The richest man in America, who leads one of the world’s biggest and most influential philanthropies, keeps time with a 10-buck wristwatch. And this summer, for his wife’s 50th birthday, Bill Gates and family headed to Austria for a “Sound of Music” vacation. Where he sang and, he admitted, wore Lederhosen. Such true confessions came Monday morning at POLITICO’s Lessons From Leaders inaugural event, which hosted Gates as the featured guest. Chief White House correspondent Mike Allen solicited the timepiece tidbit as Gates talked about the new technologies that allow people to monitor their own health. But the other intel was revealed at the end of nearly an hour of conversation.

This is a recording of a media briefing held Sept. 30, 2014 in San Francisco, where Microsoft shared details of its new direction and roadmap with Windows 10, along with a demo of an early preview of the new operating system

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday unveiled its next Windows operating system, Windows 10, and gave a first look at an early technical preview for the PC available Oct. 1. The announcement highlighted advancements designed for business, including an updated user experience and enhanced security and management capabilities. The company also introduced the Windows Insider Program, kicking off its largest-ever open collaborative development effort to change the way Windows is built and delivered to best meet the needs of customers. Program participants will receive the technical preview of Windows 10 and a steady stream of builds through the development cycle to use and give feedback on.

In the Windows team, we’re proud of this – but we also know that the world today is very different from the one in which Windows grew up. Today, devices outnumber people. Connectivity is like oxygen. The tension between the desire for agility versus stability poses a huge challenge for IT Pros. Experiences – no matter what device you’re on – just need to work. The only thing that hasn’t really changed is the situation for developers – still too much to do, and not enough time. One way to look at it is that Windows is at a threshold :-). It’s time for a new Windows. This new Windows must be built from the ground-up for a mobile-first, cloud-first world. This new Windows must help our customers be productive in both their digital work and their digital life. This new Windows must empower people and organizations to do great things. That new Windows is Windows 10. Windows 10 represents the first step of a whole new generation of Windows. Windows 10 unlocks new experiences for customers to work, play and connect. Windows 10 embodies what our customers (both consumers and enterprises) demand and what we will deliver.

But Microsoft went instead with Windows 10 because they wanted to signify that the coming Windows release would be the last "major" Windows update. Going forward, Microsoft is planning to make regular, smaller updates to the Windows 10 codebase, rather than pushing out new major updates years apart. Windows 10 will have a common codebase across multiple screen sizes, with the UI tailored to work on those devices. Microsoft is working on a number of related products and services that are part of the "Threshold" wave. The name of the version of Threshold that Microsoft is building to run on both ARM-based tablets and ARM-based Windows Phones is still not known. Nor is the "official" name of what some inside call Windows Server Threshold. (The most recent release of the Windows Server operating system is Windows Server 2012 R2.)

While some can't wait for the new name of the next version of Windows client to be revealed, and others are anxious to hear about the first of the new features aimed at business users in particular, I'm hoping to learn about what Microsoft has done on the back end to change the way Microsoft delivers operating systems, going forward.

Later today, at a private press event, Microsoft plans to officially unveil the latest version of Windows, highlighting features and capabilities of interest to the enterprise customers that deliver the bulk of the company’s profit every year. I expect today’s event will be mostly a recitation of the company's road map, with minor tweaks aimed at pacifying an increasingly restless base. But in my dreams, I wish that the Microsoft executives in charge of a highly orchestrated event like this one would go off script and say a few things that really need to be said.

The new MSN is completely built from the ground up on Azure to provide massive, cost-effective scale (with more than 30,000 Azure cores for serving and 100 Terabytes of storage), reliability, and ongoing agility for a cloud-first, mobile-first world. Every single line of code was re-written to ensure that you have one consistent experience regardless of whether you are accessing your stocks in MSN Money, your favorite sports teams in MSN Sports, or your recipe collections in MSN Food & Drink. All of those experiences will always be with you across your devices.

Earlier this month, we unveiled a first look at the new MSN. Over the past 3 weeks, nearly 10 million of you took the opportunity to test out the new site and more than 80,000 of you even took the time to tell us what you thought. Based on your feedback, we have made numerous changes to the site. From everyone here, a sincere thank you. Over the next 72 hours, we will roll out the new MSN to the more than 425 million people in over 50 countries around the world that come to the site each month. In addition, people using Windows and Windows Phone 8.1 will have the option to update their devices to the new MSN apps starting today. At the top of the homepage, you will see easy one-click access to all of your favorite services including Outlook.com, Office, OneNote, OneDrive, Skype, Facebook and Twitter.

Continue reading the main story Share This Page Email Share Tweet Save more Continue reading the main story People are slowly getting used to asking digital assistants like Apple’s Siri simple questions, like “Will it rain tomorrow?” and “Where was Justin Bieber arrested?” Soon, cellphones may be the ones doing the asking — surveying people on more serious matters like their choice for president and how the United States should confront the Islamic State. On Monday, Microsoft is starting a relatively straightforward survey website called Microsoft Prediction Lab, where users can submit their views and predictions regarding politics, sports and other subjects. The more novel part of Microsoft’s plan will come later, though, when Cortana — Microsoft’s answer to Siri — could start conducting interviews herself, imitating human pollsters.

Microsoft officials are expected to set the stage for the first public test build of the operating system, known as the "Windows Technical Preview for Enterprise." As sources have said, this preview, expected to be released by early October, won't be a developer preview and it won't include all of the features Microsoft is building into its next version of Windows. It will, however, be aimed at showing business users who are running Windows XP, Windows Vista and/or Windows 7 that Threshold is something they should want instead of fear. Microsoft is focusing on making Threshold more palatable to business users who are more likely to rely on mice and keyboards, and who want and need to use their Win32 apps. The Softies need to demonstrate that Threshold will still allow them to be productive with relatively little readjustment

This Manhattanite had almost given up hope. But five years after kicking off its retail-store push, Microsoft officials confirmed Sunday that the company will create a flagship retail store in New York City.

According to a report, the rumored 8-inch “Surface mini” tablet is indeed real—although Microsoft has no plans to ship it. And that’s probably because you wouldn’t be interested in buying it, anyway.

Big data is an awesome term but, frankly, it’s something that is hard for most people to grasp. This is in part due to the fact that there aren’t many particularly good examples of big data being presented to end users in a way which is simple and which extend an existing offering. Microsoft Delve is one such offering, and one which front and centre shows the value to be gained from big data.

After October 31, 2014 -- Microsoft will no longer provide its PC partners or systems builders with copies of Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium and/or Ultimate to preinstall on new PCs. This means that OEMs will be able to continue to sell their stock of PCs running these versions of Windows 7, but they won't be allowed to replenish their supply.

"Last year we had Windows 8. In the next few minutes, the next few days, we'll be releasing Windows 9," said Alain Crozier during a web-streamed presentation uncovered by blog WPCentral, which noted the speech's timing with the Sept 30 confab.

Office 365 is the first of our online services groups to launch a bounty for vulnerabilities found in their services and we will bring others into the program as we go forward. For a list of eligible services and program terms, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/bountyprograms. Of course, any vulnerabilities discovered in any Microsoft products or services can and should be reported according to our Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure guidelines to us by emailing secure@microsoft.com.

Today we’re announcing the participation of Office 365 in the new Microsoft Online Services Bug Bounty Program. Through this program, which launches today, we are able to reward and recognize security researchers by offering a bounty for qualifying security vulnerabilities they report to us. We are participating in this program for a number of reasons, chief among them are:

HP's new Z27x DreamColor supports all the important color gamuts and carries some distinctly unique features. This screen simply blows us away.

The Seattle software company doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to acquisition integrations (think aQuantive, for example), so it’s not surprising that a $2.5 billion deal for the developer of Minecraft has raised some concerns among the game’s most dedicated players.

As evidenced by Amazon's $1 billion purchase of Twitch, the livestreaming service popular with gamers and virtually unheard of outside of that world, big companies are catching on to the value of owning the technology powering gaming communities. What's still unknown is how those communities will react, in the long run, to suddenly finding themselves in the hands of a major corporation -- and what Microsoft will do to try and keep them. For many, the Minecraft-Microsoft deal will become the canary in the redstone mine. Fan reaction has been mixed so far. Some concentrated on making tributes to Markuss "Notch" Persson, the Minecraft creator who will leave Mojang, the company behind the game, once the purchase is final. Others were outraged at what was widely read as Mojang "selling out" to a big corporation that has a mixed history with its earlier indie acquisitions.

As part of the latest round of layoffs, Microsoft also is cutting an undisclosed number of employees working in its Trustworthy Computing (TwC) Group, a spokesperson said, and will be splitting the remaining TwC team between the Cloud & Enterprise and Legal and Corporate Affairs groups. The engineering team members are going to Cloud & Enterprise, and the policy side of the TwC house is going to Legal and Corporate Affairs.

microsoft Corp. thought it had scored a touchdown when it struck a multiyear deal with the NFL that would allow teams to use the company's Surface tablets during games.. Too bad television announcers keep referring to the devices as iPads. The tablet computers, covered in bright blue protective cases, have become a familiar sight on the sidelines this season as coaches and players turn to them to study opponents' moves, review previous possessions and strategize. They're replacing the pages of black-and-white photographs that had long been printed out using fax machines and printers and delivered in binders to teams dozens of times during a game.

Microsoft has waited until practically the last possible minute to delay the launch of the Xbox One in China, originally slated to be released this Tuesday, September 23rd. Now they’re saying it will be out in the country before the end of the year, though they’re rather unclear about the reasons behind the delay.

Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 2, and Surface Pro firmware and driver packs

Today we are making Beta 1 of the EF6.1.2 release available. This patch release contains bug fixes and some contributions from our community.

The Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) 2.0 enables developers to create applications that support gesture and voice recognition, using Kinect sensor technology on computers running Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Embedded Standard 8, and Windows Embedded Standard 8.1.

Microsoft's massive staff reduction, which shocked many when it was announced in July, is back in the spotlight with a pair of reports that the ax will come down on another group of employees Thursday.

It would be the second wave of job cuts in the plan to ultimately eliminate 18,000 positions, or 14 percent of the company's staff, by the end of its fiscal year on June 30, 2015, according to reports this week from ZDnet and GigaOM, both based on anonymous sources. When Microsoft first announced the job cuts -- the largest staff reduction in the company's history -- some questioned the wisdom of carrying them out in stages over the course of 12 months, saying that it would do a number on the already shaken employee morale and periodically reopening the wound from a public relations perspective.

Not long after Microsoft launched the Surface Pro 3 into a slew of new markets, the company is reporting limited supplies of its hybrid device in some countries.

Microsoft Corp. is hoping a cult videogame built around virtual blocks will help fix the company's real-world problems, even if the brains behind the brand aren't sticking around.

Microsoft has unveiled its revamped MSN portal that combines easy access to personal productivity tools and content from a large number of providers. As the company tries to revive MSN, the focus this time is also on top content from the Web instead of offering original content. For the relaunch, the company has signed up with over 1,300 publishers worldwide including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Yomiuri, CNN and The Guardian.

Microsoft is in advanced talks to acquire the maker of the game Minecraft for more than $2 billion, people briefed on the discussions said on Tuesday. The move was intended to ensure that one of the most popular games was available for the computing giant’s family of devices.

Delve displays information based on "the work they are doing and the people with whom they are engaging," in a card-like user interface. With Delve, the idea is users won't have to remember where their information is stored or who shared it. That information will be surfaced for users automatically, but only when the appropriate permissions are granted.

If you’ve ever used a Windows PC, you have most likely experienced the "Blue Screen of Death," which would show up when a program experienced a fatal error or became unresponsive. In later versions of Windows, you’d see this blue screen any time you pressed “Control-Alt-Delete.”

Remember the Big-Ass Table? Microsoft isn’t done making huge slabs of touch-capable screen, it turns out. The company’s Stephen Elop announced this week that Microsoft intends to “mass-produce” its Perceptive Pixel (PPI) displays, which are touch-enabled and can stretch to up to 82 inches in size.

Fresh off a nearly perfect run predicting the outcome of World Cup futbol matches, Microsoft’s digital assistant, Cortana, has focused her abilities on picking the winners of NFL football games.

Microsoft staked its claim in the flasghsip market with its new Lumia 830, which will retail at 330 euros. In comparison the Samsung Galaxy S5 sells for 440 euros and the iPhone 5S for 515 euros.

It's been a long time since Microsoft had a Patch Tuesday this bad. By Friday they were conceding problems with several updates. Not only did they withdraw four updates, but they recommended that users uninstall one of them.

Yesterday they reissued that update, but they also announced that it had its own set of new bugs, one of which can make windows inaccessible or invisible. Three of the four withdrawn updates are still withdrawn and two of those are also subject to the missing window bug. Two other updates, previously uninvolved with the August updates, also have this missing window bug.

I'm not going to retread old ground too much here, but there's no getting away from the fact that Microsoft has something of an image problem when it comes to smartphones. But this could be set to change. The word on the grapevine is that Microsoft - possibly in conjunction with the likes of Yahoo and Amazon - is interested in joining forces with, or even buying, Cyanogen Inc, purveyor of some of the finest Android ROMs known to humanity. It's a branch of Android favoured by handset owners who live and breathe tweaking, who want an OS custom-made to fit them like a well-tailored suit.

Microsoft drove out Linux as the platform of choice during the netbook craze, and now the Windows maker is hoping it can do the same to the latest PC upstart, the Chromebook.

Microsoft announced Tuesday that it's cutting ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative public-policy lobbying group. It appears this decision was made due to ALEC's lobbing efforts to block the development of renewable energy. Microsoft had previously been a member of ALEC's Communications and Technology Task Force. In a statement, the company said it has halted all participation in this group.

"In 2014 Microsoft decided to no longer participate in the American Legislative Exchange Council's Communications and Technology Task Force, which had been our only previous involvement with ALEC," the company said. "With this decision, we no longer contribute any dues to ALEC...we are no longer members of ALEC and do not provide the organization with financial support of any kind."

The HTC One M8 is one of the most well-received Android phones of the year, so when Microsoft approached the company about making a new Windows Phone, it requested the M8 specifically. "The M8, as our flagship, has been doing fantastic," says Jeff Gordon, HTC's online communications manager. "Microsoft came to us a while back and, loving what we did with the HTC One M8 for Android so much, they wanted to do something similar, but running Windows Phone software."

A patent that Microsoft has recently filed reveals that the company is working on a ruggedized touchscreen for its devices, which could help bring tougher tablets and smartphones to the market.

As reported by Microsoft-News, Microsoft has already tried to prove that its devices are very durable with several occasions, including Surface product launches when Panos Panay, the man in charge with the Surface division, dropped the tablets during live demoes.

Having left his post as CEO of Microsoft six months ago, Steve Ballmer today further cut his ties with the company. In a letter to Satya Nadella, he explains that it would be "impractical" to continue to serve on the board of directors. The decision comes after the purchase of the LA Clippers, and Ballmer's letter makes reference to "the start of the NBA season" meaning that his "departure from the board is effective immediately". But Steve is not cutting the umbilical cord entirely; he remains a shareholder and wants to keep his hand in to some extent.

Since Patch Tuesday this past week, Microsoft has been receiving reports of severe system errors caused by one or more of the updates. In response, the company has pulled several updates from download channels and offered advice on how to remove them. In one case, it recommends that users uninstall the update.

Microsoft has pulled its August Update for Windows after users reported crashes and issues restarting their systems. The company is currently recommending users uninstall the update.

Microsoft used the Obama administration's request for comment on its big data report to bemoan the U.S. government's surveillance practices while also demanding federal legislation. The company stood alone among its tech brethren in its support of comprehensive federal privacy legislation, as firms including Amazon, Google, and Twitter pushed against a new law.

It's a matter of trust in foreign markets, said the Redmond firm. "Without new privacy legislation, U.S. companies will find themselves increasingly disadvantaged compared to foreign providers that will compete against U.S. companies in their home and other jurisdictions based on more protective privacy regimes," wrote David Heiner, Microsoft's VP and deputy general counsel, legal and corporate affairs, in an Aug. 5 letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

In a Reddit AMA session, the Internet Explorer team revealed that it has discussed rebranding the browser. The team made its comment in response to a question regarding the negative public image that Internet Explorer earned.

It’s fair to say that Internet Explorer has improved rapidly in recent years. Its brand, however, has lagged. Microsoft has introduced advertising to combat Internet Explorer’s image issues.

Microsoft will issue a preview of "Threshold," the current code name for Windows 8's successor, as soon as next month, according to an online report today. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, citing unnamed sources, said that Microsoft will deliver a "technical preview" of Threshold late in September or early in October. Previously, Foley had reported that Microsoft would offer a preview of some kind this fall.

Microsoft has launched its own Snapchat rival called WindUp. According to the Windows Phone Store, the app lets users "wind up" their friends as "they race to see what you've posted." The firm also announced that WindUp lets users share "pictures, videos and audio snippets, as well as text."

The software giant will be hoping to capitalise on the recent criticism levelled at Snapchat, particularly with regard to user privacy.

Back in early June Microsoft announced it had taken down the GameOver Zeus botnet, in an effort to protect customers. But, thwarting the internet bad guys is much more difficult in practice than it is in theory. Now security researches claim the phoenix is rising from its ashes.

The folks at Arbor Networks, a security research firm, have been keeping regular tabs, and have noted a sudden and very rapid growth. The rise is actually due to a new variant that seems to be spreading quickly, but has become most prevalent in the US.

Microsoft is closing the Nokia Beta Labs site, but users will still be able to test apps under development via the new Lumia Beta Apps site, designed to elicit more feedback and make it easier for users to participate. The new site is powered by UserVoice, which also hosts the Windows Phone Feature Suggestion box page.

In a world of smart, sometimes you've just got to be dumb. That's Microsoft's strategy, highlighted by today's debut of the $25 Nokia 130 feature phone. Whether in the market for your first cell phone or just looking for a backup device while on vacation, the Nokia 130 comes with a 1.8-inch color display and a battery that lasts up to 36 days on standby.

It also boasts a built-in video player, a music player with up to 46 hours playback on a single charge, and everyday essentials like a flashlight, FM radio, and USB charging.

Microsoft and gadget repair website iFixit have announced the launch of Pro Tech Network, a service designed to teach more people how to fix gadgets. The partnership should help give people the skills they need to fix devices, set up businesses and recycle the valuable materials within electronic products.

As all Windows users will know, the second Tuesday in each month means it's patch time. So that system admins don’t get caught out Microsoft has published its advanced notification ahead of August's Patch Tuesday. So what can we expect to see in this round of updates? There are nine bulletins in total for software including Internet Explorer, Windows and Office. Two are rated "critical" as they allow for remote code execution.

Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 is an interesting hybrid. Microsoft markets the device as "the tablet that can replace your laptop," and in its introduction, the company compared it to a MacBook Air. After living with it as my primary notebook for the past couple of weeks, I'm not completely convinced. It has some nice features and is particularly light given its power as a Windows notebook, but it has some quirks and limitations that may narrow its appeal.

As with previous Surface devices, the Surface Pro 3 is a tablet with a cover that acts as a keyboard, so you can also use it as a desktop. But this version is much more powerful.

Microsoft announced today that it's dropping support, including security updates, for older Internet Explorer versions. The changes, which take effect in 18 months, are meant to push the vast Windows installed base to Internet Explorer 11.

Still, what if Microsoft really tried to create one version of Windows that ran on laptops, tablets, and phones using either x86 (Intel or AMD) or ARM (Qualcomm, Nvidia, and so on) processors? In addition to having to reconcile a fair amount under the hood, there would be significant user interface differences between the desktop, tablet, and handset flavors of Windows.

Earlier this month, Microsoft revealed that Office for iPad has been downloaded more than 35 million times since launching four months ago. Though the company did not provide granular financial breakouts, Microsoft also indicated that Office for iPad, which is free but requires an Office 365 subscription for full functionality, contributed to soaring consumer Office 365 revenue over the last quarter. With the new features, Microsoft hopes to continue this momentum.

Microsoft Power Query for Excel is an Excel add-in that enhances the self-service Business Intelligence experience in Excel by simplifying data discovery, access and collaboration.

Under a 2011 deal, Samsung pays Microsoft an undisclosed amount for each Android phone and tablet it sells. Nomura Securities analyst Rick Sherlund last year estimated Microsoft collects roughly $2 billion annually from patent fees on Android devices.

Netmarketshare's monthly updates on the state of the operating system and browser markets are useful not because the numbers are accurate — they clearly have a margin of error — but because they show trends. The most obvious trend at the moment is the decline of Microsoft's ancient Windows XP. This enables us to project how long it will be before Windows XP finally disappears, and you're welcome to have a go in the comments below.

Are you ready for some tablets? A new $400 million partnership between the National Football League and Microsoft is giving heavily modified versions of Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 tablets sideline access to this year's games. Coaches and players will be able to use the tablets to transcend the print photographs of yesteryear and receive images about a team's formations for review on the sidelines.

But will China’s consumers actually care? That’s the question observers (myself included) have been asking since whispers of the console ban being lifted first came up. After all, the country’s console restrictions have not been strictly enforced, and gray-market imported consoles (many of which have been hacked to play cheap pirated games) have been easily available in China’s electronics markets all along. But despite the proliferation of these less-than-legal consoles, China’s gaming market is still dominated by the PC and mobile platforms.

Both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have lost users worldwide, but as far as the United Kingdom is concerned, Microsoft’s modern operating systems continue their growth. Figures provided by market researcher StatCounter reveal that Windows 8 has grown so much that it managed to finally overtake Windows XP, thus becoming the fourth most popular operating system in the country.

BlackBerry Ltd said on Thursday its popular messaging system BBM, or BlackBerry Messenger, would now be open to those using the Windows phone platform, a move that potentially makes the messaging service more appealing to its enterprise clients.

BlackBerry, which is seeking to reinvent itself as a more software and services driven company as its smartphone market share has dwindled, has been lately touting new BBM features in a bid to make it a more viable messaging tool for clients such as corporations and government agencies that are on the lookout for a secure messaging service.

Microsoft has filed a contract dispute suit against Samsung over what Microsoft claims is a breach of contract by Samsung involving Android patent royalties. Microsoft filed its complaint against Samsung in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York on August 1 following what Microsoft claims to have been "months" of attempts between the two companies to resolve their dispute.