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Tag: Microsoft

  • Get Ready For a Major Microsoft Teams Performance Boost

    Get Ready For a Major Microsoft Teams Performance Boost

    Microsoft Teams is on the verge of receiving a major performance boost thanks to a complete rewrite that should be released next month.

    The Verge has learned from sources familiar with the matter that Microsoft has been completely rebuilding Teams, with a focus on improved performance. The new version is slated to have the 2.0, or possibly 2.1, designation.

    Rish Tandon, former Microsoft Teams’ CVP of Engineering, teased these coming improvements as early as mid-2021:

    It appears the architecture change is finally paying off, paving the way for this current rewrite of Teams. Microsoft has already begun testing the new version internally, with plans to release a preview in March.

    According to The Verge’s sources, “the app should use 50 percent less memory, tax the CPU less, and result in better battery life on laptops.”

    Given Teams’ status as the most widely used corporate messaging platform, a boost this significant is good news indeed.

  • Windows 11 Now Displays a Watermark on Unsupported PCs

    Windows 11 Now Displays a Watermark on Unsupported PCs

    Microsoft is upping the ante in its war on unsupported PCs, displaying a watermark on those systems running Windows 11.

    Windows 11 has stricter system requirements than its predecessors, requiring a CPU with Trusted Platform Module (TPM). While there are ways of installing Windows on an unsupported machine, Microsoft is not keen on the idea and is making it more irritating to do so.

    According to Gizmodo, reports are surfacing of Windows 11 displaying a watermark when running on an unsupported PC. The issue appears to have started with the January 2023 Windows 11 update.

    Microsoft already has a major adoption problem with Windows 11 and it’s unlikely this stunt will improve the situation.

  • It’s Not Just You…Microsoft Outlook’s Spam Filters Are Borked

    It’s Not Just You…Microsoft Outlook’s Spam Filters Are Borked

    Users’ inboxes were flooded with spam Monday, an apparent issue with Microsoft Outlook’s spam filters not working.

    According to Mashable, the Twitterverse is ablaze with reports of inboxes filled to the brim with spam messages. The emails ranged from random — but not necessarily harmful — emails to blatant phishing attempts.

    There does not appear to be an explanation for the issue, nor is there a time frame for when it will be fixed. Mashable reached out to Microsoft for comment, but has not received a response.

    We will update this story as more information becomes available.

  • Microsoft Is Working on Comprehensive SaaS Security

    Microsoft Is Working on Comprehensive SaaS Security

    Microsoft is working to improve SaaS security, shifting to “to a comprehensive SaaS security solution.”

    Software as a service is an increasingly important part of the remote and hybrid workplace, and is only growing in popularity. Unfortunately, properly securing SaaS applications can be a logistical nightmare. In fact, citing research from Better Cloud, Microsoft points to the 59% of security professionals that struggle to manage SaaS security.

    Microsoft believes the key lies in protecting data within cloud apps, rather than just focusing on cloud access security. The company has expanded the scope of its Defender for Cloud Apps to help provide that layer of security.

    Today, we are excited to announce that Defender for Cloud Apps is extending its SSPM capabilities to some of the most critical apps organizations use today, including Microsoft 365, Salesforce,3 ServiceNow,4 Okta,5 GitHub, and more.

    Another important component of Defender for Cloud Apps is the ability to help personnel research configuration best practices for SaaS app security.

    To streamline this process, Defender for Cloud Apps launched SSPM in June 2022 to surface misconfigurations and provide recommendations to strengthen an app’s posture.

    In preview starting today, Defender for Cloud Apps now provides security posture management for Microsoft 365, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Okta, GitHub, and more. Not only are we expanding the breadth of app coverage but also the depth of assessments and capabilities for each application.

    The tight integration within Microsoft 365 Defender will give organizations security across the full scope of their operations.

    That’s why Defender for Cloud Apps is natively integrated into Microsoft 365 Defender. The XDR technology correlates signals from the Microsoft Defender suite across endpoints, identities, email, and SaaS apps to provide incident-level detection, investigation, and powerful response capabilities like automatic attack disruption. The integration of SaaS security into an XDR experience gives SOC teams full kill chain visibility and improves operational efficiency with better prioritization and shorter response times to ultimately protect the organization more effectively.

  • Microsoft/Parallels Deal Brings Windows 11 to Apple Silicon

    Microsoft/Parallels Deal Brings Windows 11 to Apple Silicon

    Microsoft and Parallels have reached an agreement allowing the latter to bring Windows 11 to Apple’s custom chips.

    Parallels is a popular solution for Mac users that need to run Windows apps. While the company has already made the transition to supporting Apple’s M-series custom chips, Windows 11 was a major sticking point, leaving users stuck on Windows 10.

    The two companies have reached a deal, however, that will finally bring an Arm-based Windows 11 to Apple’s new machines via Parallels. Alludo, Parallels parent company, announced the news:

    Alludo, a global technology company helping people work better and live better, today announced that Microsoft has authorized the use of Arm versions of Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise installed in a virtual machine with Parallels Desktop for Mac for customers on Mac with Apple silicon. IT administrators can now enable their users to run Windows 11 on Arm on the Parallels platform, with the support from Alludo and assurance that Microsoft has authorized this solution.

    There are some serious limitations to Windows 11 running in Parallels. Specifically, according to a Microsoft support document, anything that requires additional layers of virtualization is unsupported. As a result, Windows Subsystem for Android, Windows Subsystem for Linux, Windows Sandbox, and Virtualization-based Security (VBS) will not work.

    Nonetheless, the news is sure to be welcome by Mac users that need or want to run the latest version of Windows inside Parallels.

    “At Alludo, we believe that all employees should have the freedom and flexibility to choose where, when, and how they do their best work. Therefore, the vision for our Parallels portfolio has been to allow users to access their applications on any device, anywhere,” said Prashant Ketkar, Chief Technology and Product Officer at Alludo. “In line with our vision, we are excited to see that, in collaboration with Microsoft, Arm versions of Windows can run in a virtualized environment on Parallels Desktop on the latest Mac systems running Apple’s powerful M-series chips.”

    “Three years into the ’new’ world of hybrid work, IDC research indicates that equality of access to enterprise resources is still a top concern for hybrid work and digital workspace strategies,” said Shannon Kalvar, IDC Research Director. “Mac is increasingly an integral part of enterprise’s digital workspaces, and Windows on Arm is a key component in ensuring they have equal access to all corporate resources.”

  • Google CEO Wants Employees to Spend 2-4 Hours Improving Bard AI

    Google CEO Wants Employees to Spend 2-4 Hours Improving Bard AI

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai is pulling out all the stops to improve the company’s Bard AI, asking employees to spend 2-4 hours helping.

    Bard is Google’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company is playing catch-up to OpenAI and Microsoft, with the latter planning to add ChatGPT’s successor to its Bing search engine. Despite Google’s long history with AI development, Bard’s launch did not go well, with the AI getting an answer wrong in the company’s ad, knocking $100 billion off of Alphabet’s value.

    Pichai is eager to see Bard improve and is recruiting Googlers throughout the company to achieve the goal, according to a memo seen by Business Insider.

    “I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that’s to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential,” Pichai wrote. “The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly.”

    In this memo, Pichai is clearly trying to generate and channel excitement, asking employees to “contribute” their time toward the effort.

    Full memo, courtesy of Insider:

    Hi Googlers,

    Excited to see us opening up Bard for an internal dogfood to help us get it ready for launch. This is an important step as we work to develop the technology responsibly – a big thank you to the Bard team and to everyone who is spending time testing it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can find instructions on how to participate at go/bard-dogfood.

    I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that’s to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential. This will be a long journey – for everyone, across the field. The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly. That’s why we have thousands of external and internal testers testing Bard’s responses for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world information. Let’s embrace the challenge and keep iterating, including with users and developers.

    And remember, some of our most successful products were not first to market. They gained momentum because they solved important user needs and were built on deep technical insights. Over time, we earned user trust and more people began to rely on them.

    Here is where we can use your help: Channel the energy and excitement of the moment into our products. Pressure test Bard and make the product better. I would appreciate it if each of you contributed in a deeper way with 2-4 hours of your time. See below for more detail.

    AI has gone through many winters and springs. And now it is blooming again. As an AI-first company, we’ve been working towards this for many years and are ready for it. Let’s stay focused on delivering amazing experiences for our users and launch things we can all be proud of.

    -Sundar

  • AppSheet Founder: Google ‘Slowly Ceased to Function’

    AppSheet Founder: Google ‘Slowly Ceased to Function’

    AppSheet founder Praveen Seshadri, who sold his company to Google Cloud in 2020, has harsh words for the tech giant.

    Seshadri posted a blog on Medium outlining his experience with Google after the company acquired his AppSheet. The founder seems to confirm what many investors and analysts have feared, painting a picture of a company that is floundering and has lost much of what made it special:

    I joined Google just before the pandemic when the company I had co-founded, AppSheet, was acquired by Google Cloud. The acquiring team and executives welcomed us and treated us well. We joined with great enthusiasm and commitment to integrate AppSheet into Google and make it a success. Yet, now at the expiry of my three year mandatory retention period, I have left Google understanding how a once-great company has slowly ceased to function.

    Seshadri then goes on to highlight the crossroads Google is at as Microsoft and its OpenAI-powered Bing threaten the company’s search dominance:

    It is a fragile moment for Google with the pressure from OpenAI + Microsoft. Most people view this challenge along the technology axis, although there is now the gnawing suspicion that it might be a symptom of some deeper malaise. The recent layoffs have caused angst within the company as many employees view this as a failure of management or a surrender to activist investors. In a way, this reflects a general lack of self-awareness across both management and employees.

    Read More: Google Won the Search Wars, but Can It Win the AI Search Wars?

    Ultimately, Seshadri boils Google’s issues down to four specific things:

    (1) no mission, (2) no urgency, (3) delusions of exceptionalism, (4) mismanagement.

    Interestingly, Seshadri makes a similar observation to the one we made here at WPN when we compared Microsoft and Google and drew the conclusion that Google has become risk-averse compared to its Redmond rival:

    Google can no longer seek success by avoiding risk. The path forward has to start with culture change and that has to start at the very top. Google’s senior executives should look at what Satya Nadella did at Microsoft and execute a similar playbook.

    Seshadri’s blog is a lengthy one, detailing far more than we can cover in this article. Nonetheless, it’s an outstanding read and illustrates why it increasingly seems that Google is in real trouble.

  • 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.

  • Microsoft Is Disabling Internet Explorer on Windows 10 Today

    Microsoft Is Disabling Internet Explorer on Windows 10 Today

    Microsoft is disabling Internet Explorer from most Windows 10 installations today, putting another nail in the old browser’s coffin.

    Microsoft has been moving users to Edge for some time. In all respects, Edge is a far superior browser to IE. Given that Microsoft has stopped supporting IE, Edge is also a more secure option.

    Today, the company will be rolling out an update to Edge that will disable IE on most Windows 10 computers.

    The company updated its support document to reflect the move:

    The out-of-support Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) desktop application was permanently disabled on certain versions of Windows 10 on February 14, 2023 through a Microsoft Edge update. Note, this update will be rolled out over the span of a few days up to a week, as is standard for Microsoft Edge updates.

    All remaining consumer and commercial devices that were not already redirected from IE11 to Microsoft Edge were redirected with the Microsoft Edge update. Users will be unable to reverse the change. Additionally, redirection from IE11 to Microsoft Edge will be included as part of all future Microsoft Edge updates.

  • DuckDuckGPT Combines DuckDuckGo and ChatGPT

    DuckDuckGPT Combines DuckDuckGo and ChatGPT

    Microsoft may be working to bring ChatGPT-based tech to Bing, but one enterprising developer has already the AI to DuckDuckGo.

    DuckDuckGo is the privacy-focused search engine that has steadily been growing in popularity as individuals become more concerned with protecting their online privacy. Developer Adam Lui has created an extension that adds ChatGPT results to the DuckDuckGo sidebar.

    Lui details the necessary steps to install the script on his GitHub page:

    1. Install Tampermonkey (Chrome, Firefox) or Violentmonkey (Chrome, Firefox).
    2. Install DuckDuckGPT.
    3. Visit DuckDuckGo.com and perform a search. The ChatGPT results should show up on the right.

    Microsoft is incorporating an updated and improved version of the tech behind ChatGPT in Bing, but DuckDuckGPT is a nice alternative that’s available right now.

  • LinkedIn Hit With Layoffs

    LinkedIn Hit With Layoffs

    Microsoft’s LinkedIn is the latest company to be hit with layoffs, with employees in the recruiting department impacted.

    Microsoft is in the midst of its announced layoffs of some 10,000 employees. When the company broke the news, executives did not reveal which departments and divisions would be impacted. As a result, the industry has been learning which employees are being let go as Microsoft makes the cuts.

    The HoloLens, Surface, and Xbox divisions all recently experienced layoffs. According to The Information, the company has now confirmed that LinkedIn, specifically the recruiting department, is the latest business to be impacted.

    Staff were notified Monday, although, at the time of writing, there were no posts on LinkedIn from any of the affected employees.

  • Microsoft Edge Is Receiving a Major PDF Upgrade

    Microsoft Edge Is Receiving a Major PDF Upgrade

    Microsoft Edge is getting a major upgrade, incorporating Adobe Acrobat PDF capabilities — with one major catch.

    Microsoft Edge has a PDF viewer built in, but it is fairly basic, in terms of the features it offers. Microsoft and Adobe have announced an agreement to bring Acrobat PDF capabilities to Edge, with many of them remaining free, as Microsoft explains in a blog post:

    Together, the two companies are updating the PDF experience and value users have come to expect in Microsoft Edge by powering the built-in PDF reader with the Adobe Acrobat PDF engine. This will give users a unique PDF experience that includes higher fidelity for more accurate colors and graphics, improved performance, strong security for PDF handling, and greater accessibility—including better text selection and read-aloud narration. These capabilities will continue to be free of cost.

    The catch, however, is that more advanced features will require a subscription:

    Users who want more advanced digital document features—such as the ability to edit text and images, convert PDFs to other file formats, and combine files—can purchase an Acrobat subscription that enables access to these features anywhere, including directly inside Microsoft Edge via a browser extension. Microsoft Edge users with existing Adobe Acrobat subscriptions can use the Acrobat extension inside Edge at no extra cost.

    Executives from both companies emphasized the productivity gains the collaboration will make possible.

    “Bringing Adobe and Microsoft closer together is good for productivity and good for customers,” said Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President, Modern Work & Business Applications at Microsoft. “Adobe’s PDF technology in Microsoft Edge means users will have fast and secure access to critical digital document capabilities.”

    “PDF is essential for modern business, accelerating productivity in a world where automation and collaboration are more critical than ever,” said Ashley Still, SVP and GM, Adobe. “By bringing the global standard in PDF experience to Microsoft Edge and the billion-plus Windows users worldwide, Adobe and Microsoft are using our joint heritage and expertise in productivity to take an important step forward in making modern, secure, and connected work and life a reality.”

  • Windows 11 Sends Massive Amounts of Data to Ad Companies

    Windows 11 Sends Massive Amounts of Data to Ad Companies

    The PC Security Channel (TPSC) analyzed Windows 11 and found it sends massive amounts of user data to Microsoft, as well as third-party ad companies.

    TPSC is a YouTube channel dedicated to cybersecurity and privacy. The channel took a brand-new laptop that had never been used and used Wireshark to monitor the computer’s traffic, starting from the moment it was booted up.

    Unsurprisingly, the computer immediately connected to a number of Microsoft services, including Bing, MSN, and the Windows Update service. While it’s not surprising a Windows machine would connect to Microsoft, it is surprising that the Bing traffic was happening without the web browser ever being opened or used.

    Even more surprising, Windows 11 also connected to McAfee, Steam, and Comscore’s ScorecardResearch.com, to name just a few. The last one is particularly alarming, as it is an ad-tech company. In fact, when TPSC first tried going to the website to see what ScorecardResearch.com was, the channel’s browser adblocker would not even load the page since it is a known ad and tracking domain.

    To make matters worse, Microsoft connects and sends data to these servers without expressly asking the user’s permission. Instead, the company relies on a vague clause in the Microsoft License Terms to constitute permission.

    Privacy; Consent to Use of Data. Your privacy is important to us. Some of the software features send or receive information when using those features. Many of these features can be switched off in the user interface, or you can choose not to use them. By accepting this agreement and using the software you agree that Microsoft may collect, use, and disclose the information as described in the Microsoft Privacy Statement (aka.ms/privacy), and as may be described in the user interface associated with the software features.

    Tom’s Hardware reached out to Microsoft and was given the following statement:

    “As with any modern operating system, users can expect to see data flowing to help them remain secure, up to date, and keep the system working as anticipated,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “We are committed to transparency and regularly publish information about the data we collect to empower customers to be more informed about their privacy.”

    A legitimate case can be made for Windows 11 connecting to Microsoft services, but there is absolutely no valid justification for connecting to and sending telemetry to an ad-tech company.

    Interestingly, TPSC ran the same test with Windows XP and found that it only connected to Microsoft update servers, greatly undermining Microsoft’s claim that Windows 11’s connections to third parties were necessary to “remain secure, up to date, and keep the system working as anticipated.”

    As we have stated at WPN many times, there is NO EXCUSE for a company that charges handsomely for a product to then turn around and try to monetize its customers’ data, let alone try to do so without express and explicit permission. And no, a couple of sentences buried in a long, legalese licensing document that few people will ever read does not count as express and explicit permission.

    Microsoft should be ashamed of itself for this behavior, and one can only hope this revelation will put the companies in the crosshairs of the EU’s GDPR.

    In the meantime, TPSC’s question, “Has Windows become spyware?” is one that deserves an answer.

  • Google CEO Under Fire for ‘Rushed, Botched’ AI Reveal

    Google CEO Under Fire for ‘Rushed, Botched’ AI Reveal

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai is under fire from employees over how the company has handled its response to Microsoft’s AI.

    Microsoft unveiled a version of Bing that is powered by an updated version of the tech behind ChatGPT, bringing the power of artificial intelligence to web search. When ChatGPT first burst onto the scene, Google was caught off guard and has been scrambling to play catchup, unveiling its Bard AI in an effort to remain competitive.

    Unfortunately for the company, the launch did not go well. Bard got one of the questions wrong in the company’s ad, and one of the presenters at the big reveal forgot to bring a phone that was crucial to the demo, according to CNBC.

    The missteps are not going over well with Google employees, many of whom have been taking to Memegen, the company’s internal forum, to complain. While employees often post memes on the forum to goodnaturedly poke fun at the company, many of the responses to Google’s AI efforts took a more serious tone.

    “Dear Sundar, the Bard launch and the layoffs were rushed, botched, and myopic,” read one meme, accompanied by a serious picture of Pichai. “Please return to taking a long-term outlook.” The post received many upvotes.

    “Sundar, and leadership, deserve a Perf NI,” read another popular meme, referencing the lowest employment performance review category. “They are being comically short sighted and un-Googlely in their pursuit of ‘sharpening focus.’”

    One Googler even pointed out that the company’s handling of the unveil was confirming the industry’s fears that Google has lost its way and was caught flatfooted.

    “Rushing Bard to market in a panic validated the market’s fear about us,” read a highly-rated meme.

    Google is clearly in a position it is not used to being in, forced to play from behind and overcome a competitor’s technical advantage. Unfortunately, how Pichai and company have responded is not putting anyone’s fears to rest about the company’s ability to overcome this existential threat to its core business.

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently commented that Microsoft ‘made Google dance,’ but he may not have realized just how uncomfortable a dance it is.

  • Satya Nadella: ‘We Made Google Dance’ With AI-Powered Bing

    Satya Nadella: ‘We Made Google Dance’ With AI-Powered Bing

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is enjoying putting pressure on Google using ChatGPT, saying he has “been waiting for it.”

    Microsoft unveiled an AI-powered version of Bing on Tuesday, offering a limited preview of its next-gen search engine. Microsoft is using a new and improved version of the OpenAI tech behind ChatGPT, and Nadella believes it will finally bring some real competition to the search market.

    In an interview with The Verge, Nadella acknowledged that Google is the undisputed leader but that Microsoft has a real chance to make some headway:

    We competed today. Today was a day where we brought some more competition to search. Believe me, I’ve been at it for 20 years, and I’ve been waiting for it. But look, at the end of the day, they’re the 800-pound gorilla in this. That is what they are. And I hope that, with our innovation, they will definitely want to come out and show that they can dance. And I want people to know that we made them dance, and I think that’ll be a great day.

    Many experts believe AI is poised to revolutionize the search market and represents the biggest threat to Google’s dominance. Nadella is right that Microsoft’s announcement ‘made Google dance,’ with the company scrambling to come up with an answer.

    Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai issued a “code red” in response, and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin began taking a hands-on role in the company for the first time in years. Google unveiled its answer in the form of its Bard AI, only to see it provide the wrong answer to a question in its debut ad.

    If Microsoft is able to execute effectively and capitalize on its position, it could greatly benefit customers, resulting in some of the biggest search innovations in the last two decades.

  • Microsoft’s HoloLens, Xbox, and Surface Divisions Hit With Layoffs

    Microsoft’s HoloLens, Xbox, and Surface Divisions Hit With Layoffs

    Microsoft is in the midst of layoffs, with a picture emerging regarding which divisions are being especially hard-hit.

    Microsoft announced in January that it was cutting 10,000 jobs, although the company did not provide much detail on what departments and jobs would be most impacted. According to Bloomberg, that information is starting to filter out, with employees in the HoloLens, Xbox, and Surface divisions bearing the brunt.

    The HoloLens team, in particular, was especially hard-hit with much of the team let go. The HoloLens project has experienced a number of setbacks, including Congress refusing to authorize funds for the US Army to purchase more of the devices following concerns that soldiers experienced “mission-affecting physical impairments” after just a couple of hours of use.

    Xbox boss Phil Spencer notified employees that some of them would also be impacted, although he did not elaborate.

    “I encourage everyone to take the time and space necessary to process these changes and support your colleagues,” Spencer wrote in the email that seen by Bloomberg.

    Despite the hits to the HoloLens team, Microsoft told the outlet that it remains committed to the project.

    “While we don’t comment on specific staffing details, we can share there are no changes to HoloLens 2 and our commitment to mixed reality,” the company said.

  • Google Won the Search Wars, but Can It Win the AI Search Wars?

    Google Won the Search Wars, but Can It Win the AI Search Wars?

    Google is the undisputed leader in the search industry but is now facing new challenges that threaten its dominance.

    According to the latest statistics, Google currently holds roughly 93% of the global search market. Its closest rival, Bing, holds a mere 3%. Yahoo comes in a little over 1%, and other search engines don’t even break single-digit percentages.

    Despite its dominance, however, Google’s search business is facing an existential threat, the likes of which it has never faced before — artificial intelligence. Just as Google’s search algorithms upended the market and killed off Alta Vista-style category searching, AI is poised to eliminate traditional search that returns pages and pages of links. Instead, AI can provide answers in a conversational manner much more akin to how human beings communicate.

    Enter ChatGPT

    While conversational AI has been a dream of many for years, OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the world by storm, offering the most advanced interpretation of the technology to date. Almost overnight, ChatGPT was being used for everything from writing letters to authoring papers to helping students with their schoolwork.

    ChatGPT was so successful that it caused something of a panic within Google as industry experts predicted the tech’s ability to put an end to traditional search. The potential wasn’t lost on Google’s rivals either, with at least a couple of them announcing plans to roll out AI-powered search.

    The Frontrunner: Microsoft

    Microsoft has quickly emerged as the biggest threat to Google’s search. In addition to being its biggest rival — albeit a very distant one — Microsoft is one of the main investors in OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT. In fact, the Redmond-based company just signed a multi-year, multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, extending a partnership that gave it exclusive access to some of the AI firm’s tech.

    Read More: Microsoft Officially Extends Its Partnership With OpenAI

    Microsoft has been rolling out the technology behind ChatGPT to its various platforms and services at a record pace, from email creation in Viva Sales to incorporating it into Azure OpenAI service.

    The biggest way Microsoft is incorporating OpenAI’s tech is in its Bing search engine. The company previewed it earlier this week, and the reviews were largely positive. Microsoft is also including a new and improved version of OpenAI’s tech, meaning it will be faster and more accurate in the answers it provides.

    Microsoft appears to be addressing the ethics of AI use as well. Business Insider’s Huileng Tan asked the new search engine to write a cover letter for a job. The AI responded that it could not do that as it would be “unethical” and “unfair to other applicants.” Bing did, however, give her general writing tips to help her and ended by wishing her “Good luck!”

    China’s Answer: Baidu

    Not one to be left out, Baidu is working on a ChatGPT-like AI of its own, named Ernie, which the company expects to launch publicly in March. Baidu is largely seen as the best chance for China to remain competitive in the search market, especially as the industry transitions to AI-driven results.

    See Also: Baidu Set to Unveil AI-Powered Search

    Despite having a home-turf advantage, Baidu may be facing a major impediment from its own government. The company’s stock took a major hit after a state media warning about the hype surrounding AI chatbots.

    This wouldn’t be the first time China has sabotaged its own tech industry, with Beijing having a complicated history of alternately promoting and then punishing its tech industry. If that behavior continues, it could significantly undermine Baidu’s ability to compete.

    The Dark Horse: Yahoo

    Once the world’s dominant search engine, Yahoo has long since ceded the crown. These days the company outsources its search to Bing, focusing on news and other digital elements.

    In late January, however, Yahoo surprised the industry by teasing a return to the search market. The company posted a job opening for a Product Manager for Search and has been dropping cryptic tweets about its plans. The company has tweeted about how it “did search before it was cool” and that it would “BRB making it cool again.”

    After years of irrelevance in the search market, it’s hard to imagine what would suddenly make Yahoo decide to make a go of it again — unless the company planned to take advantage of a game-changing shift in technology to help it play catch-up.

    Yahoo’s biggest challenge, of course, will be execution. The company has a long history of making bad decisions when it comes to search, passing up multiple opportunities to buy Google when the company was worth a small fraction of its current value.

    The Current Leader: Google

    Of course, that begs the question: What about Google? Where is the company in its AI efforts, and can it respond to this new threat effectively?

    The truth is, no one really knows. The appearance of ChatGPT and Microsoft’s quick adoption of the underlying tech sent shockwaves through the search giant. CEO Sundar Pichai issued a “code red,” reorganized labor in an effort to come up with an answer, and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin returned to assist.

    The company scrambled to unveil its Bard conversational AI, only to bungle the launch when Bard provided the wrong answer to one of the questions posed to it. That mistake, at least temporarily, wiped $100 billion from Alphabet’s value as investors dumped the stock in response.

    Read More: Google Bard Flubs Its Debut, Gives Wrong Answer in Company Ad

    From the outside looking in, it certainly appears that Google got caught off-guard and is scrambling to play catch-up and making mistakes it can’t afford to make.

    OpenAI’s founder, Sam Altman, seems to agree, likening Google to “a lethargic search monopoly.” He talks about what it would be like to be in Google’s shoes and “to think about a world where there was going to be a real challenge to the way that monetization of this works and new ad units, and maybe even a temporary downward pressure, I would not feel great about that.”

    What Happens Next

    Despite Google’s years-long dominance in the search market, Microsoft clearly has an advantage moving forward. The company is taking advantage of cutting-edge AI tech developed by the de facto leader in the space. What’s more, the company has invested billions to secure its ongoing, exclusive access to OpenAI’s innovations.

    In contrast, Google is clearly in a position it’s not used to being in: playing from behind. It is scrambling to catch up and making the kind of mistakes common to that scenario.

    Meanwhile, Baidu is similarly behind Microsoft and may face regulatory hurdles that cripple its ability to compete effectively.

    While Yahoo can’t be ruled out, the burden of proof is on it, as to whether it can compete any better in the AI Search War than it did in the original Search Wars.

    Ultimately, this will likely come down to a two-way battle between Microsoft and Google, the two companies that have the resources and expertise to drive this new era of AI-driven search forward.

    In addition to being first to the party, Microsoft has another major advantage over its rival: It is moving like a nimble startup, outmaneuvering Google. As we have written before, in instance after instance, Microsoft is moving forward in a decisive fashion while Google gets bogged down, acting like “a stodgy, risk-averse corporate entity.”

    Read More: How Microsoft Is Outmaneuvering Google

    Regardless of how much Google has dominated search to date, the future is wide open and may well be Microsoft’s to lose.

  • UK Regulators Say Microsoft/Activision Deal Could Hurt Gamers

    UK Regulators Say Microsoft/Activision Deal Could Hurt Gamers

    The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has weighed in on Microsoft’s proposed Activision purchase, saying the deal could hurt gamers.

    Microsoft announced its intention to purchase Activision Blizzard for some $69 billion. The deal met hurdles and criticism almost immediately, with regulators and competitors claiming the deal could hurt the gaming market, as well as the overall PC market.

    The CMA has been investigating the deal for months, upgrading its investigation from Phase 1 to Phase 2 after discovering reasons for concern. The CMA has now concluded that the deal would negatively impact gamers and the gaming market.

    The CMA provisionally found that being able to offer popular games will be important for cloud gaming providers to attract users as the market continues to grow and develop. The evidence available to the CMA currently indicates that Microsoft would find it commercially beneficial to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service (or only available on other services under materially worse conditions). Microsoft already accounts for an estimated 60-70% of global cloud gaming services and also has other important strengths in cloud gaming from owning Xbox, the leading PC operating system (Windows) and a global cloud computing infrastructure (Azure and Xbox Cloud Gaming).

    The CMA provisionally found that buying one of the world’s most important game publishers would reinforce this strong position and substantially reduce the competition that Microsoft would otherwise face in the cloud gaming market in the UK. This could alter the future of gaming, potentially harming UK gamers, particularly those who cannot afford or do not want to buy an expensive gaming console or gaming PC.

    The CMA’s findings are just the latest challenge Microsoft is facing in its efforts to close the deal. The EU is challenging the deal and the FTC has sued to block it.

    Given this latest setback, the chances of Microsoft completing its acquisition are looking increasingly slim.

  • Google Bard Flubs Its Debut, Gives Wrong Answer in Company Ad

    Google Bard Flubs Its Debut, Gives Wrong Answer in Company Ad

    Google Bard, the company’s ChatGPT competitor, has flubbed its debut by providing the wrong answer to a question.

    Microsoft unveiled its version of an AI-powered Bing yesterday, incorporating a new and improved version of the OpenAI tech behind ChatGPT. Google is working on its own competitor, Bard, but its debut leaves a lot to be desired.

    According to Reuters, Google’s advertisement for Bard includes the following question:

    *”What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can I tell my 9-year old about?”

    Unfortunately, one of Bard’s answers suggests the JWST is responsible for the first photograph of a planet outside our solar system when, in fact, the first such picture was taken in 2004 by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).

    Investors were quick to take note of the mistake, driving Alphabet’s stock down 9% after the news broke. The selloff wiped out at least $100 billion from Alphabet’s value, underscoring the high stakes surrounding AI deployment.

    Google is clearly playing catch-up to Microsoft in the adoption of AI in its search business, and it doesn’t bode well that Bard is getting such a basic question wrong right out of the gate.

  • Microsoft Announces AI-Powered Bing and Edge Web Browser

    Microsoft Announces AI-Powered Bing and Edge Web Browser

    As expected, Microsoft has taken the wraps off of the latest version of Bing, one that relies on artificial intelligence to provide answers.

    Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft has been working to incorporate the technology in its search engine in an effort to challenge Google. Thanks to its multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, Microsoft has access to the company’s tech, providing it with a major opportunity.

    The company unveiled the fruit of its labor today, integrating that AI into both Bing and its Edge web browser.

    Today, we’re launching an all new, AI-powered Bing search engine and Edge browser, available in preview now at Bing.com, to deliver better search, more complete answers, a new chat experience and the ability to generate content. We think of these tools as an AI copilot for the web.

    “AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest category of all – search,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “Today, we’re launching Bing and Edge powered by AI copilot and chat, to help people get more from search and the web.”

    Microsoft confirmed that the AI technology it has incorporated into Bing and Edge is the next generation of OpenAI’s research.

    We’re excited to announce the new Bing is running on a new, next-generation OpenAI large language model that is more powerful than ChatGPT and customized specifically for search. It takes key learnings and advancements from ChatGPT and GPT-3.5 – and it is even faster, more accurate and more capable.

    The company also touted its “Prometheus model,” a proprietary way of interacting with the OpenAI model for best results.

    Users can experience the AI-powered Bing today in a limited preview.

    The new Bing is available today in a limited preview on desktop, and everyone can visit Bing.com today to try sample queries and sign up for the waitlist. We’re going to scale the preview to millions in the coming weeks. A mobile experience will also be in preview soon.

  • Sundar Pichai Unveils Google’s ChatGPT Answer: Bard

    Sundar Pichai Unveils Google’s ChatGPT Answer: Bard

    Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has unveiled Bard, Google’s conversational AI and answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

    Pichai previously signaled a company “code red” in response to ChatGPT’s popularity. Executives were so concerned about ChatGPT that founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin came back to help the company come up with an answer.

    In a blog post, Pichai took the wraps off of the company’s efforts:

    It’s a really exciting time to be working on these technologies as we translate deep research and breakthroughs into products that truly help people. That’s the journey we’ve been on with large language models. Two years ago we unveiled next-generation language and conversation capabilities powered by our Language Model for Dialogue Applications (or LaMDA for short).

    We’ve been working on an experimental conversational AI service, powered by LaMDA, that we’re calling Bard. And today, we’re taking another step forward by opening it up to trusted testers ahead of making it more widely available to the public in the coming weeks.

    Pichai touted the many ways Bard can be used:

    Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models. It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses. Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills.

    Pichai also makes clear the company’s intention to aggressively integrate Bard and similar tech into its core search:

    AI can be helpful in these moments, synthesizing insights for questions where there’s no one right answer. Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web: whether that’s seeking out additional perspectives, like blogs from people who play both piano and guitar, or going deeper on a related topic, like steps to get started as a beginner. These new AI features will begin rolling out on Google Search soon.

    With Microsoft planning to unveil ChatGPT-powered Bing search and Google moving forward with Bard, the search industry is on the verge of a major evolution.