Microsoft Commits to Support Win32 Classic Outlook Until 2029
Microsoft recently announced a roadmap for a new version of Outlook that explicitly mentions continued support for Classic Outlook until at least 2029. According to Microsoft’s plan, the deployment of WebView 2 Outlook to business customers will continue in phases, and in doing so, Microsoft has committed to continue to adhere to the published support schedule for existing versions of Outlook for Windows, ensuring that related applications will receive mainline support until 2029. However, on December 31, 2024, Microsoft plans to end support for the UWP version of Mail. At that time, users will no longer be able to download the UWP version of the Mail client from the Microsoft App Store.
Intel and Microsoft Jointly Define AI PCs
At a developer event in Taipei on March 27, Intel introduced the AI PC standard that it is jointly defining with Microsoft-devices with an NPU, CPU, and GPU, support for Microsoft’s Copilot, and Copilot physical keys directly on the keyboard. Each part of the CPU, GPU and NPU has its own AI-specific acceleration, meaning that AI workloads can be distributed among them based on the type of computation required. On this basis, memory capacity will be a key constraint when running large language models, with some workloads requiring 16GB of memory, or even 32GB. However, the standard does not limit the minimum memory requirements. In addition, Intel has launched an ASUS NUC Pro 14 development kit with Core Ultra Meteor Lake processors, which will come with tools including Cmake, Python and OpenVINO. Intel also supports ONNX, DirectML, and WebNN, with more tool support to come.
Microsoft Rolls out Windows 11 Moment 5 Feature Update
On March 27, Microsoft launched the Windows 11 Moment 5 feature update, which integrates the Copilot for Windows app; the lock screen can now add more content, including sports and finance; voice access now supports more languages and can be used on multiple monitors instead of the main monitor; and narration has been updated to include more than 10 natural voices. More than a dozen nature sounds have been added, which can be auditioned and then downloaded locally and used without an Internet connection; Windows Sharing has been updated to take different steps for Microsoft Teams sharing for personal and business or education accounts; Nearby Sharing has been updated to automatically turn on Nearby Sharing when Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are turned on, and turn off Nearby Sharing when turned off; new windows have been added and Nearby Sharing is now supported in more languages and can also be used on multiple displays instead of the main one. Nearby Sharing is turned off when Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are turned on and vice versa; and a new Window Snuggle Layout Suggestions feature automatically pops up when the user is ready to perform an action and then quickly organizes multiple different windows.
Microsoft will No Longer Provide Updates to Some Versions of Windows 10
Microsoft announced on March 12 that it will no longer provide updates to the Enterprise and Education versions of Windows 10 21H2 starting in June 2024, and that devices running these systems will no longer receive monthly quality updates and vulnerability fix patches, with the affected versions including Windows 10 Enterprise version 21H2, Windows 10 The affected versions include Windows 10 Enterprise version 21H2, Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session version 21H2, Windows 10 Education version 21H2, and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise version 21H2.
Microsoft PC Manager Released
Microsoft PC Manager, a Windows system optimization tool created and developed by Microsoft China, is now available on the global Microsoft Store for Windows 10/11 (x64 and ARM) operating systems, providing a one-stop performance optimization solution that helps users optimize system and memory usage, clean up junk files on the hard drive, Troubleshooting the operating system and providing antivirus protection in conjunction with Microsoft Defender. In addition, the application offers a floating toolbar with memory usage, which allows you to quickly launch screenshots, open fixed websites, and more.
Microsoft Publicizes Digital Markets Act Compliance Measures
On March 7, Microsoft published a blog post on the EU Policy Blog announcing Windows and LinkedIn compliance measures for the EU’s Digital Marketplace Act (DMA). For Windows, EEA users can uninstall Edge and Bing; third-party web apps can be pinned to the taskbar and third-party messaging can be pinned to the widget panel; signing in to a Microsoft account no longer automatically logs you in to certain Microsoft services such as Bing and Edge; and changes have been made to how information collected and disposed of on Windows PCs is used by EEA users. The process of how information collected during the use of Windows PCs by EEA users is used and processed has been revamped. These changes will be rolled out to Windows 10 and Windows 11 users in the EEA in early April 2024, or you can manually update by selecting the latest version. For LinkedIn, EEA users will be able to unbundle LinkedIn’s core professional networking experience from other features, and LinkedIn is also offering a new API to view users’ own profiles.
OpenAI Announces New Board Members, Altman Returns
On March 9, OpenAI announced via its official blog that the investigation into the previous internal personnel fiasco had been completed and that CEO Sam Altman would rejoin the company’s revamped board of directors. The other three new directors, who come from backgrounds including former CEO of the Gates Foundation, former Sony Entertainment executive, and CEO of delivery service Instacart, also announced new governance measures, including a whistleblower hotline for OpenAI employees and customers, as well as a strengthened conflict-of-interest policy.
Last November, OpenAI’s original board abruptly removed Altman as CEO and director for failing to be “consistently candid in his communications with the board,” but declined to elaborate. According to media quoting people familiar with the matter, the board learned that Altman was frequently promising conflicting resources and responsibilities to different employees, which contributed to the conflict, and was also concerned that he had a conflict of interest because of his outside side business, such as chip development. But with the support of employees and major investor Microsoft, Altman returned to the CEO’s post four days later, with three members of the original board leaving.