#microsoft

#microsoft

Consumer Reports (CR), the venerable consumer rights organization known for its in-depth product testing, sent a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella this week. The letter, authored by the nonprofit's policy fellow Stacey Higginbotham and director of technology policy Justin Brookman, expressed "concern about Microsoft's decision to end free ongoing support for Windows 10 next month." Consumer Reports, CR for short, isn't the first organization to come to the defense of the soon-to-be-orphaned Windows 10.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to stand out as a transformative force, fueling growth for select companies insulated from economic turbulence. With valuations in some tech giants like Nvidia ( NASDAQ:NVDA ) stretching thin, other players are poised to capitalize on AI's expansion. If you have $10,000 to invest - money not needed for bills or emergencies - you can turn it into more than $26,000 in just four years by investing in the following two stocks.

Microsoft is planning to make "significant investments" in its own AI chip cluster to become "self-sufficient in AI," Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman said during an all-employee town hall meeting on Thursday. Microsoft's AI strategy has so far largely relied on a partnership with OpenAI, although the companies appear to be drifting apart lately and they're locked in tense contract renegotiations right now. Suleyman's comments suggest Microsoft wants to forge its own path in AI, while still supporting OpenAI with cloud-computing services.

A prominent US Senator has called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Microsoft for "gross cybersecurity negligence," citing the company's continued use of an obsolete and vulnerable form of encryption that Windows uses by default. In a letter to FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said an investigation his office conducted into the 2024 ransomware breach of the health care giant Ascension found that default use of the RC4 encryption cipher was a direct cause.

In June we reported that Microsoft was testing a floating Copilot search box in the Bing Search results interface. Now, Microsoft added keyword suggestions next to the floating Copilot search box to help you figure out what to search for. This update was spotted by Sachin Patel who shared this screenshot on X showing these three keyword phrases floating next to the already floating Copilot search box:

As the software colossus explained in a Wednesday post, Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote the company's first product, BASIC for the Altair 8800 microcomputer and the Intel 8080 processor that powered it, in 1975. A year later Gates and Ric Weiland, Microsoft's second employee, ported Microsoft BASIC to the 6502 processor. In 1977, Commodore Computer licensed it for $25,000 and used Microsoft BASIC in its PET, VIC-20, and Commodore 64 machines.

Last year, the government negotiated a Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 (SPA24) memorandum of understanding (MoU) that took effect in November and is scheduled to last until 2029. The Crown Commercial Service (CCS), which arranged the MoU, said it would offer "enhanced value across Microsoft's portfolio of products and services." Public bodies using the agreement might include schools, hospitals, councils, and emergency services, for example.

Microsoft Exchange Online is experiencing an outage that mainly affects European users. Users have been experiencing delays in sending and receiving emails since around 12:30 p.m. Central European Summer Time. Several users have reported experiencing problems, although the exact extent of the issue is still unclear. Microsoft acknowledges the problems on a support page in the closed admin center. The company states that "some users located in Europe" may experience problems sending or receiving emails via Exchange Online.

The use of Chinese nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments it's over, Hegseth said in a video statement. We've issued a formal letter of concern to Microsoft documenting this breach of trust, and we're requiring a third-party audit of Microsoft's digital escort programme, including the code and the submissions by Chinese nationals. Did they put anything in the code that we didn't know about? We are going to find out, Hegseth added.

Private prison company executives expressed their enthusiasm over unprecedented growth opportunities in immigration detention, which has seen a financial boost from the administration's crackdown.

Microsoft confirmed that attempts to reset or recover the device might fail through 'Reset my PC' or 'Fix problems using Windows Update', affecting many versions.

Microsoft is potentially set to experience a significant rise in profitability over the coming years, driven by AI-enabled cost reductions and enhanced AI-based product offerings.

Microsoft's August Patch Tuesday release offers 111 fixes affecting Windows, Office, SQL Server, and Exchange Server, requiring immediate attention for several vulnerabilities.

Sariel had a plan to transfer large amounts of Unit 8200's data, including top-secret information, into Microsoft's cloud platform, Azure. This would enable mass surveillance on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Watching what Xbox has been doing recently, I do get Dreamcast flashbacks. I think Sega realized they just were better off being a software house. I think Microsoft is in that same sort of fork in the road. And I don't think their hardware offering is persuasive enough to make up the ground they've lost.

Joining the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program grants access to resources for building solutions on its platforms, fostering opportunities for passive income streams.

Wassette is a new open source tool that allows developers to assemble lightweight Model Context Protocol servers using WebAssembly components, enhancing AI-driven functionalities.