Uber on Wednesday took to Microsoft's Windows blog to announce its universal Windows 10 which can run on phones, tablets and PCs. Uber product team member Yuixin Zhu credited the "power of the Universal Windows Platform" for the company's ability to do what Microsoft hopes what more developers will do: "deploy a single app through a unified store that delivers the right experience to whatever device downloads the app".
Microsoft has launched its version of Black Friday with a week-long promotion offering content for only 10 cents. The Redmond giant announced the deals late last week. Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft said in a blog post for the next 10 days Windows 10 users can take advantage of the promotion, which will over offer over 1,000 movies, music, applications and games for 10 cents each.
When, why and how much diagnostic data Windows 10 sends back to Microsoft has been a source of considerable debate for the last couple of weeks. By default Windows 10 collects some data about how Windows and Windows apps are performing plus some additional details - such as about crashes, so-called telemetry data. (Calling all this 'telemetry data' makes it sound much more grand than it is, like the sort of information that would be sent back by a probe en route to a distant star, rather than the more humdrum details of why your PC crashed halfway through you writing a Facebook post.)
Microsoft announced Monday that it has made a deal to acquire Secure Islands, an Israeli company that focuses on protecting companies' data. Neither company disclosed the terms of the deal. The acquisition will help Microsoft level up its Azure Rights Management Service, which lets companies protect files individually and in bulk with tools that ensure they aren't opened or modified by people who are unauthorized to do so. Secure Islands's services include data classification technology that automatically detects the creation of new files from a variety of sources and then applies a protection policy to it.
Microsoft is readying its promised Windows Store for Business for Windows 10, and has made available some initial information on the coming Store as of November 4. The Windows Store for Business is the portal for Windows 10 apps for business users. Microsoft officials first outlined the company's plans for a Windows 10 Store for Business in November 2014.
Updated late October, Microsoft's "Windows lifecycle fact sheet" shows October 31, 2016, as the "end of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled" for both Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8.1, a change spotted by CNET sister site ZDNet. After that date, the only choice for consumers will be to purchase new computers with Windows 10 installed. The lone exception will be businesses with license agreements that entitle them to choose which version of Windows they want preinstalled.
Microsoft announced this morning the official launch date for the long-anticipated new version of Microsoft Office. Office 2016 will be broadly available starting on September 22, the company says. Meanwhile, Office Customers with volume licensing agreements will be able to download the software on October 1. The updated version of Office includes a number of new features for desktop customers, including the ability to co-edit documents at the same time, sync files to OneDrive in the cloud, and more.
At its Build developer conference earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it would soon release tools that would make it easier for iOS and Android developers to take their existing code and port their apps to Windows. The Android version of this, officially named Windows Bridge for Android, is now in private beta. The iOS version, however — previously known under the codename “Project Islandwood” — is entering its first public preview today.
Microsoft has renovated an online store that combines its Windows Store and Windows Phone Store into one big virtual shopping mall. The newly redesigned app store is part of the company's attempt to unify the Windows 10 experience across all devices -- PCs, tablets and mobile phones. In the past, Windows PC and tablet owners looking for apps would have to browse the Windows Store, while Windows Phone users would have to check out the Windows Phone store. But now this one-stop shop is geared for everyone.
According to The Verge’s Tom Warren, Windows 10 is done, having reached RTM status with build number 10240. The timing is not surprising. Microsoft will release Windows 10 to its testing community on July 29, followed by volume partners and, after, the general public through an update process. RTM builds, in contrast, are designed for equipment manufacturers, who need the code ahead of time to prep new machines. Dell, for example, is committed to selling Windows 10 PCs on the very first day, the 29th, that the code is live.