Skype, the video calling service used by 300 million people every month, is being shut down for good. Microsoft said the programme’s days are numbered as the company moved towards its Teams app instead.

‘Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available. Over the coming days you can sign in to Microsoft Teams Free with your Skype account to stay connected with all your chats and contacts,’ Microsoft said on X.

With Windows 10 we built the most secure Windows ever, by hardening the platform itself and by developing Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) – a unified endpoint security platform that helps stop breaches. This means that for the first time we’ve built threat and exploit protection, and Endpoint Detection & Response right into the operating system, powered by the cloud. We hear from our customers security is one of the biggest motivators for their move to Windows 10. Meanwhile, we know that while in their transition, some may have a mix of Windows 10 and Windows 7 devices in their environments. We want to help our customers achieve the best security possible on their way to Windows 10 ahead of the end of support for Windows 7 in January 2020. (…….. read the whole story)

Changes to OneDrive

Microsoft announces some upcoming changes to OneDrive. On 7/27/2016, the amount of storage that comes with OneDrive will change from 15 GB to 5 GB. Microsoft is also discontinuing the 15 GB camera roll bonus. You can learn more at the FAQ.

Instant messaging service Whatsapp has announced it will encrypt all its users’ communications from Tuesday.

With end-to-end encryption, messages are scrambled as they leave the sender’s device and can only be decrypted by the recipient’s device. It renders messages unreadable if they are intercepted, for example by criminals or law enforcement.

Whatsapp, which has a billion users worldwide, said file transfers and voice calls would be encrypted too. The Facebook-owned company said protecting private communication was one of its “core beliefs…..(read the whole story)

 The acquisition brings together two powerhouses in the data storage space. SanDisk was founded in 1988 originally under the name SunDisk. Seven years later, the company went public, trading on the Nasdaq exchange at $10 a share. The company is best known for its line of memory cards and USB flash drives used for storage…..(read the whole story)

Microsoft has released the first new version of Office for Windows in three years, adding a series of new features designed to bring the stalwart productivity apps into the cloud computing era.
Office 2016 allows several people to work together on documents and incorporates a “Groups” section into its software that makes it easier for people to collaborate on projects……..(read the whole story)

Windows 10 is familiar and easy to use. It includes an improved Start menu and is designed to startup and resume fast. Plus, it’s packed with new innovations including Microsoft Edge – an all-new browser. Your personal files and apps you’ve installed will all be waiting for you. We’ve designed the upgrade to be easy and compatible with the hardware and software you already use.

Don’t miss out as this free offer won’t last forever. Reserve your upgrade today. Follow steps below to get started……….(read the whole story)

Microsoft takes .NET open source and cross-platform, adds new development capabilities with Visual Studio 2015, .NET 2015 and Visual Studio Online

NEW YORK — Nov. 12, 2014 — On Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. reinforced its commitment to cross-platform developer experiences by open sourcing the full server-side .NET stack and expanding .NET to run on the Linux and Mac OS platforms. Microsoft also released Visual Studio Community 2013, a new free edition of Visual Studio that provides easy access to the Visual Studio core toolset. The announcements kicked off Microsoft’s Connect (); event, where the company released Visual Studio 2015 Preview and .NET 2015 Preview……..(read the whole story)

Lotus 1-2-3, the computer software program that was the spreadsheet of choice for businesses in the 1980s, was born in the Boston area on January 26, 1983. It was the brainchild of Mitch Kapor and Jonathan Sachs who had formed Lotus Development Corp. to release the software program. The two weren’t new to computer spreadsheets: Kapor was the head of development at VisiCorp, which marketed the first desktop spreadsheet program, VisiCalc, and Sachs was a computer programmer who had been transferring VisiCalc to some of the world’s first minicomputers………(read the whole story)