The free Office Online applications still have only a fraction of the capabilities in Office 2013, but an update this week adds some welcome new features -- some of which are actually ahead of the client versions.
The updates Microsoft has made to its Intune PC and device management service this week are partly catching up to other MDM systems with features like containers for apps and files, a managed browser and bulk enrollment for iOS devices. But they also add unique options for managing Office apps on iOS and Android.
Microsoft won't talk about what Windows 10 will cost until next year. But it's looking unlikely that it will be completely free, either for users or for PC makers building larger devices, after Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner said that Windows 10 won't be a priced to keep users in the Microsoft ecosystem.
The second of two lengthy outages that hit Visual Studio Online in November was caused by the same kind of issues as the first, Microsoft has just disclosed.
CNN used it for polling during the recent gubernatorial debates in Florida and on the "Magic Wall" on election night; Fox News uses it to follow the mood of the U.S. during the president's State of the Union addresses. Now Microsoft is launching its Bing Pulse real-time polling service as a free self-service beta that anyone can use to get feedback from their audience via phones and tablets during an event.
When Microsoft released a critical update for multiple versions of Windows Server this month, it also pushed out a fix for several releases of the Windows client OS, including even the technical preview for Windows 10.
Microsoft's upcoming Skype for Web service will use the new WebRTC standard so it works in all modern browsers -- but not right away: Early users will have to download a plugin that's only available on Mac and Windows.
As Office 365 continues to gain customers, migration tools to help them move into the cloud are becoming more popular. SkyKick already has a comprehensive service that consultants and resellers can use to manage all the steps of a migration, from estimating licence costs and choosing from the many different Office 365 plans to tracking down PST files on user PCs and moving data from file shares and old email systems into the cloud.
Microsoft's new Clutter feature for cleaning up your inbox automatically is the latest of several tools based on machine learning that the Office team thinks are ready for prime time. In fact, it's the latest of many machine learning tools that researchers at Microsoft have developed over the years. But this time, Microsoft is confident enough to make them broadly available.
