Strange character and hot announcements of the first days of Microsoft Ignite

The Ignite conference is in full swing, and we, meanwhile, decided to put together the most interesting news of this event: Azure Trial is now available for 1 year, a new programming language for quantum computers and three utilities for working with machine learning. We invite under the cut to learn about this and other news. There will be many useful links.







One of the most exciting news that I would like to talk about at the beginning: a new programming language for quantum computers was announced, which is integrated into Visual Studio and includes all the utilities used by developers for writing code and debugging it.

Microsoft Azure

1. If you have a question: "What is this symbol in the picture above?" It's simple. This is the new Microsoft Azure logo.
2. $ 200 credits in the cloud, 1 year trial and free resources for the year here .
3. Azure Pass-Through Authentication is now in GA (General Availability) status, it was previously in pre-access mode. Azure Pass-Through Authentication allows for authentication in an on-premis Active Directory without the need for a highly available ADFS infrastructure.
4. In June, Microsoft acquired Cloudyn , and now it becomes free for all Azure subscribers. This is a cost management solution that allows Azure administrators to determine where the money goes and how to optimize the cost optimally. Learn more about Azure Cost Management here .
5. Announced Azure File Sync Preview . This is a solution to synchronize files between local Windows servers and Azure File Shares.
6. Powershell support in Azure Cloud Shell , including mobile app integration.
7. Azure Service Fabric on Linux moves from preview to GA (General Availability). This is a platform of microservices and orchestration, which was announced at Microsoft Build.
8. For developers, the company has released three new tools: Azure Machine Learning Experimentation, Azure Machine Learning Workbench and Azure Machine Learning Model Management. Azure Machine Learning experiments can now be run locally, transferred to Docker or Azure, use various deep learning frameworks (Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit, Tensorflow, Caffe2, PyTorch and Chainer) and use the AML Workbench cross-platform client (Windows and Mac).
9. In addition, the Microsoft Azure blog included announcements about new types of virtual machines of the Fv2 / NCv2 / ND series with Xeon Scalable CPU from Intel and the Tesla P100 GPU from NVIDIA, Azure Enterprise NFS Service in conjunction with NetApp, Azure DDoS Protection in the preview version , Azure Data Box (for transferring large data sets to Azure) and Azure Migrate Service for transferring workloads to Azure.
10. Azure Stack expands the list of partners for the supply of equipment: Dell EMC, HPE, Lenovo.
11. New features for monitoring and analytics in Azure.
12. Three new Azure certification exams : Azure Stack (70-537), Linux Workloads on Azure (70-539) and Azure DevOps (70-538).

Microsoft 365, Windows, Windows Server

1. Microsoft 365 is expanding Microsoft 365 Firstline (F1) (formerly Kiosk) and Microsoft 365 Education , and also includes Windows 10, Office 365, and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security .
2. HP, Lenovo, Acer and Fujitsu are starting to offer new Windows 10 S devices starting at $ 275.
3. Windows Autopilot now supports Surface devices. Lenovo and HP will receive support in early 2018, Fujitsu / Toshiba / Panasonic in late 2018.
4. In Microsoft Intune, there is support for PowerShell scripts to run on managed devices, and this opens up extensive management options.
5. Session " Microsoft 365: Modern management and deployment " fully reveals the concept of "modern IT" from Microsoft and the future of System Center Configuration Manager and Microsoft Intune hybrid scripts.
6. The updated Windows Configuration Designer (WCD) is available in the Windows ADK and the Windows Store.
7. Windows Server 1709 Insider Preview is available for download .

SQL and Power BI

1. SQL Server 2017 is available . Simultaneously for Windows, Linux and Docker containers.
2. And an endless list of small updates, changes and new features for Power BI.
3. Azure SQL Database is now 100% compatible with SQL Server.

Office, Office 365 and SharePoint

1. Looking ahead: in the second half of 2018, we will see Microsoft Office 2019 and an update of the entire office product line, from client to server applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype for Business.
2. Office 365 receives a multi-geo in preview , which allows companies to embrace Office 365 (Sharepoint, OneDrive) services in different geographic areas of data centers.
3. Updated application panel on Office.com
4. Microsoft Flow receives several updates , such as deeper SharePoint integration and simplified collaboration in SharePoint.
5. Now the term Unified Communication goes into Intelligent Communication. Skype for Business remains, it will even receive an update in 2018, but at Microsoft Ignite 2017 there were many words about “ transforming communications and bringing together all conversations, meetings, files, Office applications, third-party integrations and providing a single entry point for collaboration in Office 365 "
6. A very large demo can be viewed at the session " Microsoft 365: Transform your communications with Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business ".
7. OneDrive gets an updated interface, support for DRM (Digital Rights Management) and a lot more .
8. The new SharePoint Admin Center will appear in 2018. You can access the preview now .

Records of sessions with Microsoft Ignite 2017 can be found here .

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about the author

Anton Mosyagin - systems engineer at Rambler & Co, leads a Telegram channel with notes for ITpro and his blog .