Microsoft

Microsoft is killing Xbox for Excel

by

Microsoft has imposed a profit margin target of 30% on its Xbox division, a figure much higher than the average usually obtained in the video game industry, according to reveals Bloomberg. This guideline would explain many of the controversial decisions that Xbox has taken in recent years, especially in terms of project cancellations, massive layoffs and price increases are concerned. a goal to leagues. The average profit margin in the video game industry has ranged between 17% and 22% in recent years, according to share Jason Schreier in his article, based on estimates from S&P Global Market Intelligence. As the journalist states, on Xbox, that figure was between 10% and 20% over the last six years. On the other hand, court documents from 2023 revealed that Microsoft’s gaming business had a margin of 12% in the first nine months of fiscal year 2022. S&P Global analyst Neil Barbour affirms that “a margin of 30% or higher is usually reserved for a company that is really nailing it.” To give an example, look at Capcom right now, which is practically in its golden age and which in recent reports operating margins were seen that were close to 40%. Who is behind the change? According to According to Schreier, this goal was implemented in the fall of 2023 by Amy Hood, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, whose team has assumed a much more relevant role in the gaming business in recent years. According to sources As cited by Bloomberg, previously Xbox developers did not have to meet specific numerical targets and were asked to focus on making the best games possible without worrying too much about finances. The practical consequences. To achieve that margin, Xbox has had to take drastic measures. In 2024 it announced that it would release most of its games on Nintendo and Sony consoles for the first time. In July we discovered that canceled several expensive projects that had been in development for more than seven years, such as Everwild, Perfect Dark or Project Blackbird. Also has laid off thousands of employees and Game Pass prices have increased and of the consoles. To go up, they have even increased the price of your development kits. According to the sources of the reportlooking to the future, games that are cheap to produce or with high income expectations will be prioritized over riskier bets. The Game Pass dilemma. The strategy of including all Xbox games in Game Pass on launch day has hurt direct game sales, according to they point Schreier’s sources. And just as share In the middle, to compensate for these losses, Xbox offers its developers a credit calculated using an opaque formula that seems to favor games in which players spend more hours, such as online multiplayer titles. This makes it even more difficult to achieve that 30% margin. The next hardware bet. Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, has declared recently told Mashable that the company’s next console will be “a very premium, very high-end and polished experience,” suggesting a change in strategy compared to previous generations and, predictably, a significantly higher price. There are already voices that point to a console much more similar to a PC, a concept similar to what we have seen with the ROG Xbox Ally. However, there is no official information yet, so we will have to wait to find out more details. The official response. An Xbox spokesperson has declared that the company “has a long-term vision” for its business and that success “does not look the same in every project or priority.” He added that they evaluate “the business as a whole, balancing creativity, innovation and sustainability across a diverse portfolio of offerings.” Just like account Bloomberg, in July, Amy Hood said in a call with investors that the Xbox division’s operating income had grown 34% in the quarter ended in June thanks to “continued prioritization of higher margin opportunities.” Decisions. Xbox has been losing market share to PlayStation and Nintendo for years. Microsoft no longer discloses Xbox hardware sales, but analysts estimate PlayStation 5 has sold more than double of units than the Xbox Series the purchase of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in 2023, the largest acquisition in the history of gaming. However, it seems that for Microsoft it is not enough, and everything indicates that the company will be much more aware of its gaming division than ever, a struggle between executives and senior managers that no one knows where it will end. In Xataka | There is a clear beneficiary of the success of Microsoft and AI: Satya Nadella, who pockets a bonus of $96.5 million

With AI, Microsoft has once again insisted that we talk to our computer: experience says that we don’t feel like it

by

You get up in the morning, go to work and sit in front of the computer, but the first thing you do is not pick up the mouse and keyboard, but say “Hey, Copilot”. Can you imagine it? Me neither, completely, but that is Microsoft’s clear obsession: to get us to talk to our PC instead of using the usual peripherals. That futuristic vision is striking, but it faces several enormous challenges. what memories. The thing about Microsoft and other technology companies with their intention for us to talk to machines goes back a long way. The first generation of voice assistants precisely pursued that goal. There we saw how Alexa, Google Assistant and of course Cortana tried to make us talk much more with our devices. We were not prepared to talk to machines. Its success was rather limited, and even Nadella himself admitted in 2023 that, for example, those “smart” speakers They were “dumber than a stone”. In Xataka Voice assistants and the fight to gain our trust Cortana tried. The Redmond company certainly tried to make Cortana successful. It offered it on both Windows 10 and on Android and iOS…and even the sadly defunct Windows Phone. Over time the company realized that that assistant was not a good fit, and was killing him little by little. The launch of ChatGPT was used by Microsoft to raise your new assistant powered by AI and definitely kill to his first assistant: Copilot wants to be what Cortana could never be. Who asked for this? With that “Hey, Copilot” the same thing is happening as with Cortana: did someone ask Microsoft to integrate a voice assistant into Windows? The voice assistants of that first generation were relegated to residual use, and Amazon suffered this problem firsthand. He bet billions of dollars that Echos would become devices we wouldn’t stop talking about, but most people I just used them to set timers and music. AI promises to go much further. But in spring 2024 we live in a hopeful moment for this type of technology. OpenAI launched GPT-4o and demonstrated that natural conversations with a mobile phone were not only possible, but also They were very powerful. AI could be ours confidant and companion -with controversy included— or our private teacherand as others later wanted to demonstrate, it could also do things for us just by talking to her. Let them tell you to the vibe coders. But we still have a hard time talking to the PC. Since then it certainly seems that we have become a little more accustomed to talking with our smartphone, but things seem to be different on the PC. The statistics reflect that 77% of young people use their voice on their smartphone, while only 38% of them do so on the PC. “But everyone on the PC listens to me”. There is also a sociological component in this use of voice on the PC. The mobile phone is more intimate and personal, while the PC is often used in a static setting in which there are people around who can capture what we say. Furthermore, in the physical context, the unspoken rules of coexistence—do not disturb, do not invade others’ acoustic space—outweigh the promise of comfort. And then there is distrust. Microsoft is not helped by its recent history, especially with Recall, that option that seemed really striking and ingenious but ended up being delayed to generate a great controversy regarding privacy. The launch of the new Windows 11 options, with “Hey, Copilot” as the main protagonist, does not seem to have been received with too much enthusiasm, and the tone, for example, of the comments from this long thread It is skepticism. Rivals focus on mobile phones and speakers, not the PC. The truth is that the adoption of voice as a way to interact with our devices does not seem to be particularly viral. The erratic launch of Alexa+ does not seem to be providing great advantages, Apple continues to make itself wait with its renewed version of Siri, and only Google has taken a step forward with Geminialthough not clearly on the desktop. Talking to machines works, but not as much on the PC as on the mobile. {“videoId”:”x9jvzns”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Project Astra Exploring the Capabilities of a Universal AI Assistant”, “tag”:”Project Astra”, “duration”:”116″} A triumph for accessibility. Where there is a clear use scenario for this technology is in the area of ​​accessibility. For users with reduced mobility, the ability to dictate or control the device with their voice can be transformative. This need is concrete and well defined, however: it does not justify a general redesign of the interaction or a marketing campaign that tries to get us all to talk to the computer. The voice should solve things, not be a fair trick. Microsoft’s real challenge is not technical — the technology is there — but human. The company must convince people that talking to the PC makes sense. To do this, it must address three fronts: privacy, the social context—that you don’t mind talking to your PC—and of course, that said interaction has practical use and works. For example, they come in there Copilot Actionswho will have to demonstrate – like everything else – that Microft is on the right path here. Otherwise, “Hey, Copilot” could become the new Cortana. In Xataka | Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google) believes that ‘Her’ is inevitable: “there will be people who fall in love with an AI and we should prepare ourselves” (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); } })(); – The news With AI, Microsoft has once again insisted that we talk to our computer: experience says that we don’t feel like it was originally published in Xataka by Javier Pastor .

Microsoft believed that the purchase of Activision was a round business. A year later I lost 300 million for ‘Call of Duty’

by

The clients of Game Pass They are still trying to recover from the impressive 50% rise of the Ultimate mode rate in the service. A spectacular climb that moves Microsoft’s proposal away from that buffet Economic games of all kinds That once it was, and that he has his clients since then circling a single question: why? And although Microsoft has not yet made anything clear, there are some issues that already have an answer. 300 million. Game Pass had rare He arrived at the service on day onesomething only possible thanks to the purchase of activation by Microsoft. However, it was still extraordinary: ‘Call of Duty’ was, thanks to that acquisition, The most valuable property that Xbox had in its portfolio. And now it was available for all Game Pass users without additional cost. According to Bloombergthe experiment cost Microsoft 300 million dollars. Internal affairs. This movement is the last and most striking of this type that Xbox has given, determined to drown its rivals with strategies that meant a high cost in sales. Bloomberg states That, as seven anonymous informants have told the environment, getting as powerful as powerful as’Forza Horizon 5‘ either ‘Halo infinite‘Internal fractures already supposed due to the important sales that were lost by placing these games available to all Game Pass subscribers. According to The Vergethe discussion about ‘Black Ops 6’ was even greater, and it was not for less. In An interview with Windows CentralBobby Kotick, an Activision Ex-Cecement, already claimed that due to having spent his career in Los Angeles, he had seen with disgust how “large media companies had transferred their contents to these subscription streaming services, which had negatively affected business results.” The story was repeated. It was clear. Ign counted at the time That the movement triggered the subscriptions to Game Pass, as expected, and the ‘Cod’ itself went up: 23% more than the previous delivery, ‘Modern Warfare 3’. But there is an important nuance: 82% of those sales were in PlayStation, in opposition to Xbox and PC. Yes, subscriptions had risen, as expected, but not enough: just 16%. According to The calculations that Kotaku doesto compensate for the 300 million copies of the game that Activision (and therefore, Microsoft) did not sell, it would have needed an impossible: 15 million new monthly subscribers to Game Pass (or 1.25 per year). Drink for pain. Again, according to Kotaku calculations, the remarkable price increase in the Ultimate rate relieves these numbers for Microsoft: it would need 10 million new subscribers to compensate for those losses. Something that, without a doubt, is far from the possibilities of the service, but we get an idea of ​​to what extent the climb was an urgent need for Microsoft. Bloomberg states that Microsoft Amy Hood’s CFO has asked the division of games to find more ways to raise benefits, so new increases are not ruled out at all, inclusion of advertising or limitations in the characteristics of the Tiers cheaper to encourage subscribers to pass to Ultimate. A purchase at all. Everything summarizes well in the statements of the specialized analyst Joost Van Dreunen: “Game Pass has not provided the explosive growth that Microsoft anticipated in the post-Compra of Activision era, and they have realized that their structural costs do not align with their pricing model.” That is, Microsoft foresaw a notable impulse of subscriptions thanks to blows to the table such as the arrival of ‘Black Ops 6’, and it has not been so. Crisis policy is approaching in Microsoft (which, by the way, states that He does not leave his plans to continue in the hardware business) and, without a doubt, it will have an impact on our pocket. In Xataka | The portable Xbox is finally a reality. The only unimportant detail is that it is not exactly an xbox

It reaches almost 10% of the market when Microsoft prepares to retire Windows 10

by

Microsoft prepares to close the Windows 10 cycle. On October 14, 2025 will stop receiving security updatesa decision that places Millions of teams In a vulnerable scenario. Without those patches, any discovered failure could be exploited, something that worries both in the domestic and business. We do not talk about a minor recommendation, but about a change that affects the installed base of more numerous computers on the planet. The movement has put many users in the face of a complex dilemma. Migrate to Windows 11 It seems the logical path, but it is not always possible without going through the box. The system requires hardware compatible with technologies such as TPM 2.0 and a generation of relatively modern processors. Those who do not meet these criteria are forced to maintain Windows 10 No support or directly renew your PC, Although in some Microsoft markets have enabled exceptions that allow to extend one more year the reception of updates if certain conditions are met. What is happening with Windows 7 in the middle of 2025 September 2025 He brought an unexpected surprise. According to Statcounter records, Windows 10 decreased to 40.5% of the market, its lowest level since November 2017. At the same time, Windows 11 was headed with 48.9%confirming that the generational relief is underway. So far, evolution seems logical, except for a detail that especially caught attention. That detail is Windows 7. The system that was left without support in 2020 and that he even saw his update program extended in 2023 reappeared strongly. In a matter of weeks, it went from fees close to 3% to register 9.61% in September. The magnitude of the jump makes it difficult to imagine mass migrations towards such an old software, but the numbers are there. Before drawing precipitated conclusions, remember how these statistics are built. Statcounter does not access the Microsoft telemetrythe only one capable of offering exact figures. Your methodology is based In a code installed by more than 1.5 million web pages distributed throughout the world. Each visit counts which operating and browser system has been used, so that the percentages result from millions of daily interactions with third -party sites. This is an approach offers a very wide sample, but it is still a sampling. Statcounter ensures that it eliminates bots traffic and adjusts certain technical parameters such as Chrome pre -demand. The September graph leaves an obvious unknown. Windows 7 suddenly appears with a weight that I did not have in the previous months, which breaks the descending trajectory that It seemed definitive. What is behind that change? With the information available, it should only be recognized that there is no clear response and that any attempt of explanation would be speculative. The transition to Windows 11 is marked by security, and in that field the nuances matter. Microsoft repeats that maintaining a system without support is an exhibition, although it is also aware that the change is not always immediate. Therefore, together with the announcement of the end of Windows 10, it introduced mechanisms to give users a margin. Consequently, two ways have been established. For domestic users, At least in the European Unionthere is the possibility of receiving for a year more security updates when associating the equipment With a Microsoft account. Both in the particular and business field, the option of subscribing to the program of Extended security updateswhich guarantees up to three additional years of patches. These measures do not change the final horizon, but allow migration to a supported version. Ultimately, it is the users themselves who must assess what to do with their teams. Some will stretch Windows 10 as long as that extension lasts, others will make the leap to Windows 11 and there will be those who even consider alternatives outside the Microsoft ecosystem. Statistics offer a global photograph, but each case has its own nuances. The question is open: how will you manage the end of Windows 10? Images | Mendhak In Xataka | Google believes to have the key to compete with Windows, Linux and macOS in laptops. That key is called Android

Game Pass was too cheap for everything he offered. The problem is that Microsoft thought the same

by

Microsoft has just confirmed what many players were smelling us: GAME PASS RAISES PRICE. It has not been an anecdotal increase or first in the United States to tote the land, How do other streaming platforms do: Game Pass has arrived (almost) Without warning. The XBOX subscription game service has been segmented for some time in three categories that give us access to different services and a variable number of games and, after the increase that We already experienced a year agoMicrosoft has raised the price again. The problem is that if in 2024 Game Pass Ultimate, which is the subscription that gives us access to more content, It rose from 14.99 euros to 17.99 euros, now it goes from that amount to 26.99 euros. It is an appreciable climb, as if Microsoft had realized that the service was too “cheap.” Game Pass Ultimate rises 50% “The Netflix of Video Games.” Since Microsoft launched Game Pass, many of us described it that way. Although now we can play directly for streaming in almost any devicein its beginnings we had to download the games. There was a catalog that opened through the subscription, but it was not really the ‘netflix of video games’. Over the years, Microsoft was adding services such as cloud game, Game Pass for PC or streaming transmission of some games on our property. Apart from being able to access their games from the launch without additional cost, they began to launch games from other publishers and companies, also without an added cost. This year, two heavyweights like ‘Silksong‘ either ‘Clair Oscur: Expedition 33‘They launched from the first day in Game Pass. The service became increasingly round and the price did not increase or did it very little. It was a service too good to be trueespecially seeing competition limitations (PlayStation Plus) or the price of a GeForce Now that gives access to a cloud hardware, but that demands that we buy each game individually. In 2023, Xbox ended with Xbox Live Gold To integrate your online game system in Game Pass, creating divisions within the service: Game Pass Core for 6.99 euros – online game and a small selection of accessible games. Game Pass Standard for 10.99 euros – online game and a wide selection of games (more than 300 titles) Game Pass Ultimate For 14.99 euros – online game, more than 500 games in console, Game Pass of PC and launches from day 1 Although last year prices rose At 12.99 euros for Standard and 17.99 euros for Ultimate, Microsoft seems to have realized that it was offering an excellent service at an price that did not square with the market. And that’s over. In that table we can see the updated prices with an essential – he substitutes the core – which is what, now, goes up two euros; A premium that remains and an ultimate that is the one that experiences the biggest climb: nine euros. Until before writing these lines, the 18 euros of Game Pass contrasted with what we see in one of the main services of the competition: GeForce Now. There are some Newssuch as the addition of Ubisoft+ Classics to the ‘Tier’ ultimate or that the players who pay the most will have a better quality when playing for streaming, a difference with premium that did not exist before. Also more advantages in Microsoft Rewards. All of that is an Xbox now In the Nvidia service we have a great streaming game experience, but at a price of 21.99 euros and having to buy games on platforms like Steam. The great game of Game Pass Ultimate was that you paid those 18 euros and you could play for streaming to the available games, but also download them on your console or PC without paying anything else. Game Pass Essential Game Pass Premium Game Pass Ultimate Game Pass for PC available games More than 50 More than 200 More than 400 “Hundreds of games” for PC Cloud streaming Yeah Includes own games Yeah Shorter waiting times Includes own games Yeah “With the best quality” With shorter waiting times Includes own games No available games day one No No, they join up to 12 months Yeah Yeah Online multiplayer Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Rewards points Up to 25,000 a year Up to 50,000 a year Up to 100,000 a year Up to 50,000 a year Advantages in games Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ others – – EA play and ubisoft+ included EA play included price 8.99 euros 12.99 euros Free 14 -day test 26.99 euros 14.99 euros With the new price of 26.99 euros, Game Pass Ultimate becomes the most premium option, far from the proposal of Nvidia or the most expensive subscription of PlayStation Plusthat of 16.99 euros, and definitely the culmination of the dreaded “is so good that it seems a lie.” In fact, the increase of three euros a year ago seemed to little taking into account that they were going to start putting everything they had bought from Activision-Blizzard, The macrooperation of 68.7 billion dollars. The Great “But” is Game Pass’s hook Despite the remarkable increase of nine euros per Game Pass UltimateMicrosoft has an ace in the sleeve (which, in turn, is what makes this change possible). Game Pass Ultimate is a service that has no competitionprecisely, for everything we have commented: Contending games to be the best of the year from day one and without additional cost. Games developed by Microsoft, such as’Indiana Jones and the big circle‘or the future’ Forza Horizon 6 ‘. Online game. Download games or streaming game without having an Xbox (on TV, the Fire TV Stick, the PC, the Tablet or on the mobile). There is no service that offers that variety and newly launched games, and it is what allows Microsoft to … Read more

Microsoft rises strongly the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in Spain. The increase comes next to a renewal of plans

by

If you are an Xbox Game Pass user or you are thinking of subscribing to the Microsoft service, prepare for important changes. Adjustments have just come into force that do not go unnoticed, including a strong increase in the price of its most complete modality. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate now costs now 26.99 euros per month. It is a 50% increase compared to the 17.99 euros paid so far. It is not the first time that this plan increases its price: in July 2024 it had already gone from 14.99 to 17.99 euros per month. The justification. According to the company, Ultimate will give access to more than 400 titles worldwide, “including most of our partners who wish to continue bringing their future games to Xbox Game Pass.” In addition, the service will offer support for 1440p resolution and improvements in the bits rate on certain devices. How far the changes arrive. Microsoft has also reorganized the offer and says goodbye to the previous nomenclature. Xbox Game Pass Core is called Xbox Game Pass Essential, while the standard plan is transformed into Xbox Game Pass Premium. Game Pass Essential Game Pass Premium Game Pass Ultimate Game Pass for PC available games More than 50 More than 200 More than 400 “Hundreds of games” for PC Cloud streaming Yeah Includes own games Yeah Shorter waiting times Includes own games Yeah “With the best quality” With shorter waiting times Includes own games No available games day one No No, they join up to 12 months Yeah Yeah Online multiplayer Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Rewards points Up to 25,000 a year Up to 50,000 a year Up to 100,000 a year Up to 50,000 a year Advantages in games Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ others – – EA play and ubisoft+ included EA play included price 8.99 euros 12.99 euros Free 14 -day test 26.99 euros 14.99 euros With Ultimate already on the table, it is time to see how they are premium and essential, what they include and how migration will apply to current subscribers. Premium, the intermediate option. With this plan you access more than 200 games both in console and PC, in addition to the possibility of playing in the cloud without limit, even with titles you already have in your library. • More than 200 games in console, PC and cloud • Access to classics such as Minecraft, Forza Horizon 5 or Grand Theft Auto V • New games published by Xbox available within a maximum period of 12 months (excluded Call of Duty) • Game in the unlimited cloud, also with own titles • Advantages In-Game in League of Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone or Rainbow Six Siege • Rewards of up to 50,000 points a year The ancient standard plan subscribers will automatically pass to Premium. It remains in the strip of 12.99 euros per month, that is, there is no price increase with respect to what we paid with the plan with the previous denomination. Essential, the new entrance door. With a more tight price, it offers the basics for those who want to try the service without great pretensions: a reduced catalog, cloud game and online multiplayer. • More than 50 games in console and PC • Access to prominent titles such as Hades, Stardew Valley or Cities: Skylines Remastered • Game in the unlimited cloud, including some games that you already have • Online multiplayer in console • Benefits in games like League of Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone • Rewards of up to 25,000 points a year We could say that they are designed for those who seek to start in Game Pass or just want access to a more limited set of games with basic advantages. Its price is encrypted at 8.99 euros per month. What about active plans. Restructuring does not force users to do anything: Microsoft will apply migration automatically. As we say, the old Core will pass to Essential, those of the standard plan will move to Premium and those who already pay Ultimate will continue in that modality. In development. Images | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 In Xataka | Saudi Arabia is not buying EA for video games. He is buying cultural influence in hundreds of millions of homes

OpenAi wants to bill as much as Microsoft in five years. For this

by

OpenAi projects to enter 2030 about 200,000 million dollars. It is almost the same as Microsoft invoices today, 245,000 million dollars. A company that this year will touch the 12,000 million dollars believes that it will multiply its income in less than five years. To contextualize excess: Apple took four decades to reach those figures. Google, two decades. Openai intends to do so in decade and a half of life, with a nuance: Until three years ago I did not invoice or one hundred million. His “zero moment” was in 2022. The planned growth graph, published by The InformationIt has many layers. The excessive ambition is just one of them. The income is triggered exponentially, but the computer costs – both training as an inference – grow almost linearly. This equation only works if Openai ceases to be what it is today: a company that sells access to LLMS for 20 dollars a month. It needs to be something else that goes much further. The question is not whether they can multiply their income by 17, but what they have to invent to justify such assessment. The secret is in the agents. But not what we imagine. Openai does not aspire to sell you a smarter chatgpt. Aspires to replace entire departments. Deep Research The model already hints: do not charge for consultation but for work done. If a report that previously required three Junior analysts for a week now does an agent in a few minutes, supervised by a single employee, how much is it worth? It is not worth $ 20 of a subscription. It is worth $ 50,000 that these salaries cost. Multiplied by each department of each company of Fortune 500 … Suddenly, the 200,000 million do not seem science fiction. They seem to conservatives. But here comes the existential paradox of OpenAi: pato capture that value need their models to be irreplaceable, unique, unattainable. However, every month that passes, the gap with Claude, Gemini or Deepseek narrows. The Commoditization of the AI It is not a future threat: it is already happening. How do you justify monopoly prices when your product is becoming water or electricity? Openai’s response seems to be the speed: Arrive first. Dominate the market. Create dependence before others can react. It is the old strategy of companies such as Uber or Amazon: losing money to buy market share, praying so that when profitability comes, you are the only one standing. Plan B is in vertical applications. They will not sell generic but specific solutions: The complete customer service system of your company. The educational platform of your university. The legal co -pilot of your office. Each vertical, a new market of billions. This is where the numbers begin to make sense. Microsoft 365 generates Microsoft almost 100,000 million annually. The World Business Software Market Billón approaches. If OpenAI captures just 20% replacing traditional software with intelligent agents, it reaches its goal. You don’t need to invent anything new. You just need to make everything that exists obsolete. Openai’s real bet is not as technological as temporary. They are buying time with 350,000 million in computer costs, betting on the AGI “Or something similar enough, that For something Altman has been moving the goal for some time– It arrives before the money is over. If they get it, those 200,000 million will be an anecdote. If they fail, we will have seen the most spectacular bubble in technological history. And the fascinating thing is not that Openai is trying. Is that everyone who imports –Microsoft, Oracle, Softbank, the US government– They seem to believe they can achieve it. Outstanding image | Adolfo Félix In Xataka | The alliance between Oracle and Openai does not go only from data centers: it goes from advanceing Google, Apple and Microsoft on the right

Microsoft has never been so valuable throughout its history. And he has never been so close to the abyss

by

The first computer of Satya NadellaCEO of Microsoft, was a VAX manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (Dec) in the late 1970s. That machine excited him in such a way that Nadella was clear about her future: she wanted to devote himself to computer science. More than that: I wanted to devote yourself to computer science and work for DEC. That could not be. The concept of microordoring the company was based on its own architecture, called Virtual Address Extension (hence Vax), but that technology ended up being crushed by which it would succeed at that time: the RISC architecture. The company tried to survive, but ended up being acquired in 1998 by Compaq and, a few years later, disappearing. The lesson that Nadella learned with Dec By the time the debacle started, Nadella had moved. After a brief period in Sun Microsystems, he began working in Microsoft in 1992 and was climbing positions until it ended becoming the company’s CEO in 2014. The funny thing is that now That past with Dec pursues him. This was recently confirmed at a meeting with Microsoft employees in which it confessed something important: “Our sector is full of practical cases of companies that were in their day and that simply disappeared. There is one in particular that persecutes me, called Dec.” In fact, he explained how “some of the people who contributed to Windows NT came from a DEC laboratory that was closed.” The Microsoft CEO thus answered an employee’s question about the moral situation in the company, which according to indicate in The Verge It is in historical minimums. Not in vain Microsoft has just suffered a massive round of layoffs with 9,000 affected employees. The curious thing, Nadella admitted, is that after 51 years in the market some metrics indicate that Microsoft is at its best. This shows Its stock market capitalization is around four billion dollars and places the Redmond company like the second or third —Intercambia positions with Apple, Nvidia remains unstoppable – company of the world in relevance. “But at the same time, when I think of the degree of difficulty that awaits us, to be able to navigate a changing industry, a changing technological sector and a changing economy, we have a very hard job ahead.” And they certainly have it. What happens if the software doesn’t matter when you are the largest company in the software world The main external threat for Microsoft is not that IA improves existing software products. It is to make them irrelevant. Nadella himself admitted it to saying at that meeting with employees that “all the categories we could have loved for 40 years may not matter.” Days later he talked about all this in a post on the official Microsoft blog. He titled it “Recomproming us with our why, ours what and ours“. The implications of paradigm shift are colossal for world software giant: Office and Windows: Traditionally its great sources of income, the productivity suite and its operating system can end up having no place in our world. If an AI agent can end up managing all office tasks, creating documents, analyzing data and coordinating the work without the need for the Office suite or even a traditional operating system interface, the base of the Microsoft business would be eroded. We would no longer use an application to do the job. We would say to an AI to do it, how is it starting to happen. Competitors without ties: The new AI companies are not weighed by the legacy of an office suite or a 40 -year -old operating system. These startups can design lighter, fast and totally native solutions in the AI ​​era. For Nadella it makes no sense “to be in love with what we create in the past.” The situation for Microsoft is certainly disturbing. Despite its multimillionaire investment in OpenAi, The relationship has evolved To turn both companies into uncomfortable allies that are sought their own B plans Like softbank, Nvidia or Oracle. For Microsoft, things have not gone so well: it has injected billions to end depending on the technology of another company that is also becoming direct competitor. He has bazas in his favor as his gigantic Azure infrastructure, but not even that ensures survival. The Microsoft’s pressure to reinvent itself It is huge. He already achieved it after the failure in the segments of Internet search engines, social networks or finally mobile phones, but now the black clouds appear again with the AI ​​boom. The funny thing is that Microsoft was the Big Tech that adopted the AI ​​paradigm shift with the necessary intensity. His bet – especially, by OpenAi – was extraordinary, but for them the threat is not that of a company that ignores the change, but that of one that perhaps made the wrong bets. At the moment it does not have a competitive foundational model, and that co -driver overload has not just set in the market. What will Nadella and your company do to react? You move, Microsoft. In Xataka | The marriage between Openai and Microsoft is broken at times. The problem is that both are still needing

Windows 10 was going to die next month. Microsoft has just thrown a lifeguard to all who wanted to continue using it

by

The end of official support for Windows 10 security updates It is near. However, if your intention is not to update Windows 11, either because you do not have a PC compatible with its strict requirements, or because you simply do not want, Microsoft offers A series of options To US and European users to obtain one more year of completely free security updates. Under these lines we tell you what options you have. Deadline for a few weeks. Microsoft had set on October 14 as the final final of the security updates for Windows 10, which meant that from that date there would be no more free security patches. This left the more than 650 million world users who continue to use this operating system in a delicate situation, having to update Windows 11 or run out of security updates. In Europe we win. Microsoft has enabled its domestic users two paths to get free updates. In Europe, Simply logged in With a Microsoft account to access updates for another year. After the pressure of multiple agencies in Europe, the company has confirmed that users of the European Economic Space will be able to enjoy an additional year of free security updates for Windows 10. In the United States, not so much luck. In the United States, The options you had announced are maintained. In this case, users will have two ways to stay in Windows 10 for one more year with free security updates. On the one hand, they can upload their profiles to the Microsoft cloud and make a backup through the app Windows Backupor redeem 1,000 points of the program Microsoft Rewards. Users who are selected for the extended security updates program (ESU) will find a notice through Windows Update and can thus select the option that best suits them. You can also pay. The other option is to pay $ 30 for an additional year. In the case of companies, the ESU program offers up to three years More updates, being more expensive than the previous one to keep the device in this operating system. In fact, in Windows 10, this program is the first time it is offered to users, being something exclusively oriented to companies so far. At the moment, domestic users will only have free updates up to one year if they choose any of the options described. The pressure that has led to this change. The decision has not emerged from nothing. European consumer organizations have actively pressed against the end of support. The French halte a l’Obsolescence Programee launched A petition asking for free updates until 2030, while the German consumer federation warned in May that Microsoft’s decision “worries consumers and limits their ability to make free purchase decisions.” From the Euroconsumers group, an organization dedicated to the protection of the European consumer, we can see A letter of response from the organization where they confirm that Microsoft has approved the users of the European Union to be able to obtain free security updates for another year in Windows 10 without having to do anything more than logging with a Microsoft account in the system. Incompatible hardware. Many users find that their teams do not meet the technical requirements of Windows 11, either by The TPM 2.0 chip mandatory, or by Specific instructions of processor that are indispensable for the operation of Windows 11. The good thing is that the first thing can be raffled, but the second does not. This leaves them in the position of having to buy a new computer or risk using a system without safety updates. The free extension gives them a one -year respite to evaluate their options. Other alternatives. However, there are also other third -party methods, such as the one that offers 0patchwho undertake to offer free security updates for Windows 10 to 2030. In addition, users can also explore alternative options such as Windows LTSC or try some Linux dystro (maybe it’s time). What comes later. This measure is temporary and strategic, since Microsoft gains time for more users to voluntarily migrate to Windows 11 while avoiding criticism for abandoning millions of people. After this year of grace, in theory there will be no more free security updates for Windows 10 users. But who knows, Microsoft is changing again in the face of so much pressure. We’ll see. In Xataka | Microsoft is already thinking about how the computers of 2030 will be and has come to a conclusion: playing is overvalued

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.