Newsletter Archives

• A strong Microsoft

  Posted on October 30, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Microsoft’s FY24 Q1 numbers are excellent and will please investors, but results in certain sectors may spell future trouble.

  These days, decoding financial statements can be very difficult, much more so than during my time as a securities analyst in the ’90s. Complicating matters today are strained economies, inflation, political uncertainty, post-pandemic recoveries, supply-chain disruption, and currency fluctuations.

  Despite all that, Microsoft’s first-quarter financial results justify optimism.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.44.0, 2023-10-30).

  Microsoft News Financial Performance, Microsoft, Newsletters, Surface, Windows

• Windows 11, Surface, and Windows Copilot

  Posted on September 25, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.39 • 2023-09-25

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  In case we didn’t realize it already, Microsoft told us where we are headed.

  Last week, Microsoft held an event in New York. The bulk of the presentation was about AI, specifically Windows Copilot. Not Copilot, but Windows Copilot.

  This is deeply significant.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.39.0, 2023-09-25).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft News AI, Copilot, Microsoft, Microsoft Paint, News, Newsletters, Surface, Windows 11, Windows Explorer

• All in on AI

  Posted on May 15, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.20 • 2023-05-15

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  On May 4, Microsoft announced the “next wave of AI innovation.”

  Well, we’ll see about that.

  There was no parade, nor any hoopla associated with this announcement. The entirety of the presentation was in a single blog post, which might have gone unnoticed had I not received an email from a Microsoft spokesperson telling me about it. That was unusual.

  But that’s not the news.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.20.0, 2023-05-15).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft News AI, Bing, Bing AI, Copilot, Microsoft Edge, Newsletters

• Microsoft 365 Copilot announced

  Posted on March 27, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Another shoe has dropped in Microsoft’s quest to build generative AI into just about everything.

  On March 16, Microsoft announced a new feature named Copilot, which will be provided with Microsoft 365 accounts. Copilot uses generative artificial intelligence, a large language model (LLM), and the Microsoft Graph to provide services based on natural language prompts. Examples of such prompting are evident in the controversial BingAI, but Microsoft emphasized its commitment to “responsible AI” for Copilot.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.13.0, 2023-03-27).

  Microsoft News Artificial Intelligence, Bing AI, Copilot, Generative AI, Large language model, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Graph, Newsletters

• Microsoft to lay off 10,000 workers

  Posted on January 23, 2023 at 02:42 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Microsoft will reduce its worldwide workforce by 5% due to economic uncertainty.

  On January 18, 2023, Satya Nadella sent to all Microsoft employees a letter titled Focusing on our short- and long-term opportunity. The note contained his explanation for the contraction of the workforce.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.04.0, 2023-01-23).

  Microsoft News Financial Performance, Microsoft layoffs, Newsletters

• Microsoft’s fall Surface event

  Posted on October 17, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  For once, Microsoft pulls off a professional event.

  For those of you who follow my coverage of significant Microsoft announcements, you know I’ve had a somewhat negative opinion of the presentations. On October 12, the company conducted its fall event to announce new Surface models. The presentation may not have exceeded my expectations, but it at least met them.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.42.0, 2022-10-17).

  Microsoft News Microsoft, Microsoft News, Newsletters, Surface, Windows 11

• Windows 11 2H22 released, mostly

  Posted on September 26, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.39 • 2022-09-26

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Well, it wasn’t really 2H22. It was 2022.

  The entire news cycle about Windows 11, starting with its announcement over 18 months ago, has been different. Maybe weird is a better descriptor.

  The announcement wasn’t an event; nothing was live. There wasn’t even a video from Panos Panay, who was simply noted as the author of a blog post. The surprise twist in all this, especially from the perspective of someone in the press, was that the announcement was not accompanied by a press release in Microsoft’s usual location. Instead, it was given its own microsite. The release was not mentioned on Microsoft’s home page and was noted only on the Windows page with an eyebrow link at the very top.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.39.0, 2022-09-26).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft News AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft News, Newsletters, Windows 11

• First new Windows 11 functionality released in a cumulative update

  Posted on February 15, 2022 at 16:58 CST by joep517 • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft has released February 15, 2022—KB5010414 (OS Build 22000.527) Preview (microsoft.com). Even though the title has “Preview” in it, this update is being released to everyone today. In addition to a long list of fixes, there is a new media player and notepad. Taskbar changes include adding the clock and date to multiple monitors. When the taskbar is center aligned the weather now appears on the taskbar at the left. An Amazon app store preview app is available in the Microsoft Store. See the above release notes for more details.

  Here is the blog post that Panos Panay published about this release – Bringing you closer to what you love with new experiences in Windows 11 | Windows Experience Blog.

  (Note from Susan – this is a preview update and will not be pushed to all, you have to ‘check for updates’ to get it. It WILL be in the next month’s cumulative update – look for the Alert for more info)

  Microsoft News, Updates, Windows 11, Windows News

• $68.7 billion? Peanuts.

  Posted on January 24, 2022 at 02:41 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Frenzy around corporate acquisitions is nothing new; but this time, for Microsoft, it seems overstated.

  Last week, Microsoft announced its planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the well-known maker of such game franchises as Candy Crush, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. Part of the frenzy surrounded the price — almost three times more than Microsoft’s previous large acquisition, LinkedIn.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.04.0 (2022-01-24).

  Microsoft News Acquisitions, Microsoft, Microsoft News, News, Newsletters

• 68.7 billion dollars later

  Posted on January 18, 2022 at 14:16 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Wes Miller has been at the forefront of Microsoft and Microsoft licensing for eons. His tweet today on the subject of Microsoft’s 68.7 BILLION (with a B) acquisition of Blizzard gaming made me chuckle

  Looking forward to writing about World of Warcraft for Education and Call of Duty for Business.

  For a company who totally BLEW it on the phone platform, they seem to be buying their way once again into the mobile world.

  The thing that gives me pause in all of this is that it feels like Microsoft sees Big Business customers and Gaming customers and those of us in the middle kinda have to piggy back on one or the other and just hope there’s enough scraps at the table left behind. What’s your take on this buy out?

  Microsoft News Patch Lady Posts

• Windows 11 Surfaces

  Posted on September 27, 2021 at 02:41 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Microsoft’s September event showcased its updated Surface lineup and doubled down on the Duo 2.

  While Microsoft’s livestream presentation of September 2 was not tremendously exciting, it was a well-done description of the new Surface devices and was hosted by Panos Panay, in fine form.

  I won’t bore you with every detail, but here are some good sources of information.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.37.0 (2021-09-27).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft News, Surface AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft Surface, Surface, Surface Duo, Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Pro, Windows 11

• Windows 11 announced

  Posted on June 28, 2021 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.24 • 2021-06-28

  Watch for our special issue on July 5!

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Why this? Why now? And what the heck is going on?

  On June 24, 2021, Microsoft announced Windows 11. I have no idea why. It is surely not for the cobbled-together reasons the company gave during its rather brief briefing on Thursday.

  Visit our new Windows 11 section in the forums and these topics: Questions about Windows 11 Hardware questions relating to Windows 11

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.24.0 (2021-06-28).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.24.F (2021-06-28).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft News, Windows 11, Windows News AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Security, Windows, Windows 11
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