Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14905 for PC & Mobile

Here’s what’s new in Build 14905 for Mobile

We are introducing a newly refined sound set in this build, uniting the best of our past and present. We aspire to set a new bar for mobile sound set quality, and are trying to make the soundscape of technology more beautiful and harmonious. This also helps align with new sound design direction of the Windows platform as a whole, so that mobile sounds will family with desktop and tablet and be feel instantly familiar to all Windows users. We will continue to evolve – head to Settings > Personalization > Sounds to see the updated list of available sounds and let us know what you think!

Improvements and fixes for PC

We have fixed an issue causing a large blank space to appear between the address bar and web content after the address bar moves back to the top when opening a new tab in Microsoft Edge.

We have updated Narrator Scan mode for table navigation to now support CTRL + ALT + HOME to go to the beginning of the table CTRL + ALT + END to go to the end of the table.

Microsoft Edge now supports the CTRL + O keyboard shortcut for setting focus to the address bar.

We fixed an issue resulting in Sketchpad and Screen Sketch crashing after trying to change the ink color twice in a row when the ruler was visible.

Improvements and fixes for Mobile

Missed call notifications are now more actionable, with inline options to call back, text or remind yourself to do something about it later.

We fixed an issue where videos played in Windows Phone 8 apps might not pause when an incoming call was received.

We fixed an issue where, if “Show my caller ID” is set to “My contacts”, the contact being called might still see a blocked caller ID.

We fixed an issue where the Lock screen might fail to update to the new time after a time zone change.

We fixed an issue resulting in music not resuming after a call was finished, if Turn-by-Turn directions were being read out from the Maps app when the phone call came in.

Known issues for PC

Support for kernel debugging over 1394 has been removed, but will be available in an upcoming kit release. A work-around will be posted to the Debugging Tools for Windows Blog shortly.

Adobe Acrobat Reader crashes when you try to launch it.

Cortana’s text to speech capabilities is not working in this build. For example, Cortana won’t be able to read text messages out loud for you, tell jokes, sing, or give verbal prompts.

When clicking on the power button on the Start menu, it closes the Start menu without opening the flyout with restart/shutdown options appearing. As a workaround – you can right-click on the Start button (or WIN + X) and choose to shutdown via this menu instead.

Apps such as Yahoo Mail, Trivia Crack, Google and the Skype Translator Preview app will crash in this build due to a compatibility issue from a recent platform change.

The Settings app may crash on certain editions of Windows 10 when navigating to different settings pages due to a missing .dll file. We are working on getting this fixed soon.

Known issues for Mobile

If you move apps between a SD card and internal storage (either direction), those apps will get stuck in a pending state. The workaround to get your apps working again is to uninstall the app through Settings > System > Storage (apps cannot be uninstalled from All apps list). Then you can re-install the app from the Store.

Cortana’s text to speech capabilities is not working in this build. For example, Cortana won’t be able to read text messages out loud for you, tell jokes, sing, or give verbal prompts.

A few months ago, we set out to design a new T-shirt for the Windows Insiders Program – and what better source for ideas than Windows Insiders themselves! So, we organized a design competition with a few simple rules:

1. Come up with a design that reflected the innovative spirit of the Windows Insider Program

2. Include the Windows logo and a call out to Windows Insiders.

In just a few weeks, we received some absolutely amazing designs from around the world. After a long – and often heated – selection process (including a vote by the Windows Insider community), our judges narrowed it down to five finalists before picking the ultimate winner: a beautiful design concept by E. Bautista from the United States. The final design below (zoom in to see the finer details) will soon be available on the eCompanyStore. We’ll let you know when it’s ready. Thanks to everyone for participating and congratulations to our finalists – and ultimate winner!

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5 Best Microsoft Office alternatives

Even though there are many types of productivity software available out there, office suites are arguably the most commonly used. There usage might vary, but they are used almost everywhere. And when it comes to office suites, Microsoft Office is pretty much the gold standard.

Whether we talk about MS Office as a whole, or take its constituent applications (e.g. Word, PowerPoint and Excel), the sheer number of advanced features offered is amazing. Not surprisingly, it costs quite a lot.

But as good as MS Office is, there might be some users whose needs are basic and who find its vast expanse of features a bit overkill. If that includes you, check out these really good Microsoft Office alternatives that you can use.

1. Apache Open Office

Probably the best thing about Apache Open Office is that it's free and open-source. It comes with a standard set of applications including a word processor, spreadsheet application and presentation software, along with a graphics editor and DBMS manager. It's fully compatible with MS Office's file formats and supports some extra ones (e.g. ODT) as well. What's more, its functionality can be enhanced by numerous extensions. It's available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

2. Libre Office

Interestingly, Libre Office is a fork (means it builds upon the existing code base) of Apache Open Office. But it still has some really great features. The UI is quite different and the three basic applications (for handling documents, spreadsheets and presentations) are included, in addition to some extras. Due to optimized code, it's a bit faster than Open Office. It can be used on Windows, Mac OS and Linux as well.

3. WPS Office

For those looking at a lightweight yet functional MS Office alternative, WPS Office is just perfect. It just includes the three essential programs (word processor, spreadsheet application and presentation software) and is fully compatible with Microsoft Office's file formats. WPS Office comes with a nice collection of templates and fonts too. However, a downside is that saving a document in Microsoft Office formats requires an upgrade to the paid version.

4. Softmaker Free Office

Softmaker Free Office's interface might look a little dated, but it's still a very good program for those whose productivity needs are not that intensive. It supports all Microsoft Office formats and also has better XML compatibility. The free version works just fine, but those wanting more features can upgrade to a paid version. Oh, and Softmaker Free Office is also available on Android.

5. Neo Office

Another fork of Apache Open Office, Neo Office is specifically available for the Mac OS. In addition to having all the standard features, it adds some Mac OS specific extras like text checking and drag and drop functions. But a major downer with Neo Office is that it's not compatible with MS Office file formats.

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Google will end support for Chrome apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux

Google has just announced plans to gradually phase out support for Chrome apps on every platform except for Chrome OS. Starting later this year, new Chrome apps will be available only to Chrome OS users and won't be accessible on Windows, Mac, and Linux. (Existing apps will remain available and can still be updated.) Then, sometime in the second half of 2017, the Chrome Web Store will no longer display Chrome apps at all on those operating systems. And come early 2018, you'll no longer be able to load Chrome apps on Windows, Mac, or Linux at all. Extensions and themes are not at all affected by this change; in fact, they'll soon be given a much larger focus in the Chrome Web Store.

That might sound like a big deal, but Google says that a very tiny percentage of people are actively using Chrome apps. "There are two types of Chrome apps: packaged apps and hosted apps. Today, approximately 1 percent of users on Windows, Mac, and Linux actively use Chrome packaged apps, and most hosted apps are already implemented as regular web apps."

The company's justification for this step is that with the advancements of the open web, there's no longer any real place or need for Chrome apps. "For a while there were certain experiences the web couldn’t provide, such as working offline, sending notifications, and connecting to hardware." According to Google, most of those functionality holes have been patched, and more improvements are coming. So the message is clear: move your stuff to the web. "Developers who can’t fully move their apps to the web can help us prioritize new APIs to help fill the gaps left by Chrome apps." The tone is a little different when it comes to Chrome OS, where Google believes they play a "critical role.

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Goodbye Patch Tuesday: Windows 7, 8.1 Patches Go Monthly

Patch Tuesday is soon to be a thing of the past. Beginning in October, Microsoft will deploy fixes for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 with a single cumulative monthly patch. The move is designed help reduce fragmentation across your company’s PCs. The new system is right in the line with how updates are currently deployed for Windows 10.

It’s a big departure from the current system, under which Microsoft sporadically releases individual patches for the older platforms. That has some advantages, allowing IT administrators to selectively deploy updates as needed, but it also comes with some serious drawbacks. Under the current system, individual PCs frequently wind up with different updates installed, which causes syncing problems, boosts scan times, and ups testing complexity. Even just pinpointing the right patches before applying them can be a pain.

Here’s how the new system will work. In October, up-to-date PCs running the older platforms will receive just a single package of security and stability fixes from Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), System Center Configurations Manager (SCCM) and the Microsoft Update Catalog. If you delay the update in October, you’ll be prompted to install it again in November, along with another single set of patches for that month, and so on. Each month’s update will include patches for all previously-uninstalled months, from October onwards.

Eventually, older updates will begin to be included in the monthly patch rollouts, dating all the way back to Service Pack 1 for Windows 7. That means that — at some point — you’ll be able to get fully up to date with just a single installation, no matter the current state of your PC.

Microsoft is allowing one exception for its new all-in-one update system, affording the ability to download and deploy security patches separately from stability fixes. That will reduce the size of the initial update needed to secure your company’s PCs as quickly as possible. Those updates will be available from WSUS, SCCM and the Microsoft Update Catalog, not Windows Update.

Servicing Stack and Adobe Flash updates won’t be included in the rollups. Microsoft will move to the same monthly rollup model for the .NET Framework in October too.

If you like to micromanage your systems, this might not sound like good news. In fact, we don’t actually know just yet is whether or not it will be possible to pick and choose specific updates for your systems. But since Windows 10 does not offer that kind of precision, our best guess is that Windows 7 and 8.1 users will find themselves in the same boat.

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Google is secretly creating a new OS that’s not based on Linux

Here’s a bit of unexpected Friday news: Google is building a completely new operating system. As in, not just an upgrade to Android or Chrome OS, but instead, a new system that’s not derived from the Linux kernel.

It’s called Fuschia. While Google hasn’t officially announced anything about the OS, it released details about the project on GitHub with the cryptic description “Pink + Purple == Fuschia (a new Operating System).”

  

Android Police dove deeper into the documentation and found some interesting tidbits. First off, the OS uses a new Magenta kernel, which is designed to compete with IoT-oriented operating systems like FreeRTOS or ThreadX. The difference here is that Magenta appears designed to scale all the way up to smartphones and desktop computers.

Meanwhile, Dart is the main programming language and Flutter support indicates that the OS will likely use Material Design for its user interface.

That doesn’t necessarily indicate Google has plans for Fuschia beyond IoT devices; with the company creating more IoT hardware like OnHub and Google Home, it might simply want a lighter OS that can work for any future hardware products. Still, the ability to scale up remains exciting, especially as the line between Android and ChromeOS becomes increasingly blurred.

As for why Google has remained so quiet about the OS so far: Brian Swetland – a senior Engineer at Google who has worked on Android and the T-mobile Sidekick’s OS – mentions that the decision was made to build the OS open source from the beginning, implying that some details are yet to be finalized.

Eventually things will be made public, documented and announced, says Christopher Lane, another engineer at Google. Until then, we can only speculate.

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Microsoft’s Golden Key leak illustrates why governments should stop asking for backdoors

Security researchers MY123 and Slipstream revealed this week that Microsoft accidentally leaked security keys that allow Windows-based computers, phones and tablets to be unlocked and loaded with other operating systems, as well as malicious software like rootkits.

While the company has attempted to patch Windows to fix this, the researchers believe that it’d be impossible for Microsoft to render the leaked keys useless.

It isn’t clear just how much of a security risk this poses for users: It appears that one would need to physically access the target device to use the key and install other software on it.

However, it shows exactly why governments and law enforcement agencies should stop asking tech companies to build backdoors into their products and software, in the hopes that they’ll be able to listen in on communications and catch criminals in the act.

When you create a backdoor, you have to lock it somehow. In Microsoft’s case the company did so to allow for easier debugging. But now that the key is publicly available, it can easily be misused by anyone who can get their hands on it.

It’s a danger that governments don’t seem to understand. Remember the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone that the FBI wanted to unlock, and how it tried to get Apple to create a backdoored version of iOS to assist with that case? What if that version was somehow leaked publicly and became available to anyone who wanted to hack iOS devices in their possession?

It’s not just the US: The UK is inching closer to passing a law that would require service providers to unlock encrypted customer data and correspondence at the government’s request – and never admit to doing so.

Microsoft’s bungle is an example of how things could go south when creating backdoors. One can only hope that the debacle will help convince politicians and law enforcement officials to stop asking for ways to endanger citizens’ security and privacy.

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Google buys Orbitera, a platform for cloud marketplaces, for $100M+

Google today announced another acquisition that will help the company improve how it competes against Amazon’s AWS, Salesforce and Microsoft in the area of enterprise services, and specifically selling enterprise services in the cloud: it has acquired Orbitera, a startup that developed a platform for buying and selling cloud-based software.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed but our sources close to the deal tell us it’s just north of $100 million.

This is an acquisition of talent, technology, and existing business. The CEO Marcin Kurc (tellingly) is an alum of AWS. And Google notes that some 60,000 enterprise stacks have already been launched on Orbitera. These include the likes of Adobe, Oracle and Metalogix, who all resell cloud services from third-party vendors as part of their larger enterprise businesses.

“This acquisition will not only improve support of software vendors on Google Cloud Platform but also provides customers with more choice and flexibility in today’s multi-cloud world,” Google said in a statement provided to media.

Kurc notes in his announcement that Google will keep everything running as is, “at this time.”

The startup says its focus is on providing four (end-to-end) aspects of building cloud marketplaces: Packaging and Provisioning, Billing and Cost Optimization, Marketplace and Catalogs, Trials and Lead Management.

It looks like Google will continue to operate that business on behalf of existing users, and maybe to help out its own marketplace for cloud services on its own cloud platform.

“Looking to the future, we’re committed to maintaining Orbitera’s neutrality as a platform supporting multi-cloud commerce. We look forward to helping the modern enterprise thrive in a multi-cloud world,” writes Nan Boden, head of global technology partners at Google.

As Google has grown well beyond its earliest roots as a search company, its reached an interesting relationship with companies that are at turns friends and rivals to its own business interests.

Buying a platform company that works with so many of these in the area of cloud services is an interesting development for Google, and one that it’s keen to try to tread carefully in making.

In this case, Google is trying to reassure customers that even as it sells a platform to sell products, it recognises that the ultimate repository of those products might not be Google itself.

(Whether or not that is the case longer term is another question — in other areas like ads, Google has walked an impartial line and then changed course — but for now there is a viable enough business for Google in remaining a neutral party.)

“We recognize that both enterprise customers and ISVs want to be able to use more than one cloud provider and have a way to conduct product trials and proofs of concept before building a full production deployment, all using their trusted SIs (System Integrators), resellers and normal sales cycles,” Boden notes.

“Orbitera has built a strong ecosystem of enterprise software vendors delivering software to multiple clouds. This acquisition will not only improve the support of software vendors on Google Cloud Platform, but reinforces Google’s support for the multi-cloud world. We’re providing customers with more choice and flexibility when it comes to running their cloud environment.”

Orbitera was co-founded by Firas Bushnaq and Brian Singer, who came up with the idea for the company to fix some of the “transactional and operational challenges associated with selling software” that they encountered while founding and working at previous tech companies.

Based out of West Hollywood, CA, Orbitera had raised some $2 million in funding from angels like Hiten Shah and Arjun Sethi, Double M Partners and Resolute.

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Microsoft To Release Two Windows 10 Updates In 2017

NEW YORK: Technology giant Microsoft has announced that it would roll out two major updates for Windows 10 next year after releasing a third and final update for 2016.

"Windows 10, version 1607 is our third Windows 10 feature update released. Based on feedback from organisations moving to Windows 10, this will be our last feature update for 2016, with two additional feature updates expected in 2017," the company wrote in a blog on Saturday.

According to Windows Central, while the first major update for 2017 – codenamed Redstone 2 – would release in the early part of 2017, the second one – codenamed Redstone 3 – might be released in 2017 summer.

This update pattern is similar to the one that the Threshold update wave followed.

Much like Threshold 2 was to Threshold 1, Redstone 3 is likely to be a much smaller update compared to Redstone 2.

Microsoft is currently in the middle of Redstone 2 development with the latest internal builds now being compiled around the 14900 range, the report said.

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Bill Gates monitored Microsoft employees' work hours by memorizing their license plates

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates used to memorize employees’ license plate numbers so that he could keep track of when they were arriving at work and leaving.

Gates, who is now co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, described his intense management style from Microsoft’s early days during an interview on the BBC Radio 4 program “Desert Island Discs.”

"I had to be a little careful not to try and apply my standards to how hard (others at the company) worked. I knew everybody's licence plate so I could look out the parking lot and see, you know, when people come in,” he said. “Eventually I had to loosen up as the company got to a reasonable size."

Gates was 19 when he dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975. He stepped down as the CEO of the software giant in 2000 and stepped down as the company’s chairman in 2014.

The philanthropist also described his relationship with Apple co-founder and tech icon Steve Jobs during the radio interview.

"Steve really is a singular person in the history of personal computing in terms of what he built at Apple,” he said. “For some periods, we were completely allies working together - I wrote software for the original Apple II. Sometimes he would be very tough on you, sometimes he'd be very encouraging. He got really great work out of people.”

Gates also described how his relationship with Jobs changed over the years. The former Apple CEO lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in 2011.

"In the early years, the intensity had always been about the project, and so then [when] Steve got sick, it was far mellower in terms of talking about our lives and our kids,” he said. “Steve was an incredible genius, and I was more of an engineer than he was. But anyway, it was fun. It was more of a friendship that was reflective, although tragically then he couldn't overcome the cancer and died."

On “Desert Island Discs” guests are invited to choose the eight records that they would take with them to a desert island. Among his selections, Gates chose “Under Pressure” by David Bowie and Queen, Jimi Hendrix’s “Are You Experienced” and “How Can Love Survive” from “The Sound of Music.”