Yet more bad decisions from Microsoft: pulling charity licenses!

The Microsoft 365 Business Premium grant will be discontinued on your next renewal on or after July 1, 2025. Your licenses will expire on August 17, 2025. We will continue to provide up to 300 granted licenses of Microsoft 365 Business Basic and discounts of up to 75 percent on many Microsoft 365 offers to nonprofits, including Microsoft 365 Business Premium.

We strongly advise transitioning your users to a different Microsoft 365 offer for nonprofits before the subscription is cancelled to avoid disruption and data loss. Learn more about what happens to your data and access when your subscription ends.

Please sign this petition: Urge Microsoft to Continue Grant Program for Nonprofits - thank you!

You've read it here before: Microsoft seems to be making all their decisions as bad decisions.

Meanwhile, in other news: Microsoft boots 3% of staff in latest cull, middle managers first in line.

www.microsoft.com

Well that explains a lot! Microsoft states 20% - 30% of their code was written by AI

Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday said that as much as 30% of the company’s code is now written by artificial intelligence.

“I’d say maybe 20%, 30% of the code that is inside of our repos today and some of our projects are probably all written by software,” Nadella said during a conversation before a live audience with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The pair of CEOs were speaking at Meta’s inaugural LlamaCon AI developer event in Menlo Park, California. Nadella added that the amount of code being written by AI at Microsoft is going up steadily. 

Nadella asked Zuckerberg how much of Meta’s code was coming from AI. Zuckerberg said he didn’t know the exact figure off the top of his head, but he said Meta is building an AI model that can in turn build future versions of the company’s Llama family of AI models.

“Our bet is sort of that in the next year probably … maybe half the development is going to be done by AI, as opposed to people, and then that will just kind of increase from there,” Zuckerberg said.

You've read it here before: Microsoft seems to be making all their decisions as bad decisions. This might just explain it...

www.cnbc.com

Oh Microsoft why don't you do the right thing for once? Future Windows 10 updates will cost $61 per device!

Microsoft has quietly updated a support document on how the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10 will work and how much it will cost - and for some it might cause their stomach to churn.

Administrators and accountants alike will be looking glumly at the prices that Microsoft announced in 2024 if their organizations still require Windows 10. In the company's reworked list, it spells out some of the ways whereby users might dodge the fees. If, for example, you have a Windows 10 endpoint connecting to a Windows 365 Cloud PC, ESU could be free.

Windows 10 virtual machines running Windows 365 or Azure Virtual Desktop are also entitled to ESU for up to three years, provided the user has an active Windows 365 subscription license.

Microsoft also updated the support document to confirm the cost to keep the security updates flowing for commercial customers: $61 for Year One per device, a figure that will double for every subsequent year for a maximum of three years. And no, it won't be possible to save money by leaving it for a while before signing up: "If you decide to purchase the program in Year Two, you'll have to pay for Year One too, as ESUs are cumulative," said Microsoft.

Grrr... I mentioned it on this blog a while ago: Microsoft seems to be making all their decisions as bad decisions. I've worked with Microsoft systems for 30 years & been a partner since 1998. They've done some crappy stuff over the years - but this is the worst I've seen.

www.theregister.com

Outlook is poor for those still on Windows Mail, Calendar, People apps by end of year

Microsoft is preparing to kill off the old Windows Mail, Calendar, and People apps by the end of this month and shift users to the Outlook for Windows app.

In November, Microsoft confirmed there would be no reprieve for the apps. It will be possible to export local emails, calendar events, and contacts that users have stored in Mail, Calendar, and People into the new Outlook up until December 31, 2024. After that, however, the ability to send or receive mail will be revoked.

"The new Outlook for Windows is for everyone. Now everyone with Windows gets the best of Outlook built into Windows for free," Microsoft said. AI is also on hand "to help you write impactful, clearer, mistake-free messages."

While it will continue to support "Classic" Outlook, Microsoft wants users to migrate to the new app. One user complained: "I don't need a bloated mail client. Mail and Calendar apps just work. If I need a more fully featured email client, I will just use the Office 365. But the 'new' Outlook is garbage."

If you haven't had the misfortune to try the Outlook (new) app - don't. It is like the old Windows Live Mail program on steroids. Probably even worse though as it tries to take over from the proper full fat Outlook - but isn't compatible with PSTs! Microsoft seems to be making all their decisions as bad decisions: Copilot, Recall, Win11, new Outlook - all horrible...

UPDATE 14 March 2025: Microsoft says button to restore classic Outlook is broken! ​Microsoft is investigating a known issue that causes the new Outlook email client to crash when users click the "Go to classic Outlook" button, which should help them switch back to the classic Outlook.

www.theregister.com