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Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20170 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. PLEASE NOTE: Windows Insiders with PCs that have AMD processors will not be offered this build today due to a bug impacting overall usability of these PCs. The issue should be fixed for the next flight. What’s new in Build 20170 Improving your Sound Settings experience Last week we mentioned we were planning on bringing more Control Panel capabilities forward into Settings, and here’s another one – we’re updating Settings > System > Sound > Manage sound devices to now let you know which device is default, and if not, enable you to set it as your default device or default communication device. We’ve also updated the volume mixer to include a link to the per app audio settings, which you can use to redirect audio endpoints per app. There is more work on the way in this area – stay tuned! Other updates for Insiders All new Microsoft Launcher v6 is now rolling out to General public We are excited to announce the rollout of Microsoft Launcher v6 (']download here!) to general Public. This launcher is built on a new codebase allowing us to bring multiple new features to you – such as Personalized News, Landscape mode, Customizable App Icons, Bing-Supported Wallpaper, Dark Theme, and numerous performance improvements like speed to load, low memory utilization, battery optimization and fluent animations. Download the new launcher to try it out and use the feedback button in the app to let us know what you think. New features: Personalized news: Stay in the know. The personalized news feed updates throughout the day with top trending stories, making it easy to stay on top of whatever’s relevant to you. Landscape mode: Microsoft Launcher supports vertical and horizontal orientations to enhance your viewing preference. Customizable icons: Give your phone a consistent look and feel with custom icon packs and adaptive icons. Beautiful wallpapers: Enjoy a fresh new wallpaper from Bing every day or choose your own photos. Dark theme: Reduce eye strain when using your phone at night or in low light environments. This feature is compatible with Android’s default dark mode settings. Improved performance: Microsoft Launcher now loads faster, uses less memory, is more battery efficient, and offers fluent animations. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/28b71df4dd8f7c96342068a9be13795e.jpg[/size] New App Icon: https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/3ccf6edbc14a35d2e08d1d711242bd17.png Microsoft Launcher requirements: Phone supporting Android version 7.0 or higher You must download Microsoft Launcher from Google Play Store. Downloading Microsoft Launcher will replace the default launcher. Microsoft Launcher does not replicate the user’s PC home screen on the Android phone. Users must still purchase and/or download any new apps from Google Play. Known issues: Native Android 10 navigation gestures may not work for all phone manufacturers and models. System dark theme is supported on devices with Android 8.0 and above. Setting 3rd-party launchers as Default is only supported on select OEM devices. Sticky notes sync issues may occur after upgrading to v6. Notification badges may need to be enabled again after v6 upgrade. This is a gradual rollout to general public so you may not be able to download immediately. If you encounter any issues or have bugs to report, file them under Settings > Help and Feedback > Report a bug or via Feedback shortcut on your home screen. For additional questions, you can reference our Microsoft Launcher FAQs. Improving search from the taskbar in Windows 10 We’ve recently unveiled two improvements to the search bar in Windows that make it even easier to find what you need. Click on Search in the taskbar or press the Windows key + S to view an updated design for Search Home. A new two-column layout offers easy readability, as well as fast access to Quick Searches, where you can see local weather, top news, and more helpful info. To find other web results or navigate directly to a website, just type in the search bar like normal. The new layout is available in markets that enable Quick Searches, including the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the UK. In addition, the Windows search bar now supports web search for Dutch-speaking customers in the Netherlands. Users with their Windows region set to Netherlands and their language set to Dutch can now search the web from their search bar without using a browser. Previously the feature was limited to English-speaking users in the region. We welcome your feedback on these updates. You can share your comments by clicking the feedback button on Search Home. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/915db5d2a3a79763f6f7e6be268aeddb.png Note: This is a server-side rollout and will be visible to those running Windows 10 version 1809 up to the latest Dev Channel build. Updates for developers The Windows SDK is now flighting continuously with the Dev Channel. Whenever a new OS is flighted to the Dev Channel, the corresponding SDK will also be flighted. You can always install the latest Insider SDK from aka.ms/InsiderSDK. SDK flights will be archived in Flight Hub along with OS flights. Changes and Improvements As part of our ongoing efforts to update the iconography across Windows, Insiders will notice we’re introducing a new Settings icon in this build. The new Settings icon looks great on the Start menu with the theme-aware tiles introduced in Build 20161! https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/48b8ca797ac8591eb4e6f8532915f91e.png While we work on improving reliability, we’re temporarily turning off Notepad’s ability to persist open windows across restarts and updates. An experimental implementation of Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 is enabled by default starting with Insider Preview Build 20170. IIS/HTTP.SYS have TLS 1.3 enabled by default. SSPI callers can use TLS 1.3 by passing the new crypto-agile SCH_CREDENTIALS structure when calling AcquireCredentialsHanlde. SSPI callers using TLS 1.3 need to make sure their code correctly handles SEC_I_RENEGOTIATE. Fixes We fixed an issue resulting in flickering when resizing certain apps when snapped side by side in tablet mode. We fixed an issue when using an IME where holding down the mouse left click key would eventually lead to input hanging. We fixed an issue resulting in the master volume slider in Sound Settings not working after removing and re-pairing certain Bluetooth devices. We fixed a race condition that could result in update notifications not appearing or appearing multiple times in quick succession. We fixed an issue resulting in typing not working on certain keyboards in the previous flight – appreciate your patience while we investigated. We fixed an issue that could result in modifier keys like Shift and CTRL sometimes being dropped over a remote desktop connection. We fixed an issue resulting in a small number of Insiders experiencing an issue where Start wouldn’t launch in the previous build. We fixed an issue that was increasing the amount of time it took for logoff to happen for some Insiders in the last few builds. We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders finding that their screens became dimmer after upgrading to the last few builds. Known issues We’re working on a fix for an issue where some Microsoft Store games protected with Easy Anti-Cheat may fail to launch. We’re working on a fix for an issue causing some systems to crash with a HYPERVISOR_ERROR bugcheck. We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build. We’re aware of an issue where Task Manager reports 0.00 GHz CPU usage in the Performance tab. We’re working to fine tune the tile animations in Start to avoid flashes of color. We’re investigating reports that sleep is not working for some Insiders. Important Insider Links You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20170 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/91fdc1169cc38a66796d9287a3256d05.jpg Operation 4: Brothers in Arms is available now across Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One, Windows 10 and Steam, delivering big changes in Gears 5. Familiar faces Dom, Paduk and Karn are back and there are more maps. Other major updates are rolling out too: an all-new ranked system, an updated in-game store and streamlined earning with Gears Coins, a new currency. Head over to Xbox Wire to get a deeper look at what to expect when players jump into Gears 5. The post Gears 5 – Operation 4 now available with on Windows 10, Xbox One, Steam and with Xbox Game Pass appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing 20H2 Build 19042.388 (KB4565503) to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel. This Cumulative Update includes quality improvements. Key changes include: We fixed an issue that might prevent you from using PowerShell to change the system locale on Server Core platforms. We fixed an issue that might cause certain games and applications to have visual distortion when resizing in windowed mode or switching from full screen to window mode. We fixed an issue that causes lsass.exe to fail with the following error message, “A critical system process, C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe, failed with status code c0000008. The machine must now be restarted.” We fixed an issue that might prevent some applications from printing documents that contain graphics or large files after installing Windows Updates released June 9, 2020. We fixed an issue that might prevent you from connecting to OneDrive using the OneDrive app. This issue occurs on some older devices or on devices that have older apps, which use legacy file system filter drivers. As a result, this might prevent these devices from downloading new files or opening previously synced or downloaded files. Security updates to the Microsoft Scripting Engine, Windows App Platform and Frameworks, the Microsoft Store, Windows Graphics, Windows Input and Composition, Windows Media, Windows Shell, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Management, Windows Kernel, Windows Hybrid Cloud Networking, Windows Storage and Filesystems, Windows Update Stack, Windows MSXML, Windows File Server and Clustering, Windows Remote Desktop, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge Legacy, and the Microsoft JET Database Engine. For more information about the resolved security vulnerabilities, please refer to the Security Update Guide. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19042.388 (20H2) appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/7fd9e76ec8d29925ed51bf2e876a4eec.jpg Halo 3 has joined Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox Game Pass, the Microsoft Store and Steam. Finish the fight between the Covenant, the Flood and the entire human race in the dramatic, pulse-pounding conclusion to the original Halo trilogy. Relive 11 unforgettable missions and fight through 24 multiplayer maps, complete with enhanced Spartan customization and an all-new progression system spanning each game within Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The Master Chief’s saga on PC comes equipped with new features, optimizations and customizations built for the platform. Halo 3 looks and plays better than ever at 60 frames-per-second (or greater) with up to 4K UHD support and numerous PC-specific enhancements. Players can fine-tune their experience with a vast array of options including variable framerate, native mouse/keyboard support and the ability to rebind controls, plus support for ultra-wide displays and different aspect ratios, adjustable field-of-view, updated texture/shadow quality and more. Get all the details on Xbox Wire. The post Halo 3 now available for PC appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/b9eb27991b7cc2519dd64b3385dc6eaf-1024x578.jpg No, we haven’t figured out how to blow out candles virtually, but there’s still plenty of excellent ways to celebrate your birthday or a loved one’s while maintaining social distancing. Connect everyone using Skype, for instance, and route birthday cards in OneDrive for everyone to sign. Or hold your party in Minecraft, where no amount of distance can stop you from sharing an awesome new world. Or choose from our list of virtual zoo tours for party-goers to explore together. Whichever activity you choose, you can make it more memorable by adding a PowerPoint slideshow using one of our easy-to-use templates. Save it on OneDrive and share the link so others can add their photos. Visit the Windows Home and Family Resources Blog for these and other activities to keep your special day special despite today’s challenges. The post 6 ways to have a fun birthday while observing social distancing appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/ee40d784b8969228d044ee3ddf95a6bd.jpg Xbox Game Studios and Asobo Studio have announced the launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator on Aug. 18. You can now pre-order on Windows 10* or pre-install with Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta). The game’s features include: detailed landscapes, live traffic, real-time weather, and highly detailed and accurate cockpits with realistic instrumentation. Get all the details at Xbox Wire. *For more information on supported specs, please visit FlightSimulator.com. The post Ready to fly again? Microsoft Flight Simulator scheduled to launch Aug. 18 for PC appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/733398a48e48a1d1b280fc5f26b3848e-1024x578.jpg With so many events closed this summer, it’s harder than ever to keep kids busy with positive activities. Plus, lots of parents wonder how they can juggle their jobs and home responsibilities with being a camp counselor and activities director to boot. With that in mind, the Windows Home and Family Resources Blog has compiled a collection of virtual summer camps for young people to enjoy involving the Smithsonian National Museum, Hour of Code Minecraft and lots more. You’ll also find activities tailored to a variety of age groups and a weekly schedule template pre-loaded with summer ideas. Check it out! The post ‘I’m bored!’ Virtual summer camps to the rescue appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20161 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. A few quick notes: First—as a reminder, these builds are from our Active Development Branch and are not tied to any upcoming Windows 10 release. Insiders in the Dev Channel are getting the latest code from our engineers. Second—we have officially rolled out channels to the Windows Insider Program Settings page, If you haven’t already, check out our blog post here outlining the transition from rings to channels. And third—we’re introducing some cool new features in today’s build, however many of these features are rolling out to a subset of Insiders in the Dev Channel at first, to help us quickly identify issues that may impact performance and reliability. This means Insiders may not see some of these features right away, but rest assured they will be gradually rolled out to everyone in the Dev Channel. Check out what the team has been working on! What’s new in Build 20161 Theme-aware tiles in Start We are freshening up the Start menu with a more streamlined design that removes the solid color backplates behind the logos in the apps list and applies a uniform, partially transparent background to the tiles. This design creates a beautiful stage for your apps, especially the Fluent Design icons for Office and Microsoft Edge, as well as the redesigned icons for built-in apps like Calculator, Mail, and Calendar that we started rolling out earlier this year. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/dabfa329dfacdc1a2669002649ed75d6.gif This refined Start design looks great in both dark and light theme, but if you’re looking for a splash of color, first make sure to turn on Windows dark theme and then toggle “Show accent color on the following surfaces” for “Start, taskbar, and action center” under Settings > Personalization > Color to elegantly apply your accent color to the Start frame and tiles. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/25290800ef2f06caacc8c5d9267eb7ed.png https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/de00b149b94ec99619dfc491196f314e.png https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/548918584c74d4ce52ebf0930811cf17.png Want the amazing desktop background shown in the screenshot above? Download our ‘Pride 2020 Flags’ theme from the Microsoft Store! ALT + TAB between apps and sites Are you a multitasker? We have exciting news for you! Beginning with today’s build, all tabs open in Microsoft Edge will start appearing in Alt + TAB, not just the active one in each browser window. We’re making this change so you can quickly get back to whatever you were doing—wherever you were doing it. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/634dd641ac5d268c671631222138c910.gif If you’d prefer fewer tabs or the classic Alt + TAB experience, we’ve added some settings for you under Settings > System > Multitasking. You can configure Alt + Tab to only show your last three or five tabs or choose to turn this feature off completely. This feature is currently rolling out to a subset of Insiders today in the Dev Channel and requires a Canary or Dev build of Microsoft Edge (version 83.0.475.0 or higher). This is just the beginning of productivity enhancements coming to Microsoft Edge—stay tuned! A more personalized Taskbar for new users We want to help customers get the most out of their PCs from day one, and that starts with offering a cleaner, more personalized, out-of-box experience to give you the content you want and less clutter. This provides us with a flexible, cloud-driven infrastructure to test customer reception of default Taskbar content and tailor these layouts based on user and device signal. We will evaluate the performance of individual default properties, monitoring diagnostic data and user feedback to assess an audience’s reception. Using this information, we will tune default layouts to minimize clutter and perceptions of bloatware. Please note that this experience is limited to new account creation or first logon scenarios. We will not use Programmable Taskbar to alter the Taskbar layout on existing accounts. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/2a484fd68334970e192f8a1138aedc73.jpg Improving the notification experience We are making some changes to improve the notifications experience in Windows 10. First, know where your toast is coming from by checking out the app logo at the top. Done with the notification? Select the X on the top right corner to quickly dismiss and move on with your life. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/5db65c59e8b5b819bd9203996bf7b8c3.png And second, we are turning off the Focus Assist notification and summary toast by default, so we will no longer let users know that Focus Assist has been turned on through an automatic rule via a notification. This can be changed back to the previous behavior via Settings. Making Settings even better We’re continuing to work on bringing capabilities from Control Panel forward into Settings. As part of this ongoing effort, we are migrating information found in Control Panel’s System page into the Settings About page under Settings > System > About. Links that would open the System page in Control Panel will now direct you to About in Settings. We are also bringing new improvements like making your device information copyable and streamlining the security information shown. And don’t worry—if you’re looking for more advanced controls that lived in the System page in Control Panel, you can still get to them from the modern About page if you need them! https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/329ddd5b6ac1257e88fbc73d79d9e7a9.png There will be more improvements coming that will further bring Settings closer to Control Panel. If you rely on settings that only exist in Control Panel today, please file feedback and let us know what those settings are. Improving the tablet experience for 2-in-1 devices Previously, when detaching the keyboard on a 2-in-1 device, a notification toast would appear asking if you wanted to switch into tablet mode. If you selected yes, you would switch into tablet mode. If you chose no, it would give you the new tablet posture experience introduced in the May 2020 Update (or simply the desktop on earlier versions of Windows 10). We are further updating this experience by changing the default, so that this notification toast no longer appears and instead will switch you directly into the new tablet experience, with some improvements for touch. You can change this setting by going to Settings > System > Tablet. Some users may have already seen this change on Surface devices. And to address confusion with some users getting stuck in tablet mode on non-touch devices, we are removing the tablet mode quick action on non-touch devices. In addition, new logic is incorporated to let users boot into the appropriate mode according to the mode they were last in and whether the keyboard is attached or not. Other updates for Insiders Windows Calculator graphing mode feature now rolling out to the public We are happy to announce that the graphing mode feature we released to Insiders in January is now rolling out to the general public! Adding support for graphing was one of our top feature requests, so we’re excited to bring this feature to our users. Graphing capabilities are also essential for students who are beginning to explore linear algebra. With this feature, we hope to empower students to learn mathematics by improving their conceptual understanding and attitudes towards math. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/0df2f6211a9a49e2cd7716fcac6eceef.gif Key features Plot one or more equations on the graph. Enter multiple equations so that you can compare plots against each other and see interactions between the lines. Add equations with variables. If you enter equations with variables (e.g., y = mx + b), you’ll be able to update the value of those variables to see the changes live on the graph. Analyze the graph. Trace plots with your mouse or keyboard and analyze equations to help identify key graph features, like the x- and y-intercepts. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/929f33be4d39f4280248b225ac6f925e.jpg Since we released the feature in preview earlier this year, we’ve made lots of improvements based on your feedback in Feedback Hub and on GitHub, like introducing a brand new dark theme graph and more line customization options, adding error handling for when you try to plot an equation that isn’t quite right, and improving the overall experience when tracing or plotting multiple equations at the same time. Thank you for your feedback and helping to make this feature better for everyone! You must have the Windows 10 May 2020 update and the latest version of Windows Calculator to access this feature. Updates for developers The Windows SDK is now flighting continuously with the Dev Channel. Whenever a new OS is flighted to the Dev Channel, the corresponding SDK will also be flighted. You can always install the latest Insider SDK from aka.ms/InsiderSDK. SDK flights will be archived in Flight Hub along with OS flights. Fixes We fixed an issue resulting in Insiders experiencing bug checks when connecting and interacting with an Xbox controller. We’ve fixed an issue causing some games and applications to crash at launch or fail to install. We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge not navigating to websites when WDAG was enabled on the last 2 flights. We fixed an issue which was increasing log off time in recent builds. We fixed an issue with the Chinese Pinyin IME where after setting your preferred IME toolbar orientation, you may not be able to change it again after rebooting your PC. We fixed an issue causing Reset this PC to always show the error “There was a problem resetting this PC” when launched from Settings in the last few builds. We fixed an issue resulting in some Bluetooth devices no longer showing their battery level in Settings in the last few builds. We fixed an issue where Settings would crash if you went to Settings > Privacy > Microphone while a win32 app was recording audio. We fixed an issue where if Sound Settings showed “no input devices found” in the input dropdown and you clicked it, then Settings would crash. We fixed an issue where when adding a printer, the dialog might crash if you navigated through to the “Add a printer driver” dialog in recent builds. We fixed a graphics related issue resulting in some users experiencing bugchecks. Known issues We’re working on a fix for an issue causing some systems to crash with a HYPERVISOR_ERROR bugcheck. We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build. We’re aware of an issue where Notepad might fail to reopen files which were automatically saved during a PC restart (if that option is enabled in Settings). Documents can be recovered from %localappdata%\Notepad.We’re investigating reports of the screen becoming dimmer after upgrading to the previous build. We’re aware of an issue where Task Manager reports 0.00 GHz CPU usage in the Performance tab. We’re investigating reports that when you press space while using the Korean IME in certain apps, the last character is deleted. We’re working to fine tune the tile animations in Start to avoid flashes of color. For Insiders with the new Alt+Tab experience mentioned above, please note that the setting under Settings > System > Multitasking to set Alt+Tab to “Open windows only” currently doesn’t work. New Windows Insider website design Today, we launched a redesigned version of the Windows Insider website that’s build with Microsoft’s new, more accessible framework. This was an important chance to align our site with improvements Microsoft is making across the board, create a more beautiful and user-friendly home for the program, and better highlight all the ways you can engage with us. Right now, the site is only available in the en-us English language while we also stand up new and improved translated versions of the site. Thank you for your patience as we try to make this website work better for Insiders around the world. If you speak English, please go take a look. We’re also implementing new tools that will help us improve the site based on how you all are using it, so the more you explore the better. If you have any issues, reach out to us @WindowsInsider on Twitter. As a reminder, some of the features mentioned above for this build are being rolled out to a subset of Insiders in the Dev Channel at first. If you don’t see some of the features right away, please be patient as we’ll be rolling them out to more Insiders in the Dev Channel over time. You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20161 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/07/8dd30360bf096b4a5d52cf7c8c31ad86-1024x578.jpg If you’ve been waiting for Minecraft Dungeons’ first DLC pack, it’s now available for Windows and Xbox One: Jungle Awakens. This update features everything from new missions and game mechanics, to never before seen mobs and items – as well as a unique challenge. You’ll get extra content for the Minecraft Dungeons base game – free of charge: a map to the Lower Temple, a new threat level per difficulty and new gear. Download by updating the game. To get the new DLC, you can either buy it separately for your platform or upgrade your Standard Edition with a Hero Pass (and by doing so, securing yourself the first two DLC packs). Minecraft has all the details. The post Now available: Jungle Awakens, Minecraft Dungeons’ first DLC pack appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

At Microsoft, we’re building a “learn it all” culture where we aim to embrace curiosity, focus on being resourceful, and take our learnings and apply them for future success. In that light, learning is more important than ever, and our goal is to help make technical learning even more accessible to everyone who wants to acquire a new skill, chase a new career path, and stay up-to-date on the latest technological advances. As we announced yesterday, Microsoft and LinkedIn are making a broad commitment to help students, job seekers and employees gain the skills they need to be successful in today’s digital-first economy. Microsoft Learn is an integral part of our skilling experience – it’s a free online learning platform that combines short step-by-step trainings, browser-based interactive coding and scripting environments, and task-based achievements to help learners advance their technical skills and prepare for certifications. From Azure to Microsoft 365 and Power Platform to Dynamics 365 and more, we offer training that can help everyone learn – from students to job seekers to professionals. Learners and organizations can personalize their experience by building and sharing customized training collections and can use bookmarks to easily find and return to content. Throughout the learning journey, learners can earn points, levels, and unlock badges, and can easily share their progress with colleagues and on social media. With more than 4 million learners registering in the less than two years since its launch, we’ve been humbled and inspired to see the adoption and engagement from the community. And in the last few months, as people have transitioned to work from home, we’ve seen a spike in Microsoft Learn usage, with users engaging with 192% more learning modules from January through May of this year compared to last year. We’re continuing to invest in the Microsoft Learn platform, where learners will find: More than 225 learning paths.Collections of modules are organized around specific roles and technologies. More than 1,000 modules. The building blocks of the Microsoft Learn experience, a module is a course that contains videos, labs and articles. Role-based learning for 17 roles. For example, software developer, AI engineer, data scientist and solutions architect. Training aligned to 35 Microsoft certifications. Earning certifications shows you are keeping pace with today’s technical roles and requirements. Certification exams can be taken online, and users can easily share their certifications on their LinkedIn profile. Later this year, we will offer discounted certification exams for those impacted by COVID-19. More than 160 instructor-led training courses. Access deep technical training, taught by Microsoft-certified trainers, bringing you and your team customizable learning solutions. Localized in up to 23 languages. Learning paths are supported in up to 23 languages depending on the topic. Recently introduced Microsoft Learn features include: Learn TV: Learn TV streams original live and pre-recorded content daily from Microsoft and the community. Meet our engineers through live training, casual conversations, event coverage and hackathons, all on Learn TV. Cloud Skills Challenge: A new way to build your cloud skills with easy, self-paced learning that lets you complete modules in a team environment and compete for prizes. Microsoft Q&A: Relevant and timely answers to technical problems from a community of experts and Microsoft engineers. Microsoft Q&A is now the single question-and-answer destination for all Azure products and services. Microsoft Learn Catalog API: Integrate Microsoft Learn into your company’s own experiences. Now in preview, the Catalog API enables developers to integrate Learn content and trainings into their existing applications and learning management systems, and provides organizational reporting capabilities. Microsoft Learn for Students and Educators: We launched a new collection of curated content for students, including learning paths from leading universities and content to inspire and challenge students to build with social impact and responsibility in mind. For educators, we’ve made it easy to access Microsoft ready-to-teach curriculum and teaching materials aligned to industry-recognized Microsoft certifications. These certifications augment a student’s existing degree path and validate the skills needed to be successful across a variety of technical careers. Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors: Microsoft Learn is where everyone comes to learn, and the Learn Student Ambassadors are everywhere helping students learn. This new program brings together a global group of campus leaders to help their peers learn things they care about most, from social issues to new technologies. Ambassadors get a first look at new Microsoft technologies, gain leadership skills, and receive mentoring from professionals in the industry, and their peers benefit from their knowledge, which can now be shared via the Microsoft Learn platform. Microsoft Learn complements LinkedIn Learning’s online educational platform of over 16,000 courses taught by industry-leading experts that helps people discover and develop business, technology-related, and creative skills. Microsoft Learn and LinkedIn Learning will be incorporated into the , previewing later this year. The new app will make learning a natural part of an employee’s job, leveraging the tools they already use every day at work. As a lifelong learner myself, I’m excited we’re able to offer such a robust set of free resources for everyone who wants to learn. If you don’t have a Learn account, I encourage you to check it out. It’s a great time to polish your skills and learn something new in a fun way. Learn more about Microsoft’s commitment to helping 25 million people acquire new digital skills needed for the COVID-19 economy, and hear Brad Smith talk about why it’s important. The post Skilling for the future: New investments in Microsoft Learn appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/e439234bd3d2a5ff535367ac831c134c-1024x578.jpg What with the huge growth in video calling and the fact many of us spend a lot more time using our tech devices to stay connected, entertained and educated, yesterday’s computers often just don’t do the trick anymore. If you’re on the fence about whether now is the time to replace your computer and what features you should look for if you do, head over to the Windows Home and Family Resources Blog. There you’ll find three main reasons to upgrade, what processor to choose based on your needs and budget, the best drive for you and more. The post New computers: why get one now and what to look for appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Around the world, 2020 has emerged as one of the most challenging years in many of our lifetimes. In six months, the world has endured multiple challenges, including a pandemic that has spurred a global economic crisis. As societies reopen, it’s apparent that the economy in July will not be what it was in January. Increasingly, one of the key steps needed to foster a safe and successful economic recovery is expanded access to the digital skills needed to fill new jobs. And one of the keys to a genuinely inclusive recovery are programs to provide easier access to digital skills for people hardest hit by job losses, including those with lower incomes, women, and underrepresented minorities. To help address this need, today Microsoft is launching a global skills initiative aimed at bringing more digital skills to 25 million people worldwide by the end of the year. This initiative will bring together every part of our company, combining existing and new resources from LinkedIn, GitHub, and Microsoft. It will be grounded in three areas of activity: (1) The use of data to identify in-demand jobs and the skills needed to fill them; (2) Free access to learning paths and content to help people develop the skills these positions require; (3) Low-cost certifications and free job-seeking tools to help people who develop these skills pursue new jobs. At its heart, this is a comprehensive technology initiative that will build on data and digital technology. It starts with data on jobs and skills from the LinkedIn Economic Graph. It provides free access to content in LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Learn, and the GitHub Learning Lab, and couples these with Microsoft Certifications and LinkedIn job seeking tools. In addition, Microsoft is backing the effort with $20 million in cash grants to help nonprofit organizations worldwide assist the people who need it most. One-quarter of this total, or $5 million, will be provided in cash grants to community-based nonprofit organizations that are led by and serve communities of color in the United States. Our vision for skills extends beyond these immediate steps for job seekers. Employees will also need to skill and reskill through their careers, and we want to make it easier for employers to help. Our vision is a connected “system of learning” that helps empower everyone to pursue lifelong learning. That is why we are also announcing today that Microsoft is developing a new learning app in Microsoft Teams to help employers upskill new and existing employees. This will bring together best in class content from LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Learn, third-party training providers, and a company’s own learning content and make it all available in a place where employees can easily learn in the flow of their work. We are also pledging that we will make stronger data and analytics available to governments around the world so they can better assess local economic needs. Finally, we will use our voice to advocate for public policy innovations that we believe will advance the skilling opportunities people will need in the changed economy. While this represents the largest skills initiative in Microsoft’s history, we recognize that no company can come close to closing the skills gap alone. Sustained progress will require a renewed partnership between stakeholders across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and we’re committed to supporting this. Following is a complete description of our thinking and plans. The problem we need to solve Within only a few months, COVID-19 has provoked a massive demand shock, setting off job losses that far exceed the scale of the Great Recession a decade ago. The world will need a broad economic recovery that will require in part the development of new skills among a substantial part of the global workforce. According to Microsoft calculations, global unemployment in 2020 may reach a quarter of a billion people. It is a staggering number. The pandemic respects no border. In the United States alone, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the country may witness a 12.3 point increase (from 3.5% to 15.8%) in the unemployment rate, equating to more than 21 million newly out-of-work people. Many other countries and continents face similar challenges. Click here to load media As is often the case, the biggest brunt of this downturn is being borne by those with lower educational attainment, people with disabilities, people of color, women, younger workers, and individuals who have less formal education. The impact on communities of color in the United States is especially concerning. Just last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed that the country ended the month of May with unemployment rates in the Black/African-American and Hispanic/Latino communities that were markedly higher than for white individuals. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/2020/06/x1_Unemployment-hitting.png The employment of American women has also been impacted disproportionally by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment rates among women, which has hovered with or edged below men’s unemployment rates, soared to more than 16%, almost 3 percentage points higher at the April peak. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/2020/06/2_-Women-disproportionally-impacted.png The challenges ahead reach beyond the immediate pandemic. Crises have a way of accelerating trends already in motion, and the COVID-19 pandemic has proven no exception. Our data shows that two years’ worth of digital transformation have been concentrated into the past two months. By one account, the final weeks of March alone witnessed as much broadband traffic growth as would be expected in a full year. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/2020/06/3_Manual-jobs-are-more-at-risk.png The pandemic has shined a harsh light on what was already a widening skills gap around the world – a gap that will need to be closed with even greater urgency to accelerate economic recovery. This longer-term disconnect between supply and demand for skills in the labor market appears to be driven by three primary long-term factors: (1) the rapid emergence of AI-powered technologies that are propelling a new era of automation; (2) the growing need for technological acumen to compete in a changing commercial landscape; and (3) the drop-off in employer-based training investments over the past two decades. Navigating these challenges to close the skills gap will require a renewed partnership between stakeholders across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As we look to the future, we can draw insights from recessions in the past. Although recent recessions differed in their causes, each followed a trend of shedding low-skilled jobs and gradually replacing them with less automatable roles. In the late 1960s, roles that involved repetitive tasks involving manual work made up 34% of all jobs. These have been easier to automate, and as a result these jobs have now shrunk to 26% of all jobs. By contrast, jobs involving heavy cognition and problem-solving have simultaneously risen from 22% to 34%. This pattern is poised to repeat itself, with an added emphasis on a jobs recovery that requires an increasing focus on digital skills. There are two reasons this appears likely. First, in the shorter-term COVID-19 will continue to lead to unprecedented reliance on digital skills. In many situations, some workers may spend several months or longer in a “hybrid economy,” where some will be in the workplace while others continue to work from home. The shorter-term “hybrid economy” is a more digital economy. With continued consumer and employee reliance on almost “remote everything,” we can expect digitization of the economy to continue to advance at an accelerated speed. And as companies respond to a recession by increasing efficiency, this need for digital transformation will increase even further. Second, the economic recovery will take place amid the longer-term and already-unfolding wave of automation based on the new technologies that underpin what some have called the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Over the next five years, we estimate that the global workforce can absorb around 149 million new technology-oriented jobs. Software development accounts for the largest single share of this forecast, but roles in related fields like data analysis, cyber security, and privacy protection are also poised to grow substantially. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/2020/06/4_The-Great-Lockdown.png Of course, the magnitude and mixture of job growth will vary by country, industry, and sector. Although the impact will not be distributed evenly, digital transformation will touch virtually every corner of the global workforce — from food production (324,000 new jobs) to healthcare (2 million) and the automotive industry (6 million). Click here to load media All this is made more urgent because of a challenge that has been two decades in the making, namely the decline and then stagnation in employer investments in training. Employer investments in training grew substantially throughout the 1980s and 1990s, as personal computers and the internet reshaped the world’s workplaces. This trend ceased around the turn of the century, as the dot-com recession and 9/11 marked the start of a nearly decade-long decline in employer-based investment in training. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/2020/06/5_Employer-investment-in-training-declined.png Since 2008, the downward trend in employer-paid training has given way to a decade of stagnation, both in North America and around the world – notwithstanding a small spike in the wake of the Great Recession. Alarmingly, the trend of the past few years appears to be slightly negative. This contraction occurred despite the fact that the U.S. economy, which accounts for just under half of the global training market, was enjoying an unprecedented period of growth, and technological advances were beginning to reshape the modern workplace yet again. Exacerbating the challenge is the fact that existing training is not reaching the populations who need it most. On-the-job training far outpaces distance learning and other alternative modes, limiting options for prospective employees. Perhaps more significantly, on-the-job training is more than two times as prevalent among workers who are already in higher-skilled roles, leaving those in more automatable positions even more vulnerable to displacement. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/2020/06/6_-Employee-training-has-stagnated.png Digital technologies will be key to narrowing the divide, not only because they can expand the reach and accessibility of training, but because proficiency in these tools is in top demand. In a recent survey of American workers by Pew Research Center, for instance, 85% of respondents cited digital skills as either extremely important or very important to succeeding in today’s workplace. But technology is only a means to an end, not an end in itself. The same Pew survey also observed that 85% of respondents regarded “soft” skills like collaborating with others and communicating effectively as highly important. In other words, people-oriented “success skills” remain as essential as ever – perhaps even more so given their durability at a time when technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed. Although technology companies have an important role to play in helping close the skills gap, success will take a concerted effort among employers, nonprofits, governments, and other stakeholders. The task calls for renewed partnerships and redoubled investments in skills, ensuring that training reaches the broadest group of people with the greatest needs. A principled approach As we have with our work to protect privacy, security, and environmental sustainability, we’ve concluded that the global skills challenge calls for a principled response. As a company, we’ll base our efforts on six key elements: Use data and technology to help people develop new skills. The fastest and most economical way to address the skills shortage is to put technology to work to skill more people faster, starting with digital skills themselves. We’ll use data to identify the skills most in demand and the people who need help the most. Focus on a broad set of skills. Even while we focus on tech-enabled jobs, we’ll work to support the development of broader skills as well, including the acumen needed to ensure the responsible use of technology and the soft skills needed to find and succeed in a new job. Ask employers to do more. We believe that employers will need to play a bigger role than in recent years in helping employees develop these new skills. As an employer ourselves, we will make new training commitments to our employees. And we will help empower our customers so they can better meet the needs of their own employees. Lean on partners. As in so many other important areas, partnerships are fundamental. We will base our work on partnerships with nonprofits and support for governments. And we will focus our support for nonprofits, in particular, on providing added assistance to the people who need this help the most, including communities of color in the United States. Pull together every part of our company. We believe the global skills challenge is a problem that Microsoft can help address if we pull together every part of our company. That’s why today’s initiative brings together Microsoft, LinkedIn, and GitHub, including Microsoft Philanthropies and LinkedIn’s CSR program. Use our voice to change policy. As we learn what helps people most, we will share our data and knowledge and advocate for public policy innovations to support reskilling opportunities. What we are launching today Today’s global skills initiative is based on months of planning across Microsoft to provide meaningful help to 25 million people globally by the end of 2020. Our activities will be focused on three areas: Data and analytics to better understand in-demand skills and jobs Several years ago, LinkedIn operationalized the world’s first Economic Graph to track workforce trends and provide a window into emerging skills gaps. The Economic Graph is a digital representation of the global economy based on more than 690 million professionals, 50 million companies, 11 million job listings, 36,000 defined skills, and 90,000 schools. In short, it is all the data on LinkedIn and shows available jobs, their required skills, and the existing skills job seekers have. The Economic Graph also makes it possible to spot in-demand skills, emerging jobs, and global hiring rates. These insights help connect LinkedIn members to better opportunities and assist governments and organizations as they create economic opportunity for the global workforce. As part of this new initiative, LinkedIn is sharing free, real-time labor market data and skills insights to help governments, policymakers and business leaders understand what’s happening in their local labor markets: what companies are hiring, the top jobs companies are hiring for and the trending skills for those jobs. This data can be accessed using a new interactive tool at linkedin.com/workforce. Data is available for more than 180 countries and regions (150+ cities, 30+ countries). Users can search by country or region and download the data sets. We have also used the Economic Graph as a critical planning resource for today’s skills initiative, by identifying the key jobs and horizontal skills that are most widely in demand and creating learning paths for these via LinkedIn Learning. Using this data, we identified 10 jobs that are in-demand in today’s economy and are well positioned to continue to grow in the future. These 10 jobs were identified as having the greatest number of job openings, have had steady growth over the past four years, pay a livable wage, and require skills that can be learned online. Become a Software Developer Become a Sales Representative Become a Project Manager Become an IT administrator (Prepare for CompTIA Network+ Certification) Become a Customer Service Specialist Become a Digital Marketing Specialist Become IT Support / Help Desk (Prepare for the CompTIA A+ Certification) Become a Data Analyst Become a Financial Analyst Become a Graphic Designer Much of our skills work is targeted at providing people with the skills for these disciplines. Free access to learning paths and comprehensive resources to help people develop the skills needed for in-demand jobs To help people pursue jobs in these areas, we are making LinkedIn Learning paths aligned with each of these roles available free of charge through the end of March 2021. Each learning path includes a sequence of video content designed to help job seekers develop the core skills needed for each role. Each learning path is currently available in English, French, Spanish, and German. LinkedIn Learning’s library for each learning path also includes collaborative courses, all taught by industry-expert instructors, allowing individuals to move through content and demonstrate their learning with a certificate of completion. Covering a broad range of skills from entry-level digital literacy to advanced product-based skills for technology roles, these role-based learning paths provide numerous opportunities for people along a learning continuum to reskill and upskill. We believe these are the types of resources that can place in-demand roles within reach of millions of job seekers. In addition to these LinkedIn Learning paths, we are offering through Microsoft Learn free and in-depth technical learning content that also supports these roles. For roles that are more technical in nature, job seekers can go deeper on specific role-based Microsoft technologies with Microsoft Learn modules, gaining the most in-demand skills on widely used technologies. We will also enable job seekers pursuing developer roles to access the GitHub Learning Lab to practice their skills. GitHub Learning Lab is a bot-based learning tool that uses repositories to teach technology, coding, Git, and GitHub via real-life, demo-based modules. This means that as job seekers engage in learning paths, they will have the opportunity to practice newly acquired skills by completing realistic projects in a personalized GitHub repository. To provide people with easier access to the soft skills needed to pursue a new job, we are offering free access to four horizontal LinkedIn Learning paths. These are: Job seeker – Finding a Job During Challenging Economic Times Critical soft skills – Master In-Demand Professional Soft Skills Digital transformation – Digital Transformation in Practice: Virtual Collaboration Tools Allyship and inclusive conversations – Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging for All Finally, we are committed to developing and making available new courses and content that will focus on the skills needed to develop, deploy, and use technology in a responsible way. We recognize that issues such as privacy, security, digital safety, and the responsible application of artificial intelligence will continue to become even more important in the months and years ahead. We are committed to leading on these issues, not only for our own technologies but in assisting others to master needed skills as well. Connecting skills to opportunities through industry recognized certifications and powerful job seeker tools Today’s initiative also aims to help job seekers demonstrate their skills to potential employers. This part of our initiative has multiple parts. First, we will offer low-cost access to industry-recognized Microsoft Certifications based on exams that demonstrate proficiency in Microsoft technologies. We are making exams for these Microsoft Certifications available at a significantly discounted fee of $15 available to those who self-attest that their employment has been impacted by COVID-19. This represents a large discount on the price of exams that typically cost more than $100. We are committed to supporting the integrity of certifications by enabling proctoring safely in an online setting that is accessible from anywhere. The $15 fee will be paid to and will enable third parties to scale to meet the potential surge in examination resources and will support the integrity of the certification by enabling proctoring via a safe, online setting that is accessible from anywhere. We will also work with governments, nonprofits, foundations, and other private sector partners if they wish to absorb this third-party cost. Participants will have the ability to schedule an exam from September to the end of the year, and exam takers will have until March 31, 2021 to complete the exam. This will provide access to the exams that provide five fundamentals certifications and eight role-based certifications. These will include: Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Fundamentals Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate Microsoft Certified: Power Platform App Maker Associate Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate Microsoft 365 Certified: Security Administrator Associate Microsoft 365 Certified: Developer Associate Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate These exams will be available initially in whole or in part in seven languages – English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese (simplified), and Korean. We have found that these certifications are a powerful asset for job seekers and those looking to advance in an existing role. For example, in Global Knowledge’s 2019 IT Skills and Salary Report, more than half of IT decision-makers surveyed believe the main benefit of certified individuals is their ability to close organizational skills gaps seen in an everchanging technology environment. It also showed certifications helped make hiring easier, helping job seekers stand out. Among other things, these certifications, as well as completion of a learning path on LinkedIn Learning, can be added to an individual’s LinkedIn profile. We are also making available tools to help individuals identify and pursue potential jobs. This includes a recently developed job interview preparation-feature, powered by MSFT-AI, to prepare and practice for job interviews. It also includes a new feature we are announcing today called #OpenToWork, which enables job seekers to surface to employers the roles for which they would like to be considered. Through a simple LinkedIn profile photo frame, #OpenToWork enables job seekers to let employers and the LinkedIn network know they are actively seeking a new opportunity, indicate the type of job they are looking for, express their needs for support, and get help from the LinkedIn community to find new opportunities. We believe the strength of these resources is their comprehensive nature. To help people find and navigate all of our offerings, we have made all of these resources accessible from a single location: opportunity.linkedin.com. A job seeker or anyone looking to develop these on-demand skills can start here and will be guided through the learning paths based on the roles in which they are interested. In addition, Microsoft and LinkedIn will continue to provide on-ramps for people from nontraditional backgrounds to successfully transition from learning skills to landing a job. This will include the Microsoft Software & Systems Academy, or MSSA, which provides transitioning U.S. service members and veterans with technology skills. It also includes Leap, which Microsoft launched in 2015 to recruit, develop, upskill non-traditional talent, and create a connection to employability in the tech industry. And it includes REACH, which is a multi-year engineering apprenticeship program at LinkedIn. Supporting these offerings with cash grants to nonprofits While all these tools, training, and certifications will be available online to millions of people in multiple languages, we recognize the need to supplement them with additional services and support. That’s why we will provide $20 million in financial grants, plus technical support, to nonprofit organizations around the world. In part this will enable nonprofits to translate these resources into additional languages and to localize and tailor the learning content. These groups will also provide and support teachers and facilitators to help learners complete learning pathways and certification, and provide connections to wrap-around supports, coaching, and mentoring. We expect these grants will enable the nonprofits to reach 5 million unemployed workers, with a focus on particularly vulnerable groups. This includes people with disabilities, people from low-income communities, and people from diverse backgrounds that are underrepresented in tech, including women and underrepresented minorities. We are launching this initiative globally with several highly-regarded nonprofit partners, including: Trust for the Americas. Through a longstanding partnership, Microsoft and the Trust for the Americas have launched 200 centers across 19 countries in Latin America. Fondazione Mundo Digitale. Committed to creating an more inclusive learning society with fundamental values of education and innovation in Italy, Fondazione Mondo Digitale has partnered with Microsoft to provide a wide range of much needed digital skills trainings with a mission of targeting categories of the population at greatest risk of being excluded. NASSCOM Foundation. Microsoft India has partnered with NASSCOM Foundation and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to directly train 2,000 young women and trainers at the Industrial Training Institutes on skills leading to Microsoft Certification. Tech4Dev. Established in 2016 to empower to empower African communities, Microsoft has partnered with Tech4Dev to inspire, advocate and train people across Nigeria on basic digital skills, programming skills, and essential skills needed for the future of work. NPower. With a mission to launch underserved young adults from across Canada into meaningful and sustainable digital careers, Microsoft has partnered with NPower Canada in support of their core Workforce Development program which provides participants with no-cost ICT skills training, industry certification, job placement and career services. National Urban League. Since its founding in 1910, the National Urban League has served African Americans and the long-term unemployed. Microsoft will partner with NUL on initiatives including the Urban Tech Jobs Program to build on this history and mission to connect the long-term unemployed to good-paying jobs in Information Technology. Skillful. Dedicated to enabling all Americans – particularly those without a bachelor’s degree – to secure good jobs in a changing economy, Skillful has partnered with Microsoft to develop skills-based training and employment practices in collaboration with state governments, local employers, educators, workforce development organizations, and others. Although this is a global initiative, it’s important to take special steps to make digital skills more accessible to communities of color in the United States. We are focusing on community-based nonprofits, which are local organizations created to address the unique needs of the people living in a community. They are often the most trusted and effective at driving positive impact. However, data has shown that there are disparities in the funding provided to community-based nonprofits serving in communities of color and led by people of color. This needs to change. Therefore, as a part of this skills initiative, Microsoft will dedicate support to community-based nonprofit organizations working to increase skill development and economic opportunities for communities of color, especially Black and African American communities. We will provide $5 million in cash grants to community-based nonprofit organizations that are led by and serve communities of color in the United States. This summer, we will publish additional information on this opportunity and will select organizations for this funding by fall of this year. We recognize that this is but a small part of the long overdue investment needed to address historical racial inequities in our society. We look forward to partnering with communities and other like-minded individuals and organizations to use our voice and resources to advocate for change to support communities of color. Using our voice on public policy issues We are committed to sharing data and what we learn from this initiative with governments around the world. In addition, we will advocate for public policy innovations that we believe can help accelerate essential skills needs and opportunities. We plan to address three priorities: Employer incentives: We believe the current economic crisis provides an important moment for governments to do what has long been needed, by helping to reverse the two-decade decline and stagnation in employer-sponsored learning opportunities for employees. Governments can play a vital role by providing tax incentives for employers – especially small businesses – in new stimulus spending measures. Governments should also consider doing more to support broader work-based training programs and to support transitional employment, which would provide subsidies for time-limited, wage-paid work experiences. One creative example comes from Canada, where workers who risk displacement in an economic downturn are encouraged to develop individual training plans ranging from upgrading skills in current jobs to preparing for promotions and even training for jobs outside the company. This “Work-Sharing (WS)” program helps employers and employees avoid layoffs when there is a temporary reduction in the normal level of business activity beyond the control of an employer. It provides income support to employees eligible for employment insurance benefits who work a temporarily reduced work week while their employer recovers. WS is a three-party agreement involving employers, employees and Service Canada. Employees must agree to a reduced work schedule and to share the available work for a specified time. The impacted employees are compensated with salary for participation in skills enhancement training, whether on-the-job or at off-site courses, during the days/hours missed because of participation in the WS program. Increased skills funding for individuals: At a time when governments are investing in stimulus funding, it is important to consider investing in the future of citizens by enabling people to acquire the skills needed for their future and the economy’s recovery. This should provide individuals with access to funding for additional relevant skills training (including online tools and services) throughout their lives, as well as more funding to existing workforce programs focusing on technology and skills. Good examples are plentiful. They include work in New Zealand, where the government has invested approximately $1 billion to make vocational training courses free for all ages over the next two years. In the United States, the Pledge to America’s Workers American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, established by the White House, is developing proposals focused on investments in learning pathways, skills-based hiring, and the modernization of education and training to accelerate reskilling and facilitate innovation in workforce development. Other examples include programs in countries such as Singapore and France to create Lifelong Learning Accounts or similar mechanisms that would allow individual employees, employers and, in some models, the public sector, to invest in training for individuals. COVID-related stimulus spending creates an important opportunity to pursue these opportunities further. As the European Commission has recently recognized, a “Next Generation EU” recovery package should address the importance of digital skills. To improve and adapt skills, knowledge and competences, the commission will come forward with a Skills Agenda for Europe and an updated Digital Education Action Plan. Data and innovation: Finally, we believe it will become increasingly important to advance new data systems that leverage private sector tools to help workers understand available training and in-demand career paths and help policymakers understand evolving post-COVID labor market shifts. A key step is to create interoperable learning records that allow individuals to more easily share their learning records with employers. A similar measure promotes data integration to help job seekers and employers identify in-demand skills and growth areas. All of this is enhanced when governments open their own data sets for public use. A good example of this is the European Commission’s “New Skills Agenda for Europe,” which offers people tools to present their skills and obtain real-time information on skills needs and trends. We are committed to public- private partnerships to supporting these efforts. Coming next: A new learning app in Microsoft Teams The programs we are launching today are focused on helping job seekers. We have a broader vision for skills. We believe we need a connected “system of learning.” Central to this vision is a recognition that employers have a vital role to play in helping their employees to skill and re-skill. We know that employers need additional tools and resources to help here. As we have talked with our customers, we have heard some key themes: Employers recognize that they need to train and retrain employees to do current and new jobs well, but more than two-thirds of Learning & Development leaders state that measuring the impact of learning remains one of their biggest challenges. Employee engagement in learning is a challenge. Many employees report not having enough time or incentive to learn at work. There is low cultural emphasis placed on learning, with research showing that only one-third of employees have leadership teams encouraging them to learn. The learning experience for too many employees is highly fragmented. Many organizations piece together courses and content across a variety of sources, making it hard and time consuming for employees to easily discover relevant content when and where they need it. Just as companies today have a system of engagement for customers with CRM technology and a system of record with ERP, they will need a system of learning. This will need to provide a continuous feedback loop between the work, skills and learning required to succeed at the task at hand, as well as the credentials to accelerate career advancement. To support this, we are developing and will preview a new learning app in Microsoft Teams later this year, to bring learning into the natural flow of work. People are already using Microsoft Teams for meetings, chat, calling, collaboration, and business processes, and we are planning to extend that to include learning. The Teams learning app will allow employers to integrate world-class content from LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Learn, a customer’s own content, and other content providers all in one place, ranging from instructor-led training to shorter, micro-learning content. The app will empower managers to assign and track learning progress and enable employees to have conversations around the content while also earning certifications and recognition for their new skills. Whether a new employee is onboarding, a manager is looking to sharpen a team’s skills, or a first-line worker is in the field needing immediate training, this new app will create a seamless experience for employees to learn in the flow of work. Looking forward: A foundation for the skills and jobs of the future As this detailed description makes clear, we are launching today the most comprehensive approach we have ever undertaken to meet the digital skilling needs of individuals and employers alike. We believe we can provide meaningful help to more than 25 million people globally in the coming months. But in many ways, our ambitions are larger than this. For every part of Microsoft, including LinkedIn and GitHub, this marks a new beginning that will build on everything we have today and a new wave of technology innovation to come. We believe we can combine the best in technology with stronger partnerships with governments and nonprofits. Together we can better serve people, filling jobs and creating opportunities for individuals around the world. We should all aspire to turn a year that had a bleak beginning into a decade that has a bright finish. We bring a long-term determination and a commitment to do our part. ******* About LinkedIn Learning LinkedIn Learning is an online educational platform that helps people discover and develop business, technology-related, and creative skills through expert-led course videos. With a catalogue of over 16,000 courses, and 60+ new courses released every week, LinkedIn Learning provides high-quality, relevant and up-to-date courses taught by real-world practitioners, located across the globe. Drawing on insights from millions of members, LinkedIn Learning personalizes course recommendations at scale and surfaces relevant learning content to each employee based on their connections. About Microsoft Learn Microsoft Learn is a free, interactive, hands-on training platform that helps people develop in-demand technical skills related to widely used Microsoft products and services including Azure, Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Microsoft Dynamics, and more. Microsoft Learn combines short step-by-step trainings, browser-based interactive coding and scripting environments, and task-based achievements to help learners advance their technical skills and prepare for Microsoft Certifications. With millions of registered learners, Microsoft Learn offers over 225 learning paths, more than 1,000 modules, and is localized in dozens of languages. Microsoft Learn is great for individual users to advance their skills, as well as organizations that want to create curated employee training paths. The post Microsoft launches initiative to help 25 million people worldwide acquire the digital skills needed in a COVID-19 economy appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

The latest “Simply Windows” video is now available, focusing on tips for organizing your tabs in Microsoft Edge. If you’re new to Windows 10 or want to learn more about how to get the most out of it, this video series can help you get up to speed. And as writers in the series have had to work from home, like many people, they’re sharing their remote experiences in these newer episodes and answering questions from viewers. In episode 12, writer Maxx Ramos guides you through working with Microsoft Edge, specifically on using Collections to organize the many, many tabs you may have open on your browser. This way, you can quickly pull up the tabs according to those collections, which could align to shopping, research or any project. She also shows you how to quickly pick up where you left off with your tabs. Find out more about “Simply Windows” and check out a playlist of previous shows. Windows Community also has videos on the new Microsoft Edge and managing favorites, if you want to know more about that. And if you like this, check out other Windows 10 Tips. The post Check out ‘Simply Windows’ to find out how to get more organized using Microsoft Edge appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/f8576d5a03b1b767b2bca13796ed9f0b-1024x578.jpg Many of us are finding ourselves in the kitchen a lot more these days. If you’d like to focus that time on upping your gourmet game, check out the ways your tech devices can help you plan healthy and delicious meals, cook them like a pro, plan your shopping trips efficiently and more. Read all about it on the Windows Home and Family Resources Blog – and bon appétit! The post Spending more time in the kitchen? 7 ways to make tech your chef’s assistant appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/c2d53430952fa31a572e1531c5c50fe4.jpg State of Decay 2 recently celebrated its two-year anniversary with new weapons, clothes, gameplay improvements and more. Now its fans can enjoy a new Plunder Pack and Green Zone updates. The new Plunder Pack adds Sea of Thieves-themed weapons, outfits, hats and one seriously salty vehicle to the game. The Green Zone is a more relaxed, accessible apocalypse; where enemies do less damage, maintaining the community becomes easier due to cheaper crafting and more resources from scavenging and your Stamina lasts longer. The update is available for all players, with State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition available with Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One, Windows 10 PC, Steam and the Epic Games Store. Get all the details over at Xbox Wire. The post Now available: new State of Decay 2 Plunder Pack and Green Zone update appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20152 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel (Fast ring). You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re on the Fast ring. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated. Fixes We fixed an issue that could result in Notepad unexpectedly being removed after resetting your PC. If you were impacted by this, you can reinstall Notepad via Optional Features in Settings. We fixed an issue where the “Windows needs space to continue” dialog might have told you to select Continue but no Continue button was displayed. We fixed an issue that could result in the Windows Update icon unexpectedly not appearing in the notification area of the taskbar when an update was ready for reboot. We fixed an issue that could result in an IME typing as if it was ON, when it was actually in OFF state, and tapping the IME mode indicator in the taskbar wouldn’t change the mode. Known issues We’re working on a fix for an issue causing some systems to crash with a HYPERVISOR_ERROR bugcheck. We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build. We’re aware of an issue where Notepad might fail to reopen files which were automatically saved during a PC restart (if that option is enabled in Settings). Documents can be recovered from %localappdata%\Notepad. Some Insiders may experience a bugcheck and rollback when attempting to update to this build if an Xbox controller is connected to your device. You may see error code 0xc1900101 in Windows Update History. To work around the issue, disconnect or unpair the Xbox controller to successfully update. (Please note that reconnecting the controller after the update will result in a bugcheck.) Starting with the last build, some games and applications may crash at launch or fail to install. We’ve identified the root cause and are working on a fix for a future flight. We’re investigating reports of the screen becoming dimmer after upgrading to the previous build. We’re aware of an issue where Task Manager reports 0.00 GHz CPU usage in the Performance tab. We’re working on a fix for an issue causing Reset this PC to always show the error “There was a problem resetting this PC” when launched from Settings. To work around the issue, use Advanced Startup (Windows RE) to start Reset this PC. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20152 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Looking for a new laptop for general use? Or updating your gaming system? Either way, Acer has new and refreshed options coming your way. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/93a90fa6e34ebe7f7b007f024d2cf238.jpg Acer Swift 5 The new Swift 5 notebook is an ultraportable device with ultra-narrow bezels that allow for 90% screen-to-body ratio and next gen Intel Core processors with powerful integrated graphics based on Intel’s new Xe architecture and an optional NVIDIA GeForce MX350 GPU – all under three pounds. This power makes it possible to seamlessly run multiple applications at once, and they load quickly thanks to 1 TB of high-speed PCle SSD storage on top of up to 16 GB LPDDRAX. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/739604163e0a099d67930c2a633fba3e-scaled.jpg Acer Swift 5 For convenience and security, it’s also equipped with an embedded fingerprint reader for Windows Hello. It supports Wake on Voice, enabling users to activate and query Windows 10 even when the screen is off. The Swift 5 will be available in EMEA, North America and China in October starting at 1,099 euros, $999.99 and RMB 6,999. Acer is also launching four Predator XB3 series monitors that have NVIDIA G-SYNC compatible technology, up to 240 Hz refresh rates and up to 4K UHD resolution. This series will be available in North America in September, starting at $429.99; in EMEA in August, starting at 439 euros; and in China in July, starting at RMB 2,999. Designed for hardcore and professional gamers, the refreshed Predator Orion 9000 (P09-920) delivers extreme performance, advanced cooling and easy upgradability. It has up to an Intel Core i9 Extreme Edition processor, dual NVIDIA Geforce RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards in SLI mode and three 4.7-inch Predator FrostBlade fans that provide up to 16% more airflow and a 55% increase in static pressure compared to prior generations. A CPU liquid cooler fan keeps the temperature low as battles heat up. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/18b8b82fa6aead80b1cf91b224577ef4-scaled.jpg Predator Orion 3000 The newest Predator Orion 3000 models are made for gamers desiring a mid-sized tower rig for enjoying favorite game titles or diving into streaming without seeing an impact on performance. Thanks to a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER GPU, it can tackle a wide range of games. It will be available in North America in September, starting at $999.99; in EMEA in August starting at 899 euros; and in China in July, starting at RMB 8,999. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/21f34d0172f3f24e1bf884824af86766-240x300.jpg Acer Nitro 50 The Nitro 50 Series desktops deliver powerful performance for lag-free gaming and smooth graphics-intensive tasks with up to a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and up to a GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER GPU and high capacity storage. The 18-liter chassis fits neatly on or under a desk. Gamers can control and make adjustments to fan speed in real time. It will be available in North America in September, starting at $799.99; in EMEA in August starting at 799 euros; and in China in July, starting at RMB 4,599. New updates are coming to the Predator Helios 700, Predator Helios 300, Predator Triton 300 and Nitro 7 gaming notebooks: a range of 10th Gen Intel Core processors for desktop-caliber gaming on-the-go. Up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER graphics or RTX 2070 SUPER graphics deliver the performance needed to drive fast displays with high refresh rates for blur-free seamless visuals – even in the most demanding of AAA games. To keep the notebooks operating at peak performance and optimal temperature, they’re equipped with enhanced thermal designs, new cooling technologies and additional heat pipes. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/8823ed67bef5f31cffc869bdc7b01e8c-scaled.jpg Predator Helios 700 The Predator Helios 700 gaming notebook will be available in North America in October, starting at $2,399.99; in China in August, starting at RMB 44,999; and in EMEA in September, starting at 2,699 euros. The Predator Helios 300 gaming notebook will be available in North America and EMEA in July, starting at $1,199.99 and 1,299 euros; and in China in June, starting at RMB 8,999. The Predator Triton 300 gaming notebook will be available in North America in September, starting at $1,299.99; and in EMEA in July, starting at 1,399 euros. The Nitro 7 gaming notebook will be available in North America in October, starting at $999.99; and in EMEA in July, starting at 1,299 euros. For more information on all of these devices and more, head over to Acer. The post Acer unveils new Swift 5 notebook, expands Predator portfolio and updates more gaming laptops appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

An email from CEO Satya Nadella to Microsoft employees: As I shared in our Employee Town Hall last month, and in my email earlier this month, we are committed to take action to help address racial injustice and inequity, and unequivocally believe that Black lives matter. Below you will see many of the steps we are taking. Over the past several weeks, the senior leadership team, board of directors, and I have spent time reflecting, listening, learning, and discussing what role the company – and all of us collectively – must play in helping to drive change, both within Microsoft and in our communities. With significant input from employees and leaders who are members of the Black and African American community, we have developed a set of actions that we believe are both meaningful to improving the lived experience at Microsoft, as well as driving change in the communities in which we live and work. Today, we are making commitments to address racial injustice and inequity for the Black and African American community in the United States. We will additionally take important steps to address the needs of other communities, including the Hispanic and Latinx community, across the company in the next five years. We are focused on three multiyear, sustained efforts: Increasing our representation and culture of inclusion. We will build on our diversity and inclusion (D&I) momentum from the past five years by adding an additional $150M of D&I investment, and will double the number of Black and African American people managers, senior individual contributors, and senior leaders in the United States by 2025. Engaging our ecosystem. We will use our balance sheet and engagement with suppliers and partners to extend the vision for societal change throughout our ecosystem, creating new opportunities for them and the communities they serve. Strengthening our communities. We will use the power of data, technology, and partnership to help improve the lives of Black and African American citizens across our country, including to address the safety and well-being of our own employees in the communities in which they live. Below are key details on how we will accomplish this. Our Culture We need to ensure that our culture of inclusion is a top priority for everyone. It starts with our values of respect, integrity, and accountability. Each of us must be able to thrive in diverse teams. Every manager must be able to attract, retain, and grow employees of all backgrounds. This is certainly true at Microsoft, and also more broadly. It is the new baseline for manager excellence across industries across the globe. We will meet this new goal in three key ways: We will accelerate our cultural transformation through further investment in inclusion. Managers who have a deep understanding and commitment to building inclusive culture are key to our company’s success. Starting in FY21, our training on allyship, covering, and privilege in the workplace will be required for all employees, with additional new content on understanding the experience of the Black and African American community. Because leadership sets the tone, we will have required live sessions for CVPs and EVPs to ensure they better understand the lived experience of these specific communities. We will strengthen our intentional career planning and talent development efforts. This will apply across our workforce, beginning with Black and African American employees. These programs will expand to include other employee groups as we learn and grow. We will expand on our leadership development programs for select Black and African American midlevel employees and their managers, to help prepare for promotion to Director/Principal. For Director/Principal level, we will create a new development opportunity to expose them to the leadership expectations of the Partner/GM level and match them with senior-level sponsors and mentors. For Partner/GMs, we are continuing to invest in the dedicated leadership development programs. We will further strengthen company accountability for progress on representation. We will deepen our practice of evaluating each CVP/GM’s progress on diversity and inclusion when determining their impact and rewards, as well as promotion considerations. We will provide CVPs with dedicated D&I coaches to confront and resolve systemic obstacles within their organizations. We will expand our global, quarterly promotion process to ensure we build diverse leadership teams at all levels. This will include direct engagement with business leaders on review of all candidates for people management, Director/Principal level, and Partner/GM level. Our Ecosystem A vast business ecosystem surrounds Microsoft from our supply chain to our partner community. We recognize that a stronger and more productive ecosystem requires better representation of the diversity in our communities. We will evolve our engagement with our supply chain, banking partners, and the broad Microsoft partner ecosystem in this effort. We will double the number of Black- and African American-owned approved suppliers over the next three years and spend an incremental $500M with those existing and new suppliers. We’ll do this by ensuring our existing guidance to include diverse minority-owned suppliers in all RFPs is well understood, evaluate supplier portfolio composition, and enhance the weighting of diversity characteristics (both in ownership and in broad workforce) during the supplier evaluation and selection process. We will also encourage Black and African American representation progress in our top 100 suppliers, which account for over 50 percent of our indirect spend, by requesting annual disclosure of their diversity profile information (e.g., workforce diversity, goals) that we will incorporate into our RFP evaluations. We will use our own banking needs to grow our portfolio investment activity with Black- and African American-owned financial institutions. Over the next three years, we will double the percentage of our transaction volumes through these Black- and African-American owned banks and external managers where we have existing strong banking relationships and look to grow that base, which provides an increased opportunity for these firms to attract more capital. We will create a $100M program that will make its initial investment in collaboration with the FDIC to target Minority Owned Depositary Institutions (MDIs), which directly enables an increase of funds into local communities (businesses, restaurants, housing, etc.). And, we will establish a $50M investment fund focused on supporting Black- and African American-owned small businesses. The fund will initially focus on investing to improve access to capital, increase skill development, and reduce the technology gaps that exist today. We know how important partners are to the growth of our business. We look forward to investing to increase the number of Black- and African American-owned partners in our US partner community by 20 percent over the next three years. A new $50M partner fund will help with access to capital providing loans to support these partners through their startup phase with the loans recovered over time as their business grows. We will provide $20M of financing to existing and new partners to support their cashflow needs. And, we will invest an additional $3M in training programs covering financial management, tech solutions, and go-to-market readiness. Our Communities No company can change the world by itself. But we believe that Microsoft can put the power of data, technology, and partnership to work to help improve the lives of Black and African American citizens across our country. That’s what we’re committed to doing, through a four-part effort. We will strengthen and expand our existing justice reform initiative with a five-year, $50 million sustained effort. Since starting this work in 2017, we’ve come to appreciate the importance of this issue not only to the nation, but to the personal lives of our employees and their families. No one should have to live with the fear of being stopped by the police, harassed while shopping, or bullied in school because of the color of their skin. This conviction has led us to do increasing work advocating both in the Puget Sound and nationally, including in the communities where our employees live.We will build on this foundation by using data and digital technology toward increased transparency and accountability in our justice system. All this work will be backed by public policy advocacy that will increase access to data to identify racial disparities and improve policing. We’ll also use our technology and expertise to support evidenced-based and unbiased diversion programs that direct people into treatment alternatives instead of incarceration. We’ll also use data to promote racial equity in the decisions made by prosecutors, including decisions about who to charge with a crime, the nature of the charge, plea offers, and sentencing recommendations. We will expand our skills work to help Black and African American students and adults develop the skills needed to succeed in the digital economy. Over the next five years, we will expand in 13 states and the District of Columbia the Microsoft TEALS industry volunteer program to bring computer science education to an additional 620 high schools primarily serving Black and African American students. We will also strengthen Microsoft’s support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including in computer and data science programs, campus initiatives and partnerships, and curriculum development. Finally, we’ll offer digital skills training to Black and African American adults seeking new jobs. As part of a global skilling initiative, we will provide $5 million in cash grants to community-based nonprofit organizations led by and serving communities of color, enabling them to better support digital skills programs. We will help expand access to broadband and devices for communities of color and the key institutions that support them in major urban centers, by working with carriers, OEMs, our own hardware team, refurbishers, and nonprofits to enrich low-cost broadband access by providing affordable PCs and Microsoft software. We’ll work to ensure these services can be put to effective use to improve people’s lives, with a focus on telehealth services and educational offerings. Backed by public advocacy, we’ll start by focusing on six cities that currently confront the largest urban broadband gaps. Finally, we will increase technology support for nonprofits that support and are led by people of color. We will help support the digital transformation that we know from experience can make nonprofits more effective. We’ll provide access to Azure and Dynamics credits and financial grants that will enable these organizations to add the IT staff needed to better deploy and maximize technology. We look forward to tapping into the knowledge and expertise of our own employees as we identify effective groups we can support more strongly. Change begins by looking inward. We expect this change in ourselves. Employees expect this change from their leaders. Our customers and partners expect this change from Microsoft. And the world demands this change. This is not a one-time event. It will require real work and focus. We will listen and learn. We will take feedback and we will adjust. But it starts with each of us making a commitment to do the work, to help drive change, and to act with intention. Satya Additional thoughts on this topic The post Addressing racial injustice appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

The “Simply Windows” video focusing on tips for connecting to monitors is now . If you’re new to Windows 10 or want to learn more about how to get the most out of it, this video series can help you get up to speed. And as writers in the series have had to work from home, like many people, they’re sharing their remote experiences in these newer episodes and answering questions from viewers. In episode 11, writer Doug Thomas guides you through connecting a secondary monitor to a laptop, going over which cables and adapters to use, as well as docking stations and hubs. He also shows how the software in Windows 10 helps tailor the connection to your setup. Find out more about “Simply Windows” and check out a playlist of previous shows. The Windows Community also has more information on connecting multiple monitors. And if you like this, check out other Windows 10 Tips. The post Need help connecting to a monitor? Check out this ‘Simply Windows’ episode appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

The Internet of Things (IoT) is providing breakthrough value to businesses across every vertical, from manufacturing, to energy, to agriculture, to real estate, to healthcare and more. IoT provides real-time insights into assets, enabling businesses to reduce operational expenses, unplanned downtime and unnecessary servicing. While the benefits of IoT are well established and significant, one of the biggest hurdles for customers is securing IoT devices – both for new digitization initiatives as well as for legacy Operational Technology and industrial control system environments. Two years ago, Microsoft announced a $5 billion investment in IoT to further our commitment to build a trusted, easy-to-use platform for our customers and partners to build connected solutions – no matter where they are starting in their IoT journey. Microsoft already provides multi-layer IoT security and IoT security monitoring in Azure, which is being used by thousands of customers in production and has made securely configuring IoT devices possible. And while securely configuring IoT devices is possible, our mission is to simplify IoT and make securing IoT devices easy. Yet there are still challenges customers have that we seek to solve: Giving customers visibility into what IoT devices are already connected to their networks. Managing the security on existing IoT devices (referred to as “brownfield devices”) that have been historically difficult due to a myriad of custom protocols. Today we are excited to share that Microsoft is acquiring CyberX to help solve these challenges. CyberX will complement the existing Azure IoT security capabilities, and extends to existing devices including those used in industrial IoT, Operational Technology and infrastructure scenarios. With CyberX, customers can discover their existing IoT assets, and both manage and improve the security posture of those devices. With CyberX, customers can see a digital map of thousands of devices across a factory floor or within a building and gather information about their asset profile and vulnerabilities. Gaining this visibility is not only critical for understanding where security risks may exist and then mitigating those risks, but it is also a fundamental step to securely enable smart manufacturing, smart grid and other digitization use cases across production facilities and the supply chain. And while Microsoft is adding CyberX to our security capabilities, our partnerships with the broad set of security providers in the ecosystem is more important than ever, with many of them providing on-the-ground expertise and integration services. We will continue to deliver more value to our customers as CyberX is further integrated with Microsoft’s broad portfolio of IoT security offerings in threat protection that span users, endpoints, applications, data and more. For example, in conjunction with Azure Sentinel, Microsoft’s cloud-native, next-generation security information and event management (SIEM)/security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) with built-in IoT security workload, SecOps personnel will be able to identify threats that span Operational Technology- and IT-converged networks that were previously challenging to detect. We know that customers need help improving the security of their existing IoT environment. CyberX’s technology and team will be an incredible addition to Microsoft in our commitment to both IoT security and innovation as you work to digitally transform your business. For more information about CyberX, you can view the CyberX listing in the Azure Marketplace, check out their website, or request a demo here. The post Microsoft acquires CyberX to accelerate and secure customers’ IoT deployments appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/2020/06/Model-OMB-post-1024x402.jpg An example of one of ADRM’s 75 industry vertical schemas. In advancing our mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more, Microsoft has been investing in the power of data and artificial intelligence (AI) to continuously innovate, influence and enhance customer experience and partner growth. Data and AI are the foundation of modern technological innovation, yet businesses today struggle to unlock the full value data has to offer as fragmented data estates hinder digital transformation. Without a comprehensive and integrated view of their data, companies are at a competitive disadvantage, which hinders digital adoption and data-driven innovation. Today, we are excited to announce the acquisition of ADRM Software, a leading provider of large-scale industry data models, which are used by large companies worldwide as information blueprints. ADRM’s robust industry data models have been built and refined over decades for business-critical analytics. An industry data model enables organizations to more holistically capture and define business concepts, refine and integrate processes, and build interoperability in their ecosystem. According to Gartner, “Data models are foundational for business. They undergird wide-ranging initiatives and permanent programs, such as data quality, data lineage and data governance.”¹ But companies today are implementing data modeling on a fragmented basis, resulting in a disparate data estate that is incapable of supporting the kinds of digital transformation required today. Combining comprehensive industry models from ADRM with limitless storage and compute from Azure allows for the creation of the intelligent data lake where data from multiple lines of business can be harmonized together more quickly. Together with Microsoft Azure, these capabilities will be delivered at scale, enabling our customers to accelerate digital progress, and reduce risk in a variety of major initiatives. We’re excited to welcome the ADRM team to Microsoft, and together look forward to advancing the digital transformation journeys of our partners and customers. For more information, please see Aberdeen CEO Kevin Schofield’s LinkedIn post. ¹Gartner, Data Modeling to Support End-to-End Data Architectures, Joe Maguire, Feb. 8, 2019 The post Microsoft acquires ADRM Software, leader in large-scale, industry-specific data models appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20150 to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel (Fast ring). Starting with build, we are back to releasing builds from the RS_PRERELEASE branch. You can check out our Windows Insider Program documentation here, including a list of all the new features and updates released in builds so far. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re on the Fast ring. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. Please note, there will be a slight delay between when a build is flighted and when Flight Hub is updated. What’s new in Build 20150 Three new Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) features: GPU compute, WSL install, and WSL update This build contains three new exciting WSL features. The first is GPU compute: a feature that allows your Linux binaries to leverage your GPU, which makes it possible to do more machine learning development and data science workflows directly in WSL. Secondly, we’ve added a new command: `wsl –install` which allows you to install WSL with just one command. Lastly, we’ve added `wsl –update` which gives you the ability to easily manage the Linux kernel version used by WSL 2 distros. To view a summary of these announcements please read this post on the Windows Command line blog, and for in-depth details on GPU compute in WSL please read this post on the Windows Developer blog. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/3d39cf80787a7208278a716ceb76d29a.gif Other updates for Insiders Updating the map data in the Maps app Earlier this month, the Bing Maps Team announced they’ve started gradually rolling out the new TomTom base map data to Bing Maps and Microsoft first party products. As part of this process, we’re slowly updating the Maps app for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel (Fast ring) to use the new map data from TomTom. We’re asking Insiders to submit feedback on any issues they see as a result of this change directly from the Maps app by selecting Suggest a change at the lower right corner of the app. General changes & improvements With this week’s build, we’ll be starting to roll out the new search box on the default app settings pages As part of this, we’ve done some work to improve the performance of the search box. The new Korean IME is now available again for Insiders to use. Based on feedback, we’re updating the text of the Settings > Privacy > Location page to clarify that the icon displayed when your location is being used will be displayed in the taskbar. Fixes We fixed an issue resulting in Visual Studio windows not consistently accepting clicks. We’ve fixed an issue where the Documents and Downloads sections in Settings > Privacy was showing a broken icon next to their name (just a rectangle). We fixed an issue where, if you paused Windows Update while a new build was downloading and then closed Settings, when you reopened Settings the Windows Update page may appear blank. We fixed an issue where updates made when editing VPN networks in Settings might not persist. We fixed an issue where the copy button under Settings > Network & Internet-Status > Properties wasn’t actually copying the content to the clipboard. We fixed an issue resulting in the data usage number in Network & Internet Settings not displaying correctly in Japanese if the data usage was less than 1 MB. We fixed a crash some Insiders were experiencing when opening Sound Settings. We fixed an issue where the Optimize Drives window position wasn’t preserved on elevation. We fixed a typo in the group policies under User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Component > File Explorer > Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin. We fixed an issue resulting in the On-Screen Keyboard no longer displaying text predictions. We fixed an issue where double-clicking a OneDrive file in File Explorer might unexpectedly show a notification saying, “Windows Defender SmartScreen is downloading from OneDrive.” We fixed an issue where Resource Monitor could end up showing CPU usage at more than 100 percent. We fixed an issue that could result in qaa-Latn unexpectedly appearing in your list of keyboards after upgrading. We fixed an issue where, with multiple input methods, typing in your password incorrectly on the login screen would result in your keyboard changing back to your default input method (if that’s not what you were typing with). We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard space bar label would disappear when pressing it while using Japanese curve-flick input in abc mode. We fixed an issue that could result in your browser not launching in the foreground after selecting a web link from another app. We fixed an issue that could result in Search not accepting typed input. We fixed an issue where, if pinned to Start, the Windows Security app tile would be missing an icon when the tile was medium sized. We’ve made some updates to improve performance of the Windows Security app if there are a large number of detections. We fixed a few issues that could result in your PC bugchecking. Known issues We’re working on a fix for an issue causing some systems to crash with a HYPERVISOR_ERROR bugcheck. We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build. We’re aware of an issue where Notepad might fail to reopen files which were automatically saved during a PC upgrade (or restart, if enabled in Settings). Documents can be recovered from %localappdata%\Notepad. Honoring Pride through open dialogue, donations to LGBTQI+ nonprofits, actions for equity and visibility When we speak against racism and discrimination people react. Often with messages of support and sometimes with labels and words of discouragement. Instead of running away from them, the LGBTQI+ community at Microsoft decided to open up and invite all to a dialogue. Because a dialogue can lead to understanding, and understanding can lead to change. Learn more about what we’re doing for Pride 2020. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20150 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Pride started because Black and Latinx transgender people stood up against injustice at Stonewall, New York in 1969. The systemic racism and violence targeted against the Black and African American community, especially transgender Black women, shows us that we don’t live in a truly equitable society. And global issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, are exacerbating the inequities the Black, African American and LBGTQI+ communities already face. We must take steps to address injustices and take action to drive equity and inclusion forward. We believe now more than ever we need to encourage open dialogue because it helps us create momentum, build empathy and change history. Yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision protects LGBTQI+ people in the workplace from discrimination — but also serves as a reminder that the journey toward a truly equitable future isn’t over. The events of these past few days, weeks and months are a call to action. During June, which is Pride month, we’re making a $250,000 donation to nonprofits around the world to help in their fight for LGBTQI+ and racial equity. We’re also spotlighting various identities and expressions through limited-edition products designed with and by the LGBTQI+ community with the hope of giving visibility to often overlooked or neglected groups. Our campaign shares our employees’ stories and invites us all to continue conversations to push inclusion forward. Join us by exploring the campaign at microsoft.com/pride. YouTube Video Click here to load media Microsoft has a history of LGBTQI+ inclusion Put together by employees across all continents, Pride at Microsoft is a grassroots and global phenomenon. For us, Pride is an opportunity to reflect on our past and galvanize action. We started our inclusion journey early in the company’s history, introducing sexual orientation in our non-discrimination policies in 1989. In 1993, we were one of the first companies in the world to offer employee benefits to same-sex domestic partners. And since 2005, Microsoft has attained a 100 score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. Our journey is just beginning Today, Microsoft operates in over 120 countries, most of which still don’t provide legal protections for LGBTQI+ individuals. Yet, when we raise awareness of these inequities, we often face misconceptions and accusations of pandering. That’s why this year’s GLEAM community (Global LGBTQI+ Employees and Allies at Microsoft) decided to open up a dialogue with the hope to drive progress forward. Our 2020 Pride campaign is a platform for our GLEAM members to have brave conversations by sharing their experiences of homophobia, racism, sexism and fears, and to counter common misconceptions of the LGBTQI+ community. Their stories encourage everyone to listen, reflect, and explore what actions they can take to push inclusion forward. We’re releasing many of their responses as a downloadable archive of stickers and virtual backgrounds on microsoft.com/pride, so everyone can use them, add to them, share their Pride, and kickstart their own conversations. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/prod/2020/06/Statements-1600x600-May-28.png We’re also bringing visibility to the LGBTQI+ community on a global scale by showing Pride in our products, reaching billions of people around the world. In designing these products, we reflected on the diversity of gender identities, gender expressions and sexual orientations today. The 19 different LGBTQI+ flags became the inspiration for many of our designs. We don’t release these products for profit, and our donations exceed any revenue we generate. We’re creating these experiences with the hope to drive visibility to the community and kick-start a dialogue about LGBTQI+ equity on a global scale. Visit microsoft.com/Pride to learn more. We’re also hosting a 24-hour virtual Pride event on Saturday, June 27 at 10 a.m. ET on Microsoft InCulture, Mixer and our social channels. We’ll have discussions about racism, intersectionality, representation and more via panels, play, music, and conversations with invited guests, nonprofits, and artists. We hope you can join us. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/prod/prod/2020/06/Products-group.png Acting on the message To honor Pride, we’re donating $250,000 to the following nonprofits in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia-Pacific to celebrate and support their work on LGBTQI+ equality and racial equity: OutRight Action International works to research, document, defend, and advance human rights and equality for LGBTQI+ people everywhere. In addition, OutRight’s COVID-19 Global LGBTQI+ Emergency Fund supports LGBTQI+ communities on the frontlines of the pandemic. RainbowYOUTH works with queer, gender diverse and intersex youth in New Zealand to ensure all young people can thrive. They believe in fostering family-friendly environments that are safe, inclusive, accepting, and diverse. Campaign Against Homophobia is a Polish organization whose mission is empowerment of marginalized groups on various levels. They work with Polish and international nonprofits along with individuals to build acceptance, end prejudice and advocate for human rights. Colombia Diversa specializes in the recognition and defense of the rights of LGBTQI+ people in Colombia. They aim to improve the lives of LGBTQI+ people through human rights reports and advocacy campaigns. Know Your Rights Camp, started by Colin Kaepernick, advances the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders. We invite everyone to join us in dialogue about LGBTQI+ and racial equity and inclusion. If the more we talk, the more we understand, then let’s talk. Share your thoughts with us on social by using #MicrosoftPride. The post Microsoft honors Pride through open dialogue, donations to LGBTQI+ nonprofits, actions for equity and visibility appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

We continue to improve Windows 10, accelerating innovation with investments in quality, new features, and the overall update experience that are all designed to keep you protected and productive. Today, I am excited to introduce our next feature update, Windows 10, version 20H2, which is targeted for release later in the second half of this year, and provide an overview of our plans for this next release. Windows 10, version 20H2 will be delivered in an optimized way for anyone running the Windows 10 May 2020 Update (also referred to as Windows 10, version 2004). In this post, I’ll provide information about our servicing approach for this release and details on how we are simplifying the naming of Windows versions moving forward. Quick to install and includes the new, improved Microsoft Edge Windows 10, version 20H2 will offer a scoped set of features to improve performance and enhance quality. It will also be the first version of Windows 10 to include the new Microsoft Edge, based on Chromium. We continue to learn and adjust the delivery and overall experience of the Windows Updates based on customer feedback. As a result, we will again deliver Windows 10, version 20H2 using servicing technology (like that used for the monthly update process) for customers running the May 2020 Update who choose to update to the new release. Simply put, anyone running the May 2020 Update and updating to Windows 10, version 20H2 will have a faster installation experience because the update will install like a monthly update. For consumer or commercial users coming from versions of Windows 10 earlier than the May 2020 Update (version 2004), the process of updating to the new release will be the same as it has been and will work in a similar manner to previous Windows 10 feature updates, using the same tools and processes. As this Windows 10 release is targeted for the second half of 2020, commercial customers using Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions of version 20H2 will continue to enjoy 30 months of servicing. With this release, we will also simplify our approach to numerical versions for Windows and move to a format that represents the half of the calendar year in which the release becomes available in retail and commercial channels. Windows 10, version 20H2 is, therefore, “20H2” because it will be released in the second half of the 2020 calendar year. This is a familiar approach for our Windows Insiders and is designed to provide consistency in our version names across releases for our commercial customers and partners. (Note: We will continue to use a friendly name, such as the May 2020 Update, in consumer communications.) Next steps We continue to employ a multilayered approach to the development and launch of feature updates that includes fully leveraging the Windows Insider Program to obtain user feedback and data insights on quality. We will begin releasing 20H2 builds to Windows Insiders in the Slow ring today to those Insiders who seek to opt in and new features will be offered in future Windows Insider Preview builds as they are ready. Broad availability of Windows 10, version 20H2 will begin later this calendar year and we will provide more information as we get closer to the launch of this next update. We look forward to hearing your feedback. The post What’s next for Windows 10 updates appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are announcing Windows 10 version 20H2 as the next feature update for Windows 10. The 20H2 feature update will be a scoped set of features and include the new Microsoft Edge based on Chromium. As part of today’s announcement, we’re also releasing 20H2 Build 19042.330 to the Beta Channel (Slow ring). This build includes the following fixes from KB4557957 as well as the new Microsoft Edge. After updating to today’s build, Microsoft Edge will be updated to the new Microsoft Edge based on Chromium. We are releasing Build 19042.330 to Insiders in the Beta Channel via our “seeker” experience in Windows Update. This means Insiders will need to go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and choose to download and install 20H2. Once an Insider updates their PC to 20H2, they will continue to automatically receive new 20H2 updates through Windows Update using our using servicing technology (like the monthly update process). Over time, more new features and improvements will be delivered through this process. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2020/06/3c2e12122dbb82b6b70956e27d9d2097.png For 19H2, we released bits to some Insiders with features turned off and released bits to some Insiders with featured turned on. In response to Insider feedback, we are not doing that for 20H2. Insiders who choose to download and install 20H2 on their PC will get new 20H2 features as they are delivered. Insiders in the Beta Channel who don’t choose to download and install 20H2 won’t see new features. For all the details on the 20H2 release – check out John Cable’s blog post. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19042.330 (20H2) appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...