company has also unveiled Sway for Windows 10 PCs and tablets, with a Windows Phone version apparently due in the "coming months".

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When Microsoft unveiled its legendary Start Menu in Windows 95, it changed everything. The usability resonated with consumers, arguably leading to a huge increase in personal computer sales. While the menu remained mostly unchanged for many years -- apart from small additions and appearance tweaks -- Windows 8 replaced it with a Start Screen that consumers largely rejected. Things were looking bad for Windows for a while there.

Luckily, Microsoft was on the right track with the much maligned Start Screen -- its innovative live tiles just needed to be delivered in a different way. Enter Windows 10. The latest version of Microsoft's operating system combines the classic Start Menu with the best aspects of the Start Screen and so far, consumers seem to love it -- sentiment has largely been positive on social media. Want proof that the Windows 10 Start Menu is revolutionary? Look no further than the prestigious digital design award bestowed upon it today!

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There haven’t been many updates for Windows 10 since Microsoft launched its new operating system last week, but today the software giant is rolling out a cumulative update designed to "enhance the functionality of Windows 10 through new features and improvements".

If you’ve been experiencing problems with the new OS, as I have, then this update may go some way to overcoming them.

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Parents who are upgrading their computers to Windows 10 are warned that the move from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 will obliterate the safety features used to protect children. You may have spent time putting restrictions in place in a bid to keep your offspring safe when using your computer, but Windows 10 will change these child-friendly accounts into standard accounts with no limitations whatsoever.

The upgrade process wipes out website restrictions, game and app age ratings, time limits, and other parental controls and monitoring options. Unless a parent goes to the trouble of reinstating each of these settings individually, their children will have unfettered computer access. The discovery, revealed by The Register, will come as a surprise to many, but the worry is that many parents will simply be unaware that their children are not protected. And this is far from being the first time Windows 10 has been criticized.

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Forbes today unveiled its inaugural 100 Richest People in Tech list. Comprising 100 billionaires, the top of the chart is dominated by all of the names you would expect to see -- Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Page take the top five slots.

It's not just the names that are familiar. The US is the dominant country in the chart, with more than half of the list filled by American billionaires. The image of California as being the center of the world of technology is borne out by the fact that 49 of the top 100 hail from the western state. So, yes, Bill Gates tops the charts with $79.6 billion, but where are the other big names?

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Yesterday we reported about the arrival of the Windows-powered update to Xbox One consoles in November. In the excitement we completely forgot about Microsoft's older console. Well, that's not strictly true -- we did mention that Xbox One is gaining backwards compatibility with many 360 games, but the humble Xbox 360 has a significant update of its own.

Currently available to those signed up to the preview program, the latest update brings a decidedly social element to the Xbox 360. The new Activity Feed displays gaming activity, message and more not only from Xbox 360, but also Xbox One and Windows 10. This is something that gamers have been hoping for for some time, and Microsoft has demonstrated that it has not completely forgotten about the ageing Xbox 360.

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One of the core elements that Microsoft dropped from the latest version of its operating system was Windows Media Center. The software giant softened the blow at the time by stating that it would be releasing a DVD Player as an add-on. Hardly a like-for-like swap, but better than nothing.

True to its word, Microsoft has now made the Windows DVD Player available for all, but while some Windows 10 upgraders will get it for free, others will have to pay $14.99 for the same piece of software. Which camp do you fall into?

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Microsoft can focus on Windows 10 Mobile now that Windows 10 is officially available to PC and tablet users. While we do not yet know exactly when the software giant plans to introduce the new version of its smartphone operating system, we do have an idea about which Lumia handsets will be the first to receive the coveted software upgrade.

Windows 10 Mobile will be available to virtually all smartphones that run Windows Phone 8.1, partly because the system requirements are pretty much the same. The Lumia devices that will get the software upgrade first are newer handsets that either sell well at the moment or are positioned at the top of the lineup.

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Windows 10 is now with us, and, whether you've made the move from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, there is a lot to love, but also a lot to hate. With this latest release, there is also one very big difference from previous versions of Windows: it is free of charge.

This is not only likely to encourage more people into making the move to Windows 10, but it also opens up a possibility that many people would simply not have considered before. If you decide that you don’t like Windows 10 (the OS is not without its fair share of problems, after all), you can downgrade to your previous version without ending up out of pocket. The question is, how many people will go -- or have gone -- down this route?

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Microsoft today announces a number of changes to the online version of Outlook. One of the biggest updates sees the rollout of a new, cleaner interface which Microsoft says helps to improve efficiency. In addition to aesthetic alterations, there are also a number of new tools that make it easier to manage an inbox.

There is also something of a rebranding taking place. The Outlook Web App (OWA) is no more; say hello to Outlook on the web. The new name is a minor change, however. The big news today are the visual and productivity updates.

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