Microsoft Reveals Next-Gen Console, Xbox One
At a gala event at its Redmond campus, Microsoft on Tuesday revealed that its next-generation Xbox video game console will be named Xbox One and will include the expected feature-set, including a bundled next-generation Kinect sensor and Blu-Ray optical drive. The system will hit the market in November alongside Sony’s PlayStation 4.
On Eve of Xbox Reveal, Microsoft Issues Defense of Gaming Market
While Xbox has given Microsoft a valuable consumer brand with absurdly loyal customers, it has also paradoxically never directly repaid the billions of dollars in R&D that Microsoft invested, let alone the unexpected warranty repair costs of the current-generation console. But on the eve of a reveal event for its third Xbox device, Microsoft issued an interesting defense of the video game console, arguing among other things that more people are playing games than ever before.
Azure Is the Future of Microsoft
The market for on-premises servers and infrastructure is coming to an end. The future is the cloud, which for Microsoft means Azure.
Yahoo! to Purchase Tumblr for $1.1 Billion
Struggling online giant Yahoo this morning revealed its plans to purchase Tumblr, a blogging service with over 300 million unique users. In a quirky press release, the firm said it wouldn’t “screw it up,” and would instead allow Tumblr to be independently operated as a separate business.
Short Takes: May 17, 2013
An often irreverent look at this week's other news, including Google and Microsoft find some common ground in an unexpected place, Microsoft renews campaign to kill off its best-selling product ever, Dell tanks while Carl Icahn tries to rob its corpse, Gates is ironically number one again thanks to monopoly busting, the DOJ details its evidence against Apple in ebook price-fixing case, and Apple responds by pointing in the other direction.
Larry Page Blames Microsoft for Rift with Google
Google CEO Larry Page got tripped up by a bit of hypocrisy during his appearance at his firm’s annual Google I/O developer conference. At an event at which the firm didn’t announce a single product or service that runs natively on Microsoft’s Windows platforms, Page complained that Microsoft recently added support for Google Chat to Outlook.com without enabling the reverse.
Report: Smartphone Market Moving to Android Monopoly
Just last year, industry analysts spoke of a duopoly in the smart phone market, with Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone slicing up the market between them. But today, it’s pretty much an Android monopoly, with iPhone market share falling precipitously.
City of Boston Drops Microsoft for Google
Last week, the City of Boston announced that it's "moving to the cloud" by adopting Google Apps for all city workers and schools. Google Apps will replace "multiple aging on-premises email systems currently in use"—read: "Exchange Server"—and will save the city money each year. But I think it's a huge mistake.
Samsung Claims 5G Wireless Technology Breakthrough
Samsung this week claimed to have made a technological breakthrough that will enable true 5G wireless networks with speeds “several hundred times faster” than today’s wireless networks. The catch? It won’t be commercially available until as late as 2020.
Microsoft Reportedly Offers to Buy NOOK for $1 Billion
A report claims that Microsoft is close to purchasing Barnes & Noble’s NOOK business for $1 billion. But Microsoft apparently isn’t interested in the chain’s struggling ebook reader devices. Instead, the firm is looking to obtain NOOK’s digital assets, which it could integrate into its growing digital content ecosystem.
Short Takes: May 10, 2013
An often irreverent look at this week's other news, including an Apple snub of Windows 8/RT, comparisons of Windows 8 license sales and usage, the ever-quotable Acer CEO, Android’s utter dominance of the industry continues, no change of strategy for Nokia, the Chinese invade the US … smart phone market, and a sensitive new driver for the Surface Pro pen.
Microsoft Names New CFO
Microsoft this week named Amy Hood as its next Chief Financial Officer, replacing outgoing CFO Peter Klein. Hood formerly served as CFO of the Microsoft Business Division, which is responsible for Office, Microsoft’s largest business.
Nokia Shareholders Express Growing Impatience with Turnaround Efforts
In early 2011, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop asked exasperated shareholders and fans of the company’s products to give him two years to turn around the company’s fading smart phone market share and financial fortitude. But with those two years expired, the firm has little in the way of positive news to report. And shareholders are getting increasingly edgy.
Is Microsoft Set to Add Hosted VDI to Azure?
If a recent rumor is true, Microsoft is preparing a dramatic expansion of Windows Azure that will include an Azure-hosted desktop virtualization service, or what I think of as a hosted VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) solution. Is VDI about to get a lot less expensive and complex?
You'll have the opportunity to experience:
During over 6 hours of training you can join John Savill from your computer as he will walk you through the key components and capabilities of System Center 2012, what’s involved in using the components, and the benefit they can bring to your environment.
May 2013 - The NameTranslate object is useful when you need to translate Active Directory object names between different formats, but it's awkward to use from PowerShell. Here's a PowerShell script that eliminates the awkwardness.
Get answers to questions, share tips, and engage with the Windows Community in our Forums.
