by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Markets, Technology
San Francisco : Apple has finally announced that Microsoft Office 365 is now available on Mac App Store where users can directly download signature apps such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel that are popular in Microsoft Windows system.
Office 365 for Mac has been designed specifically to support features that are unique to the Mac experience – like Dark Mode and Continuity Camera in macOS, as well as the MacBook Pro Touch Bar and the Mac’s trackpad, Apple wrote in a blog-post on Thursday.
The debut of the Microsoft Office in Apple Store came a little bit later than what Apple first announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference last year, when the Cupertino, California-based tech firm promised the Microsoft Office package would be available by the end of 2018.
Apple said users can purchase a subscription for Office 365 from within the apps, which was designed specifically to support features that are unique to the Mac experience, reports Xinhua news agency.
“Apple and Microsoft have worked together to bring great Office productivity to Mac users from the very beginning. Now, with Office 365 on the Mac App Store, it’s easier than ever to get the latest and best version of Office 365 for Mac, iPad and iPhone,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of worldwide marketing.
Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, said his company has been working closely with Apple to provide Mac users with the very best productivity experience uniquely designed for the Mac system.
The Office 365 apps would be distributed to Apple employees using “Apple Business Manager”.
“Business Manager” is a central dashboard from where their IT team can quickly enable employees to get to work Office tools across Mac, iPad and iPhone, with features designed specifically for Apple devices, added, the iPhone-maker added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Medium Enterprise, Networking, Online Marketing, SMEs, Technology
San Francisco : Microsoft has said it has acquired open-source company Citus Data to bolster the competitiveness of its Cloud computing business.
Citus Data is a company dedicated to the open-source database software PostgreSQL. Microsoft did not disclose detailed terms of the deal.
Microsoft said its acquisition of the start-up company, founded in 2011 with about 40 employees, reaffirms its commitment to Open-Source and accelerates Azure PostgreSQL performance and scale, Xinhua news agency reported late on Thursday.
“Working together, we will accelerate the delivery of key, enterprise-ready features from Azure to PostgreSQL and enable critical PostgreSQL workloads to run on Azure with confidence,” said Rohan Kumar, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Azure Data.
Microsoft will continue to build on its promise around Azure as the most comprehensive cloud to run open-source and proprietary workloads at any scale, while it hopes to work with the PostgreSQL community to accelerate innovation to customers, Kumar added.
Microsoft launched its fully-managed community-based database service for PostgreSQL in March 2018 and it will now provide a version of PostgreSQL that scales more efficiently in response to growing demand.
“Microsoft and Citus Data will further unlock the power of data, enabling customers to scale complex multi-tenant Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications… with the familiar PostgreSQL tools developers know and love,” Kumar said.
Citus Data has become one of the latest open-source tech companies to have joined Microsoft since the Washington state-based Internet and software giant announced the purchase of the world’s largest open-source coding site GitHub with $7.5 billion in June 2018.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Technology
San Francisco : Even though Microsoft ended mainstream support for “Windows 7” in January 2015, the software giant has now decided to put a final halt on the roll-out of free security patches also for the operating system (OS) next year.
“After January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or support for PCs running ‘Windows 7’,” the company wrote in a post on Monday.
Even after Microsoft ends support for the older OS, users would still be able to operate on it but would not receive any security, software or feature updates.
“You can continue to use ‘Windows 7’, but once support ends, your PC will become more vulnerable to security risks,” Microsoft said.
“Windows 7” however, would also still be available for installation and activation after January 14, 2020.
“To avoid security risks and viruses, Microsoft recommends that you consider upgrading to Windows 10,” the company added.
“Windows 7” was released in October 2009, less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, Markets, Networking, News, Online Marketing, Technology
New Delhi : A large-sized enterprise in India loses an average of $10.3 million owing to cyber attacks and a mid-sized organisation an average of $11,000 annually, a Microsoft-led study said on Wednesday.
Cyber security attacks have also resulted in job losses across different functions in more than three in five (64 per cent) organisations that have experienced cyber attacks, revealed the Frost and Sullivan study commissioned by Microsoft.
“With traditional IT boundaries disappearing, the adversaries now have many new targets to attack. Companies face the risk of significant financial loss, damage to customer satisfaction and market reputation-as is evident from high-profile breaches this year,” said Keshav Dhakad, Group Head and Assistant General Counsel, Corporate, External & Legal Affairs (CELA), Microsoft India.
The study, titled “Understanding the Cybersecurity Threat Landscape in Asia Pacific: Securing the Modern Enterprise in a Digital World” involved a survey of 1,300 business and IT decision makers.
“More than three in five organizations (62 per cent) surveyed in India have either experienced a cybersecurity incident (30 per cent) or are not sure if they had one as they have not performed proper forensics or data breach assessment (32 per cent),” the findings showed.
The survey ranged from mid-sized organisations (250 to 499 employees) to large-sised organizations (more than 500 employees).
To calculate the cost of cybercrime, Frost & Sullivan created an economic-loss model based on macro-economic data and insights shared by the survey respondents.
The study also examined the current cyber security strategy of organisations in India.
It found that nine in 10 (92 per cent) Indian organisations are looking to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their cyber security strategy.
Additionally, more than one in five (22 per cent) of Indian organisations have witnessed benefits of using AI to achieve faster and more accurate detection of threats.
“Most organisations lack a cybersecurity strategy, while for a large majority cybersecurity was an afterthought. About 59 per cent (three in five) respondents said the fear of cyber attacks has hindered digital transformation projects,” the study noted.
While 37 per cent see cybersecurity strategy only as a means to safeguard the organisation against cyberattacks rather than a strategic business enabler, a mere 18 per cent seeing cybersecurity as a digital transformation enabler, it added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Markets, Technology
San Francisco : With rumours claiming that Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) will hit the Sony Playstation 4 (PS4) in December, Microsoft is set to add the popular mobile game to the company’s Xbox Game Pass subscription on November 12, the media reported.
The addition means Xbox One users who subscribe to Xbox Game Pass for $9.99 will now be able to access PUBG, alongside more than 100 others, The Verge reported late on Saturday.
Microsoft appears to have paid for a year of exclusivity on the Xbox One for PUBG, but a move to PS4 opens the game up to millions more as it continues to battle with the popularity of rival Fortnite, the report said.
With Microsoft exploring game streaming with its xCloud service, the company has been consistently pushing Xbox Game Pass. It is clearly a big part of the tech giant’s future Xbox plans.
The company has also committed to releasing all of its first-party titles through Xbox Game Pass.
As part of this PUBG addition, new Xbox Game Pass subscribers will be able to access the service for a month for $1 during the holiday season, the report said.
—IANS
