Munich Migrates To Windows 10
March 28, 2018
Despite the superiority of other operating systems, Microsoft Windows still tops the list as a popular office enterprise tool. Windows PCs have easy user interfaces, applications for easy management, and are understood at a near universal level. It does not come as a surprise when Munich, Germany decided to implement a change to Windows 10, says Silicon: “Munich Approves 49.3 million Euro Windows 10 Migration Plan.”
Munich’s city council decided to spend over 50 million euros to migrate their computer system to Microsoft Windows 10. This is the first major overhaul the city council has had since 2004 when they implemented a Linux desktop program. Linux is the open source software of choice and the city council decided to use it to reduce their dependency on Microsoft.
The “LiMux” programme saw a customised version of Ubuntu Linux rolled out to about 14,800 of the city’s 29,000 users and LibreOffice used by more than 15,000, in a bid to reduce the government’s dependence upon Microsoft. In 2012 then-mayor Christian Ude said LiMux had saved Munich more than €4m in licensing costs. The rollout was completed in 2013, nearly 10 years after it began, but a political shift the following year saw leadership turn in favour of a return to Windows.
The transition back to Microsoft comes with a change in the city council’s leadership. Dieter Reiter pushed fo have Microsoft license and he won. The Microsoft Windows transition cost of over 49 million euros is only part of the 89 million euro IT overhaul that is in progress. The IT overhaul also includes retraining and testing staff.
The Munich city council will not be migrating to Microsoft Office, which would incur an even higher price tag. Munich will instead continue to use LibreOffice, because of the staff’s familiarity and the custom templates. The city council also hopes to implement cloud application usage.
As with anything related to politics, opposing parties are critical of the return to Microsoft and say it wastes money. Nothing new on that end and it only points to more organizational problems than a simple OS.
Whitney Grace, March 28, 2018
Reddit Turns to Bing for AI Prowess
March 19, 2018
This is an interesting development—MSPoweruser announces, “Reddit Partners with Microsoft and Bing for AI Tools.” We’d though Reddit was thrilled with Solr. Reddit CEO Alexis Ohanian announced the partnership at the Everyday AI event in San Francisco, saying his company required “AI heavy lifting” to analyze the incredible amounts of data it collects. For its part, Bing gets access to valuable data. Writer Surur tells us:
The partnership will benefit both parties with Reddit contributing content to Bing such as AMAs and advertising upcoming AMAs and Reddit Answers and Microsoft making subreddit content more visible in their search results. Now when searching for a subreddit in Bing it will deliver a live snapshot of the top threads in the subreddit. Ohanian noted that Reddit is the largest answer database of nuanced, verified answers, offering an amazing resource to Bing. He noted that the Bing partnership was like a crown jewel for Reddit and just scratches the surface of what is possible with Microsoft’s AI expertise and Reddit data. For companies who use Reddit for professional and commercial reasons, Reddit will be offering the Power BI suite of solution templates for brand management and targeting on Reddit which will enable brands, marketers, and budget owners to quickly analyze their Reddit footprint and determine how, where, and with whom to engage in the Reddit community.
With 330 million active monthly users, Reddit is about the same size as Twitter; that is indeed a lot of data. Surur points us to Reddit’s blog post on the subject for more information.
Cynthia Murrell, March 19, 2018
Quote to Note: More Computing Power!
January 27, 2018
I read “Microsoft Boss: World Needs More Computing Power.” The idea is a variant upon “Technology will solve our problems.” I noted this passage in the article:
The world is rapidly “running out of computing capacity”, the head of tech giant Microsoft has warned.
He allegedly revealed:
“Moore’s Law is kinda running out of steam,” Mr Nadella told assembled delegates, referring to the maxim that the power of computer chips doubles every two years.
Yep, “kinda.” Hip World Economic Forum lingo.
Stephen E Arnold, January 27, 2018
LinkedIn: Marketing Wackiness or Just Innovative Fishing?
January 23, 2018
I received an email from LinkedIn. This email, like many of the other group discussion topics, caught my attention. Here’s what I received this morning (January 22, 2018):
The idea is for me to click on the link and view the “discussion.”
I did and saw this LinkedIn “posting” in a curated group. I am not sure what “curation” means, but it obviously permits sales pitches.
This looks a bit like a news story. After reading it, I was asked to click a link in order to read the report about next generation search engines. I was curious because in 2015 I wrote “CyberOSINT: Next Generation Information Access” and want to learn.
Click I did. Here’s what Keshab Singa from Transparency Market Research Pvt. Ltd. displayed for me:
Yep, a form. I plugged in data, expecting to see a link to download the report in which I expressed a desire to read.
What did I see? Here you go:
Nothing. I plugged in the words “enterprise search” and again received no report.
Now, I am probably missing something.
But this type of marketing and the failure to deliver the information is something that should be filtered by the moderator of the LinkedIn group.
I guess everyone’s too busy making money and trying to cook up new ways to get the name of a person who is a LinkedIn member of a specific group.
Hey, why not write me an email. I will respond.
Taking this path guarantees that I will make fun of your approach in Beyond Search. Nice work. Lousy marketing.
Little wonder why some enterprise search vendors and “experts” are floundering. Why not label the topic “AI” and “Big Data” and move on?
Stephen E Arnold, January 23, 2018
Will Mobile Be Microsoft Downfall in AI Field?
January 12, 2018
We are startled to see Computerworld levy such a blow to Microsoft, but here we go— see their article, “The Missing Link in Microsoft’s AI Strategy.” Writer Preston Gralla insists that the company’s weakness lies in mobile tech—and it could prove to be a real problem as Microsoft competes against the likes of Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon in the growing field of AI. Galla acknowledges Microsoft’s advantages here—its vast quantities of valuable data and its AI system, Cortana, already built into Windows. However, she writes:
Microsoft is missing something very big in A.I. as well: a significant mobile presence. Google and Apple, via Android and iOS, gather tremendous amounts of useful data for their A.I. work. And gathering the data is just the starting point. Hundreds of millions of people around the world use the A.I.-powered Siri, Google Assistant and Google Now on their mobile devices. So Google and Apple can continue to improve their A.I. work, based on how people use their devices. Given that the future (and to a great extent, the present) is mobile, all this means serious problems for Microsoft in A.I. A.I. is likely a big part of the reason that Microsoft kept Windows Phone on life support for so many years, spending billions of dollars while it died a slow, ugly, public death.
The article outlines a few things Microsoft has been doing to try to catch up to its rivals, like developing (little-used) versions of Cortana for iOS and Android, working with hardware makers on Cortana-powered speakers, and partnering with Amazon’s Alexa for any tasks Cortana is not quite up to (yet). Will this need to play catch-up seriously hamper Microsoft’s AI prominence? We shall see.
Cynthia Murrell, January 12, 2018
LinkedIn: Not Just for Job Seekers and Attention Junkies
January 8, 2018
Last year I spotted this write up: “Spies Are Watching … on LinkedIn.” My first reaction was, “This is news?” I set the item aside, and I watched my newsfeeds to see if the story had “legs.” It did not. I thought I would document the existence of the write up and invite you, gentle reader, to figure out if this is old news, new news, or just flim flam news.
The main point is that an outfit known as BfV, shorthand for Bundesamt für Verfassungsschut) monitors LinkedIn for espionage actors. The main point of the write up strike me as:
Chinese intelligence has used LinkedIn to target at least 10,000 Germans, possibly to recruit them as informants.
I wonder if other intelligence agencies monitor LinkedIn. I suppose that is a possibility.
The write up include these faked profiles:
“Rachel Li”, identified as a “headhunter” at “RiseHR”
“Alex Li”, a “Project Manager at Center for Sino-Europe Development Studies”
“Laeticia Chen”, a manager at the “China Center of International Politics and Economy” whose attractive photo was reportedly swiped from an online fashion catalog, according to a BfV official
I have not spotted any recent information about the number of faked profiles on LinkedIn. My hunch is that most of the résumés on the service might qualify as faked, but that’s just my supposition.
With Microsoft’s ownership of LinkedIn making small, yet meaningful, changes in the service, I wonder how these “fake” spy-related profiles and discussions, if any, will be filtered.
Next time you accept a “friend” on LinkedIn, will you ask yourself, “Is this fine person a spy?”
Stephen E Arnold, January 8, 2018
Give Bing a Chance
January 5, 2018
Google is still the most popular web search engine by far, but should we be giving Bing a closer look? Editor Anmol at the admittedly Microsoft-centric blog MSPowerUser explains, “Why I Prefer Bing Over Google (And You Should Too).” He begins with a little history:
Formerly called as MSN Search, Windows Live Search or Live Search, Bing was unveiled by former CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer on May 28th, 2009 and went live on June 3rd. 2009. Since then, Microsoft is showing its commitment to Bing as an Internet Search Engine rivalling the dominant giant Google. With Windows 8.1, Bing was deeply integrated with the OS with what was called ‘Smart Search’ and this was accessible from the Start Screen. But now a Search Engine is not used ‘just as a search engine.’ Now we use these services to find coffee places around us, book cabs, book movie tickets and more.
True. So why does the author think Bing is best? First, Bing integrates with the very useful Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant and, second, it is available across operating systems. Though others might disagree, Anmol feels Bing’s actual search results are as good as Google’s and, besides, it makes some good predictions. Here are the other strengths Anmol cites: a more appealing home page, the Microsoft rewards program, integration with Facebook Messenger, strong local search, package tracking, a capable image-search function, and its advanced math skills. Bing even seems to understand the needs of developers better than Google does. See the write-up for elaboration, including screenshots, on each of these points.
Anmol concludes:
Above are all that I think made me switch to Bing and are keeps me staying. All these features are brought together to life with advanced machine learning algorithms and years of research and hard work. As Microsoft is a productivity-focused Software giant, Bing is something that drives a large part of its revenue by conquering a large amount of market share. Because of their success already I can only see Microsoft offering even tougher competition to its largest rival Google.
Cynthia Murrell, January 5, 2018
Google and Microsoft: Swords Are Brandished
December 21, 2017
Google seems to be making some big companies nervous. Amazon and Google have a video disagreement. Now Google and Microsoft are at odds over the Chrome browser. “Microsoft Foils Google’s Bid to Smuggle Chrome onto Windows Store” explains:
Google has tried something of a cheeky ‘workaround’, if you like, for getting its Chrome browser onto the Windows Store – it put an installer for the app on the store, rather than the app itself, although Microsoft has now removed it.
What’s interesting to me is:
- Google is presented as “cheeky”
- Microsoft perceives Chrome as posing a “security” issue
- Google is worried about “fake” or “lookalike” Chrome apps
- Google uses “shenanigans”.
In short, the article seems a bit negative to the GOOG. Interesting Google tactics and an even more interesting description of this tug of war between two fair minded, trustworthy, helpful companies.
Microsoft “foils”; Google “smuggles.” Love it!
Stephen E Arnold, December 21, 2017
A Tale of Two Seattle Outfits: One Zippy, One Not So Zippy
December 1, 2017
I read “Microsoft Corporation Stacks the Deck Against AWS with Azure Stack.” The main idea from my point of view is:
Piper Jaffray analyst Alex Zukin said in a note this week that he believes Azure Stack will play a major role in the growth of Microsoft’s cloud business. He describes Azure Stack as “the first hybrid cloud platform with a direct connection to a pure hyperscale cloud,” which enables developers to “write once and use anywhere.”
Maybe so. I noted that Amazon is democratizing smart software with Sagemaker. (Hopefully it will do better than the company which used the name in the 1990s.) Also, Amazon is nosing into “real time” translation.
Amazon strikes me as having a better business model, more innovative consumer and enterprise products, and richer sustainable revenue streams.
Oh, Microsoft is going to do games which, I assume, someone will play on the wonky Surface desktop computer.
Stephen E Arnold, December 1, 2017
Microsoft Bing Has the Last AI Laugh
December 1, 2017
Nobody likes Bing, but because it is a Microsoft product it continues to endure. It chugs along as the second most used search engine in the US, but apparently first is the worst and second is the best for creating a database of useful information for AI. India News 24 shares that, “Microsoft Bing: The Redmond Giant’s Overlooked Tool” is worth far more than thought.
Every day millions of users use Bing by inputting search queries as basic keywords, questions, and even images. In order to test an AI algorithm, huge datasets are needed so the algorithm can learn and discover patterns. Bing is the key to creating the necessary datasets. You also might be using Bing without knowing it as it powers Yahoo search and is also on Amazon tablets.
All of this has helped Microsoft better understand language, images and text at a large scale, said Steve Clayton, who as Microsoft’s chief storyteller helps communicate the company’s AI strategy. It is amazing how Bing serves a dual purpose:
Bing serves dual purposes, he said, as a source of data to train artificial intelligence and a vehicle to be able to deliver smarter services. While Google also has the advantage of a powerful search engine, other companies making big investments in the AI race – such as IBM or Amazon – do not.
Amazon has access to search queries centered on e-commerce, but when it comes to everything else that is not available in one of their warehouses. This is where Bing comes in. Bing feeding Microsoft’s AI projects has yet to turn a profit, but AI is still a new market and new projects are always being worked on.
Whitney Grace, December 1, 2017
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