Microsoft probed over aim to double black staff numbers. Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years. Image copyrightMicrosoft Two years ago, Microsoft sank a data centre off the coast of Orkney in a wild experiment.
That data centre has now been retrieved from the ocean floor, and Microsoft researchers are assessing how it has performed, and what they can learn from it about energy efficiency. No humans, few failures Their first conclusion is that the cylinder packed with servers had a lower failure rate than a conventional data centre. When the container was hauled off the seabed around half a mile offshore after being placed there in May 2018, just eight out of the 855 servers on board had failed. That compares very well with a conventional data centre. "Our failure rate in the water is one-eighth of what we see on land," says Ben Cutler, who has led what Microsoft calls Project Natick. The team is speculating that the greater reliability may be connected to the fact that there were no humans on board, and that nitrogen rather than oxygen was pumped into the capsule.
Reliably green. Deepfake detection tool unveiled by Microsoft. Image copyrightGetty Images Microsoft has developed a tool to spot deepfakes - computer-manipulated images in which one person's likeness has been used to replace that of another.
The software analyses photos and videos to give a confidence score about whether the material is likely to have been artificially created. The firm says it hopes the tech will help "combat disinformation". Microsoft 'to replace journalists with robots' Image copyright PA Media Microsoft is to replace dozens of contract journalists on its MSN website and use automated systems to select news stories, US and UK media report.
The curating of stories from news organisations and selection of headlines and pictures for the MSN site is currently done by journalists. Artificial intelligence will perform these news production tasks, sources told the Seattle Times. Microsoft said it was part of an evaluation of its business. Slack makes EU antitrust claim against Microsoft over Teams. Image copyright Slack Work messaging platform Slack has filed an antitrust claim against Microsoft, claiming the tech giant’s rival app Teams has an unfair advantage.
Slack said Microsoft’s bundling of Teams within Office 365 software was “illegal and anti-competitive practice” and that the tech giant was “abusing its market dominance”. The complaint will now be reviewed by the European Commission. Microsoft said that it was providing the EC with information. "We created Teams to combine the ability to collaborate with the ability to connect via video, because that's what people want," said a spokesperson. "With Covid-19, the market has embraced Teams in record numbers while Slack suffered from its absence of video-conferencing.
"We look forward to providing additional information to the European Commission and answering any questions they may have. " With millions more employees working from home during the pandemic, rivalry over the technology that makes remote working possible has deepened. How trickery makes video calls more personal. News BBC News Navigation Sections Previous Next Media player Media playback is unsupported on your device WATCH: How trickery makes video calls more personal.
Why is Windows 10 a mess? Ex-Microsoft engineer blames the culture of 'made-men' Tired of boring, buggy Windows 10 updates?
You can blame them on Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's failure to eliminate the company's legacy of appointing "made-men". Nadella has done a lot to change the image of the company, splitting up the Windows and Devices Group earlier this year. When this eBook store closes, your books disappear too. Image copyright Getty Images To soften the blow, the company has promised to refund any customers who bought books through the store (a clue that there may not have been that many of them, hence the closure.
Microsoft did not offer further comment). But just think about that for a moment. Isn’t it strange? If you’re a Microsoft customer, you paid for those books. Microsoft: What went right under Satya Nadella? Media playback is unsupported on your device On Monday, it will be five years since Satya Nadella was announced as Microsoft's chief executive.
Since taking charge he has turned the tech firm's fortunes around, making it the most valuable company in the world for the first time since 2002. Go on, admit it. You thought Microsoft was so last century, didn't you? In the late 80s and 90s, the company's Windows operating system ruled the world. Catching the wave But where Bill Gates - chief executive from 1975 to 2000 - caught the wave of personal computing, so Steve Ballmer - 2000 to 2014 - failed to do likewise with mobiles. Although the Surface tablet is a modest success, Microsoft's smartphones have flopped despite the firm paying more than 5.4bn euros ($6.2bn; £4.7bn) for Nokia's handset business. Image copyright Getty Images. Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 7 one year from today.
If you still use Windows 7, it may be time to consider an upgrade.
Starting Jan. 14, 2020, exactly one year from Monday, Microsoft will no longer support Windows 7. That means no more updates or security fixes for the operating system. Microsoft will continue to provide security updates for Windows 7 to business customers that pay for support, according to ZDNet, but not individual users. Windows 7 was released in 2009 and is still one of the most widely used desktop operating systems. Windows 10 finally overtook Windows 7 in the desktop market at the end of last year, according to ZDNet. In 2012, the computer giant decided to extend five more years of support for all editions of Windows 7 for individual users. Microsoft Wants to Kill Passwords, Starting With Windows 10. The next version of Windows 10 will support passwordless Microsoft accounts.
Microsoft will just text a code to your phone number when you sign in. It’s all part of Microsoft’s stated goal: “a world without passwords.” This feature is available now in Insider build 18309. It will be stable and available to everyone in the next version of Windows 10, codenamed 19H1 and available sometime around April 2019. Passwordless logins debuted for Windows 10 Home back in Insider build 18305, but are now available on all editions of Windows. Microsoft Teams usage passes Slack in new survey; IT pros expect its presence to double by 2020.
Microsoft Teams is now being used by more organizations than its rival Slack, according to a new survey that shows how far the Redmond tech giant’s collaboration app has come in less than two years. A survey of 901 organizations by Austin-based IT network Spiceworks found that 21 percent of respondents use Microsoft Teams versus 15 percent for Slack. Skype for Business is the most popular chat app, with 44 percent of organizations using it.