Benefits of Free Licensing @ Microsoft

After yesterday’s Windows 10 unveiling Microsoft took the time to talk about its device strategy for the foreseeable future.
Talking to Re/code’s Ina Fried, Terry Myerson said Microsoft has seen great success with their strategy of giving Windows away for devices smaller than 9 inches. This strategy was revealed early this year at
BUILD and

Cortana will exist across Windows Phone and Windows 10

Famouse Digital assistant CORTANA in windows10

 

Microsoft is preparing to include its Cortana digital assistant in the next major version of Windows, currently codenamed Threshold. Windows Threshold is expected to be named Windows 10 when it ships in spring 2015, and sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell TechMarkaz

Microsoft launches its post-Nokia website for smartphones

It’s rumored Microsoft will soon drop the Nokia brand from its smartphones, and it appears the company is getting a head start on the change by launching its own mobile devices website.
The website, called simply Microsoft Devices, solely highlights products made by the Nokia device unit Microsoft purchased earlier this year. Smartphones and tablets from the Lumia line are
listed on the website, though Microsoft’s Surface tablets are oddly lacking from the product manifest. Two weeks ago, Microsoft began preparing to

Microsoft’s $7.2BN+ Acquisition Of Nokia’s Devices Business Is Now Complete

Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s devices and services business has been completed. Nokia confirmed the completed transaction in a press release, noting that it has “completed the sale of substantially all of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft” (using the same phrasing it has deployed throughout the process).

Nokia said it expects the final price-tag to be “slightly higher” than the

original figure of €5.44 billion given when the deal was announced last September due to the transaction being “subject to potential purchase price adjustments”:

The estimate of the adjustments made for net working capital and cash earnings was slightly positive for Nokia, and we currently expect the total transaction price to be slightly higher than the earlier-announced transaction price of EUR 5.44 billion after the final adjustments are made based on the verified closing balance sheet.

Another adjustment is to the terms, with Nokia’s manufacturing facilities in Chennai in India and Masan in Korea not transferring to Microsoft. Nokia has been facing ongoing tax proceedings in India which was presumably holding up the deal — hence the workaround, with Nokia noting that it has entered into a service agreement with Microsoft to produce mobile devices for Microsoft. (Some small irony there then, that Nokia is not technicallygetting out of mobile-making altogether.)

The release notes that the Korean facility will be closed by Nokia, with the loss of 200 jobs. But Nokia said it plans to extend “elements” of its Bridge Program — which elsewhere gives support to employees who leave the company to set up their own businesses — to staff in Chennai and Masan.

Amid the uncertainty for our employees in Chennai and because of the planned closure of our facility in Masan, Nokia plans to offer a program of support, including financial assistance which would give our employees the chance to explore opportunities outside Nokia starting from a sound financial base. The company plans to bring to Chennai and Masan elements of its Bridge program, which we have made available for employees affected by company changes in other sites.

The transaction’s closing had been delayed slightly by regulatory hold ups (and presumably also the ongoing Indian factory-related tax affair). The two companies had originally said they expected the deal to close in Q1– but last month bumped that time-frame up to April, saying they were still pending approvals in certain markets.

The deal got the green light in China earlier this month, although the Chinese Ministry of Commerce did have some concerns about how Microsoft’s patent licensing practices might change post-acquisition. And required the company to agree to a list of patent-related commitments to grant approval.

Commenting on the completion of the transaction in a statement today Tom Gibbons, Microsoft corporate vice president who is responsible for the Nokia integration, said the advantages it will bring are greater intimacy between the two entities — which have of course been publicly working together on Windows Phones since their 2011 ‘strategic partnership’ announcement — and greater efficiency.

“Customers should see a bunch of great end-to-end experiences that really empower them to have very enjoyable, very comprehensive solutions to things that they want to get done, whether you’re talking about smartphones or feature phones,” Gibbons added. “The feature phone product family coming to Microsoft will start to have more of the Microsoft services shipped on those phones right out of the gate.”

Specifically Microsoft summed up what it’s getting as follows:

With the deal closed, Microsoft acquires Nokia’s smartphone and mobile phone businesses, its design team, most of its manufacturing and assembly facilities and operations, and sales and marketing support…The acquisition also brings key capabilities around supply chain, distribution, operational processes and systems and skill in managing hardware margins to Microsoft. The unified company will benefit from speedier execution and best-in-class business operations.

It will be interesting to see what Microsoft does with the Nokia X family of smartphones, which are built atop the Android Open Source Project — and sit between Nokia’s feature phones and the full-fat Windows Phone Lumia devices.

Gibbons’ comments about pushing Microsoft services on “feature phones” is opaque on the question of what Microsoft does with Nokia X devices — and whether new CEO, Satya Nadella (pictured below with former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, who’s now been brought back into the Redmond fold), is willing to give Nokia’s “Lumia feeder” strategy some breathing room (or not).

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Microsoft Officially Welcomes the Nokia Devices

Microsoft’s Acquisition of Nokia Mobile Completes.

Microsoft’s Acquisition of Nokia Mobile Business Completes. Nokia logo gets replaced by Microsoft

Nokia and Microsoft have sent a joint email to Nokia account holders talking about the process of data transfer between the two entities.

The email says that with the sale of Nokia’s sale of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft – expected to be completed this month, the email reiterates – a Microsoft Finnish affiliate named Microsoft Mobile will assume “responsibility for your personal data

and the contractual relationships for the products and services related to this business.” The email adds that customers “should experience no difference as a result of the sale.”

While the name of the entity will be changed to Microsoft Mobile, Microsoft is likely to continue using the Nokia as the consumer-facing brand, having licensed it from the Finnish company earlier.

“Microsoft has also agreed to a 10-year license arrangement with Nokia to use the Nokia brand on current and subsequently developed mobile phones based on the Series 30 and Series 40 operating systems,” Nokia had said soon after announcing the sale of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft.

After the completion of the deal, Nokia will be left with its telecom equipment (NSN), location (HERE) and patent development businesses, would have the right to continue and maintain the Nokia brand, except for certain period as per the agreement.

After the closing of the deal “Nokia would be restricted from licensing the Nokia brand for use in connection with mobile device sales for 30 months and from using the Nokia brand on Nokia’s own mobile devices until December 31, 2015,”.

Update 28 April 2014: Stephen Elop, Executive Vice President of the Microsoft Devices Group, confirmed the above in a ‘ask me anything’ session on the Nokia website saying, “Microsoft Mobile Oy is a legal construct that was created to facilitate the merger. It is not a brand that will be seen by consumers. The Nokia brand is available to Microsoft to use for its mobile phones products for a period of time, but Nokia as a brand will not be used for long going forward for smartphones. Work is underway to select the go forward smartphone brand.”

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Microsoft Officially Welcomes the Nokia Devices

Microsoft Now Owns Nokia Mobile Business

Microsoft officially welcomes the Nokia Devices and Services business

Microsoft and the Nokia Devices and Services business are coming together as one to deliver a family of devices and services that will delight consumers and empower businesses.

Satya Nadella(L) & Stephen Elop(R)  together

 Microsoft Corp. announced it has completed its acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business. The acquisition has been approved by Nokia shareholders and by governmental regulatory agencies around the world. The completion of the acquisition marks the first step in bringing these two organizations together as one team.
“Today we welcome the Nokia Devices and Servicesbusiness to our family. The mobile capabilities and assets they bring will advance our transformation,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “Together with our partners, we remain focused on delivering innovation more rapidly in our mobile-first, cloud-first world.”
Reporting to Nadella is former Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop, who will serve as executive vice president of the Microsoft Devices Group, overseeing an expanded devices business that includes Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel (PPI) products, and accessories. Microsoft welcomes personnel with deep industry experience in more than 130 sites across 50 countries worldwide, including several factories that design, develop, manufacture, market and sell a broad portfolio of innovative smart devices, mobile phones and services. As part of the transaction, Microsoft will honor all existing Nokia customer warranties for existing devices, beginning April 25, 2014.
Windows Phone is the fastest-growing ecosystem in the smartphone market, and its portfolio of award-winning devices continues to expand. In the fourth quarter of 2013, according to IDC, Windows Phone reinforced its position as a top three smartphone operating system and was the fastest-growing platform among the leading operating systems with 91 percent year-over-year gain.[1] Furthermore, with the Nokia mobile phone business, Microsoft will target the affordable mobile devices market, a $50 billion annual opportunity,[2] delivering the first mobile experience to the next billion people while introducing Microsoft services to new customers around the world.
Microsoft will continue to deliver new value and opportunity, and it will work closely with a range of hardware partners, developers, operators, distributors and retailers, providing platforms, tools, applications and services that enable them to make exceptional devices. With a deeper understanding of hardware and software working as one, the company will strengthen and grow demand for Windows devices overall.
As with any multinational agreement of this size, scale and complexity, Microsoft and Nokia have made adjustments to the deal throughout the close preparation process. As announced previously, Microsoft will not acquire the factory in Masan, South Korea, and the factory in Chennai, India, will stay with Nokia due to the tax liens on Nokia’s assets in India that prevent transfer. As a result, Microsoft will welcome approximately 25,000 transferring employees from around the world.
More information about Microsoft’s expanded family of devices and services is available here.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Microsoft refers to Microsoft Corp. and its affiliates, including Microsoft Mobile Oy, a subsidiary of Microsoft. Microsoft Mobile Oy develops, manufactures and distributes Lumia, Asha and Nokia X mobile phones and other devices.
For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft’s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft’s Investor Relations website.
All information in this release is as of April 25, 2014. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.

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Microsoft’s Acquisition of Nokia Mobile Completes.

Don’t wait for Windows 9: How to get a Start Menu, windowed Metro apps today

THE ALL NEW BUNCH OF CHANGES YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE

Between the release of the PC-friendly spring update for Windows 8.1 and the newfound introduction of universal “buy once, play anywhere” Windows apps, Microsoft is doing all it can to spur the One Microsoft vision while, well, letting a PC be a PC and a tablet be a tablet. But, sadly, the most anticipated improvements have yet to arrive.
At Build 2014, Microsoft operating system head Terry Myerson teased bringing the Start Menu to Windows 8, along with the ability to run universal Metro apps in desktop windows rather than the full screens they consume today. (See screenshot above.) Myerson didn’t say when the features were going live, however—only that they’d eventually appear in a later update for Windows 8.1 users. Does that mean later this year? The Windows “Threshold” update rumored for April 2015? Windows 9? No one knows.
But you don’t
have to wait to get those killer features. With the first universal apps hitting the various Windows Stores this week, here’s how to bring a Start menu and windowed Metro apps to Windows 8.1 today.

The return of the Start Menu

A slew of Start menu replacements hit the web the second the Start Menu-less Windows 8 hit the streets, but when it comes time to put your cash on the line, the decision boils down to just two programs: Stardock’s Start8 and Classic Shell.

THE START MENU

Those reviews have all the nitty-gritty details, but you’ll probably want to start with Classic Shell
since it’s donationware. Classic Shell includes options for both Windows XP- and Windows 7-style
Start menus, along with numerous customization options. You can tinker with what’s listed in the
Classic Shell Start Menu, or even change the look of its Start button to an icon of your choice. Cool
stuff, indeed.
Start8, meanwhile, offers either a Windows 7 Start Menu or a Modern UI-tinged Windows 8 Start
Menu that’s more in line with what Microsoft itself is cooking up. The $5 Start8 app is more polished
and easier to use than the open-source Classic Shell, which is chock full of ugly buttons. Start8 still
offers plenty of options and features, though, and you can’t go wrong with either program.

Windowed desktop Metro apps

Sure, the recent update to Windows 8.1 adds plenty of mouse-friendly features, but it still doesn’t let you use Modern apps in desktop windows. If you want that capability today, you only have one place to turn: The utterly superb ModernMix software.

NOW YOU CAN PIN YOU WIN8.1 APPS TO YOUR TASKBAR

Again offered by Stardock—do you get the feeling that the folks at Stardock weren’t impressed by Windows 8?—ModernMix exists solely to let you run Windows Store apps in desktop Windows. It’s wonderful if you use Windows 8’s native apps, such as email, calendar, and Music, all of which stick to the Modern UI.
ModernMix runs like a charm even with the updates recently introduced to Windows 8.1. It’s well worth the $5 admission price.

Bringing it all together

There you have it: For less than the cost of a pizza, you can have Windows 9’s most-anticipated improvements right now. And once you’ve welcomed a Start Menu replacement and ModernMix into your workflow—especially paired with the Windows 8.1 spring Update’s tremendous tweaks —you might just be surprised how well those newfangled Modern apps translate to the familiar desktop experience.

All Users Must Install Windows 8.1 Update Now;

If you have Windows 8.1, you have a little less than a month to install Windows 8.1 Update, or you will miss out on future security updates.
Microsoft announced a fairly large update for the most recent version of its Windows operating system, with the unoriginal moniker “Windows 8.1 Update” (Win8.1U), as part of its April Patch Tuesday release last week. Users who download and install the update (or have updates installed automatically), don’t have anything to worry about. They will continue to receive security updates going forward. Users who don’t install Win8.1U will
not be able to install future patches from Microsoft. If they attempt to install the patch anyway, they will receive a message stating the update is “not applicable.”
Failure to install Win8.1U will prevent Windows Update from patching your system starting in May, Microsoft warned. After businesses protested, Microsoft has extended the deadline for enterprise customers to August, but the deadline for consumers remains May 13.
The new update “reflects Microsoft’s commitment to providing a more rapid cadence of feature improvements for our customers,” Brandon LeBlanc, a senior marketing manager at Microsoft, wrote on a TechNet blog Wednesday.
Who Has to Update by Next Month
In case you were wondering, this doesn’t apply to Windows 8 users who have not yet upgraded to Windows 8.1. They have until January 12, 2016 to upgrade to Windows 8.1—and then will need Win8.1U (or whatever the latest version would be) to continue receiving patches. Windows 8 users, along with Windows 7 and Vista users, will continue receiving security updates. Windows XP users won’t get any security updates, ever, since Microsoft finally, officially, yanked support for the OS last week.
“You cannot afford to miss out on receiving your Windows security updates, so you’ll just have to adjust to the new world order—and hopefully find Microsoft’s changes to the way Windows 8.1 works a positive step,” Graham Cluley, an independent security consultant, wrote on the Lumension blog.
Many of Microsoft’s business customers criticized the move, noting that in the past, Microsoft gave businesses 24 months to install a service pack update. They also said five weeks was not enough time to accommodate the time necessary to test and deploy patches. The problem was compounded by the fact that many users were also having trouble installing the update when originally announced last week.
Microsoft released the fixed update this week, and said enterprises have until August 12 to comply. The same August deadline also applies to Windows Server 2012 R2 Update, also announced last week.
The May 13 deadline is still in place for consumers. “For our consumer customers, Windows 8.1 Update is a required update and needs to be installed to receive new updates from Windows Update starting on May 13th,” said LeBlanc. “The vast majority of these customers already have Automatic Update turned on, so they don’t need to be concerned since the update will simply install in the background prior to May 13th.”
It’s worth taking the time to manual check, since some users report having to manually start the update despite having Automatic Update enabled.
What is Win8.1U?
Windows 8.1 Update offers a slew of user interface changes, such as more friendly support for users who prefer to use the keyboard and mouse over a touch interface, an improved version of Internet Explorer 11, and the ability to boot directly to a traditional desktop rather than the Windows 8 Start Screen. Many of these changes “will probably be warmly welcomed by users,” Cluley said.
Microsoft wants to ensure that customers are running the latest versions of the operating system. The new update for Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8.1 RT and Windows 8.1, “will be considered a new servicing/support baseline,” wrote Steve Thomas, a senior consultant at Microsoft, on a TechNet blog last week.
Even so, it will be difficult for small businesses—the ones who don’t have the expensive enterprise support contracts—to test and install a major update, 707 MB in size, with less than a month to go. The clock is ticking, again, for Windows administrators