Microsoft

cross-posted from !bing@lemdro.id

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/print/end-of-servicing-plan-for-third-party-printer-drivers-on-windows

cross-posted from !technology@beehaw.org

Release Notes: https://github.com/microsoft/WSA/discussions/421

cross-posted from !technology@beehaw.org

Hardly a new opinion, but goddammit...

2 years into Windows 11's launch, and we still are yet to see many features that Microsoft promised. Why? Why Microsoft?

What happened to testing shit before releasing it?! What happened to making a good release worthy Product that could potentially get improvements over time?

WHY DID YOU ABANDON WINDOWS 10 WITH LITTLE TO NO EXPLANATION?!

I still cannot uninstall apps without being diverted to the fucking Control Panel. Seriously Microsoft?! You ALREADY have the "Add or Remove Programs" page, AND SOMEHOW YOU CAN'T LINK THAT UP?!

Oh! oh! Get this! You couldn't uninstall more than one app on the Control Panel because devices couldn't handle it back then. And you STILL CAN'T DO THAT!

And while we're on the subject of disappointment, WHY IS MICROSOFT EXCEL the most powerful piece of shit?!

It can do mind-blowing tasks in seconds, but god forbid you want to undo an action in another Workbook after doing an action in the current Workbook. Because the Action history for all workbooks open at the same time IS THE SAME.

SO IF I DELETED SOMETHING IN BOOK1 AND DID 5 DIFFERENT THINGS IN BOOK2, I CANNOT UNDO THE DELETION IN BOOK1 WITHOUT UNDOING ALL THE 5 THINGS I DID IN BOOK 2!

why??

BECAUSE FUCK YOU THAT'S WHY!

You also cannot SHIFT+SCROLL to scroll horizontally, on a program that famously has more horizontal real estate than vertical. (Even OneNote has this fucking dumb issue. HOW DO YOU LAUNCH AN INFINITE CANVAS NOTE TAKING APP WITHOUT HORIZONTAL SCROLLING?! HUH?!). And this is present everywhere else in Windows. EVERYWHERE ELSE. Except where you'd need it the most.

Plus, if you have one window active, and scroll on another, the inactive window will scroll. This is the default behaviour of Windows. YET ON MICROSOFT EXCEL, YOU CAN ONLY SCROLL THE ACTIVE WINDOW. Whether or not you are actually SCROLLING OVER THE WINDOW is just not important.

Why Microsoft?! Why?!

Microsoft today released a defense-in-depth update for Microsoft Office that prevents exploitation of a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-36884 that threat actors have already leveraged in attacks.

I only noticed this option the other week. I personally didn't notice an obvious difference.

Microsoft Clipchamp enterprise rolling out gradually

• Microsoft Loop is now available in the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and Windows 11, providing a simplified content creation experience across Microsoft 365 apps.
• Loop can now be accessed on Android and iOS and now through the Microsoft Store app.
• Loop is an open workplace that integrates with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and other services, allowing real-time collaboration on documents and projects with up to 50 people. It offers various templates, supports embedding, and includes features like emoji, labels, live dates, checklists, and comments.
• Loop components are shared with other Microsoft services like Teams.

Microsoft Loop, a service that helps simplify content creation across most of the Microsoft 365 apps, is now available in the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 and Windows 11. This comes just a few months after Microsoft opened up a preview of the Loop experience so everyone can enjoy the company's take on Notion, another popular connected workplace solution.

Today, Microsoft announced that it is changing the online storage it allots to Microsoft 365 for Education customers. Additionally, it will retire its Office 365 A1 Plus program for Education in one year.

“Today Microsoft is introducing changes to our offerings across our Microsoft 365 for Education suite that will place limits on storage and retire the Office A1 Plus program,” the Microsoft Education teams writes in the announcement post. “The increase in consumption of technology in education has made free, unlimited storage plans prohibitive, and become a large vector for security risks and fraud. Our goal with these changes is to continue to offer education customers generous allowances, new tools to support these changes, and time for thoughtful transitions.”

Some were definitely malware... looks at Bonzi Buddy

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/188903

Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and the mapping company TomTom have launched an initiative to take on Google Maps and Apple Maps. The four companies formed the Overture Maps Foundation last year with the goal of creating interoperable map products — and now, the group has released its first open map dataset.

With this data, third-party developers can create global mapping or navigation products of their own, allowing them to go head-to-head with Google Maps and Apple Maps. According to Overture, the release includes over 59 million places of interest, along with data on buildings, transportation networks, and administrative boundaries.

Overture says the data layers have been formatted so developers can “ingest and use map data in a standard, documented way and will be interoperable.” Developers can then use this information on which to build a mapping app or any service that relies on navigation. The dataset is available on Overture’s website.

“The Places dataset, in particular, represents a major, previously unavailable open dataset, with the potential to map everything from new businesses big and small to pop-up street markets located anywhere in the world,” Marc Prioleau, Overture’s executive director, says in a statement. “Overture plans to build a broad collaboration that can build and maintain an up-to-date, comprehensive database of POIs [places of interest].”

First formed last year, the Overture Maps Foundation could threaten Google’s and Apple’s thrones when it comes to mapping. Having the data readily available could make it easier — and far cheaper — for developers to make apps. Right now, developers must pay to access Google Maps’ API, while Apple also charges developers who are making non-native apps.

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/149671

Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (July 2023) | Windows Insider Blog

What’s New

• Camera compatibility improvements.
• Fullscreen mode with F11 now displays hover taskbar to improve mouse and touch experience.
• Local networking (under Advanced settings – Experimental features) now replacing “Advanced networking”. Android apps can connect to devices on the same network, on all versions of Windows 11, respect Windows firewall rules, and work with VPNs.
• Share user folders (under Advanced settings – Experimental features) now gives users the option to change their default shared folder.
• The subsystem will now prompt if an app is trying to use a permission that the subsystem does not have.
• The subsystem has switched from EROFS to EXT4 for read-only disks.
• Fix for OneDrive folders not showing up in Android apps.
• Support for drag and drop for more file types.
• Improvements to picture-in-picture (new UI buttons when in PIP).
• Partially running mode now enabled by default for devices with at least 16 GB of memory.
• Stability fixes for Arm devices.
• Linux kernel updated to 5.15.104.
• Android 13 security updates.