| From: Don Green | 12/21/2020 1:56:45 PM | | | | | | A welcome nudge from Microsoft
 A part of the Microsoft campus in Redmond sits largely empty on Dec. 17, 2020. Microsoft, which has continued paying the wages of hourly workers idled... (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times) More
Sometimes state decision-makers need a generous nudge from outside.
That came this month as Microsoft and other major employers urged Gov. Jay Inslee to hurry up and help get students back in school.
This welcome effort is only the latest show of civic leadership by the Redmond software giant and Washington’s extraordinary business community.
Despite toxic, anti-employer politics emanating from Seattle’s City Council, the Seattle area’s largest companies stepped up this year in remarkable ways. Both Microsoft and Amazon, for instance, continued paying wages of idled hourly workers even though their campuses are largely closed and contributed generously to help enable remote learning.
Now they are focusing on ways to get through the remainder of the pandemic, restore communities, create more opportunity and continue the state’s economic vitality.
That includes expediting the return of in-person education, particularly in grades K-5.
Opening schools turns out to be not as risky as initially feared, if disease transmission rates are relatively low in the surrounding community.
What’s also become clear is that keeping schools closed is causing severe harm to overall student progress and worsening inequity.
You know it’s bad when even Microsoft executives are distressed by how much time students are spending online on PCs and calling for a return to in-person learning.
Inslee responded promptly, adjusting the state’s safety threshold for school re-openings to a more reasonable level. That should lead to more district openings early next year.
Microsoft President Brad Smith went further and arranged to help provide safety equipment in schools statewide, in part by sharing the company’s supplies.
The company will also provide online health reporting for every school district, so local educators and families can easily see and monitor disease incidence and other factors affecting school closures.
Microsoft also is using its influence to urge early vaccination of teachers, particularly those who face greater risks from COVID-19.
Altogether this effort should benefit teachers, families and the 1.1 million students in Washington’s K-12 schools.
Microsoft also announced that it will increase its support of hourly workers and nonprofits in the state to around $250 million, with a new commitment of around $110 million.
It will continuing paying hourly workers’ wages until campuses fully return, potentially in early July.
Nonprofits received more than $98 million so far this year from the company, including around $67 million in cash and $31 million worth of technology, services and meals for needy students and families that are being provided by its cafeterias.
This is all over and above the enormous contribution that such companies make by creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, directly and indirectly.
Their success is keeping Washington’s economy relatively stable this year and enabling Washington state and even Seattle to continue spending heavily on public services.
That’s never enough for some.
But we should put politics aside this week and be grateful for support and gifts, small and large, from all our generous neighbors. |
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| From: Don Green | 2/1/2021 8:22:05 AM | | | | | | Most. Underated CEO
Fortune magazine
# 1. Microsoft's Satya Nadella, for "his ability to steer the company through a major reinvention while generating shockingly little drama. Tech analysts believe (though Microsoft won’t confirm) that the Azure cloud business Nadella has championed now accounts for as much revenue as ... Windows." |
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| From: Don Green | 3/22/2021 3:30:15 PM | | | | | | Microsoft's Redmond headquarters will have soft opening next week
Mar. 22, 2021 3:00 PM ET Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) By: Brandy Betz, SA News Editor
Starting on March 29, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will allow some staff to return to work the Redmond and Seattle headquarters.Last year, Microsoft announced a six-stage path to fully opening its offices after the pandemic-related closures. Stage four, or soft opening, is underway at a number of offices and coming next week to the HQs.Stage five will include a fuller open with restrictions, and stage six will be fully opened."Currently, Microsoft work sites in 21 countries have been able to accommodate additional workers in our facilities – representing around 20% of our global employee population. On March 29, Microsoft will also start making this shift at our Redmond, Washington, headquarters and nearby campuses," says EVP Kurt DelBene in a blog post."As we watch for progress against the virus in the region and continue to evaluate our guidance, employees who work at Redmond work sites or nearby campuses have the choice to return to those facilities or to continue working remotely, and also have the flexibility to do a mixture of both," continues DelBene. |
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| From: Sr K | 3/25/2021 8:55:40 PM | | | | | | Microsoft Is in Exclusive Talks to Acquire Discord
Deal valuing chat app at $10 billion or more could be completed next month
Originally favored by gamers, San Francisco-based Discord offers voice, text and video chatting.
PHOTO: TIFFANY HAGLER-GEARD/BLOOMBERG NEWS
By
Updated March 25, 2021 7:56 pm ET
Microsoft Corp. is in advanced talks to acquire messaging platform Discord Inc. for $10 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter, as the software giant seeks to deepen its consumer offerings.
Microsoft and Discord are in exclusive talks and could complete a deal next month, assuming the negotiations don’t fall apart, the people said.
Originally favored by gamers, San Francisco-based Discord offers voice, text and video chatting. The platform’s popularity has surged since the pandemic took hold as people stay home and connect online—as has that of other chat services, like Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp and Signal Messenger LLC. Discord has been considering an IPO.
Microsoft, which has a market value of more than $1.7 trillion, has been on the hunt for an acquisition that would help it reach more consumers. Last summer, it held talks to buy the popular video-sharing app TikTok amid a high-profile geopolitical standoff prompted by the Trump administration, before abandoning the effort.
Excerpt |
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| From: Don Green | 6/5/2021 12:02:48 PM | | | | | | How to Clean Boot Windows 10
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
When you're trying to fix a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) or resolve other critical Windows 10 errors, you want to follow a process of elimination. If you don't know exactly what's causing the error, one of your first steps should be performing a clean boot, which involves starting up without any applications or non-Microsoft services running.
How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10Setting up for a Windows 10 clean boot is easy if you follow these simple steps. Note that you must be using an account that has admin rights to your PC.
1. Launch the System Configuration utility. You can do that by entering msconfig into the search box and clicking the top result or hitting Windows + R and entering msconfig as the command to run.
How to Clean Boot Windows 10 (tomshardware.com) |
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| From: Don Green | 6/8/2021 4:50:04 PM | | | | | | Microsoft pulls all future Windows 10 updates - for now
Microsoft has said it is pausing the rollout of preview Windows 10 updates for the foreseeable future as it possibly gears up for the reveal of something big.
The company has said no more preview builds of Windows 10 21H2 will be released over the next few weeks, meaning users won't receive any early looks at new features, services or tools.
The news comes as Microsoft is heavily expected to unveil the next generation of its software, possibly called Windows 11, at an event on June 24.
techradar.com |
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| From: Don Green | 6/12/2021 8:53:00 PM | | | | | | Windows 10 was supposed to be the last version of the operating system — here’s why Microsoft might have changed its mind.
Just before Microsoft released Windows 10, an employee said the operating system would be the last version of Windows.Some people expect Microsoft to introduce Windows 11, though.
There are good reasons for Microsoft to roll out a major update, rather than another incremental enhancement to Windows 10.Just before Microsoft released Windows 10, an employee said the operating system would be the last version of Windows.Some people expect Microsoft to introduce Windows 11, though.
There are good reasons for Microsoft to roll out a major update, rather than another incremental enhancement to Windows 10.
cnbc.com |
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| From: Don Green | 6/14/2021 12:05:43 PM | | | | | | | | | | Microsoft will end Windows 10 support in October 2025
K. Holt|06.14.21
@krisholt
 Shannon Stapleton / r
Microsoft has revealed when it will put Windows 10 out to pasture. It will stop support for the current operating system on October 14th, 2025. That means Microsoft expects the transition to the next version of Windows, which it will show off on June 24th, to take around four years.
The company quietly announced the news in a support page update, as spotted by Thurrott. Previously, the page noted when Microsoft would end support for certain versions of Windows 10. It now states Microsoft started supporting Windows 10 Home and Pro on July 29th, 2015 and reveals the operating system's "retirement date." The end-of-support timeline puts the Windows 10 lifecycle at a hair over 10 years, similar to previous iterations of the OS.
As for what we're expecting from Windows 11 (or whatever it's called), there will probably be a redesign, including a revamped Windows Store. Microsoft recently canceled Windows 10X, which was initially going to be for dual-screen devices. It said it would bring some features planned for that OS into the standard version of Windows. Perhaps that'll make it easier for manufacturers and developers to support dual-screen devices without having to work with a separate version of Windows. |
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