Microsoft Monday: New Surface Options At Lower Prices, Office 2019 Requires Windows 10, Q2 Results

"Microsoft Monday" is a weekly column that focuses on everything Microsoft does. This week, Microsoft Monday includes details of the second quarter results, the position on "scareware", a big rumor about the acquisition of games, updates for Teams and Office 365 on Apple devices, support for gBETA Detroit and so much more!

Microsoft Reports Second Quarter Sales of $ 28.92 Billion

Last Wednesday, Microsoft released its revenue for the second quarter. Interestingly, Microsoft also announced a $ 13.8 billion one-time charge because of the new tax law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Microsoft donated $ 5 billion to shareholders in share purchases and dividends during the quarter.

Earnings per share for the quarter were $ 0.96 versus $ 0.86 for Wall Street. And sales were $ 28.92 billion versus $ 28.39 billion in Wall Street expectations. While Microsoft has calculated the single cost of $ 13.8 billion, Microsoft has seen a loss of $ 0.82 per share. Net income for the quarter was $ 7.5 billion, up from $ 6.5 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

Microsoft's Productivity and Business Process division - Microsoft Office, Office 365 and LinkedIn - generated sales growth of 25% ($ 9 billion) compared to the same quarter of 2016. There are now 29.2 million Office 365 subscribers. The Intelligent Cloud division of Microsoft and Azure server software - increased by 15% over the same quarter in 2016. Azure sales more or less doubled compared to the same period a year ago. And Microsoft's personal computer segment - Windows, Surface and Xbox - grew 2% to $ 12.2 billion from the same period a year ago.

Windows business and associated cloud services decreased by 4% due to "the impact of a major deal reached last year". Surface equipment activities increased 1% from the same quarter a year ago. And gaming revenue grew 8% to $ 3.9 billion from the same quarter last year, primarily due to the launch of the Xbox One X console. Microsoft's annual cycle for its activities in the cloud reached $ 20 billion, a significant advance on schedule. Office business revenues increased 10% and Office sales increased 12%. And the Dynamics turnover has increased by 10%. LinkedIn contributed $ 1.3 billion in revenue.

"This quarter's results speak to the differentiated value we bring to customers in our productivity solutions and as a hybrid cloud provider of choice," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. "Our investments in the Internet of Things, data services and artificial intelligence in the cloud and the peripheral position allow us to further accelerate our growth."

Microsoft is heavily on "Scareware"

Have you ever seen obscure software using terrifying tactics to click on their ads or buy their product? This software is known as "scareware". Now, Microsoft is taking a firm stance against scareware.

Microsoft antivirus programs such as Windows Defender will begin to remove any applications containing alarming and misleading messages that allow users to perform unnecessary actions as of March 1, according to Lee Mathews, a Forbes employee.

Often, these applications perform fake scans and then show the results, regardless of the state of your computer. And sometimes, the "scareware" will mark your IP address or device type to make users even more frightened. If you provide technical support to family members and friends like me, I'm sure you're aware of the problems caused by scarewares.

Microsoft's small Xbox Wireless Card is available for purchase

Last summer, Microsoft announced that it was going to release a smaller Xbox wireless adapter. However, the launch of the product has been extended until 2018. But now you can buy the small Xbox Wireless Adapter from Microsoft Store in the US for a price of $ 24.99.

According to The Verge, the smallest wireless Xbox adapter is 66% smaller than the original and looks like a small USB key. The adapter supports up to eight controllers at the same time and four common conversation headsets or two stereo headsets. This adapter allows Xbox owners to use older Xbox One controllers and the Xbox One Elite controller on any Windows 10 PC.

Rumor: Microsoft plans major acquisition to help boost Xbox sales

One of the problems that Microsoft wants to solve is that the Xbox One will see fewer console unit sales than the Sony PlayStation 4. One reason is that there is a lack of exclusive exclusive games for the console. To solve this problem, Polygon sources said Microsoft is looking for a major acquisition such as EA, Valve, or PUBG Corp.

Valve is known for building the Steam gaming platform. EA has built a number of prestigious franchises, such as FIFA, Madden and Need For Speed. And PUBG Corp. has made one of the best-selling games over the past year, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

In response to the Polygon, Forbes employee Paul Tassi wrote an article claiming that Microsoft would buy EA for Xbox would be meaningless. "The reason Microsoft is having trouble buying a publisher is that publishers are making more money on the PlayStation platform than on the Microsoft platform," said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter in an interview with Tassi. "At best, an EA purchase would allow them to capture 60% of net income, and probably a lot less, so it would not be financially profitable, which made sense in 2001 (when Xbox was launched), but for those prices It's hard to justify, remember that more than half of EA's revenues are licensed, so Disney and FIFA may not be happy if the sale of their games is halved. "

Tassi went on to point out that Microsoft could do the same with EA as with Mojang: continue to build games on competitive platforms. "But in this case, why not even bother buying something when it comes to strengthening your exclusive line of games?" Tassi wrote.

Microsoft updates teams and Office 365 for iOS and Mac

Last week, Microsoft announced that it had updated Teams and Office 365 for iOS and Mac apps with several new features. Here is an overview of the new features:

Update for Microsoft Teams

In teams, you can now save interactive application maps in conversations the same way you would add emoji or GIFs. In one click, you can quickly retrieve information from third-party applications such as Trello's tasks. And Microsoft has made it easy to find new applications and services in the new Store functionality because you can search for apps by name or category, such as "Project Management" or "Analytics & BI".

There is a new command field in Microsoft Teams that provides a single access point that integrates your search and command experiences. This allows you to work quickly with applications and team tasks from the command box, as well as search people, files, applications, and messages.

Microsoft Office 365 for iOS and Mac update

Microsoft has added several new features for Office 365 for iOS and Mac, with a focus on collaboration and productivity. Microsoft has added new co-authoring, AutoSave and drag-and-drop features in particular.

Microsoft has made co-authoring widely available in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel for iOS and Mac. So when you're working on a Mac, PC, or mobile device, you know who you're working with a document and what's being edited.

Another useful update is AutoSave in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Office 365 Mac subscribers that save documents in OneDrive and SharePoint. All your recent or shared changes are automatically saved to the cloud, so you do not have to worry about clicking the Save button. In addition, you can view and restore the contents of previous versions of the document at any time with the

And Microsoft has added the ability to drag and drop content and files to Office and OneDrive for iOS. Office 365 iPad and iPhone subscribers can drag and drop content into documents, presentations, and spreadsheets from other Office or OneDrive applications. Drag and drop support for iOS allows users to move files to and from OneDrive, as well as other resources such as iMessage and SharePoint.

Other OneDrive Updates for iOS

Some of the other updates that Microsoft has made to OneDrive support the Files application in iOS 11 and allow you to preview more types of files. By supporting the Files app, you can download, access, edit, and save content on OneDrive or SharePoint from any iOS application that supports integration with the Files app. In addition, users can tag their OneDrive and SharePoint files from the Files app. And there are now more than 130 file types available for OneDrive for iOS examples, including Adobe Photoshop and 3D objects.

Other updates

Microsoft has made some additional enhancements in Outlook for iOS and Learning Tools for Mac. Outlook for iOS now uses Microsoft Graph to highlight the results of the best contacts, routes, package shipments, and recent attachments. Microsoft has also improved reading comprehension with Learning Tools for Mac by adding support for Immersive Reader and Read Aloud. These are tools that were previously available in Word for Windows and mobile applications.

Halo Master Chief comes on Nintendo Switch as a DLC Minecraft Pack

The character Halo "Master Chief" has arrived on the Nintendo Switch, but it is simply in the form of a DLC pack for the Switch and Wii U versions of Minecraft. According to GameSpot, the DLC package includes skins for exclusive Xbox games such as Halo, Gears of War and Fable.

Skin Pack 1 was announced last year by developer Minecraft Mojang, which belongs to Microsoft. Mojang also offers a new DLC skin pack with a Moana theme for the Switch and Wii U versions of Minecraft. Both DLC packages are also available on Xbox One, Windows 10 and mobile devices.