Microsoft Brings OneDrive for Business to Mac and iOS

One of the major gaps in Microsoft’s cross-platform strategy has been closed: Today, Microsoft made its OneDrive for Business cloud storage service available to users of Apple’s computing platforms. But the implementations are different: Mac users can now download a public preview of the OneDrive for Business sync client, while iOS users can now access the service via an update to the OneDrive mobile app.

This is perhaps not surprising, though I do still expect Microsoft to create sync clients for Windows and Mac that let you access both OneDrive (for consumers) and OneDrive for Business, instead of requiring separate sync clients for each. For now, at least, Mac-based access to OneDrive for Business works as it does in Windows 7 and 8 (and Windows 10): Via a standalone client that can run alongside a separate sync client for OneDrive (for consumers).

On iOS, we’re seeing the same sort of mobile client that Microsoft has provided on Windows Phone, Android and Fire Phone: A single mobile app that can connect to both OneDrive and OneDrive for Business. As Microsoft puts it, this release for iOS “rounds out the first phase of its mobile investments that deliver a single OneDrive experience across work and life.”

Also, if you read OneDrive is Delivering Major Photo Experience Improvements yesterday, you know that OneDrive for iOS will be among the first clients to see the new OneDrive photos experiences. And sure enough, today’s update delivers those new features too. So you can access and create albums and tags in this release too. I’ll be checking that out later today.

You can download the OneDrive for Business sync client preview for Mac from the Microsoft Download Center. And you can download the updated OneDrive app for iOS (iPhone, iPad) from Apple’s App Store.

Source: Thurrot

Microsoft's Windows Pushes Into Future With Holographic Glasses

© AP Photo/Elaine Thompson   |Microsoft's Joe Belfiore, from left, Alex Kipman, and Terry Myerson playfully pose for a photo while wearing "Hololens" devices following an event demonstrating new features of Windows 10 on Wednesday

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella needed to show the world the role of Windows in the future. He sure took the future part seriously.

At a preview of its Windows 10 operating system Wednesday, the software maker unveiled a version called Windows Holographic, along with a headset with glasses called HoloLens that will let users see holograms while tracking a user’s voice, motion and surroundings. The company also showed HoloStudio, software for creating holograms, then 3-D printing and sharing them.

Microsoft said it’s working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology on the holographic technology, and the lab will use it for Mars exploration starting in July.

“It’s a huge surprise and certainly a risk trying to bring this sort of technology down to consumers,” said Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner Inc., who attended today’s demonstration. “But this is Microsoft finally showing some vision, which has been lacking for a long, long time.”

The world’s largest software maker is the latest company to join the push into augmented and virtual reality. Qualcomm Inc. and Intel Corp. are among companies that in the past year have demonstrated technology aimed at enabling computers, tablets and phones to show users a picture of the world overlaid with digital images and information. Facebook Inc. made a $2 billion bet on virtual reality last year with its purchase of Oculus VR Inc.

Architects, Surgeons

Using Microsoft’s new holographic tools, architects could walk around their designs while clients are viewing it remotely, said Alex Kipman, a technical fellow in Microsoft’s operating system group. A surgeon could learn a procedure without ever picking up a scalpel.

“In software, nothing is impossible,” Kipman said. “Holographic computing enabled by Windows 10 is here.”

Kipman said Microsoft has been building the holographic technology for years, hidden in plain sight in the same building as the company’s own visitor center in Redmond, Washington. The HoloLens glasses will be available “in the Windows 10 time frame,” he said.

Microsoft showed a demo today in which an employee wore the headset and created a quad-copter design while clicking and tapping in the air. A screen showed what she could see in front of her. A concept video also showed how holographs can be used for building work project models and for playing video-game Minecraft.

Real World

Augmented reality differs from virtual reality in that AR projects virtual images onto pictures or video of the real world. Virtual reality is completely computer-generated.

Examples of the kind of things technology companies expect to become commonplace through augmented reality in the future include customers taking a picture of a sofa in a store, then seeing how it looks overlaid on an image of their living room, and getting driving directions in the form of arrows and signs that appear to be on the road.

On the virtual reality side, social network Facebook acquired startup Oculus for its headset that immerses people in the virtual experience. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said virtual reality can be the next major method for communicating and interacting with the world, after mobile devices.

Google Inc., which has run into challenges promoting its Glass connected eyewear to consumers, has also made some other efforts toward letting devices interact with their surroundings. Last year, Google introduced an effort dubbed Project Tango to advance 3-D technology, using mobile gear to show off its potential. The devices are loaded with cameras and other equipment to help capture 3-D images of their surroundings, be that at home or in a business, opening up potential uses for game players, shoppers or the disabled.

Source: MSN

Visual Studio Community 2013 is now available as part of Github Student Developer Pack

In November 2014, Microsoft announced that it would release its Visual Studio Community Edition 2013 for free, in order to provide students and hobbyist programmers with the tools that are used every day by many developers.

This was preceded by GitHub's release of a kit named Student Developer Pack, which is also a collection of handy tools to help those held back by prohibitive costs. The project was made possible by a number of partners, including the Unreal Engine development team, and now - Microsoft.

The Redmond giant wants to add more value to the already impressive toolkit by offering their Visual Studio software to complement the other resources in the GitHub pack. As part of the offering, Microsoft is also providing free access to their Azure and Visual Studio Online services.

Visual Studio offers a variety of tools that include designers and debuggers to develop apps for mobile, web, desktop, and cloud, using languages such as C#, Node.js, Python, F#, VB and more.

Through Visual Studio Online, you can access tools for planning, backlogs and bug tracking, and the Azure subscription allows you to use Microsoft's cloud infrastructure to host up to ten websites and ten free mobile services, regardless of the language or platform used.

Students who want to get access to more tools and resources from Microsoft can do so by signing up for the company's DreamSpark program, which includes SQL Server, training courses and Windows Store developer accounts.

Source: MSDN Blogs

Developing Universal Windows Apps with C# and XAML

Learn to develop a Universal App on the Windows platform using C# and XAML.

See what's smart to share and what's not, when developing for the two platforms. Explore a broad range of features, covering both consumer and enterprise scenarios.

Get real-world guidance for developing universal Windows apps, and save yourself valuable time when creating apps for today’s mobile workforce and consumer marketplace. 

Learn from Microsoft experts as they build a working app using tools and techniques that can give you a dramatic advantage as a developer targeting both Windows and Windows Phone devices. 

See what's smart to share and what's not, when developing for the two platforms. Explore a broad range of features, covering both consumer and enterprise scenarios.

Jerry Nixon and Daren May bring together best practices and key insights from Microsoft internal teams, including the built-in code-generation tools in Visual Studio that can automatically build out hundreds of classes and thousands of lines of code. Check the module list to find the topics that interest you.

For sample code used throughout this course, please visit: https://xaml.codeplex.com/

Instructors |  
Jerry Nixon -  Microsoft Senior Technical Evangelist; 
Daren May - Crank211 LLC President
Source: MSDN Blogs

What Is Azure?

Azure is an Internet-scale computing and services platform hosted in data centers managed or supported by Microsoft. It includes many separate features with corresponding developer services which can be used individually or together.

The following illustration shows a mapping of capabilities to the features that comprise Azure. Be sure to check which Azure services are available in your region.

You can also view or download the What is Microsoft Azure Infographics which further explain Azure visually.

If you are running Windows 8 or later, try the Server Posterpedia application. It provides the ability to zoom and interact with numerous posters on various Microsoft products, including Azure.

Getting started with development on Azure

Azure.microsoft.com provides tutorials, downloads, and how-to guides that help you get started developing on Azure.

Source: MSDN Blogs