WebProNews

Category: CloudPlatformPro

  • Google Adds Generative-AI to Google Workspace

    Google Adds Generative-AI to Google Workspace

    Google is bringing generative-AI to Google Workspace, continuing its efforts to catch up to Microsoft.

    Google Workspace is the most popular cloud-based office suite and the company is looking to improve it even more with generative-AI.

    We’re now making it possible for Workspace users to harness the power of generative AI to create, connect, and collaborate like never before. To start, we’re introducing a first set of AI-powered writing features in Docs and Gmail to trusted testers.

    AI will help users by generating drafts and helping them overcome the dreaded “blank page:”

    Blank pages can stump the best of us. That’s why we’re embedding generative AI in Docs and Gmail to help people get started writing. Whether you’re a busy HR professional who needs to create customized job descriptions, or a parent drafting the invitation for your child’s pirate-themed birthday party, Workspace saves you the time and effort of writing that first version. Simply type a topic you’d like to write about, and a draft will instantly be generated for you. With your collaborative AI partner you can continue to refine and edit, getting more suggestions as needed.

    The AI will also be able to help users rewrite work to make it more appropriate for the intended purpose:

    Finding the right tone and style can also be tricky at times. Perhaps you’re applying for a new job, or writing to a new supplier in a more traditional industry, and you need to adopt a more formal tone in your email. Or you’ve jotted down a few bullets on your phone from a recent meeting and want to transform them into a more polished summary to share with your team. For these common scenarios and many more, we’re adding new generative AI capabilities to help you rewrite. And if you’re in the mood to let AI try out a new playful voice altogether, you’ll be able to hit the “I’m feeling lucky” option in Gmail.

    Interestingly, while Google is clearly working to catch up in the AI game, the company is also trying to establish itself as a responsible AI company:

    As we’ve experimented with generative AI ourselves, one thing is clear: AI is no replacement for the ingenuity, creativity, and smarts of real people. Sometimes the AI gets things wrong, sometimes it delights you with something offbeat, and oftentimes it requires guidance. With all this in mind, we’re designing our products in accordance with Google’s AI Principles that keep the user in control, letting AI make suggestions that you’re able to accept, edit, and change. We’ll also deliver the corresponding administrative controls so that IT is able to set the right policies for their organization.

  • Google Cloud and MongoDB Expand Their Partnership

    Google Cloud and MongoDB Expand Their Partnership

    Google Cloud and MongoDB are expanding their partnership in an effort to better support startups.

    Google Cloud is already a popular option among startups and developers. The company is expanding its partnership with MongoDB to provide integrated database and data services.

    As partners, Google Cloud and MongoDB co-engineer streamlined integrations between MongoDB Atlas and many Google Cloud services to make it easier to deploy apps (Dataflow, GKE, Cloud Run), pull in data from other sources (Apigee), run in flexible multi cloud environments (Anthos), easy deployment of MEAN stack, and Terraform and analyze data (BigQuery, Vertex AI).

    Startups will benefit from Google Cloud’s global reach, giving them the ability to expand and scale as needed.

    Signups will also receive significant savings on Google Cloud and Firebase:

    If you’re early in your startup journey and not yet backed with equity funding, you’ll have access to $2,000 of Google Cloud credits. If you are, your first year of Cloud and Firebase usage is covered with credits up to $100,000. Plus, in year two get 20% of Google Cloud and Firebase usage covered, up to an additional $100,000 in credits.

    Similarly, signups will receive free credits for MongoDB:

    Free credits for MongoDB Atlas, including usage of the core Atlas Database, in addition to extended data services for full-text search, data visualization, real-time analytics, building event-driven applications and more to supercharge your data infrastructure

    The expanded partnership looks to be a big win for startups.

  • Southwest Airlines Selects AWS as Preferred Cloud Provider

    Southwest Airlines Selects AWS as Preferred Cloud Provider

    Following a tech breakdown in December, Southwest Airlines has selected AWS as its preferred cloud provider.

    Usually among the best airlines for customer service, Southwest experienced a tech breakdown that led to 16,700 flights cancelled in a span of 10 days. Eager to put the issue behind it, the airline is turning to AWS to help it further its digital transformation.

    “As our preferred cloud provider, AWS will offer solutions that are critical in our drive to modernize our operation, equip our employees with the tools they need to serve our customers, and improve our reliability,” said Lauren Woods, senior vice president and chief information officer of Southwest Airlines Co. “With the help of AWS’s leading cloud technology and expertise, we will launch improved digital solutions, responsive customer support, and streamlined operations as we deliver on our digital transformation initiatives.”

    In particular, Southwest hopes the nature of cloud deployments will help it better scale in the future, as well as provide effective ways to deliver next-generation services. This is especially critical since 83% of the company’s revenue comes from its website and app.

    “Southwest Airlines is one of the world’s largest low-cost carriers, operating 4,000 flights daily during peak travel season,” said Matt Garman, senior vice president of Sales, Marketing, and Global Services at AWS. “AWS’s proven experience in the travel industry, coupled with our vast portfolio of cloud technologies, empowers Southwest to increase operational resiliency, drive cost efficiency, and deliver exceptional experiences for its employees and customers. Our shared culture of customer obsession will help Southwest innovate new travel solutions that will enhance customer touchpoints, flight operations, and airplane and crew scheduling, to keep air travel affordable and enjoyable for passengers.”

  • EU Governments Are Looking to Nextcloud to Escape Microsoft

    EU Governments Are Looking to Nextcloud to Escape Microsoft

    EU governments are turning to Nextcloud to provide an alternative to Microsoft SharePoint and Google Workspace.

    Nextcloud is the open source cloud platform that provides powerful alternatives to commercial products. EU governments, ever eager to reduce reliance on Big Tech, are increasingly looking to the platform as an option. In fact, the European Data Protection Supervisor recently migrated to Nextcloud:

    Open Source Software offers data protection-friendly alternatives to commonly used large-scale cloud service providers that often imply the transfer of individuals’ personal data to non-EU countries. Solutions like this may therefore minimise reliance on monopoly providers and detrimental vendor lock-in. By negotiating a contract with an EU-based provider of cloud services, the EDPS is delivering on its commitments, as set out in its 2020-2024 Strategy, to support EUIs in leading by example to safeguard digital rights and process data responsibly.”

    Wojciech Wiewiórowski, EDPS

    The upcoming end of SharePoint Server support has created a situation where governments are eager to avoid vendor lock-in, making Nextcloud an even more appealing proposition.

    As a result, Nextcloud has received a significant increase in interest from EU governments, with German state Schleswig-Holstein already making the switch from SharePoint to Nextcloud, and many others beginning to follow suit.

    Nextcloud’s initiative to offer a digitally sovereign, open-source alternative to Microsoft Sharepoint is to be welcomed. That’s why we work together with Nextcloud to optimize Nextcloud Tables.

    Ralf Sutorius, Leitender IT-Architekt, Stadt Köln

    It’s a refreshing turn of events to see a powerful, open source alternative gain more widespread use.

  • Google Workspace Finishes Client-Side Encryption Rollout

    Google Workspace Finishes Client-Side Encryption Rollout

    Google has taken a major step toward improving privacy and security for Workspace users, rolling out client-side encryption (CSE).

    CSE is an integral part of a complete security approach since it ensures that only the owner can decrypt and view their own data. Google already deployed CSE for Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Meet last year, but is now finishing the rollout by bringing it to Gmail and Calendar.

    Writing in a blog post, Google Workspace Director of Product Management Andy Wen and Product Manager Ganesh Chilakapati, outline how CSE compliments the privacy and security features already present in Workspace:

    Workspace already encrypts data at rest and in transit by using secure-by-design cryptographic libraries. Client-side encryption takes this encryption capability to the next level by ensuring that customers have sole control over their encryption keys — and thus complete control over all access to their data. Starting today, users can send and receive emails or create meeting events with internal colleagues and external parties, knowing that their sensitive data (including inline images and attachments) has been encrypted before it reaches Google servers.

    Remaining compliant with various regulations is a key benefit of CSE:

    Users can continue to collaborate across other essential apps in Google Workspace while IT and security teams can ensure that sensitive data stays compliant with regulations. As customers retain control over the encryption keys and the identity management service to access those keys, sensitive data is indecipherable to Google and other external entities.

    The rollout of CSE could help Google make significant headway, especially in those markets that require heightened security:

    “We have been searching for the capability to guarantee that our encrypted communications remain inaccessible to third-parties, including our technology providers, for some time. Google appears to be uniquely positioned with client-side encryption in providing us with complete control over our sensitive data, ensuring that we remain compliant as an organization in the ever changing world of data regulation. These features now being available across Google Workspace represent a pivotal moment for us. We’re enthusiastic about the ability to continue to benefit from the efficiency in working that Workspace provides us with, whilst at the same time maintaining trust with our customers that their confidential data will stay private and compliant,” said Shaun Bookham, UK Operations & Technology Director at PwC.

  • Amazon Reports First Unprofitable Year in Almost a Decade

    Amazon Reports First Unprofitable Year in Almost a Decade

    Amazon delivered its quarterly report and it was bad news as the company turned in its first unprofitable year in almost a decade.

    Amazon reported net sales for 2022 of $514.0 billion, an increase of 9% year-over-year. The company’s AWS cloud business came in at $80.1 billion for the year, an increase of 29%.

    Despite the increased sales, the company posted a net loss of $2.7 billion for the year, or $0.27 per share, its first since 2014. While a $2.7 billion loss is bad enough on its own, it’s even worse when compared to the $33.4 billion net income the company posted in 2021.

    Much of the company’s loss can be attributed to its investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian.

    2022 net loss includes a pre-tax valuation loss of $12.7 billion included in non-operating income (expense) from the common stock investment in Rivian Automotive, Inc., compared to a pre-tax valuation gain of $11.8 billion from the investment in 2021.

    “Our relentless focus on providing the broadest selection, exceptional value, and fast delivery drove customer demand in our Stores business during the fourth quarter that exceeded our expectations—and we’re appreciative of all our customers who turned to Amazon this past holiday season,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO.

    Jassy also was optimistic about the future, especially given the cost-cutting measures the company has already taken.

    “We’re also encouraged by the continued progress we’re making in reducing our cost to serve in the operations part of our Stores business,” Jassy continued. “In the short term, we face an uncertain economy, but we remain quite optimistic about the long-term opportunities for Amazon. The vast majority of total market segment share in both Global Retail and IT still reside in physical stores and on-premises datacenters; and as this equation steadily flips, we believe our leading customer experiences in these areas along with the results of our continued hard work and invention to improve every day, will lead to significant growth in the coming years. When you also factor in our investments and innovation in several other broad customer experiences (e.g. streaming entertainment, customer-first healthcare, broadband satellite connectivity for more communities globally), there’s additional reason to feel optimistic about what the future holds.”

  • Akamai Is Taking on the Cloud’s Top Dogs With Linode

    Akamai Is Taking on the Cloud’s Top Dogs With Linode

    Akamai is hitting the ground running with its Linode purchase, using it as the backbone of its cloud ambitions.

    Akamai made its name as the world’s leading content delivery network (CDN), but has been aggressively transforming itself into a cloud provider. It’s $900 million purchase of Linode was a major piece of that transformation and the company is using it as a launchpad to challenge the cloud industry’s giants.

    Last week, Akamai unviled its Connected Cloud service, and promised a “a fundamentally different approach to cloud.” The company plans to build “three new enterprise-scale core cloud computing sites” in the US and Europe. The new sites are expected to go live by the end of Q2 2023 and will be based on the Linode assets. The sites will also serve as a template for 10 additional core sites the company will deploy throughout the year.

    The company also plans to roll out out at least 50 distributed sites in 2023, greatly expanding cloud computing’s reach, especially in remote locations.

    In what is sure to be good news for many companies, Akamai plans to bring CDN economics to cloud egress pricing in an effort to help drive down cost. This has been a growing concern for many companies, with cloud computing costs growing much faster than many expected.

    “The cloud’s next phase requires a shift in how developers and enterprises think about getting applications and data closer to their customers. It redefines how the industry looks at things like performance, scale, cost, and security, as workloads are no longer built for one place but are delivered across a wide spectrum of compute and geography,” said Dave McCarthy, Research VP, IDC. “Akamai’s innovative rethinking of how this gets done — and how it is architecting Akamai Connected Cloud — puts it in a unique position to usher in an exciting new era for technology and to help enterprises build, deploy, and secure distributed applications.”

    “We’re taking a fundamentally different approach to cloud computing — building on 25 years of experience scaling and securing the internet for the biggest companies in the world,” said Tom Leighton, Akamai’s Co-Founder and CEO. “Akamai is building the cloud the next decade needs.”

  • Snap Is Cutting Google and AWS Cloud Spending

    Snap Is Cutting Google and AWS Cloud Spending

    Snap is cutting back its cloud spending, reducing how much it pays both Google Cloud and AWS.

    Snap relies on both cloud providers to power its operations. Like many tech companies, however, Snap is looking to cut costs and operate more efficiently. According to Business Insider, CFO Derek Andersen said the company had identified its cloud contracts as an area to cut back, with cloud expenditures second only to employee pay in cost.

    As a result, the company has “restructured and renewed to achieve lower pricing and better ongoing leverage in those relationships,” Andersen said.

    There was likely quite a bit of room for negotiation, with the company signing a five-year, $2 billion deal with Google in 2017. Similarly, the company had signed a $1 billion deal with AWS that lasted through December 2021.

    “We’ve focused intently on efficient unit-cost management by engineering our products efficiently, and by migrating among cloud services and products to drive down our unit costs,” Andersen said.

    The efforts appear to be paying off. While Andersen did not say exactly how much the company had reduced its cloud costs, he did say that infrastructure cost per daily user had dropped from $2.78 two years ago to $2.31 today.

    Snap’s actions illustrate the dilemma many companies now face. The pandemic helped fuel a record-breaking rush to adopt cloud services in an effort to better support remote and hybrid work. The pandemic also helped drive record sales for many tech companies. As the pandemic has waned, however, many companies are now paying for massive cloud contracts at a time when business is nowhere near as profitable as it was a year ago.

    While the cloud segment has been relatively insulated from the economic downturn, that could quickly change as more companies follow Snap’s lead.

  • Adobe’s Figma Purchase May Be In Jeopardy

    Adobe’s Figma Purchase May Be In Jeopardy

    Adobe’s $20 billion Figma deal may be in trouble, with EU Commission weighing whether to launch an antitrust probe.

    Adobe announced in September that it had struck a deal with Figma to acquire the startup for $20 billion. Figma has been gaining in popularity, providing a web-based competitor to Adobe’s tools at a fraction of the cost. Almost immediately, the deal was met with angst and anger from users, many of whom were using the product specifically because they did not want, or could not afford, to use Adobe’s products.

    According to Bloomberg, the European Commission has received a number of requests from member states to probe the deal. The number of requests evidently fell below the threshold that would normally trigger a probe, but the Commission did acknowledge that the deal could “significantly affect competition.”

    The Commission will ask Adobe to notify the transaction, meaning the companies will need EU clearance to proceed.

    “We look forward to working constructively with the European Commission to address its questions and bring the review to a timely close,” a Figma spokesperson told Bloomberg.

  • Microsoft’s Azure Business Hit With Layoffs

    Microsoft’s Azure Business Hit With Layoffs

    Microsoft’s Azure division appears to be the latest part of the company hit with layoffs, with 150 personnel impacted.

    Microsoft announced in January that it planned to lay off 10,000 employees but did not provide details about which divisions would experience cuts. The company’s plans have only become apparent as layoffs have occurred. Yesterday news broke that LinkedIn was the latest division to experience downsizing, following similar action across the HoloLens, Surface, and Xbox teams.

    According to The Information, Microsoft’s Azure division now joins the list. A source told the outlet that approximately 150 individuals in the company’s digital cloud acquisition team had been let go. The team is responsible for “convincing medium-size companies to adopt cloud services such as Azure server rentals and Microsoft 365 productivity apps.”

    Interestingly, the impact on the Azure team goes beyond just sales personnel. Azure test engineers, systems administrators, and product managers have posted on LinkedIn within the last few days, revealing they had been laid off.

    Gaurang Deshmukh, Software Test Engineer at Microsoft, was one such individual:

    With an extremely heavy heart, I have to announce that I was one of the employee impacted by #Microsoft layoffs. Despite this setback, I’m extremely grateful for my experience at Microsoft as Software Test Engineer in Azure for Operators #A4O org for over 3 years.

    Christopher Teahan, Azure Cloud Administrator, was another:

    I was laid off from #Microsoft this week, it was a great experience working for a start up like Affirmed Networks for 4 years and then transitioning to a larger company as part of the Microsoft acquisition back in 2020. I was at Microsoft for almost 3 years and learned a lot being part of the IT and BIS teams and working on the migrations of our legacy IT systems and tools to the Microsoft’s. Working on #Azure projects and transiting legacy systems to the cloud has been amazing and I am thankful for all I’ve learned at Microsoft. I will miss being part of the Azure for Operators organization and everyone I have worked with over the past 6-7 years, but it’s time for a new challenge and journey!

    During the economic downturn, the cloud segment has been one of the more resilient elements of the tech industry. While tech layoffs have become an almost daily occurrence, it is odd that the Azure team has been this heavily impacted.

  • Cloudflare Announce Mastodon Support

    Cloudflare Announce Mastodon Support

    Cloudflare is throwing its weight behind the Fediverse with its first Mastodon-compatible Supercloud server, Wildebeest.

    Mastodon has emerged as the main alternative to Twitter and differentiates itself with its decentralized design. Whereas Twitter is run by a single company, with centralized servers, anyone can set up a Mastodon server. The collective of Mastodon servers forms the “Fediverse,” with users able to sign up on one server and follow and communicate with users across all of them.

    While individuals and companies may be tempted to run their own Mastodon server, doing so can present a number of challenges, as Cloudflare highlights:

    The Mastodon gGmbH non-profit organization provides a server implementation using Ruby, Node.js, PostgreSQL and Redis. Running the official server can be challenging, though. You need to own or rent a server or VPS somewhere; you have to install and configure the software, set up the database and public-facing web server, and configure and protect your network against attacks or abuse. And then you have to maintain all of that and deal with constant updates. It’s a lot of scripting and technical work before you can get it up and running; definitely not something for the less technical enthusiasts.

    Wildebeest is designed to address these issues and help individuals and companies quickly get up and running with their own Mastodon instance:

    Wildebeest serves two purposes: you can quickly deploy your Mastodon-compatible server on top of Cloudflare and connect it to the Fediverse in minutes, and you don’t need to worry about maintaining or protecting it from abuse or attacks; Cloudflare will do it for you automatically.

    Wildebeest is not a managed service. It’s your instance, data, and code running in our cloud under your Cloudflare account. Furthermore, it’s open-sourced, which means it keeps evolving with more features, and anyone can extend and improve it.

    Given the increasing popularity of Mastodon, Cloudflare may well have a hit on its hands.

  • Google Cloud & Health-ISAC Partner to Bolster Healthcare Cybersecurity

    Google Cloud & Health-ISAC Partner to Bolster Healthcare Cybersecurity

    Google Cloud and Health-ISAC have announced a partnership aimed at helping the healthcare industry bolster cybersecurity.

    Like many industries, healthcare has been hard-hit by cybersecurity threats, with ransomware attacks shutting down hospitals and compromising operations. Google Cloud and Health-ISAC (Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center) are working together to “help Health-ISAC members discover threats more rapidly” and “also assist in evicting malicious actors from their infrastructure.”

    Today, we’re announcing the general availability of our next investment in this community. Working with the Health-ISAC Threat Operations Center, Google Cloud security engineers developed an open sourced integration that connects the Health-ISAC Indicator Threat Sharing (HITS) feed directly with Google Cloud’s Chronicle Security Operations information and event management. HITS allows Health-ISAC members to easily connect and quickly share cyber threat intelligence through machine-to-machine automation.

    “The integration of Health-ISAC’s threat feed with Chronicle Security Operations is exciting to see,” said Errol Weiss, Health-ISAC’s chief security officer. “Our members can now ingest Health-ISAC’s Signature Threat Feed of member-to-member shared threat indicators into Chronicle, and use that information to help automation and threat analyst decisions when protecting critical network infrastructure.”

  • Google Brings VMware to Google Cloud

    Google Brings VMware to Google Cloud

    Google is rolling out support for VMware in Google Cloud in the form of “a Google-managed VMware platform.”

    VMware is a major player in the virtualization and cloud computing markets. The company’s software powers some of the world’s biggest companies across a range of industries, and Google is bringing that software to its cloud offerings.

    The company announced the initiative in a blog post:

    Google Cloud VMware Engine is a Google-managed VMware platform that customers can use to run their VMware workloads on Google Cloud. VMware Engine private clouds consist of VMware ESXi clusters that are managed by Google. Customers manage the virtual infrastructure of private clouds using VMware vCenter and VMware NSX-T for software-defined networking. The GCVE IaC Foundations code guides customers to automate the configuration of several layers of the infrastructure and virtualization stack, using infrastructure as code. This includes the integration of platform logging and monitoring with the Google Cloud Operations Suite, configurations such as VM folders, permissions and VM deployments in vCenter and network configurations in NSX-T, including subnets, firewalls, and load balancers.

  • Google Invests $300M in AI Startup Founded by OpenAI VP

    Google Invests $300M in AI Startup Founded by OpenAI VP

    Google is continuing its quest to come up with an answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, investing in a rival founded by a former OpenAI VP.

    Google has reportedly invested $300 million in Anthropic, founded by Dario Amodei. Amodei previously worked at OpenAI, ultimately rising to VP of Research, before leaving to found Anthropic in early 2021.

    The injection of cash from Google is part of a partnership that will see Anthropic adopt Google Cloud.

    “We’re thrilled to be able to partner with Google Cloud on training and deploying useful AI systems,” said Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. “We’ve been impressed with Google Cloud’s open and flexible infrastructure. We are excited to partner with Google to scale-up our systems in the coming months.”

    “AI has evolved from academic research to become one of the biggest drivers of technological change, creating new opportunities for growth and improved services across all industries,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud. “Google Cloud is providing open infrastructure for the next generation of AI startups, and our partnership with Anthropic is a great example of how we’re helping users and businesses tap into the power of reliable and responsible AI.”

    As part of the deal, Anthropic will run its Claude AI model on Google Cloud. Claude’s capabilities are believed to be competitive with the much-hyped ChatGPT.

    The deal is reminiscent of Microsoft’s multibillion investment in OpenAI, albeit on a smaller scale. Microsoft and Google both see AI as a way to revolutionize search, as well as a plethora of other fields.

    With Microsoft already at work to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Bing, it’s not surprising to see Google invest in one of OpenAI’s rivals in an effort to catch up.

  • Google Cloud May Be Alphabet’s Saving Grace in Tomorrow’s Earnings

    Google Cloud May Be Alphabet’s Saving Grace in Tomorrow’s Earnings

    Alphabet is poised to deliver its Q4 2022 earnings tomorrow, and analysts are looking to Google Cloud to be the bright spot.

    Alphabet, like many in the tech industry, has had a rough few months. The company is facing antitrust action by the US government, new threats to its core business, and a economic downturn that has resulted in its first-ever layoffs.

    With the company reporting its earnings tomorrow, analysts are looking to Google Cloud to be one of the driving elements to the company’s performance.

    “Alphabet’s fourth-quarter 2022 results, scheduled to be released on Feb 2, are likely to reflect gains from its strengthening cloud service offerings,” writes Zacks.com.

    “The Google Cloud segment, which derives revenues from fees collected for Google Cloud Platform services and Google Workspace collaboration tools, has constantly been driving substantial revenue growth for Alphabet,” Zacks continues.

    Cloud computing has, in general, weathered the economic downturn better than many other segments of the tech industry. Alphabet’s earnings tomorrow may shed light on just how resilient the cloud industry really is.

  • ChromeOS Bringing Microsoft 365 and OneDrive Integration

    ChromeOS Bringing Microsoft 365 and OneDrive Integration

    Google is making it much easier for ChromeOS users to access their Microsoft data, adding Microsoft 365 and OneDrive integration.

    While Google offers excellent storage options for ChromeOS users, many still need access to their Microsoft 365 files and data. The company is easing that pain point, integrating Microsoft’s services via a Progressive Web App.

    The company announced the changes in a support article:

    Today, users of Microsoft 365 and OneDrive software can use the Progressive Web App (Installable here) for their Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel needs. To further help these users, we will have a new integration later this year on ChromeOS, making it easier to install the app and open files.

    Users will be offered a guided setup experience that takes them through the process of installing the Microsoft 365 web app and connecting Microsoft OneDrive to their Chromebook Files app. Files will be moved to Microsoft OneDrive when opening in the Microsoft 365 app.

    Microsoft 365 On ChromeOS – Credit Google

    The new feature is a win-win for customers and is a nice example of two rivals working together to improve the customer experience.

  • Google Is Now Rolling Out Its New Gmail Interface

    Google Is Now Rolling Out Its New Gmail Interface

    Google is currently rolling out its updated Gmail interface, bringing together various elements in one view.

    Google has been planning a new Gmail interface for some time, in an effort to make the service a one-stop-shop for communication. The new interface brings together “Gmail, Chat, and Meet in one unified location.”

    Google began rolling out the new interface to scheduled domains on Friday, and expects to be finished by February 3. Once complete, users will not be able to roll back to the previous interface.

    Beginning today, the new Gmail user interface is rolling out for scheduled release domains, with anticipated completion by February 3, 2023. This will become the standard experience for Gmail, with no option to revert to the original UI.

  • Google Calendar Gets Major Upgrade to Avoid Scheduling Conflicts

    Google Calendar Gets Major Upgrade to Avoid Scheduling Conflicts

    Google has rolled out a major update to Calendar, one that will make it easier for users to avoid scheduling conflicts.

    The company unveiled the news in a blog post:

    The appointment scheduling tool is a feature that allows people to share their availability via a booking page that can be used by colleagues, external stakeholders, clients, and partners to schedule a meeting. With the current appointment scheduling experience, you are unable to review multiple calendars for conflicts when exposing appointment times to others.

    As a result, we’re introducing the ability to check and see a visual preview of multiple calendars when setting up your appointment schedules. Your booking page will show you as unavailable when you’re busy based on the calendars you choose.

  • Microsoft Services Recovering From An Hours-Long Outage

    Microsoft Services Recovering From An Hours-Long Outage

    Microsoft services appear to be working after an hours-long outage that impacted Microsoft 365, Outlook, and Teams.

    According to Downdetector.com, users started experiencing problems in the early morning hours of Wednesday, January 25. The issue appeared to impact a broad range of Microsoft services and lasted for several hours.

    The company acknowledged the issue on Twitter, saying it appeared to be a networking issue.

    The company’s status page says services have been restored, as does their Twitter account.

  • Satya Nadella: ‘ChatGPT Coming Soon to Azure OpenAI Service’

    Satya Nadella: ‘ChatGPT Coming Soon to Azure OpenAI Service’

    Microsoft is working to bring ChatGPT to its Azure OpenAI service, according to a tweet by CEO Satya Nadella.

    OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the AI world by storm, quickly establishing itself as one of the most advanced chat AIs to date. As one of the main investors in OpenAI, Microsoft has access to the company’s technology, and has already incorporated it as part of its Azure OpenAI Service. The company is preparing to take it a step further by rolling out ChatGPT as well.

    Eric Boyd, Corporate Vice President, AI Platform, provided more details in a Microsoft blog post:

    With Azure OpenAI Service now generally available, more businesses can apply for access to the most advanced AI models in the world—including GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL•E 2—backed by the trusted enterprise-grade capabilities and AI-optimized infrastructure of Microsoft Azure, to create cutting-edge applications. Customers will also be able to access ChatGPT—a fine-tuned version of GPT-3.5 that has been trained and runs inference on Azure AI infrastructure—through Azure OpenAI Service soon.

    Microsoft is clearly going all-in on OpenAI and ChatGPT. The company is preparing to invest $10 billion in the AI firm and is looking for ways to integrate ChatGPT into its Bing search engine in an effort to challenge Google’s dominance.

    Integrating ChatGPT into Azure OpenAI Service is a natural evolution of the company’s plans and investment.

  • AWS and SAP Expand Partnership to Accelerate Digital Transformation

    AWS and SAP Expand Partnership to Accelerate Digital Transformation

    AWS and SAP have announced a new partnership aimed at helping customers accelerate their digital transformation.

    SAP has been steadily reinventing itself with a focus on cloud computing. CEO Christian Klein made clear in late-2021 that the strategy was working.

    “Our strategy is clearly working. Customers are choosing SAP for their business transformation in the cloud. We see record adoption of our applications and our platform. This has resulted in strong acceleration of our cloud growth.”

    The company has been building partnerships with other cloud providers to help customers accelerate their digital transformation and cloud migration. SAP partnered with IBM in early 2022, and has now expanded its partnership with AWS.

    “AWS and other infrastructure providers are becoming increasingly important to SAP’s business as we help our customers benefit from digital transformation in the cloud with RISE with SAP,” said Elena Ordóñez del Campo, senior vice president and strategic partner officer, SAP. “Building on our partnership of 15 years, we move into the new year with aligned go-to-market teams in every region, an industry-leading portfolio of solutions enabled by our joint reference architecture, and a growing selection of co-innovations — all ready to help accelerate value for our customers. We look forward to an incredible 2023 together and beyond.”

    “This multiyear collaboration will facilitate stronger marketing and co-selling programs to complement our respective technologies,” said Kathleen Curry, director of AWS Worldwide Strategic Alliances. “SAP frequently leans in with AWS to deliver to customers a unified experience as they innovate and evolve their businesses in the ever-dynamic economic environment. This collaboration is an important milestone in our partnership and helps customers modernize faster with accelerated time to value, price-performance, reliability, and sustainability.”