Microsoft won’t support Office apps on Windows 10 after October 14th

 

Microsoft says it will no longer support Office apps, known as Microsoft 365 apps, on Windows 10 later this year. The support cutoff coincides with Windows 10’s end of support on October 14th, and will mean businesses and consumers that rely on Microsoft 365 apps will need to upgrade to Windows 11.

“Microsoft 365 Apps will no longer be supported after October 14, 2025, on Windows 10 devices,” says Microsoft in a blog post. “To use Microsoft 365 Applications on your device, you will need to upgrade to Windows 11.”

While support will end for Office apps on Windows 10 in October, it doesn’t mean the apps will suddenly stop working. Microsoft notes in a support document that was updated in December that “the applications will continue to function as before” after Windows 10 support ends, but that there could be “performance and reliability issues over time.”

www.theverge.com

Government refuse to look into potential safety benefits of default bus lane access for bikers

After previously rejecting calls to allow motorcyclists into bus lanes by default, the Government will not pursue research to determine whether the idea could hold potential safety benefits.

Minister of State at the Department for Transport (DfT), Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill said: “The Department has no plans at present to carry out research into the safety impacts of allowing greater access to bus lanes.”

The announcement follows comments made by Fabian Hamilton, Labour MP for Leeds North East, who recently told MCN: “Labour is not interested in motorcycles” – casting doubt on the likelihood of future parliamentary backing for the two-wheeled sector, raising concerns about continued support for riders and industry advocates alike.

In reply to the Government’s online consultation on default bus lane access for bikers, which ran from March 17 to July 16, 2024, respondents were overwhelmingly supportive of a change – with over 98% in favour of the proposal.

Despite this, the move was rejected, with ministers concluding: “At present, the government has no policy to encourage greater use of motorcycles.

“The safety benefits of allowing motorcycles into bus lanes are not clear at this time,” they continued.

www.motorcyclenews.com

Microsoft looks to potentially lay off thousands

Microsoft is reportedly laying off less than one per cent of its employees, putting the potential number of workers let go in the thousands.

The Washington-based tech giant had previously told multiple news outlets the layoffs fell across the security division and other departments and are based on performance.

“At Microsoft we focus on high-performance talent,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CRN.

“We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action.”

Business Insider reported that Microsoft tends to backfill roles vacated for performance reasons, resulting in little change to the overall employee count.

Microsoft had about 228,000 full-time employees at the end of June.

Microsoft has made employee cuts in the past in January, notably reducing its workforce by 10,000 people starting in January 2023 – less than five per cent of the employee base at the time.

www.channelweb.co.uk

Apple Intelligence - what's the point? Summarise various news stories: get them substantially wrong!

Apple is facing fresh calls to withdraw its controversial artificial intelligence (AI) feature that has generated inaccurate news alerts on its latest iPhones.

The product is meant to summarise breaking news notifications but has in some instances invented entirely false claims.

The BBC first complained to the tech giant about its journalism being misrepresented in December but Apple did not respond until Monday this week, when it said it was working to clarify that summaries were AI-generated.

Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian, told the BBC Apple needed to go further and pull a product he said was "clearly not ready."

Mr Rusbridger, who also sits on Meta's Oversight Board that reviews appeals of the company's content moderation decisions, added the technology was "out of control" and posed a considerable misinformation risk.

UPDATE 17th Jan 2025: Apple is pulling its AI-generated notifications for news after generating fake headlines.

www.bbc.co.uk

Microsoft is up to it's old tricks again: imitation is the sincerest form of plagiarism

 

It looks like Microsoft has come up with a new trick to keep those who accidentally end up on Bing from leaving for Google: Simply mimic the look of Google's homepage and hope no one will notice.

Visitors to Bing.com who conduct a search for 'Google' while not signed into their Microsoft accounts might notice something strange when they hit enter, as demonstrated in this video captured by The Register. Not only does the screen look suspiciously like a Google doodle, complete with a mostly blank white screen, a search bar, and some text beneath it, but the usual top bar that shows Bing's usual search bar and various ways to filter results is moved off the screen to add to the illusion. 

Once the shift to hide the actual Bing bar is complete (the remaining search window is just another Bing search field, not a Google one), there's no obvious Microsoft branding at first glance - just a small banner promoting its Rewards points as a reason to "choose Microsoft Bing." Searches for other engines don't return similar results, nor do any other search terms we tried. 

In short, with everything else Microsoft has tried to do, failing to move Bing beyond a place people go to get to Google, it seems Redmond's latest ploy may involve making Bing's homepage look like Google's to create familiarity or confusion.

www.theregister.com

Oh Microsoft, you can't even FUD users into Windows 11 properly!

What's worse than (another) full-screen pop-up from Microsoft warning Windows 10 users that they should be planning for Windows 11's arrival? A pop-up that freezes and crashes as soon as it appears. It's not a good look for Microsoft and does little to instil confidence in Windows 10 users who refuse to upgrade despite the OS' impending end-of-support date.

Microsoft has been nagging Windows 10 users to move to Windows 11 for years. With the older operating system reaching its end-of-life date on October 14, 2025, the Redmond firm has been ramping up its efforts to get people to make the move, reviving an aggressive upgrade campaign in February and again in November.

Most people still using Windows 10 have little intention of upgrading until they absolutely have to, which means intrusive, full-screen pop-ups aren't something they want to see. Incredibly, Microsoft has managed to make its latest one even worse for some users.

www.techspot.com

Reading for today: seeing through the light of Christ

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; 

not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

By C.S. Lewis

From The Weight of Glory