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1 Azure L-Series VM Prices2 Dv3 and Ev3 VMs Those VMs represent Microsoft’s storage-optimized line, launched recently for workloads that require low latency. The VMs are available in five regions currently, Canada Central, Canada East, East US 2, West US, and US Gov Virginia. Azure L-Series VM Prices Though the amount varies depending on your instance, general savings are in the 60-69% range. That’s a very considerable decrease and should help to draw in new customers....

“Sorry, Cortana will no longer be able to track packages from your email.” Instead, users are encouraged to track their packages via Outlook or Mail and Calendar. Mail and Calendar is installed on every PC by default, so nobody should be missing out on the functionality. Microsoft’s Response Though it’s always sad to see the functionality removed, there are several reasons Microsoft would do so. For one, Outlook is available on every major platform and sees a high level of use....

“We continue to investigate issues in our services impacting all regions. The underlying issue seems to be a datacenter cooling outage in South Central US which is impacting all services in a specific part of the datacenter.” It is unclear if the outage is affecting Azure Active Directory, Azure Bot Service, and VSTS globally or just within a specific region. The Azure Status page says the problem has been mitigated, which suggests the service should be back up soon....

e.Go Digital is looking to provide that solution in Germany, and Microsoft’s Azure platform is powering it. The first prototype can transport up to fifteen people with on-demand pickups and drop-offs, navigating city traffic for up to ten hours. The e.Go Mover uses a cloud connection with Azure to power this safe and smart driving through urban environments. Talking to Microsoft, e.Go Digital CEO Casimir Ortilieb spoke about the company’s short-term plans....

If you are unfamiliar with AlmaLinux OS, it has a very interesting origin story. It is essentially a clone of CentOS. Yes, the same CentOS Linux distro that was is developed by Red Hat. Back in December 2020, Red Hat revealed it was not going to focus on CentOS Linux anymore, instead turning to CentOS Stream. CentOS was supposed to be the rebuilt version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) but the company changed track....

The new additions include Germany Central, Germany Northeast, Korea Cental, and Korea South. It brings the total number up to 27 regions, more than any other cloud provider. It also provides an SLA availability of 99.9%, currently exclusive to Azure data warehouses. Full List of Available Regions For those who haven’t been keeping up with the recent expansion, Microsoft has provided a list of every single region, including the most recent additions: “North Europe, North Central US, Central US, East US, East US 2, South Central US, West Central US, West US, West US 2, Canada Central, Canada East, West Europe, Germany Central, Germany Northeast, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia Southeast, Central India, South India, China East, China North, Japan East, and Brazil South....

In a document published by Microsoft, the company said it has blocked Windows 10 May 2020 Update for all PCs running Hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI) or Memory Integrity. For users with those tools running, trying to install Windows 10 version 2004 will result in the following block message: “Your PC settings need to be adjusted before upgrading to the latest version of Windows 10. Turn off memory integrity protection to continue....

This will add a new update method alongside the existing Windows Installer patch (.msp) files route. While the older method is functional, admins often struggle to manually install the files because they require elevated privileges to install. So, if a user attempts to install the self-contained packages without privileges, Microsoft Exchange Servers enter a “bad state”. Microsoft already mitigates this problem by recommending users to install the .msp files with elevated Command Prompt....

The Release Preview branch is the last stage of testing before Microsoft launches a build to all users. Windows 10 build 17133 is the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) build of the Spring Creators Update. Until today, we were still wondering if this build was the RTM. Windows 10 build 17133 arrived on the Fast Ring on March 27 and it certainly seemed as if it was the finalized version of the Spring Creators Update....

In the changelog for Windows 10 Build 19536 (spotted by Windows Latest), Microsoft confirmed development on changes us underway. You may remember this build was released last week, ushering in the Windows 10 20H2 branch. According to Microsoft, the changes will allow users to manage option updates through a new section of Windows Update. In this part of Windows Update, users can see all optional updates, such as drivers and non-security updates....

Specifically, Microsoft Cloud customers are unhappy with a 2019 contract update that changes how licenses are managed. At the time, Microsoft completely revamped its licensing model for both Windows and Office products. While the main reason was to increase prices, there were also some bizarre licensing and interoperability changes made. Since then, it seems some of the changes include offering discrete discounts to existing Azure customers while charging the full amount to non-Microsoft Cloud customers....

If you are unfamiliar with COM, it is a system for building binary software components that can work together. Microsoft’s system works independent from the platform, but it provides the underpinning for Microsoft’s OLE technology. OLE gives documents and other objects in Windows embedding and linking capabilities. COM also underpins Microsoft’s ActiveX framework, which allows content to be downloaded from a network. A flaw in Component Object Model would be problematic and give attackers access to Windows....

It is a rare earning call where Microsoft specifically discusses gaming in detail. For Q1 2020 the company has expanded more on Xbox and overall gaming. It’s not good reading as gaming revenue declined by 7% year-on-year. In raw numbers, that’s $2.542 billion (compared $2.738 billion in FY19 Q1). Clearly there is a reason for this decline, but what is it? Well, it seems the final year of the 8th generation of consoles is playing a part....

It is worth noting, this is not really an official response. Or, at least, Microsoft has not sent out a statement on any of its websites. Instead, Thurrott was able to get a brief response from the company. Brief is the correct word because the company simply says, “We are investigating the matter.” If you are unfamiliar with the leak file, it weighs in at just under 43GB and includes the following source code for operating systems:...

During a Surface Event during October last year, Microsoft introduced the Surface Duo and Surface Neo. The Duo is an Android smartphone, while the Neo is a Windows 10X tablet-come-laptop. While the underpinning of both devices is different, the hardware is mostly similar, aside from size. At the time, Microsoft said the Neo and Duo would launch together. Since then, Redmond took a decision to postpone the release of the Surface Neo....

Discovered by Bleeding Computer, the flaw has not been confirmed on the Windows Health page. However, Microsoft released a support note that confirmed the problem. “If you have a device running Windows 10 version 2004 with a built-in screen (such as a laptop or tablet) and a connected external display set to Duplicate your primary screen, you might see both monitors flicker and the external monitor go black if you try to draw using an Office app (such as Word),” Microsoft said....

If the Windows 10 October 2018 Update does return tomorrow, it will be six weeks (41 days to be exact) late. Microsoft initially launched the platform on October 2 alongside new Surface devices. However, version 1809 was quickly put on ice as the manual update was deleting personal user files. Pulled yes, but not before reaching millions of users. Either way, it was clearly a good decision to halt the roll out....

Like the Data Box, Azure Box Disk is a ruggedized device that is tamper-proof. However, whereas Azure Data Box manages data transfers up to 100TB, the Data Disk is limited to 40TB per order. Using the same infrastructure as the Box, the Azure Data Box Disk is delivered to customers in five separate disks of 8TB. Microsoft explains the system uses SSD technology for speed and data protection. Talking of speed, the company will deliver the disk to customers overnight, so transfer loads can be completed quickly....

This is the same update that Microsoft first announced last week. Since then, the company has finalized the build and released it to the App Store. Android users will also be getting the same abilities found in this release, although at a later date. Build 2.29.0 of Outlook for iOS focuses on updating the contacts experience and making it more user friendly. Indeed, it is an extensive release that overhauls the Contacts and People parts of the app....

This is both an extension of the current SharePoint Server and a new product. SharePoint Server SE is an evolution of the on-premises platform, the next generation according to Microsoft. It is designed to bring security, management, updates and reliability for SharePoint servers without needing to be online or in the cloud. “SharePoint Server Subscription Edition has been designed around the unique needs of on-premises scenarios, delivering the security, reliability, and management improvements specific to those needs....