Tag: microsoft

Lenovo to launch its own OS and take on Windows 11

Posted on February 19, 2024 by - News

Maker of ThinkPads Lenovo is set to unleash a bombshell on Microsoft by launching its own artificial intelligence (AI) operating system (OS) later this year.

The tech giant’s top boss, Liu Jun, said the new OS would be “built around multi-terminal products, focusing on AI PCs and personal agents”.

Lenovo announced its latest range of AI PCs, which will hit the shelves in the first half of this year. The company said it will show off its cutting-edge AI devices at MWC, the largest event for the mobile industry, in February.

Amazon’s cloud grip crumbling as Vole storms ahead

Posted on February 7, 2024 by - News

Amazon Web Services, the big bully of the global cloud market, is losing its grip as AWS’ cloud market share fell two points, while Microsoft’s cloud share rose by nearly two points year-on-year in the last quarter of 2023.

IT market researchers Synergy Research Group said businesses splashed out $73.7 billion  on cloud services in the last quarter of 2023, a 20 per cent jump from $61.6 billion in the same quarter of 2022,

Synergy VP John Dinsdale said it was a cracking quarter for the cloud market. As the market grows like mad, Amazon, Vole, and Google still rake in most of the cash.

Microsoft and Google rake in billions in AI craze

Posted on January 31, 2024 by - News

Tech giants Microsoft and Google have splashed out on generative AI, with their cloud computing arms seeing a surge in demand as clients fork out for the pricey computing power that fuels the technology.

Microsoft has raced ahead in the AI game, pumping money into ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and pushing AI across products while others lag.

The company said sales soared to $62 billion for the October to December period, up 18 percent year-on-year and above the $61.1 billion expected by analysts.

The AI frenzy has helped Microsoft overtake Apple as the world’s biggest company by market value at more than three trillion dollars. The company’s share price is up  70 per cent from a year ago.

Microsoft’ resident Software King of the World Satya Nadella said  “We’ve moved from talking about AI to applying AI at scale.”

Microsoft dodges EU rules for its search engine and browser

Posted on January 25, 2024 by - News

Microsoft’s search engine Bing, browser Edge, and advertising services might be spared from Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation.

In 2022, the European Commission named the world’s most notorious tech giants, including Microsoft, as internet “gatekeepers,” who would be subject to special rules.

The DMA, which has been in force since November 2022, was meant to protect consumers while giving rivals more chances to survive against big tech companies.

Microsoft’s widely used services such as Windows, Bing search and the Edge browser came under the eagle eye of European antitrust regulators. As a result, the Redmond-based tech giant was added to the gatekeepers list.

Last year, both Apple and Microsoft tried to get iMessage and Bing off the EU’s tech gatekeepers list, with Microsoft arguing their platforms had neither hit the set thresholds nor attained the size to qualify as a gatekeeper.

Microsoft to store more cloudy data in EU

Posted on January 16, 2024 by - News

Software King of the World,  Microsoft has revealed plans to store and process all personal data from its European users in the EU.

Julie Brill, corporate VP & chief privacy officer at Microsoft, confirmed the decision, saying that the firm is changing the ‘EU Data Boundary for the Microsoft Cloud.’

The plan, which started in 2023, first covered some of Microsoft’s cloud services, including Microsoft 365, Azure, Power Platform and Dynamics 365.

This week the firm expanded the promise to include all personal data, even automated system logs, in the Microsoft EU Data Boundary.

EU officials and American tech giants have been in long talks over how to handle European data. There have been worries about how EU citizens’ data would be dealt with in the US, which has weaker privacy laws than the EU.

EU probes Vole’s AI antics

Posted on January 10, 2024 by - News

The EU has launched a probe into Microsoft’s $13 billion deal with OpenAI, the firm behind the world’s most popular chatbot, ChatGPT.

The Brussels bigwigs want to know if the deal is a sneaky way of merging the two tech giants and creating a monopoly in the booming artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

The EU’s competition boss, Margrethe Vestager, who is jetting off to California this week to grill the top dogs of Apple, Google and OpenAI, said she wants to keep the AI market fair and open.

She said she is asking businesses and experts to spill the beans on any dodgy dealings in the AI sector, and keeping a close eye on any cosy partnerships that could harm competition.

Microsoft wants to build UK AI infrastructure

Posted on December 7, 2023 by - News

Microsoft campusMicrosoft has promised to spend $3.2 billion (£2.5 billion) in a bid to create a large AI infrastructure in the UK.

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said the plan was to create “a major AI infrastructure and skilling investment supported by a new partnership on security” in the UK.

Vole plans to support AI’s growth and progress without compromising public security. The company’s goal also includes helping the economy and providing jobs.

In line with this, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced GBP29.5 billion of private funding for new UK projects that would create 12,000 jobs in various sectors including tech, life sciences, renewables, housing and infrastructure.

AWS gets three year cloud contract with Home Office

Posted on December 5, 2023 by - News

The Home Office has signed a three-year cloudy deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) valued at £450,281,369.

The contract falls under the G-Cloud 13 framework and is to provide public cloud hosting services to the Home Office. T

This latest agreement follows a series of collaborations between the Home Office and AWS, which are becoming increasingly controversial.

Last year, a report from the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR) and think tank TaxWatch revealed that AWS has secured UK public sector contracts exceeding £600 million since 2017.

The report also highlighted concerns about tax payments, with AWS allegedly avoiding £84 million in taxes during the same period.

Microsoft prepares to add GPT-4 Turbo to Bing Chat

Posted on November 29, 2023 by - News

Microsoft campusSoftware King of the World Microsoft is to add GPT-4 Turbo to Bing Chat, which the Redmond-based tech giant recently renamed Copilot.

Vole abandoned the Bing Chat branding for its generative AI-backed chatbot earlier this month. The company now uses Copilot to refer to the service.

Regardless of the name Microsoft uses for its widely popular chatbot, the company is sparing no effort in a bid to improve it. In line with this, Bing AI (A.K.A. Copilot) is slated to get GPT-4 Turbo soon despite some unresolved issues around the implementation.

Now, an exchange on X between a Bing AI user and Microsoft’s head of Advertising and Web Services Mikhail Parakhin has shed some light on the transition to GPT-4 Turbo.

Microsoft bans cloud resellers from government framework

Posted on November 27, 2023 by - News

Microsoft, software king of the world, has banned third-party IT suppliers from reselling its cloud services through the government’s soon-to-be launched Cloud Compute 2 procurement framework.

The government’s procurement arm, the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), told suppliers they hoped to get a spot on the four Lot framework, valued at £1.35 billion.

Microsoft is one of 12 cloud providers to have secured a spot on the framework’s first Lot, geared towards public sector IT buyers who want to buy cloud services directly from the hyperscalers.

The framework’s second Lot is for public sector IT buyers that want to procure the providers’ services in Lot One indirectly through a third-party reseller or managed service provider. There are 39 suppliers on that Lot.

Microsoft poaches key Open AI staff.

Posted on November 21, 2023 by - News

Software King of the World Microsoft has swept in to poach key OpenAI staff in the wake of the firing of Sam Altman.

For those not in the know, the Board fired Altman for needing to be consistently candid in his communications with the board and hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.

The job was passed to chief technology officer Mira Murati, at least for now.

However, Microsoft was furious, having invested $13 billion in the company and needing it for its bold new AI plans.  Microsoft’s response was to hire Altman and any staff who wanted to come with him to form a new AI research division.

Windows 12 will not be subscription based

Posted on October 18, 2023 by - News

Channel partners are breathing a sigh of relief after the software king of the world, Microsoft, revealed that its comping Windows 12 will not be subscription-based.

Windows 12 is expected to be released in 2024 and the dark satanic rumour mill has been manufacturing a lot of rumours claiming it would be subscription-based.

After introducing “Windows as a Service”, reports suggesting that the next Windows will be subscription-based have started to surface online. Microsoft introduced Windows as a Service to provide customers with a consistent Windows 10 experience.

A Windows Central report suggests the recently discovered references could be linked to the “IoT Enterprise Subscription” edition of Windows 11 rather than the client version of Windows vNext. Furthermore, the publication’s Zac Bowden says the upcoming version of Windows isn’t likely to boast new features that may require a subscription.

Sky’s the limit on UK competition probe

Posted on October 9, 2023 by - News

The UK’s cloud computing market faces a competition probe over concerns that Amazon and Microsoft are ruling everything with an iron fist.

Media watchdog Ofcom said the two make up 70-80 per cent of the sector in the UK, while closest rival Google has 5-10 per cent.

Ofcom had said in April it was worried a lack of competition made it difficult for businesses to switch providers.

It has referred the sector to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to look into the issue.

Amazon and Microsoft told the BBC they would work with the CMA as it conducts its investigation. However, Amazon said it felt Ofcom’s concerns were “based on a fundamental misconception” of the sector.

The services are used by businesses across the UK, and Ofcom estimated that in 2022 the cloud services market in the UK was worth up to £7.5 billion.

Pure Storage expands Microsoft partnership

Posted on August 24, 2023 by - News

Pure Storage has announced an expanded, multi-year product and go-to-market partnership with Microsoft to deliver Pure’s storage capabilities to native Microsoft Azure services.

The new product will use  Azure’s new Premium SSD v2 and introduce customers to Azure VMware Solution (AVS) in Preview.

Pure Cloud Block Store for Azure VMware Solutions is in Preview in 16 Azure regions globally.

The company claims that with the joint solution, customers can access enhanced features and functions. Topping the list is Optimising AVS costs. Pure Storage compression and deduplication technology means organisations can achieve a high data reduction ratio on VM workloads in Azure, the company claims.

 

Toughest EU rules hit Big Tech on Friday

Posted on August 23, 2023 by - News

On Friday, Big tech vendors will face the toughest regulation of online content since the arrival of GDPR.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) forces companies to more aggressively police digital content and protect online users from disinformation and hate speech or face heavy fines.

Technology law professor Suzanne Vergnolle said the DSA is part of a bigger strategy to give more power to individuals, to the regulators, to civil society.

“It is another step towards more accountability,” she told AFP.