Microsoft News & Updates

[sumitroy]

We’re announcing the general availability of Windows Defender ATP’s endpoint detection & response (EDR) capability for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, helping customers achieve the best security possible while transitioning to Windows 10.

Windows Defender ATP’s EDR capability for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 now generally available

 

[sumitroy]

Today, we’re excited to announce that we are open sourcing Windows Calculator on GitHub under the MIT License. This includes the source code, build system, unit tests, and product roadmap

Announcing the Open Sourcing of Windows Calculator - Windows Developer Blog
Microsoft/calculator

 

[sumitroy]

Starting April 2, 2019, the books category in Microsoft Store will be closing. Unfortunately, this means that starting July 2019 your ebooks will no longer be available to read, but you'll get a full refund for all book purchases.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4497396

 

[Sarkar]

Microsoft and Sony form cloud gaming and AI partnership

“The two companies will explore joint development of future cloud solutions in Microsoft Azure to support their respective game and content-streaming services,” Microsoft said in a statement. Sony’s existing game and content-streaming services will also be powered by Microsoft Azure in the future.

 

[Sarkar]

Microsoft Surface: Now easy to own with EMIs - Microsoft News Center India

Surface Go, Microsoft’s smallest and most affordable Surface device yet, to make the device more accessible to everyone. Surface Go is now available in Croma, Reliance Digital, Vijay Sales, and other select retailers in India.

 

[Bapun]

• Microsoft has closed all its Specialty Stores in the US.
• 17 kiosks were closed in malls, down from a peak of 34 in 2013.
• Over 80 full-retail stores remain.
• Only one retail store has closed since 2017.

Microsoft closes its small Specialty Stores in the US before London opening

 

[Abhinav]

Google's Project Zero team has revealed a "zero-day exploit" affecting Windows systems. The bug can allow attackers to "take down an entire Windows fleet easily"

The issue is present in Windows' SymCrypt core cryptographic library available for symmetric algorithms since Windows 8.

Microsoft hasn't fixed this issue in 90 days that's why Google Team published this on Chromium Site. Microsoft may fix this with their July Patch.

Google's Project Zero Reveals Bug Impacting Windows Systems

 

[Abhinav]

Microsoft has banned the use of the free version of Slack for its 100,000+ employees. Microsoft has a list of prohibited apps and services, even Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Docs are “discouraged for use” inside the company.

Reason behind Slack Ban - Slack Free, Slack Standard and Slack Plus versions do not provide required controls to properly protect Microsoft Intellectual Property (IP).

AWS and Google Docs can't be used as their usage will reportedly “require a business justification” for employee use

Microsoft has also banned Grammarly a writing and grammar-checking app inside the company as it can monitor every keystroke.

Microsoft bans Slack and discourages AWS and Google Docs use internally

 

[iDJ]

Microsoft has recently decided to prohibit its employees from relying on third-party applications to help with internal corporate processes. With this move, Microsoft is defending itself from potential sensitive data theft. However, most of these blocked apps are popular programs inside the workforce.

The banned apps so far are all versions of Slack, Github, Amazon Web Services, and Grammarly. More often than not, employees handling internal processes for any company rely on these apps and services to make their job faster if tools are needed. Microsoft has also advertised against using Slack not only because its their direct competition with the company’s own Teams app.

Microsoft Prohibits Slack, Third-Party App Use For Employees

 

[iDJ]

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