PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Microsoft has made a number of new announcements, including the phasing out of Internet Explorer and details of Office 2016.
Here is a quick roundup of the most recent news from Microsoft’s Convergence event and elsewhere.
RIP Internet Explorer
Microsoft is phasing out Internet Explorer after almost 20 years of operation.
The tech company hopes that its new new code name (Project Spartan) – which is set to feature in Windows 10 – will help coax users back from other browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox.
Internet Explorer’s group program manager, Jason Weber, said that the old-school browser will still be available on Windows 10 due to some legacy web sites that still use the older tech.
The new browser will aim to modernise the tech that Internet Explorer was built upon, allowing users to annotate web pages, and use Cortana to quickly find things online.
Developers get preview of Office 2016
The IT professional and developer preview versions of Office 2016 have been announced.
The new Office will provide integrated productivity software for businesses. It offers technical improvements, adding data loss protection to Word, PowerPoint and Excel, plus it enhances performance at the core of Outlook.
Skype for Business will be integrated into Office, and users will be able to send access to OneDrive files as email attachments, enabling multiple individuals to work on a single document at once.
Wearable UK price and release date
Microsoft has announced that its wearable device, the Microsoft Band, will go on sale in the UK from April 15th and will cost £169.99.
The device will come with a 1.4-inch colour display, with a resolution of 320×106 pixels, measuring in at 11mm x 33mm. It boasts a dual 100mAh rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery which promises two days of power.
The Microsoft Health app will be built in, syncing and storing data in the cloud, which also integrates with Microsoft Office.
Matt Barlow, GM of new devices at Microsoft, said: “Recent studies have shown an increase in adoption of both free and paid health and fitness apps and devices, and we’ve seen research that suggests an estimated seven million people are already using fitness-focused wearable devices in the UK, with that number expected to nearly double by the end of 2015.”
South Korea gets a Microsoft PC-on-a-stick
Microsoft’s Korean base has unveiled a PC-on-a-stick concept, which is suggested to launch in May.
The exact specs of the device have not been shared, however it appears to feature a HDMI port, USB port for peripherals and mini USB power input, 16GB or 32GB storage and a micro-SD slot.
The introduction of such as device highlights Microsoft South Korea’s aim to get Windows into a number of different devices.
Further reading
Check out yesterday’s Microsoft news here and more Windows 10 news here.
