Top 10 key announcements from Microsoft in 2016
Traditionally we are seeing the outgoing 2016 with a selection of key announcements from Microsoft. Under the cut, we collected ten of the most vivid and memorable news.
Speaking at Microsoft Ignite 2016 at the end of September, Satya Nadella voiced the ambitious goal that the company set itself: “ Democratization of artificial intelligence ”. It is to make AI technology accessible and understandable for everyone.
Sathya also shared a unique case with Uber . The company has implemented a new technology Real-Time ID Check to improve the safety of drivers and passengers, implemented on the basis of Microsoft Cognitive Services . Its essence lies in the fact that each driver installs a mobile application that recognizes it using the phone’s camera and only after successful identification can the driver be able to start work.
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It is worth noting that Microsoft took the first steps towards a new strategy in Russia in early October - the Russian language appeared in the Skype Translator .
In the autumn, there were two more news about the largest partnerships in the field of AI:
In mid-December, Microsoft shared the first results to achieve its goal: the announcement of the Cortana Devices SDK , talking bots in Skype, updates to the Microsoft Bot Framework , partnership with Harman Kardon to create a unique speaker system using AI. Just a few days ago, the company announced the availability of a publicly available data set for learning computer writing . He received the name of Microsoft Machine Reading Comprehension (MS MARCO) and contains more than 100 thousand English-language questions and answers to them, collected using anonymous real queries in Bing and Cortana.
Earlier this year, Microsoft officially announced the acquisition of Xamarin, the largest platform for developing mobile applications. In the framework of subsequent conferences ( Build 2016 , Xamarin Evolve 2016 and Connect (); // 2016 ) several more key announcements of this year were made:
Microsoft is a platinum member of the nonprofit Linux development consortium, the Linux Foundation. Platinum members include Cisco, Fujitsu, HP, Huawei, IBM, Intel, NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm, and Samsung. On the one hand, this news might have been shocking to many, but on the other hand, it’s worth noting that more and more news from Microsoft about the publication of the source code PowerShell, Visual Studio Code, Edge JavaScript engine, announcement of the Linux version of SQL Server, and at the beginning of the year, Ubuntu was integrated into Windows 10.
At the Build 2016 conference, a new bot tool, the Microsoft Bot Framework , was announced, including the API. It includes Bot Builder SDK, Microsoft Cognitive Services and Bot Connector, which allows you to attach a bot to one or several communication channels, such as Skype, Slack, Telegram and others. Also good news was the launch of the preview version of Azure Bot-as-a-Service on Linux with support for containers and ASP.NET Core.
August 2 Anniversary update of Windows 10 became available on devices around the world.
Among all the functions can be identified:
In 2000, the Microsoft development team introduced the C # programming language, which combined all the expressiveness of object-oriented programming languages, such as Java, and the power of C ++. This year, there was news about a new version of the C # 7.0 language, some of the functions of which became publicly available with the release of Visual Studio “15” Preview 4. You can find the full set of features in the article .
We remind you that in early September we shared with you interesting facts about C #.
This year, one of the largest conferences for Connect developers (); // 2016 was full of news. The key announcement can be called the release of Visual Studio for Mac . This is a complete development environment designed to create mobile applications, cloud services and applications for Mac. The first preview release includes support for creating native iOS and Android applications in C # and F # using Xamarin, as well as creating a backend using Azure services, and, of course, supporting ASP.NET Core.
A preview version of Visual Studio 2017 Release Candidate is available. Visual Studio 2017 RC contains both fixes and new functionality that was not previously available in previous versions. As well as this release of Visual Studio 2017 RC includes the ability to develop production solutions.
For mobile developers, the main news was the announcement of the Visual Studio Mobile Center Preview .
Mobile Center works with iOS and Android applications written in Objective-C, Swift, Java, Xamarin, React Native and brings together cloud services and tools to ensure the life cycle of creating applications for developers whose goal is the rapid development of high-quality mobile applications. The tool provides opportunities for developing, building, testing, monitoring, and deploying applications to devices and makes it easy for developers to scale applications across all platforms and implement the latest and most popular features in them.
At the beginning of 2016, the Microsoft HoloLens Dev Kit shipments were launched. We have already shared with you the guide to writing Hello World for HoloLens , as well as the technical characteristics of the device .
In the fall, HoloLens won the prestigious Popular Mechanics' 2016 Breakthrough Awards, which is awarded to "innovators in the technology world over the past year, to those who have gone beyond the borders and made the world a little better."
At the moment there are several Russian companies that are actively developing for HoloLens. Including HoloGroup, which released the first Russian-language application of augmented reality, as well as Zengalt, which became the first Russian company that released the application under HoloLens.
In mid-2016, there was news that Microsoft was ahead of Facebook and became the number one open source company on GitHub! The first to write about this was one of the users of Reddit.
Microsoft introduced a new communications application for Office 365 - Microsoft Teams. It is organized on the principle of chat and expands the possibilities of collaboration in Microsoft Office 365. It was also announced by Microsoft Teams Developer Preview.
Using the Tabs feature, you can customize individual topics for communication, and it also provides quick access to frequently used documents and applications. Tabs can be created for Office 365 services such as OneNote, SharePoint, and Planner, or third-party solutions. Similar to Exchange, the new Microsoft Teams space supports notifications and updates from third-party services, such as Twitter or GitHub. The Microsoft Bot Framework is also supported, which allows the integration of intelligent services into the corporate working environment.
We remind you that we have collected the brightest announcements. In the comments, you can add to the list or bring your own. :) Good Code!
1. The democratization strategy of artificial intelligence
Speaking at Microsoft Ignite 2016 at the end of September, Satya Nadella voiced the ambitious goal that the company set itself: “ Democratization of artificial intelligence ”. It is to make AI technology accessible and understandable for everyone.
Sathya also shared a unique case with Uber . The company has implemented a new technology Real-Time ID Check to improve the safety of drivers and passengers, implemented on the basis of Microsoft Cognitive Services . Its essence lies in the fact that each driver installs a mobile application that recognizes it using the phone’s camera and only after successful identification can the driver be able to start work.
')
It is worth noting that Microsoft took the first steps towards a new strategy in Russia in early October - the Russian language appeared in the Skype Translator .
In the autumn, there were two more news about the largest partnerships in the field of AI:
- Facebook, Amazon, IBM, Google and Microsoft have announced the emergence of an affiliate program for joint work in the field of the development of artificial intelligence, Partnership on AI.
- Microsoft and OpenAI have become partners . We remind you that OpenAI is a company engaged in the research of artificial intelligence, and was founded jointly by Ilon Mask, Sam Oltman, Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever. OpenAI also chose Microsoft Azure as its main cloud platform for improving their research, as well as creating new tools and technologies that are only possible in the cloud.
In mid-December, Microsoft shared the first results to achieve its goal: the announcement of the Cortana Devices SDK , talking bots in Skype, updates to the Microsoft Bot Framework , partnership with Harman Kardon to create a unique speaker system using AI. Just a few days ago, the company announced the availability of a publicly available data set for learning computer writing . He received the name of Microsoft Machine Reading Comprehension (MS MARCO) and contains more than 100 thousand English-language questions and answers to them, collected using anonymous real queries in Bing and Cortana.
2. Microsoft Acquires Xamarin
Earlier this year, Microsoft officially announced the acquisition of Xamarin, the largest platform for developing mobile applications. In the framework of subsequent conferences ( Build 2016 , Xamarin Evolve 2016 and Connect (); // 2016 ) several more key announcements of this year were made:
- Xamarin has become absolutely free for all editions of Visual Studio.
- Announced the Xamarin SDK in Open Source, as well as the Mono project, which is the core of the Xamarin tools, re-released under the open source MIT license.
- Appium support has been added to the Xamarin Test Cloud.
3. Microsoft joined the Linux Foundation
Microsoft is a platinum member of the nonprofit Linux development consortium, the Linux Foundation. Platinum members include Cisco, Fujitsu, HP, Huawei, IBM, Intel, NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm, and Samsung. On the one hand, this news might have been shocking to many, but on the other hand, it’s worth noting that more and more news from Microsoft about the publication of the source code PowerShell, Visual Studio Code, Edge JavaScript engine, announcement of the Linux version of SQL Server, and at the beginning of the year, Ubuntu was integrated into Windows 10.
4. Run the Microsoft Bot Framework + Azure Bot-as-a-Service on Linux
At the Build 2016 conference, a new bot tool, the Microsoft Bot Framework , was announced, including the API. It includes Bot Builder SDK, Microsoft Cognitive Services and Bot Connector, which allows you to attach a bot to one or several communication channels, such as Skype, Slack, Telegram and others. Also good news was the launch of the preview version of Azure Bot-as-a-Service on Linux with support for containers and ASP.NET Core.
5. Anniversary update of Windows 10
August 2 Anniversary update of Windows 10 became available on devices around the world.
Among all the functions can be identified:
- Windows Ink, which allows you to quickly and easily create notes, drawings or sketches of your ideas on the screen.
- Enhanced security with Windows Defender and secure access to applications and sites using Windows Hello.
- Improved energy efficiency with the new Microsoft Edge and the emergence of extensions.
6. C # 7.0: large-scale programming language update
In 2000, the Microsoft development team introduced the C # programming language, which combined all the expressiveness of object-oriented programming languages, such as Java, and the power of C ++. This year, there was news about a new version of the C # 7.0 language, some of the functions of which became publicly available with the release of Visual Studio “15” Preview 4. You can find the full set of features in the article .
We remind you that in early September we shared with you interesting facts about C #.
7. Visual Studio for Mac, preview version of Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio Mobile Center Preview
This year, one of the largest conferences for Connect developers (); // 2016 was full of news. The key announcement can be called the release of Visual Studio for Mac . This is a complete development environment designed to create mobile applications, cloud services and applications for Mac. The first preview release includes support for creating native iOS and Android applications in C # and F # using Xamarin, as well as creating a backend using Azure services, and, of course, supporting ASP.NET Core.
A preview version of Visual Studio 2017 Release Candidate is available. Visual Studio 2017 RC contains both fixes and new functionality that was not previously available in previous versions. As well as this release of Visual Studio 2017 RC includes the ability to develop production solutions.
For mobile developers, the main news was the announcement of the Visual Studio Mobile Center Preview .
Mobile Center works with iOS and Android applications written in Objective-C, Swift, Java, Xamarin, React Native and brings together cloud services and tools to ensure the life cycle of creating applications for developers whose goal is the rapid development of high-quality mobile applications. The tool provides opportunities for developing, building, testing, monitoring, and deploying applications to devices and makes it easy for developers to scale applications across all platforms and implement the latest and most popular features in them.
8. Microsoft HoloLens for Developers
At the beginning of 2016, the Microsoft HoloLens Dev Kit shipments were launched. We have already shared with you the guide to writing Hello World for HoloLens , as well as the technical characteristics of the device .
In the fall, HoloLens won the prestigious Popular Mechanics' 2016 Breakthrough Awards, which is awarded to "innovators in the technology world over the past year, to those who have gone beyond the borders and made the world a little better."
At the moment there are several Russian companies that are actively developing for HoloLens. Including HoloGroup, which released the first Russian-language application of augmented reality, as well as Zengalt, which became the first Russian company that released the application under HoloLens.
9. Microsoft has become the # 1 open source company on GitHub.
In mid-2016, there was news that Microsoft was ahead of Facebook and became the number one open source company on GitHub! The first to write about this was one of the users of Reddit.
10. Released a new service for communication - Microsoft Teams
Microsoft introduced a new communications application for Office 365 - Microsoft Teams. It is organized on the principle of chat and expands the possibilities of collaboration in Microsoft Office 365. It was also announced by Microsoft Teams Developer Preview.
Using the Tabs feature, you can customize individual topics for communication, and it also provides quick access to frequently used documents and applications. Tabs can be created for Office 365 services such as OneNote, SharePoint, and Planner, or third-party solutions. Similar to Exchange, the new Microsoft Teams space supports notifications and updates from third-party services, such as Twitter or GitHub. The Microsoft Bot Framework is also supported, which allows the integration of intelligent services into the corporate working environment.
We remind you that we have collected the brightest announcements. In the comments, you can add to the list or bring your own. :) Good Code!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/318130/
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