Microsoft Translator has received a new update that brings support for 12 new languages and dialects. Microsoft has announced that its AI-based text translation service can now offer real-time translation in more than 100 languages, and it has 5.66 billion users worldwide.

“One hundred languages is a good milestone for us to achieve our ambition for everyone to be able to communicate regardless of the language they speak,” Xuedong Huang, Microsoft technical fellow and Azure AI CTO explained in a blog post. The list of newly added languages and dialects includes Dhivehi, Bashkir, Georgian, Macedonian, Kyrgyz, Mongolian (Cyrillic), Mongolian (Traditional), Tibetan, Tatar, Turkmen, Uzbek (Latin), as well as Uyghur.

The software giant notes that the incorporation of a multilingual AI model called “Z-code” and Deep Neural Networks (DNN) brings more accuracy and fluency to its text translation service. The free tool is currently being used by thousands of organizations across the globe, including the Volkswagen Group. The new update aims to bring people closer by removing language barriers.

Microsoft says the latest update is available to download for the Microsoft Translator app on both Android and iOS. These languages are also supported in the Bing Translator service and Microsoft Office.

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‎Microsoft Translator

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

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Free

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Microsoft Translator

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

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Free

One of the biggest controversies with Windows 11 is the minimum hardware requirements. Microsoft has held that these requirements are for reliability, security, and compatibility, but we haven’t really seen these claims put to the test. A recent Microsoft Mechanics video, though, showcases the security features of Windows 11, with Microsoft even going as far as to show how it works by trying to hack into a Windows 11 PC.

In the 17-minute video, Dave Weston, Microsoft’s own Windows security expert, explains the reasoning behind hardware requirements and how it can protect your Windows 11 PC against modern malware and other attacks. He spends a lot of time focusing on the benefits of TPM 2.0 and the secure boot aspect of Windows 11 by showing off and hacking a Windows 10 system with the features turned off.

The video begins by showcasing how remote desktop connections can leave your PC open to remote hacks if TPM and Secure boot are not enabled. He pulls the IP, username, and password for the remote machine from a database, gets into the system remotely, runs a CMD prompt on a remote system as an admin, unlocks the bootloader, and launches a bootkit. He then remotely shuts down the system, only to maliciously re-write the MBR. Again, this is with Secure Boot turned off, and the system set to Legacy in the BIOS mode.

In addition, the video also highlights the benefits of virtualization-based security and enhanced sign-in security. Weston shows how the features, when turned off on Windows 11, can leave a device open for in-person physical hacking through direct memory access via Thunderbolt. He uses a device connected to the victim’s PC to spoof a fingerprint and then logs into that PC using just a gummy bear.

Essentially, with Windows 11’s virtualization-based security, the encryption keys, signature, and code, are all separated by hardware from the operating system, making the previous physical hack impossible. And, UEFI, Secure Boot, and Trusted Boot help prevent rootkits and boot kits that modify the early boot BIOS by checking the bootloader’s signature to make sure it’s not modified.

After Microsoft’s classic Notepad app made its way to the Windows 10 Microsoft Store last year, the text editor could soon receive a Windows 11-inspired makeover. Last week, a Microsoft employee has apparently shared some pictures of the redesigned NotePad app before deleting them, but it wasn’t long before eagle-eyed users noticed the changes.

During the weekend, developer FireCubeStudios tweeted two screenshots of the app, with one image showing a revamped Settings section and the other image showing subtle changes to the app menu bar. The image showing the Settings section also includes a build number that’s higher than the production version of Notepad.

Notepad Windows 11 design leaked by Microsoft engineer then quickly deleted. We can see a new Fluent Design windows 11 settings for the app and also a WinUI menu bar#Windows11 #FluentDesign #CaughtIn4K pic.twitter.com/iV1FUIuoa5

— FireCube (@FireCubeStudios) October 9, 2021

Notepad has been around for almost 30 years and included in all versions of Windows, and the text editor has received very few updates over the years. Now that Notepad is a Microsoft Store app, Microsoft can update it separately from OS updates, just like Paint and other inbox apps that ship with Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Despite its age and pretty basic UI, Notepad remains a popular app among Windows users who prefer its simplicity over the versatility of OneNote. The latter is also getting a Windows 11 redesign, and Microsoft is currently working on unifying its two separate OneNote apps for Windows into a single client in 2022.

Welcome back to our Windows news recap, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Microsoft’s flagship operating system.

At the last minute, Microsoft provides a path to upgrading unsupported hardware to Windows 11

Whilst Windows 11 got a heated start with its strict hardware requirements, it appears that an upgrade path has surfaced at the last minute for PCs that are unsupported, allowing them to upgrade to Windows 11 regardless, albeit with a caveat that they might not receive security updates.

Wow. Well, Microsoft didn't lie. You can in fact install Windows 11 on any PC using the Media Creation Tool. Here I am updating Windows 7 on this ThinkPad X200 to Windows 11. Insane. Wonder how it'll work in the unsupported state. ???? pic.twitter.com/xGqM5UfpIm

— Arif Bacchus (@abacjourn) October 4, 2021

Microsoft is launching a new Feedback portal for Teams, Edge, and Windows

A new Feedback portal is set to launch in preview by the end of the year, offering a one-stop-shop for providing feedback on Microsoft 365 apps and services, as well as bringing support for leaving feedback on Windows in 2022.

AMD acknowledges Windows 11 performance issues for some PCs with Ryzen CPUs

Performance issues have arisen with some PCs that have Ryzen CPUs, when using Windows 11. AMD has acknowledged the issue. The impact can be up to 15% in some games.

Microsoft’s Surface app updates for Windows 11, 10, and 8.1 devices with new improvements

The Surface app has been updated across Windows 11, 10, and 8.1, bringing 36 new languages, smart charging, and other minor changes.

That’s it for this week. We’ll be back next week with more Windows news.

Microsoft is planning to launch a new Feedback portal for its Microsoft 365 apps and services. The Feedback portal will be available in preview by the end of this year, with support for more products, including Windows, coming sometime in 2022 (via ZDNet).

The Redmond giant has provided some insight about the upcoming Feedback portal on the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, as spotted by Twitter user Carl Knecht, earlier this week. Microsoft says this portal will be built on top of its  Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and it will let users submit new feedback on products, comment on, and upvote feedback provided by other people.

Additionally, users will also be able to view status updates and responses to previous feedback in the My Feedback section. However, it will be up to the users to access the new Feedback portal or provide feedback with the dedicated option available within Teams, Edge, and other Microsoft 365 apps.

In March, Microsoft quietly shut down its various Office 365 UserVoice forums, which allowed users to suggest ideas, comment, and vote for them. This move was apparently a part of its effort to transition the feedback mechanism to in-house tools. The new Feedback portal will probably replace these UserVoice forums, and it will help users share feedback about the productivity apps with the company.

As of this writing, Microsoft has not provided a precise ETA on when this new Feedback portal will begin rolling out in preview, but we’ll let you know as soon as we get more information. The portal will only be available worldwide in English at first, and support for additional languages will be coming shortly after.

First and foremost, the OnMSFT team are Microsoft enthusiasts, with both experience and viewpoints on what works and what doesn’t in the world of Windows and beyond. In this roundtable, we asked our writers to say a few words about Windows 11, now that it’s officially launched. We’ve been following Windows 11 since well before it was first announced, of course, and have been both using it and writing about it for quite some time. Here’s some of our thoughts, in no particular order:

Kareem Anderson

Windows 11 is a mixed bag of learned lessons from the Windows team over the years as well some head scratching missed opportunities in my opinion. Having tested Windows for over the past four months on various devices and form factors, I appreciate the consistent nature of the operating system. Windows 11 has routinely run smoother no matter the device or the specs. From a Surface Go 2 to a 32GB NVIDIA Quadro RTX enabled workstation, the animations and system processing are concretely improved.

When I refer to learned lessons, it’s clear the Windows team took to heart transitioning from one operating system to the next and kept much of the core of Windows 10 the same. People moving from Windows 10 should find Windows 11 welcoming, unlike the transition from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 where full sections and functionality were replaced, deprecated or simply gutted. For the most part, things like files, apps, and settings are just were users left them, that is both a good and an irksome thing for users like myself, which leads me to the point of missed opportunities.

Once again Microsoft has an opportunity to spearhead cohesion and vision, and while the bits and pieces of UI design appear amid a fog of choices for vision, the overall cohesion of the operating system is still missing, at least this early on. I’ll admit I don’t know the first thing about the Windows 11 roadmap or personal engineer responsibilities, but I would like to see the company dedicate the resources to a full time team that just updates the entirety of the context menus, prompts, and dialog boxes in Windows, another to modernize the Task Manager, and one to update the mobile experience.

Yes, icons get spread out, and ribbon items enlarged, but there is so much more to mobile computing than being able to touch an item on screen and the way Windows 11 operates on tablet screens, i.e. it’s flagship device the Pro 8, should exude vision, rather than what I see as lazy development.

Windows 11 looks great. It feels better to use than Windows 10 and I don’t see myself ever going back, but if some users scratch a little too deep, they may find the same annoyances they had with Windows 10, Windows 8 or even Windows 7 still there, and that’s where I think going forward, the vision for what Microsoft wants to do with its operating system is now more important than ever.

Abhishek Baxi

I hate to use the oft-repeated marketing term, but Windows 11 does feel modern and built for the times. It’s neater, and in many places, more visually appealing. The core is familiar and hence the upgrade is not jarring, but the fresh coat of paint is an interesting way forward. However, it is start of the journey and not the destination, because there are too many inconsistencies and a set of annoyances that most Windows users – and not just power users – will struggle to wrap their head around.

One good thing of this refreshed strategy is that there’s neither Windows 10X nor something like Tablet Mode on Windows 10. It’s just one experience for devices of all form factors, touch or no-touch, with the good things from all of those assorted in a unified manner.

For me, the ‘everyone’s invited’ approach to Microsoft Store is a winner, and we’re already seeing major apps (and Epic Games) getting on to the store even before day one. Of course, long way to go still. The store experience and the limited catalogue was one of the weaker points of Windows 8/10. The work done on the store, including the strategic shift, should make it more convenient for Windows users to shop for apps and augment their operating system with the tools they need for work and leisure.

Laurent Giret

The release of Windows 11 is a good opportunity to look back at previous versions of Windows. People loved Windows XP, but they hated Vista. They also loved Windows 7, but Windows 8 was probably even more controversial than Vista.

Windows 10 also had its faire share of controversy with forced, sometimes buggy upgrades, and there was also a lot of FUD around the telemetry you can’t completly disable. Still, Windows 10 is generally seen as a solid OS, and many expected it to be the “last version of Windows” ever.

Back in 2014, the road towards Windows 10 was quite exciting: There was the launch of the Windows Insider program, and the promise of universal apps that would work on PCs, tablets, and phones. In many ways, Windows 11 seems to be a less ambitious hybrid of Windows 10 and Windows 10X, the simplified Windows-based OS for dual-screen PCs and Chromebook-like devices that Microsoft eventually scrapped.

Windows 10X still lives on in Windows 11, but if nice touches of polish make a good first impression, I’m afraid most users won’t like the changes made to core features like the Start Menu and Taskbar. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the new Widget Menu and Chat app eventually fade away like Cortana or Windows 10’s Timeline feature.

In retrospect, I see Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer Panos Panay doing the same thing that Jony Ive did at Apple after taking over the design of iOS and macOS. Back then, many hardcore Mac fans complained about the “iOSification” of macOS, and I do see some of that in Windows 11, with a Windows 10X twist.

All in all, Windows 11 is going to be polarizing release, especially with all the kerkuffle about the minimum system requirements. As it turns out, you can install the OS just fine on unsupported PCs, but will you really want to do that? I’m can’t really highlight a single killer feature right now, though there’s definitely some good things for PC gamers with the new DirectStorage API and AutoHDR feature.

Arif Bacchus

I haven’t used a Windows version like Windows 11 since Windows 7. From rounded corners to glass-like Fluent Design effects, the operating system looks and feels beautiful. I know there are some controversies with the hardware requirements, but it should not be stealing the spotlight. Windows 11 brings many useful features and thanks to tweaks to the touch keyboard, inking, it matches hardware with software, especially on a tablet or flagship devices like the Pro 8 & Surface Laptop Studio. Productivity is also at the forefront, and Snap Groups is such a time-saving Windows feature, as is the nifty feature where Windows remembers what you had on your monitor when you plug/unplug. Even entertainment comes first in Windows 11, with useful features like Widgets, and a revamped Microsoft Store. It’s the small things that matter, and while there are things that could use fixing in Windows 11, Microsoft is on a path to success, and it can only get better here on out.

Brad Stephenson

I’ve been using Windows 11 for the past month or so and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t regretting the upgrade. While Microsoft’s new operating system is noticeably faster at loading apps and running in general on my Surface Pro 7 than Windows 10 was, Windows 11 feels a lot less efficient when it comes to performing basic tasks and my productivity has been noticeably affected by several of the design changes.

The ability to simply swipe in from the right side of the screen to bring up the Action Center was a feature that I used multiple times a day (even per hour) in Windows 10 to adjust screen brightness, volume, devices, internet connectivity, you name it. Windows 11 replaced this with a bland calendar, which serves very little purpose, and moved the Action Center’s functionality into a menu that has to be activated by tapping the small volume icon in the taskbar. Not only is this incredibly inconvenient when using both a mouse and touch gestures but it also now makes it impossible to adjust the volume and screen brightness when the taskbar is hidden such as when playing a video game or watching a movie.

In Windows 10, you could simply swipe in from the right and adjust the settings. In Windows 11, you need to pause what you’re doing, exit full screen, tap a small icon without touching the ones next to it, adjust your settings, and then get back to the movie or game. It’s a mess.

Another frustrating change is the removal of Live Tiles. Since upgrading to Windows 11, I’ve missed two business events and a family member’s birthday because I was so used to seeing events in the Calendar Live Tile every time I opened the Start Menu to select an app throughout the day. Windows 11 has attempted to replace Live Tiles with widgets but these have been relegated to their own menu which I genuinely keep forgetting exists. The appeal of Live Tiles was that they showed information to users while they were going about their usual tasks. I’m not going to open a widget menu to check information. I may as well just open an app and that defeats the purpose entirely. The obvious solution to this is to merge the widget and Start Menu together but I’m not holding my breath.

Right now, Windows 11 feels like a faster version of Windows 10 with half of the functionality. Operating systems rarely launch in a perfected state but I sure do wish that Microsoft had gotten closer than they are right now.

Kip Kniskern

My first reactions to Windows 11 aren’t about the refreshed UI (which is nice, for the parts that are actually refreshed), or the upcoming Android apps (because who is going to actually *use* Android apps on a PC?), but what this all means for Windows 10, and how Windows 10 and 11 get along.

Microsoft has emphasized that Windows 10 still has some five years of support left, and has made a path forward difficult if not impossible for older hardware, meaning that we’re going to exist in a duopoly of Windows versions for years to come. Will Windows 10 become more Windows 11-like? What happens to apps?

Microsoft has said the new Store (perhaps one of Windows 11’s best features), along with other refreshed Windows 11 apps, will be coming to Windows 10. Does that mean they’ll sport the same Windows 11 look? Will Microsoft maintain two UIs for apps, or will Windows 10 become even more visually inconsistent?

And what happens to the code base? We’re not sure if Windows 11, which is so far mostly Windows 10 under the hood, will remain so, or if the two operating systems will fork (if they have already).

The question isn’t really how similar Windows 10 and 11 are now, it’s how similar will they be in 4-5 years. As it stands now, even with a slightly relaxed stance on hardware requirements, most of enterprise isn’t going to rush to upgrade to Windows 11. Instead they’ll stick with their perfectly good stable of 6^th or 7^th gen processors, and Windows 10. Microsoft is going to have to make it a lot harder to stay on Windows 10, or to put it another way, a lot more compelling to upgrade to Windows 11, in order to move the install base toward anything like what Windows 10 has now.

What do you think?

Like us, many of you have had your hands on Windows 11 for months, and have formed opinions on the latest OS from Microsoft. So, what do you think? Let us know in the comments below

Xbox Live Gold subscribers have three full games to play on Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles this weekend.

The Port Royale 4, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, and Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition video games are now free to play for those with an active subscription until the end of Sunday at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

As is typical with a Free Play Day campaign, all three titles have been given a significant discount in the Microsoft Store online storefront for those that want to purchase them outright and continue playing once the promotion is over.

Port Royale 4 has received a 35% discount, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker a massive 85% one, and Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition has been given a 60% price reduction.

After something different to play on Xbox this weekend? Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl launched earlier this week and is getting a fair bit of attention from players and streamers.

Need some non-game Xbox content? Check out the new Xbox skateboard, Adidas sneakers, and Rockstar Energy drinks.

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Port Royale 4

Developer:
Kalypso Media Group GmbH

Price:
$19.99

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NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKER

Developer:
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment

Price:
$9.99

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Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition

Developer:
Raw Fury

Price:
$14.99

Microsoft has announced today the acquisition of Ally.io, a Seattle-based objectives and key results (OKR) company for an undisclosed amount. The Redmond giant plans to integrate Ally.io to its Viva employee experience platform that launched earlier this year.

Ally.io was founded in 2018 and currently has over 250 employees helping over 1,000 customers turn their goals into results. Notable clients including Dropbox, Slack, and Google, and Ally.io currently help teams achieve their goals wherever they’re working, including Slack and other apps. However, Microsoft has big plans for Ally.io that will go beyond the planned Viva module.

“Ally.io and Microsoft Viva will enrich how people and teams come together to build alignment and achieve better business outcomes. Over the next year, we’ll be investing to bring Ally.io into the Microsoft cloud, evolve the existing integrations with Microsoft Teams, and weave Ally.io into Viva, Office, Power BI and the broader set of Microsoft 365 apps and services,” explained Kirk Koenigsbaue, CVP of Microsoft 365 Marketing.

Windows 11 has now hit general availability, but if you’re hoping to make your fresh Windows 11 install feel more personal, Stardock is here to help. As promised, the company announced this morning the release of a “Release Candidate 1” update for Start11.  The new release promises to help bring back some of the lost functions that Microsoft removed in Windows 11.

For most people, the big part of this release has to be how Start11 will now let you move the Taskbar to the top of the screen in Windows 11. And, as another big function, it also brings back the proper context menu on the taskbar in Windows 11. For folks in Windows 10, however, the release also brings the ability to use a Windows 11 style Start Menu.

This is still a release candidate, so keep in mind that there will still be some bugs. You can expect the final build soon. If you’re interested, you can purchase Start11 here for $5. If you’ve previously used Start8 and Start10, you will also have an upgrade option. We previously chatted with Stardock, and the company indicated to us that this is just the start and newer features are ahead, including a business edition.

Microsoft Teams launched support for interactive webinars with up to 1,000 attendees back in May this year. The Redmond giant has recently updated its Microsoft 365 roadmap with new entries hinting at the upcoming improvements to the webinars feature in Teams.

First up, Microsoft is working to add support for automated invites to Teams webinars. This means that going forward, the webinar invitations will be automatically added to the respective calendars of all participants. The feature should be great for a hybrid setting where people find it harder to keep track of important meetings and live events.

In addition to this, Microsoft Teams is also getting domain customization capabilities for all sorts of webinar communications. This feature will allow an organizer to create customized invites by adding the name of their tenant to the sender name and email domain. This should help users to find emails in their inboxes with ease.

Microsoft is planning to make all these new webinars capabilities available to all desktop and web users in December 2021. In case you missed it, the firm has recently announced that a new co-organizer role and structured question and answer experience is coming soon to Teams webinars.

After a day delay (thanks to FedEx,) I finally have a Surface Laptop Studio (Core i7/RTX/512GB SSD/16GB RAM) in my hands. Call me crazy, but I sold off my old HP ENVY 15 video editing laptop, as well as my XPS to pay for this new Surface. After 24 hours or so of playing around with it, I feel like I am glad I did.

It’s only been a short period, but so far, there’s a lot I like about my new Surface Laptop Studio. I have a full review coming up once I put the laptop through my daily grind, but It feels like this is my dream laptop in more ways than one.

The hardware:

I’ll start first with the hardware. This might seem like I am rehashing my hands-on post from a few weeks ago, but it’s still true. The Surface Laptop Studio feels like MacBook married a Surface Pro married a Surface Laptop. From the rounded corners, a display with rounded edges, and a gray keyboard, I initially felt like the Surface Laptop Studio looked just like a MacBook. There are a few areas where it is different from a Mac and where it exceeds, though.

The first of those is with the extra engineering Microsoft put into this device with the hinge system. The hinge behind the screen is pretty nifty, even though it’s made of fabric. Thanks to magnets, it holds things together strongly when I want to keep the screen open just like a laptop. Yet, it makes transitions to Studio Mode and Stage Mode feel so smooth.

So far, I have spent most of my time in Laptop Mode, using the Studio as a regular laptop. Here it feels just like a Surface should. An excellent bright display, 3:2 aspect ratio, and responsive screen. Things feel a bit more responsive thanks to the 120Hz panel, too, especially when scrolling through Twitter and other web pages. The best place to see this though is with Windows and opening/closing the Start Menu, Quick Settings, and more. Studio brings this to life.

Unboxing the Surface Laptop Studio https://t.co/GWhf00Aj2k

— Arif Bacchus (@abacjourn) October 6, 2021

Oh, and while I am at it, the haptic touchpad is amazing. I’m quite used to using physical trackpads, and the one on the Laptop Studio feels just like a MacBook. You can touch it anywhere, and it will register your click. It’s amazing to see this in Windows, and you can go into the settings and tweak things to be stronger, or weaker if you want.

Now, for the second part as to why this isn’t a Mac clone. I ended up using the Studio in Stage mode to watch YouTube videos. It’s here where I noticed that this screen is one of the brightest ever on a Surface, All my videos looked so lively like they never did before. This also carried over into Studio Mode, too where I brought down the screen to ink. The 120Hz panel made ink strokes feel so fluent, and it just feels so beautiful.

The other reason why this isn’t a MacBook clone is with the stage on the bottom of the device. I did do some gaming (as I get into next) and I find this bottom stage very convenient. It blows air out the sides and keeps the Studio cool. Even 1.5 hours of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 didn’t meltdown my Studio.

I do want to save my other impressions for a full review in the next two weeks (that’s my standard for any laptop I review.) So be sure to keep tuned for more then!

The performance, the battery life

Another good thing about the Surface Laptop Studio is the overall performance. I did get a model with 16GB of RAM, but I’m quite surprised with the performance thus far. While the initial out of box experience and update process took some time, the process of signing in and installing all my apps, games was super quick. I sped through the store to install my apps, and I wrote this entire post with YouTube, and 20 other media-heavy tabs in the background and the device didn’t flinch. For the web-based work that I need it for in these first, the Laptop Studio was fine.

Sorry for the poor recording. But Here is Microsoft Flight Simulator running on the Surface Laptop Studio. 1080p resolution. High end settings. Feels Surprisingly smooth. Windows 11 Xbox Game Bar doesn't have the frames widget for me to count though? :/ GTX 3050 TI not too bad. pic.twitter.com/LPYBBo68c9

— Arif Bacchus (@abacjourn) October 7, 2021

I also took Flight SImulator for a spin to test the GPU. The results were alright. It’s not a  machine that will get you 60FPS in high-end games on ultra settings, but I did get to around 30-40 frames when dialing back settings. These results are fine for me, as I don’t game too much, and this will be the most demanding title I will ever play. I’m more interested in video editing performance, which I hope to address when I edit the weekly OnMSFT podcast this weekend. So, stay tuned!

As far as battery life, this is one of the most concerning parts of the Laptop Studio for me. Sitting idle during a photoshoot, the Studio dropped from 100% to 95% in just a few minutes, with nothing on the screen. I’ll need to run it through my other tests, but for now, I feel like the battery won’t be this device’s strong suit.

The Pen

I want to end with a note on the Surface Slim Pen 2. This was something that I wasn’t quite sure about in my hands-on time but now that I had a day to play with it, I do feel a bit better. Microsoft actually lets you tweak the feedback on the Slim Pen 2 and once I did, it replicates the pen-to-paper feel. Only a few apps currently support the haptics, however. In Fresh Paint, I didn’t get the haptic feedback, but it did work in Whiteboard and OneNote. When it does work, it’s amazing.

Excited for a full review

Panos Panay always says he’s pumped, and I rightfully agree with him this time around. There’s something really special about the Surface Laptop Studio, and I can’t wait to write up a full review. Be sure to stay tuned to OnMSFT, and let us know if you have any comments/concerns about the Laptop Studio, as we’ll be answering your questions in our latest podcast episode.

Microsoft has made a variety of limited promotional Xbox-branded skateboards in the past but the tech giant has now, finally, released one that’s not only available to the general public but can also be ordered online and shipped internationally.

The Xbox Green Sphere Skateboard Deck launched in Microsoft’s Xbox Gear Shop online store earlier this month and is currently retailing for $97.95.

The deck measures 8” x 32” and is made from 7 ply Canadian Maple which means that it’s more than capable of being used for actual skating instead of just a cool accessory for a gaming or streaming space.

“Skateboarding doesn’t have a lot to do with Xbox,” the deck’s official description reads. “There are skateboarding games, of course, but otherwise, you typically have to pause a video game to use your skateboard (in fact, this is strongly advised). We made an Xbox skateboard deck anyway because we think it looks amazing.

“Also, you CAN hang this on your wall as a decoration or shelf. Then you can use your Xbox AND the Xbox skateboard deck at the same time!”

Microsoft is really pumping out the Xbox merch this month. A new collaboration with Adidas was announced just this morning and while official Halo Infinite Rockstar Energy Drinks are now available.

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Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 yesterday to all eligible devices that are running supported hardware. Now, the company has published a blog post explaining how its design team created the Windows 11 ‘Bloom’ wallpaper as yet another new promotional tool for the latest version of the OS.

The firm says its Bloom wallpaper looks like a flower that blends natural elements with digital ones, and it has been designed to harmonize with Windows 11’s new centered Start menu. “Bloom was meant to complement the new centered layout of Windows 11, which includes the taskbar and the Start menu. And from a practical standpoint, it was important to the design team to have negative space around the image so that folders and files could be placed on the desktop, reducing visual clutter,” the company explained in the blog post.

As you probably know, some older versions of Windows featured a couple of iconic wallpapers, such as the Bliss wallpaper in Windows XP and the Windows 10 wallpaper with the glowing Windows logo. However, this new Windows 11 Bloom wallpaper has a more artistic touch and its own symbolic value, which indicates the beginning of a new era of Windows. “It’s the same Windows that you know and love, but this is a new beginning, a new era,” said Christina Koehn, creative director for Windows 11.

If you’re interested, you can find more details about the story behind the Windows 11 Bloom wallpaper on this blog post. Let us know in the comments if you think Bloom will leave its mark in the history of Windows, and we also invite you to check out our detailed Windows 11 review we published earlier today.

Microsoft has teamed up with adidas to create cool sneakers to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Xbox. The adidas Xbox 20th Forum Tech design features different shades of green and translucent soles, and in place of an adidas logo on the tongue, there’s the original Xbox logo right there.

If Xbox fans won’t be able to buy these Xbox-inspired adidas sneakers, the collaboration also marks the launch of the global “Always Played In. Never Played Out” program which celebrates popular eras of play over the past two decades. There’s even a well-made ad with vintage TV images you can watch below.

“This is just the beginning of our partnership with adidas, and over the next few months we’ll continue to mark our 20th anniversary by launching additional sneakers inspired by past and present Xbox console generations, including the first-ever sneaker available for purchase by our fans later this year,” the Xbox team said today.

It’s not the first time that Microsoft partners with a popular lifestyle brand to create Xbox-inspired sneakers. Back at E3 2018, the Xbox team revealed limited-edition Xbox Air Jordan 1 sneakers that have since become a collector item.

The week of big Microsoft releases continues as the company brings Windows 365 Enterprise support for Windows 11.

On Monday, Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 but the company is also announcing, “Windows 365 Enterprise supports Windows 11 for all newly provisioned Cloud PCs in available regions.”

Microsoft points out the newly branded wallpaper as being the quickest way to indicate a Windows 11 Cloud PC upgrade on its Windows 365 Enterprise blog, since Cloud PC sizing and configurations remain untouched.

New for Windows 11 is the wallpaper that makes it easy for end users to distinguish between the Windows 10 and Windows 11 Cloud PCs assigned to them in the Windows 365 end user portal.

Aside from the background change, IT Admins can play around with the tie-ins and support for Microsoft Endpoint Manager from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Admins can also take a little bit of comfort in the new security requirements of installation for Windows 11 that include TPM, UEFI and Secure boot improvements.

Windows 365 support of Windows 11 also includes gallery images that have the same applications preinstalled and configured as Windows 10, as well as support for the creation of custom Windows 11 ones if necessary.

If there is a need to create a custom Windows 11 image, Microsoft notes that users will need to change the VM type from Gen1 to Gen 2 as its source image in preparation for Windows 11. For anyone who needs a bit more help walking through this process, Microsoft does offer this handy instructional here.

As for provisioning, Admins can also upgrade existing Cloud PCs by changing the gallery from Windows 10 Enterprise to Windows 11 Enterprise + Microsoft 365 Apps and triggering the reprovision through the Devices menu in their Intune/Microsoft Endppoint Manager account.

A secondary upgrade path for current provisions exists but it’s a bit lengthier and includes backtracking and performing an in-place upgrade to Windows 11 Enterprise.

If you want to support in-place upgrades from Windows 10 to Windows 11, Cloud PCs need to be turned on the day of October 5th or after. For those organizations that need to re-provision their Cloud PCs, because we leverage OneDrive Known Folder Move as one of the standard services, the process will be seamless. Your end users’ personal data is automatically backed-up and will be restored after the re-provisioning process. Simply ensure that they are assigned a OneDrive license.

To get started on an in-place upgrade to a Windows 11 Cloud PC, Microsoft has spun up a new Work from Anywhere (preview) tool in its Endpoint Analytics platform. Device that supports the Windows 11 upgrade will read Capable and a user should be off to the races.