News


In Challenge to Microsoft, Salesforce Acquires Slack for $27 Billion

Salesforce has announced its intent to acquire Slack for an estimated $27.7 billion in a deal that would fuse two of Microsoft's biggest rivals in the business applications space.

Small Orgs Getting Simplified Microsoft 365 Admin Center Option

Microsoft is preparing to roll out a more stripped-down Microsoft 365 Admin Center interface designed for "very small businesses."

Microsoft Pulls Productivity Score Feature After Privacy Concerns

The ability to show user names in Microsoft 365 Productivity Score has been removed in response to concerns that it may be used to snoop on employees.

Microsoft Details Coming SharePoint, Microsoft 365 Improvements

Microsoft is readying a bunch of Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Online improvements, including a new "My Feed" Web Part and more Microsoft Graph connectors.

Windows Autopilot for HoloLens 2 Hits Preview

Windows Autopilot, Microsoft's PC self-provisioning program, is now being tested for use with the company's mixed-reality headset, the HoloLens 2.

Signs Point to Microsoft Charging for Use of APIs

There are indications that Microsoft is mulling charging customers for software that uses its application programming interfaces.

Microsoft Extends Azure Hybrid Benefit Licensing to Linux

Microsoft has expanded its Azure Hybrid Benefit licensing program to include Linux servers, particularly Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SUSE Linux Enterprise servers.

Microsoft Launches Dataverse for Teams, Formerly Microsoft Dataflex

Microsoft has announced the general availability of Microsoft Dataverse for Teams, a data platform that works with its Power Platform suite.

Microsoft Marks 2 Years of ESU Licensing Model

Microsoft this week marked the second year of its Extended Security Update (ESU) licensing program for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.

Quest Expands Office 365 Migration Toolset with Quadrotech Buy

Two months after acquiring Binary Tree, Quest Software is again padding its Office 365 migration portfolio with the acquisition of partner Quadrotech.

Microsoft Integrating Teams with Project for the Web

Microsoft said this week that it is integrating its Project for the Web and Project Roadmap applications with its Teams chat and collaboration application.

SharePoint Online Search Improvements Coming

Microsoft is planning several enhancements related to the ability for users to gather usage analytics reports on searches across SharePoint Online sites.

Touting Azure for Operators, Microsoft Joins SDN Standards Group

As part of its Azure for Operators program, Microsoft this week joined a nonprofit standards association that focuses on SDN technologies used by enterprises and service providers.

Pilot Begins of Microsoft Teams-Salesforce CRM Integration

A new capability that lets Microsoft Teams users access information from the Salesforce.com customer relationship management (CRM) platform debuted this week.

Microsoft's Azure Space Program Gets 'Modular' Datacenters

Microsoft recently unveiled its new Azure Modular Datacenters, boxcar-like structures that can deliver compute and storage capabilities anywhere on earth.

Version 20H2 of Windows 10 and Windows Server Released

The October 2020 updates of Windows 10 and Windows Server, also known as version 20H2, were released by Microsoft on Tuesday.

Phishing Attacks Impersonate Microsoft's Brand the Most

Security solutions firm Check Point this week gave Microsoft the dubious distinction of being the "most imitated" company used for phishing attacks.

Remote Work To Drive Higher Cloud, IT Services Spending in 2021

Global tech spending has taken a hit in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but analysts expect it to rebound next year.

As Office 2010 Loses Support, Microsoft Touts Microsoft 365 Alternative

Microsoft talked up emerging Microsoft 365 capabilities as "perpetual-license" versions of Office -- namely Office 2010 and Office 2016 for Mac -- lost support this week.

Microsoft Touts Arm Partnership on Edge Devices and Azure Tools

Microsoft and Arm are collaborating on Azure developer tools for "intelligent edge devices" that use artificial intelligence, per a Thursday announcement.