The Seattle Times: Microsoft Pri0

Microsoft reverses itself on Xbox One online requirement, limits on used-game selling

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:30:03 PDT

After Microsoft received a flood of criticism for its Xbox One policies -- including requiring that Xbox One consoles have an Internet connection to check in at least once a day with Microsoft servers, and placing limits on the use, sharing and trading of used games -- it has reversed course.

In a blog post, Don Mattrick, Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment President, writes:

* An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

* Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

After its Xbox One reveal last week, Microsoft had taken a bunch of flak, especially for its requirement that the consoles connect to Microsoft at least once every 24 hours in order to play any games. The Army Times, in a headline, even referred to that decision as "a sin against all service members."

In his blog post today, Mattrick writes that: "Since unveiling our plans for Xbox One, my team and I have heard directly from many of you, read your comments and listened to your feedback."

This reversal means that those playing disc-based games will be able to do so offline without any connection requirement (after the initial set-up), Mattrick detailed. Those who play downloaded games will also be able to play them offline without the every-24-hour check-in.

It also means that those who buy games on discs can continue to share, sell or trade their discs. Those who download games from Xbox Live, though, will not be able to share or resell them.

The reason Microsoft had initially required the online connectivity and placed limits on used game sales was that "we’ve been focused with Xbox One on how to take advantage of new capabilities and, frankly, to build for the future," Marc Whitten, chief product officer for Xbox, said in an interview.

The Xbox team had been excited about what digital and cloud power meant for changes to gaming and entertainment. "It was something we really wanted to build a platform around," he said.

"What we've been building toward is telling this story of where the future is going," he said. "What we heard back is that while people like a lot of these scenarios, they need the flexibility" to be able to play offline and to be able to share, trade or sell their discs as they will.

Say what? Microsoft offering up to $100,000 for novel exploits of Windows 8.1 protections

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:01:05 PDT

It's not often that a software company will reward people for coming up with ways to exploit protections built into its operating systems.

But that's what Microsoft is doing with some new programs, launching June 26, that offer cash awards for those who can find ways to get around the protections in Windows 8.1 Preview, and those who can find critical vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 11 Preview, which will be on Windows 8.1 Preview.

(Microsoft is planning to release Windows 8.1 Preview next week, coinciding with its Build developers conference.)

The programs are:

Mitigation Bypass Bounty – Microsoft will pay up to $100,000 for "truly novel exploitation techniques" against protections built in to Windows 8.1 Preview. ("Mitigation bypasses" are techniques of going around the protections in a system.) This program will be ongoing.

"Learning about new exploitation techniques earlier helps Microsoft improve security by leaps, instead of capturing one vulnerability at a time as a traditional bug bounty alone would," Microsoft said in its posting about the program.

In addition, Microsoft will award up to $50,000 in its BlueHat Bonus for Defense program for defensive ideas that block a qualifying Mitigation Bypass submission. This program is ongoing.

Internet Explorer 11 Preview Bug Bounty – Microsoft will pay up to $11,000 for critical vulnerabilities that affect IE11 Preview on Windows 8.1 Preview. This program ends July 26.

More details of the programs are available here.

Microsoft touts new Windows 8 apps, momentum, heading into Build

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:19:17 PDT

Although there are millions of Windows apps and hundreds of thousands of Windows 7 apps, the number of apps optimized for Windows 8 is significantly smaller.

But heading into next week's Build, Microsoft's annual conference for third-party developers, the company is touting the momentum of the number of apps it's adding to the Windows Store. (This Windows Store, by the way, refers to the app store for Windows 8 and Windows RT, not the Windows Store that will be mini-stores within Best Buy. Got that?)

Recently, the company said the number of apps in the Windows Store grew from 70,000 to 80,000 in just three weeks.

Today, the company added to that roster some popular names including social DJ-ing app edjing, UK recipe site Great British Chefs, travel and events guide Time Out, music video platform Vevo, and social video service Vyclone. It also said Disney's physics puzzle game Where's My Mickey would be coming soon.

Judging from the comments to the official blog post announcing the new apps, though, it seems Windows 8/Windows RT users are pining for some big names that still haven't created official Windows 8 apps: Facebook, LinkedIn, Pandora.

Microsoft releases government security requests tally

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:01:05 PDT

[This post has been updated to include the number of requests Microsoft received from the U.S. government in all of 2012, according to its previously released 2012 law enforcement requests report.]

Microsoft has released some more information on the national security and law enforcement requests and orders it received, following approval by the federal government to do so.

"For the first time, we are permitted to include the total volume of national security orders, which may include FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] orders, in this reporting," John Frank, a Microsoft deputy general counsel, said in an official blog post. "We are still not permitted to confirm whether we have received any FISA orders, but if we were to have received any they would now be included in our aggregate volumes."

For the six months running from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2012, Microsoft says it received between 6,000 and 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders from local, state and federal governments. Those orders affected between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts -- a "tiny fraction of Microsoft's global customer base," Frank wrote.

If there were any FISA orders or directives among those requests, it has been aggregated with all the others, as directed by the U.S. government, Frank said. The government also required that such totals be presented in tranches of 1,000.

Microsoft had previously published a law enforcement requests report for all of 2012. That report had not included any FISA orders or directives, if any, because national security orders had prohibited Microsoft from even disclosing their existence, Frank said.

That report had disclosed that Microsoft had received 11,073 U.S. law enforcement requests or orders in 2012. (Microsoft, excluding Skype, received 70,665 total requests from governments around the world in that year.)

Microsoft says it has not received "any national security orders of the type that Verizon was reported to have received that required Verizon to provide business records about U.S. customers."

Facebook, too, disclosed more information on its government security and law enforcement requests tally, saying that between July and December 2012, it received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests affecting the accounts of between 18,000 and 19,000 Facebook users. Facebook said this was a "tiny fraction" of its more than 1.1 billion monthly active users worldwide.

Service members up in arms over Xbox One

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:31:04 PDT

Microsoft has taken quite a bit of flak already for requiring that users have ongoing Internet connectivity in order to use the upcoming Xbox One gaming console.

Now, another group has voiced its frustration with the requirement: Military service members.

For service members serving overseas, where Internet connection can be spotty or simply unavailable, the requirement basically means they can't use the Xbox One, according to a report in Army Times headlined "New Xbox 'a sin against all service members.'"

“Microsoft has single handedly alienated the entire military,” The Army Times quotes naval aviator Jay Johnson as saying.

Microsoft is requiring that all Xbox One consoles be connected to the Internet at least once every 24 hours. (Though users can play games offline with it, they won't be able to do so for more than 24 hours at a time.)

The reason for the requirement, Microsoft said, was to ensure that Xbox One works optimally, including verifying if system, app or game updates are needed, and seeing if users have bought new games, or resold, traded or given away old ones (presumably to cut down on piracy).

For those who can't meet the Internet connection requirement, Microsoft has suggested that they buy, instead, an Xbox 360 (which launched eight years ago)

Office comes to iPhone -- but it requires a subscription

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:16:05 PDT

Will they or won't they? That's been the question for months now revolving around whether the folks at Microsoft would be releasing an Office app for iOS.

This morning, Microsoft answered that question by releasing a verison of Office for iPhones -- one that requires an Office 365 subscription.

Office Mobile for iPhone, as Microsoft is calling it, is free from the Apple App Store for Office 365 Home Premium and Office 365 ProPlus subscribers.

The app allows users to view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Microsoft says the app has been optimized for the small screen with features such as "Slide Navigator" that allows users to go quickly through PowerPoint slides. Users can also review and add comments in Word and Excel documents and store directly to SkyDrive.

Note, though, that if your Office 365 subscription ends, you'll no longer be able to access the Office Mobile app, though your data will remain stored in the phone and any data you've stored in SkyDrive will still be accessible over the web.

It's been rumored for a while now that Microsoft would be bringing a version of Office to iOS that would require an Office 365 subscription. That makes sense since Microsoft wants to drive users to this new subscription model for Office.

But there's no Office app for the iPad -- at least not yet. Microsoft declined to say whether there are plans to release such an app (or if the company plans to release an Office app for Android, for that matter).

In the meantime, Microsoft is recommending that iPad users use Office Web Apps, saying that the company has made some touch enhancements to the program.

Longtime Microsoft analyst Rick Sherlund, with investment bank Nomura, issued a note to investors this morning, saying:

Office 365 is a very small subset of Microsoft’s Office user base (possibly a few percent); therefore, we view this as a very limited first step in the right direction of delivering Office functionality across platforms that compete with its own Windows platform and, for now, not tablets.

Technically, we are not sure that it would be that much more work for Microsoft to release this for the iPad with optimization for the larger screen size, but we think Microsoft may want to hold off a bit until Windows 8.1 is out and Windows tablets have more traction in the market.

But, Sherlund warned, Microsoft "dragging its feet on Office for the iPad and Android for competitive reasons intended to give Windows 8 and Surface a chance to gain traction ... (is) enabling competition for Office to entrench itself on these platforms and Office is a bigger business for Microsoft than Windows, so we see more urgency to preserve and extend the Office franchise cross platform."

Here's a video from Microsoft on Office Mobile for iPhone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nDR150tAOkk

Microsoft launching 600 stores within Best Buy and Future Shop [updated]

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:16:04 PDT

Microsoft last fall launched a vastly redesigned operating system with Windows 8, which the company hoped would launch it boldly into the mobile-devices arena.

The problem was many users found Windows 8 confusing. And the devices Windows 8 was designed to work best on —- touch machines or hybrid/convertible tablet-laptops — either weren’t available or added to the confusion about which one to to purchase.

Best Buy, meanwhile, is facing its own struggles in an increasingly competitive consumer-electronics market, with everyone from Walmart to Amazon.com biting off big chunks of that market.

A solution that both companies hope may address those woes: Teaming up to open 600 Windows Stores within Best Buy and Future Shop stores in the U.S. and Canada.

These stores-within-stores will include a range of Microsoft devices and products, including Windows tablets and PCs, Windows Phones, Office, Xbox and more.

The products will include Microsoft’s own branded Surface tablets, as well as those from Lenovo, Dell, Asus, Samsung and Nokia.

Ranging ifrom 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet, these Windows Stores will essentially become “the computer department inside Best Buy,” said Chris Capossela, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer.

About 1,200 Best Buy employees, who will be trained by Microsoft, will staff the Windows Stores, which are scheduled to open beginning in late June and running through September.

Additionally, some elements of the Windows Store — such as having an “innovation table” that highlights the newest and best Windows technologies or a table devoted to Microsoft’s Surface tablets — will be rolled out to an additional 800 Best Buy stores.

Both Best Buy and Microsoft declined to disclose the terms of the partnership.

“We’re both coming to the table in a major way,” Capossela said.

The announcement comes as Microsoft is in the midst of transitioning from a traditional software company to one that offers devices and services.

As part of that transition, the company is emphasizing the notion that it produces a “family of devices” with a range of software services — including Office 365, Xbox Live and Skype — that work across those products.

The Windows Stores within Best Buy, then, won’t necessarily increase Microsoft’s retail presence, since many of the same machines have been sold at Best Buy even before the Windows Stores open.

Rather, they’re more about organizing and presenting the Windows-based PCs, tablets and smartphones in a more coherent fashion, letting customers get hands-on experiences with them, and trying to clarify any customer confusion.

“For us, as we transform Microsoft into a company that builds a family of devices within integrated services, we really wanted to reinvent not just the products. We also wanted to reinvent the way consumers interact with those products while they’re shopping,” Capossela said.

The Windows Stores will be distinct from Microsoft’s stand-alone retail stores, which are called Microsoft Stores.

There currently are 68 Microsoft Stores. That includes the larger Microsoft Retail Stores (including ones in University Village and Bellevue Square), as well as the small Microsoft Specialty Stores, which are essentially kiosks within malls.

Microsoft is still committed to growing the numbers of those stores, Capossela said.

The Microsoft Retail Stores are averaging sales of about $1,500 per square foot, estimated Jeff Green, a Phoenix-based retail real estate analyst. That’s much higher than the sales of $500 per square foot experienced by the average mall tenant, but lower than the $6,200 per square foot for Apple Stores, Green estimated.

Mini-Apple Stores have existed for several years now within Best Buy. And, in April, Samsung had announced that it would be opening its own Samsung Experience Shops within all 1,400 Best Buys this summer.

The Windows Store partnership with Microsoft is a continuation of a strategy to partner with vendors to “reinvigorate the customer experience,” said Best Buy spokesman Jon Sandler.

The Windows Stores will be larger than the Samsung and Apple mini-stores. The Samsung shops, for example, are about 460 square feet, Sandler said.

Green called the partnership “a plus for both sides,” though, he wondered: “Who needs the other more.”

“For Best Buy, it brings in another strong name to associate it with at a time when they’re struggling in terms of what size their store should be, what they sell, and how they compete in a very competitive electronics market,” Green said.

For Microsoft, he added, the partnership is a way to more clearly push its brand and story at “1,400 points of distribution.”

Here's a video from Microsoft about the Windows Stores:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7cuXFWlehio

Microsoft is No. 5 most attractive employer for engineering students, research firm says

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:01:05 PDT

Microsoft ranks No. 5 in the list of employers most attractive to U.S. engineering students, according to a Forbes article on findings from research firm Universum.

The top-ranked ideal employer from the study of 9,770 undergraduate engineering majors? NASA. Rounding out the top 5 are Google, Boeing and Apple. Amazon ranked No. 28 and Facebook ranked No. 29.

Microsoft, by the way, ranked highly on Universum's list of the world's most attractive employers in 2012. It was No. 4 ideal employer for those seeking business careers and No. 3 for those seeking engineering careers. Google topped that list for both business and engineering job seekers.

Microsoft releases Windows Embedded Compact 2013

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:31:07 PDT

Microsoft launched today Windows Embedded Compact 2013, the newest version of the company's embedded operating system for small industry devices used in retail, manufacturing and healthcare.

The newest version includes new support for Visual Studio 2012, allowing developers to build Windows Embedded Compact-based platforms using tools such as the latest ARM and x86 compilers. It also includes improved memory management, networking capabilities and file-system performance, according to Microsoft.