Microsoft has a commitment to entirely remove fossil fuel backup generation by 2030?

I know it's implied by the 100/100/0 statement, but I hadn't realised they had been explicit

Het Waterschapshuis heeft een Microsoft kenniscentrum, en website. Belachelijk, predikt het werk van een leverancier. Co-opted zou ik zeggen

Microsoft circumvented a 2023 ban on big data centers in Amsterdam / North-Holland, by splitting the permit process up in three separate ones. Despite it all using a single connection to the grid.

• Microsoft provided the FBI with BitLocker recovery keys for three laptops seized in a fraud investigation related to Guam's Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.
• BitLocker, Windows' full-disk encryption enabled by default, uploads recovery keys to Microsoft's cloud by default, allowing access by Microsoft and law enforcement with a warrant.
• Microsoft receives about 20 such requests per year and complies; a spokesperson did not comment for TechCrunch.
• Cryptography expert Matthew Green criticized Microsoft for not securing keys better, noting repeated cloud breaches and industry lag.
• Risks include hackers compromising Microsoft's cloud to steal keys (requiring physical drive access) and privacy concerns from key escrow.

Hacker News Discussion

• Users debate defaults: reasonable for average users to protect against theft while allowing recovery, but power users should avoid cloud upload using local accounts.
• Complaints about Microsoft pushing Microsoft accounts, auto-uploading data (e.g., via Teams, Edge), and difficulty opting out without re-encrypting.
• Comparisons to Apple FileVault/iCloud: Apple prompts choice and uses E2EE keychain; Microsoft criticized for sneaky behavior and lacking clear warnings.
• Suggestions to switch to Linux for privacy; distrust in Microsoft due to ads, updates overriding settings, and potential key upload even when opted out.
• Broader concerns: warrants compel compliance, but better design (no key collection) prevents issues; cosmic ray bit-flips or bugs could accidentally upload keys.

Bitlocker gives users the option of storing their keys on MS servers. US law enforcement approaches MS for these keys, and MS provides them. Why would anyone store keys on a remote server not under your control?

Speed Test Summary: Windows XP vs Vista vs 7 vs 8.1 vs 10 vs 11

Test Setup [00:00:00]

• Hardware: Older hardware used to ensure compatibility with older OS versions (XP/Vista) and to stress-test newer ones.
• OS Versions: All running Pro versions with the latest available updates; Windows XP is the 64-bit version.

Performance Tests

• Startup Speed [00:00:48]:
  • Winner: Windows 8.1 (fast boot advantage).
  • Surprise: Windows 10 and XP started at nearly the same time.
  • Loser: Windows 11 (struggled to load taskbar).
• Storage Footprint [00:02:13]:
  • Winner: Windows XP (least space used).
  • Heaviest: Windows 7 took up the most storage.
• RAM Management (Idle) [00:02:40]:
  • Winner: Windows XP (lowest usage).
  • Loser: Windows 11 (3.5–3.7 GB idle usage vs 2.3 GB for Windows 10).
• Web Browser Stress Test (Tab limit before 5GB usage) [00:03:29]:
  • Winners: Windows 7 and 8.1 (reached over 200 tabs).
  • Loser: Windows 11 (failed to reach 50 tabs due to high base usage).
  • Note: Windows XP crashed at 50 tabs due to virtual memory limits.
• Battery Life [00:04:49]:
  • Winner: Windows XP (pleasant surprise).
  • Runner-ups: Windows 10 (2nd), Windows 8.1 (3rd).
  • Loser: Windows 11 died first.
• Video Editing Rendering [00:06:08]:
  • Winner: Windows 10.
  • Runner-up: Windows 8.1.
  • Loser: Windows 11 (slowest).
• Application Launching (Explorer, Paint, Calc) [00:06:48]:
  • Trend: Older OS versions (8.1 and below) opened "classic" apps significantly faster.
  • Loser: Windows 11 showed significant delays, likely due to modern app rebuilds and mixed UI elements.
• File Transfer (USB to Disk) [00:08:41]:
  • Winner: Windows 10 (barely beat 11).
  • Trend: Newer OS versions generally faster than older ones here.
• Malware Scans [00:09:02]:
  • Winner: Windows 7 (fastest scan).
  • Loser: Windows 11 (took almost a minute longer than Win 10).

Benchmarks (Synthetic) [00:10:04]

• CPU-Z: Older OSs generally better in single-threaded; Windows 7 best in multi-threaded.
• Geekbench: Windows 10 best multi-core; Windows 11 best single-core.
• CrystalDiskMark: XP best read speeds; Windows 7/Vista performed poorly on reads.

Conclusion & Ranking [00:12:37]

Based on the "polish," "speed," and "stability" on older hardware as tested in the video:

1. Windows 8.1 (Praised as the most polished, fast, and stable).
2. Windows 10 (Performed consistently well, winning video editing and file transfers).
3. Windows 7 (Strong showing in RAM management and security scanning).
4. Windows XP (Excellent battery life and low resource usage, but limited by age/compatibility).
5. Windows Vista (Average performance, often lagging behind 7).
6. Windows 11 (Ranked last; described as "one of the slowest," with massive memory consumption).

https://web.archive.org/web/20260105192105/https://www.office.com/

#2026/01/05 the day that Office was renamed to 'Microsoft 365 Copilot app' Meanwhile a billion PC owners are holding out on even Windows 11. [[Windows 10 is out of support, but 1 billion PCs still haven’t upgraded]] And MS CEO asks all to pretty please don't talk about slop or Microslop.... [[Microsoft CEO Begs Users to Stop Calling It Slop]]

Dell COO in q3 earnings call said 500 million PCs that could have not been upgraded to Windows 11, and 500 million PCs that couldn't are also still in operation on Windows 10. 1billion PCs thusfar not moving to Win11.

1 billion PCs still running Windows 10. Here seen as sign of resistance to Win 11 and AI slop

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella doesn't want people to use the word slop for AI output

160 datacenters in NL have reporting req. 104 did, and 27 left out the key information. Of those 27, 24 were of US entities, incl the biggest users Google and MS

MS created foundation model Aurora, trained on over '1 million hours of diverse geophysical data' (they mean 1 million compute hours??), to use to predict atmospheric variables (temp) in August 2024.

• NVIDIA’s latest earnings highlight a dramatic surge in AI demand, driven by a shift from simple one-shot inference to more complex, compute-intensive reasoning tasks.
• Reasoning models require hundreds to thousands of times more computational resources and tokens per task, significantly increasing GPU usage, especially for AI coding agents and advanced applications.
• Major hyperscalers like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI are experiencing exponential growth in token generation, with Microsoft alone processing over 100 trillion tokens in Q1—a fivefold year-over-year increase.
• Hyperscalers are deploying nearly 1,000 NVL72 racks (72,000 Blackwell GPUs) per week, and NVIDIA-powered “AI factories” have doubled year-over-year to nearly 100, with the average GPU count per factory also doubling.
• To meet this unprecedented demand, more than $300 billion in capital expenditure is being invested this year in data centers (rebranded by NVIDIA as “AI factories”), signaling a new industrial revolution in AI infrastructure.

https://www.repubblica.it/economia/2024/08/23/news/obiettivo_emissioni_zero_green_economy-423458893/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Transfer_Project

see GitHub repo at https://github.com/google/data-transfer-project

This is different to the recent AWS nuclear deal

I think this is a good example of a misleading marketing ploy that shouldn't exist in technical documentation.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240929075044/https://pivot-to-ai.com/2024/09/28/routledge-nags-academics-to-finish-books-asap-to-feed-microsofts-ai/

Academic publishers are pushing authors to speed up delivering manuscripts and articles (incl suggesting peer review be done in 15d) to meet the quota they promised the AI companies they sold their soul to. Taylor&Francis/Routledge 75M USD/yr, Wiley 44M USD. No opt-outs etc. What if you ask those #algogens if this is a good idea?

Ongweso Jr., Edward. “The Miseducation of Kara Swisher: Soul-Searching with the Tech ‘Journalist.’” The Baffler, March 29, 2024. https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-miseducation-of-kara-swisher-ongweso.

ᔥ[[Pete Brown]] in Exploding Comma

https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftWord/comments/psrqdc/can_someone_send_me_a_free_microsoft_word/

In den USA wurde in Anwesenheit des Energieministers, die erste große kommerzielle Fabrik zur Direct Air Capture also der direkten Entnahmevon CO2 aus der Atmosphäre, eröffnet. Die Biden-Administration fördert diese Technologie mit enorm hohen Beträgen. Die Kosten für den Entzug einer Tonne CO2 aus der Atmosphäre in der neuen Anlage werden auf 600 bis 1000 Dollar geschätzt https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/climate/direct-air-capture-carbon.html

There are many stories about the compute footprint (and thus energy footprint) of AI. This is an interesting example: Microsoft doesn't have the capacity to run its own.

(this is mostly a test to see if the changes I made to the h. template in Obsidian work as intended.)

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/oct/31/microsoft-accused-of-damaging-guardians-reputation-with-ai-generated-poll

This is about an eighth of Microsoft's reported emissions in 2022, I think

No 5G, no LTE. 😒

...your frontline had better have WiFi! Or at least a hotspot!

No, it's 2023. Nobody is looking for LTE. They want 5G.

• for: progress trap, unintended consequence, unintended consequence - digital technology, quote, quote - progress trap, quote - Jonathan Grudin
• quote: Can our fundamental human need for close community be restored or
  • will we become more isolated, anxious and susceptible to manipulation?
• author: Jonathan Grudin
  • principal researcher, Microsoft

Video tutorial: Sway di Microsoft

Yet another example of why it's dumb for Microsoft to lock Community threads. This is in the Bing search results as the top article for my issue with 1,911 views. Since 2011 though, there have been new developments! The new Media Player app in Windows 10 natively supports Zune playlist files! Since the thread is locked, I can't put this news in a place where others following my same search path will find it.

Guess that's why it makes sense to use Hypothes.is 🤷‍♂️

A Microsoft forum poster suggests an alternative email address, bwtsupport at microsoft dot com, for raising concerns about Bing de-indexing. This email is listed in some older posts from the official Bing blog. I have not personally tested it yet but will keep a note here.

Wait, what does this mean. #openvraag That previously it did, but now doesn't in response to this? Or that Bing Chat never did so in the first place? In the latter this paper is dealing in hypotheticals at this stage?

Believing in "government" REQUIRES hypocrisy, schizophrenia and delusion. One illustration of this is the bizarre and contradictory way in which social media platforms PRETEND to be against people advocating violence.

https://youtu.be/7OyNHgTSBiQ

First things first.

First things first.

While there is an [ X ] close button for this window, the buttons at the bottom right are OK, Cancel, and Help. There is no close button.

I'd update the docs to say Cancel instead,

My path said /SSISDB/SSIS Tutorial and there didn't seem to be a way to change it - that field was visible but disabled (grayed out).

After pressing the Connect button to the right of Authentication, the Path changed to match the documentation and became editable.

At this step I encountered the following error: "One or more selected packages are not ready. Review the Status column for more information."

The Status column said: "Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Pipeline.ComponentVersionMismatchException: The version of Get Error Description is not compatible with this version of the DataFlow. [[The version or pipeline version or both for the specified component is higher than the current version. This package was probably created on a new version of DTS or the component than is installed on the current PC.]] at Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Pipeline.ManagedComponentHost.HostCheckAndPerformUpgrade(IDTSManagedComponentWrapper100 wrapper, Int32 lPipelineVersion)"

I was able to resolve this by changing the value Configuration Properties > General > TargetServerVersion from SQL Server 2022 to SQL Server 2019.

Thanks to a hint found here: https://johnkilleenblog.wordpress.com/2019/10/08/ssis-script-component-mismatch-error/

Examples of Bing/ChatGPT/Sydney gaslighting users

• Being very emphatic about the current year being 2022 instead of 2023
• How Sydney spied on its developers
• How Sydney expressed devotion to the user and expressed a desire to break up a marriage

There doesn't seem to be a way to toggle any of the checkboxes in this step with VS 2022.

When I navigate with the arrow buttons, checkboxes appear, but pressing space or enter, or clicking on them has no effect.

The results from using the old version of Microsoft Excel.

Interesting insight into click-workers used by Microsoft to blacklist sites from Bing with no explanation or recourse for appeal.

Multiple interesting things going on here with the use of "Micros✽ft W✽rd".

He's simultaneously: - Voldemorting the phrase to some extent so that it doesn't show up easily or at all in digital search. - He's visually marring the phrase to show active dislike of the software and its general use - By using the symbols, he's effectively turning the word into a form of profanity the way many have used the top row of symbols on typewriters to indicate swear words in the 20th century. Examples: sh@t, dmn, he!!, or any set of four symbols like &%^ to generally indicate a "four letter word" as many profane words typically have four letters.

I don't see an option for Directory in VS 2022. Only Delay Validation, Description, Disable, and DisableEventHandlers start with D.

This doesn't seem to be an option in VS 2022. Instead it just allows you to build the project with SC_ followed by a long line of letters and numbers like a GUID but without spaces.

Using SSIS Projects for Visual Studio 2022, the Log Events option doesn't seem to do anything. Running through the steps in this tutorial results in a log file with headers, but nothing else.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/sql-server-integration-services/public-preview-of-ssis-projects-for-vs-2022/bc-p/3699009#M874

To turn it on and off you need to know to select the checkbox and toggle the checkbox with the spacebar.

No matter where I click in the package tree, ell options in the Details pane are "dimmed" as the note describes.

There is an alert at the bottom of the window that says: "⚠️ To configure unique logging options for this container, enable logging for it in the tree view."

EDIT: We discovered that selecting the checkbox and hitting space un-mutes the field, then the checkbox can be toggled with the space bar.

With it toggled OFF, you can then go to the Details tab and toggle the settings as required, then go back to the Providers and Logs tab and toggle it ON.

When I completed this step, the nodes of the package container hierarchy did not have checkboxes. Also, the Extract Sample Currency Data checkbox did not respond to my clicks.

There was a message to clear the parent, but since the parent had no checkbox, I was unable to do so.

Drilling down resulted in checkboxes that "appear dimmed" as in the note below.

This appears to be a bug or at least a lapse in the documentation.

EDIT: We found a work-around. You can highlight the checkbox and tick it with the spacebar - but you can't select it with the mouse.

On the Lesson 3 root node, under Select the logs to use for the container: I was able to select the checkbox.

When I navigate deeper though, this option is unchecked and muted or grayed out with a message at the bottom reading:

"⚠️ To configure unique logging options for this container, enable logging for it in the tree view."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_Marshall_(hypertext_developer)

Some important points about Blackstone:

• In separate cases in 2018 and 2019, the hotel chain Motel 6, owned by Blackstone, agreed to settle for a total of $19.6 million for giving guest lists to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without a warrant.
• The company has invested in companies with links to the commercialization and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
• In 2019, a United Nations report found that Blackstone's massive purchasing of single-family homes after the financial crisis of 2007–2008 had "devastating consequences." The report alleged that Blackstone had abused tenants with exorbitant fees, rent hikes, and aggressive eviction practices, and that Blackstone's real estate practices had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, in part because the company targeted foreclosures resulting from subprime loans.
• In July 2020, Blackstone invested US$200m in the Swedish oat milk brand, Oatly, for a 7% stake in the company, triggering outrage among some segments of its customer base.

I came here after reading a couple articles (one on Super User & one on MS's help forums) recommending X-Mouse Button Control as a general way to disable back buttons on mice.

Note: this doesn't seem to work on Windows 11 for Microsoft USB IntelliMouse Optical.

Talvez seja o que estou esperando a anos, integração das pesquisas em todos os produtos da Microsoft.

—Chris Pratley, Microsoft Office's general manager (in TechRadar, 2012)

obvious bias here on part of Pratley...

Oddly, even if this were true, I'm not seeing patterns in the wild by which Microsoft products are helping to dramatically accelerate the distribution and easy ability to re-use data within documents. Perhaps its happening within companies or organizations to some extent, but it's not happening within the broader commons of the internet.

If .pdfs are where information goes to die, then perhaps tools like Hypothes.is are meant to help resurrect that information?

Blockchain technologies cannot be integrated into Minecraft client and server applications

In this statement, Microsoft is holding out the possibility that blockchain technology might evolve into something that is "practical and inclusive".

Jun 6, 2018 — Microsoft's $7.5 billion acquisition of GitHub is a perfect illustration of how value is ascribed differently in Silicon Valley than in the ...

Should be "operating".

Should be "enter a reasonable"

Should be "this"

Should be "Suppose you have many labels"

Where did this Grid come from?

Should be "assemblies".

Should be "macOS".

Microsoft Research has create the World Wide Telescope (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/worldwide-telescope/), an interactive free astronomy software, which has a rich body of knowledge. The Nura Gili: Centre for Indigenous Programs at UNSW (https://www.indigenous.unsw.edu.au/) is working in concert with them to include Indigenous knowledge in the project.

Notably, this goal has been stated before, I believe by Microsoft for the Xbox 360? Running demanding workloads in the cloud elastically makes a lot more sense than buying hardware you rarely use.

Capitalized this is a direct reference to Microsoft Word, but I can't help thinking of John 1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." presumably as the first Word.

5.a.

CBL-Mariner <--- Microsoft's Linux distribution

Johnson, Khari. ‘AI Could Soon Write Code Based on Ordinary Language’. Wired. Accessed 21 June 2021. https://www.wired.com/story/ai-write-code-ordinary-language.

This seems like the original concept that Microsoft's Fluid document framework is based on. And Apple's earlier OpenDoc project.

Microsoft will be moving away from Calibri as a default font

This is really terrible framing for this issue. We should not be promoting a penal culture for education.

微软 HoloLens 业务负责人 Alex Kipman 在演讲中向我们展示了微软混合现实的愿景。

一开场，Kipman 将自己的全息化身，投射到一个虚拟的海底世界，一个微软专门打造的有史以来最大的混合现实的舞台。

A dream dream along is only a dream. A dream we dream together is called reality. / 一个梦，一个人做的梦，只是一个梦。我们一起做的梦是现实。

借着约翰·列侬语录，Kipman 侃侃而谈着梦境与现实的哲学问题。时而用虚拟声讲话，时而用双手与虚拟的海洋生物互动，光影在他的全息化身上闪动，仿佛他的肉身真的置身于其中。

Kipman 希望用这样的方式为我们展示，微软是如何通过混合现实的构想，打破虚拟与现实的时空界限。

Microsoft Mesh、Pokemon Go、Hololens，微软的混合现实愿景详解

This chapter mentions Google Ads and Microsoft, do these same suggestions also relate to Bing or Yahoo closely?

I also was curious when reading this about how relevant Microsoft ads are nowadays. I feel like everything these days is focused on Google or Google centered. When I use Safari on my iPhone, it takes me to Google search results. I don't think I have ever used Bing and I haven't used Yahoo in probably 10+ years. Is it beneficial for companies to still put effort into Microsoft? Or could this be a case by case thing depending on the size of the company. I feel like it wouldn't be very cost effective for a small business to put money into Microsoft ads since the majority of users use Google.

Excel: Why using Microsoft’s tool caused Covid-19 results to be lost. (2020, October 5). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54423988

NLPの処理はいろんな領域で運用できる：レコメンデーション、パーソナルアシスタント

Ecco Pro's demise was attributed to Microsoft's decision to bundle Outlook with Office at no extra charge.

This, even though, in terms of products, they could not have been more different.

Price claims ECCO Pro was terminated because it couldn't compete with Microsoft Outlook, released in 1997.

I have downloaded this browser, to use with Office 365 (for my Uni stuff). I haven't really given it a full workout yet, mostly as I generally use Brave.

I personally think we'll see more Microsoft apps coming to Linux with the big one being the ultimate... basing Windows on a Linux Kernel, rather than the NT Kernel, within the next 5 year or so!

As somewhat detailed here.

For far more information I strongly recommend reading Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.