Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts

Tuesday 5 April 2016

Did you know, Cyanogen raises $110 million without the help of Microsoft


Cyanogen raises $110 million without the help of Microsoft 

Did you know, Cyanogen raises $110 million without the help of Microsoft

Late this past January, reports among the investment crowd circulated that Microsoft was going to write a big check to take a stake in Cyanogen as part of that company’s fund raising.

The $70 million that Microsoft would have invested would have only given the company a minority share since Cyanogen has a valuation in the “high hundreds of millions” of dollars.

The decision appears to have been made following a series of negotiations, although Microsoft may seek a commercial agreement to get some of its software and services into Cyanogen’s planned “Android-without-Google” operating system. $110 million is set to close, headed by an investment firm PremjiInvest.

Cyanogen has been making waves lately with promises to create a whole new platform, based on Android, yet completely independent of Google’s services. The idea is to enable a completely new landscape for advanced services and applications to flourish without being fenced in by Google or Apple (or even Microsoft). Cyanogen’s CEO, Kirt McMaster, said in January the company would have its own app store up and running within 18 months.

Microsoft is sure to maintain interest in Cyanogen’s efforts, as Google does not lend any development of its services for the Windows mobile ecosystem. If Cyanogen’s formula pays off, and given the money being talked about it is more likely to than not, Microsoft plans to ensure its services are accessible.

Did you know, Cyanogen raises $110 million without the help of Microsoft


source: Bloomberg

Microsoft’s voice assistant Cortana is coming to Android and iOS devices soon

Microsoft will soon make its voice-activated digital personal assistant Cortana available as a standalone app for Android and iOS devices, reports Reuters.
Cortana is currently exclusive to Windows Phone devices, but will come to Windows 10 for desktops this autumn, and subsequently arrive on mobile devices powered by Google and Apple.
Microsoft will beef up Cortana’s capabilities before rolling it to other platforms. The company is working on an advanced version of its voice assistant, incorporating research from an artificial intelligence project called Einstein.
There’s no word yet on just when Cortana will launch across platforms. We’ve contacted Microsoft to find out more and will update this post when we hear back.

Microsoft’s voice assistant Cortana is coming to Android and iOS devices soon

Sunday 29 March 2015

Microsoft offers Windows 10 as free upgrade, even to pirates

Microsoft offers Windows 10 as free upgrade, even to pirates

Microsoft is feeling generous with its Windows 10; it will be offering this upcoming operating system as a free upgrade to every user of Windows 7 or later. Even pirated copies of Windows are eligible for an upgrade too.

The reason for this is the rampant piracy in China, although the Philippines has its fair share of users that aren’t using genuine Windows too. Microsoft is doing this in its effort to “re-engage” the millions of users back to its ecosystem. This should also encourage stalwarts of Windows XP to switch to a more modern version and help them get the best security features they need. The company will certainly lose revenue in the process, but it will make up for it through its Office productivity suite, Skype and other online services.

Microsoft previously announced that Windows 7 and 8 users would receive the new OS for free, but it hadn’t mentioned about non-genuine users at the time.

Aside from resolving piracy issues, Microsoft has also confirmed that Windows 10 will launch this summer, with 190 countries and 111 languages to be covered in the initial launch.
[Source: Reuters]