In an announcement today, Microsoft says it is moving to this model for several reasons, including lowering consumer cost, providing easier access to newer features, and improving performance. The company adds its support capabilities will also be enhanced. Just like Windows 10, Dynamics 365 will now be upgraded each April and October. Also like on the desktop platform, updates will be backward compatible to allow users to carry existing apps and workloads from previous releases....

As the name suggests, this will provide a more kid-friendly browsing experience. Parents will also get deeper options to control how their children browse online. Kids Mode is a free part of the browser that you can toggle on the Windows 10 and macOS versions of the app. All you need to do to activate the mode is head to the user profile section and choose “Browse in Kids Mode”....

It’s fair to say that some have seen this coming, and Microsoft has gained a lot of useful information so far. In a blog post on Wednesday, it revealed that it has paid out over $200,000 in bounties. “This collaboration with the research community has resulted in significant improvements in Edge security and has allowed us to offer more proactive security for our customers,” said security program manager Akila Srinivasan....

Over on Reddit u/Leopeva64-2 found a similar toggle to Workspaces in a recent Microsoft Edge Canary channel update. Located in the Appearance settings, the toggle allows users to turn on/off the Workspaces button in the Edge toolbar. If the return of Workspaces follows the same development path of last year’s experiment, the button will show on the upper-left corner. It is worth noting while the toggle is available in Appearance settings, it currently does not work....

However, some Microsoft infrastructure requires on premises care. That meant some employees needed to attend their roles and could not work from home. In terms of workers at Microsoft data centers, some slept on the floor on site. A Microsoft executive says while remote work was widespread through the company, it was not possible for all employees. “I heard amazing stories about people actually sleeping in data centers,” Kristen Roby Dimlow, corporate vice president for total rewards, performance, and human resources business insights at Microsoft....

Starting with the new Azure region, Microsoft says the location will help organizations in Spain meet compliance and requirements within the country. Cloud services such as Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Microsoft 365, and Azure will be delivered to Spanish customers from the datacenter. In terms of its partnership with Telefonica, Microsoft is moving to the next phase. The company says it will co-develop go-to-market plans with the company. This will happen in all countries where Telefonica has operations....

Looking at the increased choice of silicon, Microsoft says Windows 10 IoT Core Board Support Packages for the NXP i.MX series of CPU are now generally available. This includes the i.MX6, i.MX7, i.MX 8M and i.MX 8M Mini series’. If you’re unfamiliar with NXP, it is one of the main suppliers of high-security connectivity for embedded devices. By integrating the silicon with Windows 10 IoT Core, device manufacturers can build more secure and enterprise-ready devices....

Windows 10 21H1 is previewing on the fe_release branch, relating to its codename “Windows 10 Iron”. However, it’s important to remember the “Iron” branch of 21H1 is not for desktop. Instead it is for Windows 10X and Windows Server 2021. Microsoft has been quiet in recent weeks in terms of updates for this branch. It now seems clear the company was wrapping up the build. It is worth noting Microsoft has not officially said this is the final update for fe_release....

The uninitiated may assume that Fluid Framework is in someway related to Microsoft’s Fluent Design language. That’s not actually true, though it does borrow the design principles. The experience is instead an effort from the company to break down the barriers between various applications. In practice, that will mean features like multi-person co-authoring on web and document content. Users will be able to break content down into individual components that can be used across applications and recombined....

If you are unfamiliar with GroupMe, it is a service that gives users tools to sort and manage contacts by creating groups. Adding contacts to the app via phone or email brings up several chat options. Since Microsoft bought Skype in 2011, the company’s efforts on GroupMe have reduced. The app has received updates, but not anything significant in recent years. Despite this, the tool remains relatively popular in the United States....

The most interesting thing about Project Lively is its ability to make collaborations seamless. It is in some ways like the existing real-time co-authoring ability currently in Office. However, there is a clear and very important distinction. Project Lively allows sharing of files and updated files out of real-time. It is also its own platform and does not use Microsoft’s other file sharing services, such as OneDrive. It allows users to store files when they like, email and share Office documents, and post them online....

As always, this project has been developed through the ethos of Microsoft Garage. The special division of the company allows employees from separate businesses to collaborate on projects. Creations from the Garage are outside Microsoft’s core product selection, so experimentation is encouraged. Looking at Digital Marketing Center, the project was helmed by Program Managers Prince Bajracharya and Rosé Dorleans from Microsoft Advertising. Both found that SMBs are not managing their digital managing demands well and are often overwhelmed....

Microsoft-published titles, while significant, have been plagued with issues. The biggest blow came with the cancellation of Scalebound, for which the reasoning remains vague. The anticipated Crackdown 3 was then pushed back to 2018, all after promising an ‘exciting year of exclusives’. None of it was good news for fans, and Xbox head Phil Spencer has now addressed that. “We need to grow, and I look forward to doing that,” he told Bloomberg on Monday....

STEM Saturdays will be happening in all full line locations. Microsoft is also pointing users to the free programs the Microsoft Store has available at all times. The company says the STEM Saturday events are open to all, kicking off this Saturday (May 6). Using Windows 10 S on the Creators Update, the events will feature the following: How to build a flex sensor that lets them control a robotic finger with their own finger....

Specifically, the company has introduced NTFS storage requirements which have had consequences for many users. Because of this change, many external SD card storage linked to OneDrive has become useless. This is particularly frustrating because Microsoft seems to have implemented this under the radar. There are some who believe this is just a test, but it does appear as though this is a permanent change going through preview. Naturally, many users are unhappy with the situation and have taken to Microsoft’s forums and Reddit to vent: “Without warning, Microsoft changed their consumer OneDrive policy to only support the NTFS file system,” the company’s support forum read....

Admins are given more control who gets a product license and what services are made available. Microsoft says the group-based license management solves a significant problem where customers would delay service roll-outs because no service would work at scale. With the new feature, admins can define a license template and assign it to a security group in Azure AD. This allows the platform to assign and remove licenses per user when they join and leave the group....

Because they are created for low latency workloads, the L Series for Storage VMS are ideal from NoSQL databases. For example, customers using MongoDB, Cassandra, Cloudera, and Redis will find plenty of value in the news sizes. Beck explains that the series comes with up to 32 CPU Cores and run the Intel Xeon E5 v3 family of processors. These Azure virtual machines offer similar performance to the existing G-Serie that customers can currently use....

“Our teams ship tens of millions of hardware products every year including the Xbox One X, Xbox One S, a full accessories lineup, and more. Microsoft is the destination for the brightest minds in gaming device design. Come be part of what’s next,” says the opening. It emphasizes the need for an engineer with experience in DRAM, including DDR3, GDDR5, GDDR6, and future technology. The candidate in question will be the primary focal point for memory solutions on both current and future Xbox projects, balancing performance, reliability, and cost....

1 Windows Server Insider Preview 162372 Nano Server Changes Build 16237 gives dedicated users an early look and the OSes latest improvements, allowing them to prep for the transition and provide essential feedback. This release is a lead up to Windows Server version 1709, which be available to everyone in September. It’s available to both Windows Insider for Business users and general Insiders. Windows Server Insider Preview 16237 Microsoft has gone big in its first build, with a ton of new functionality and plenty more enhancements....

Being able to manage and run sophisticated workloads is a big part of Windows Server IoT 2019. Functional across cloud or on premises, the platform also provides leading security features. In an announcement today, Microsoft also announced increased chip support for Windows 10 IoT. The company says IoT Core now supports the i.MX 8M and i.MX 8M Mini applications processors. Furthermore, Windows 10 IoT enterprise now supports Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs....