Tag: Microsoft

  • Microsoft Solitaire turns 30, still has 35 million monthly players

    Microsoft Solitaire turns 30, still has 35 million monthly players

    Microsoft’s card game Solitaire is celebrating its 30th anniversary today.

    The card game, which was initially known as Windows Solitaire, is still one of the most played games in the world. According to reports, more than 35 million people around the world play it monthly.

    Microsoft Solitaire was originally included as part of Windows 3.0 back in 1990, designed specifically to teach users how to use a mouse. Grabbing virtual cards and dropping them in place taught the basics of drag-and-drop in Windows, which we still use today in many parts of the operating system.

    Solitaire was included in the world video game Hall of Fame in 2019 due to its huge popularity. It has also been translated into 65 languages.

    The new app of Microsoft Solitaire has five new game modes in it, daily challenges, competitive events, Xbox Live integration, and also gives the option to select the difficulty level.

    The game is now available for Windows, IOS, Android and web users.

  • Work-from-home causes burnout, isolation: Microsoft CEO

    Work-from-home causes burnout, isolation: Microsoft CEO

    The chief executive officer (CEO) of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, has said that making remote work permanent can have a deteriorating impact on social interactions and mental health of the workers, whereas virtual conferences cannot replace in-person meetings. 

    “Those who are used to traditional office setting and appreciate social interactions that take place at the office, a sudden shift to remote work will impact their mental health due to isolation and burnout.”

    After the outbreak of coronavirus, companies around the world made work from home mandatory as a safety measure but according to Nadella, this step is not good for the wellbeing of workers.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Nadella said that remote setup would be “replacing one dogma with another dogma”. 

    “What does burnout look like? What does mental health look like? What do connectivity and community building look like? One of the things I feel is, hey, maybe we are burning some of the social capital we built up in this phase where we are all working remotely. What’s the measure for that?,” Nadella added.

    His remarks come after Twitter allowed its staff to work from home “forever” even after the end of COVID-19 pandemic. 

    Twitter has become the first company to allow employees to work from home indefinitely as the pandemic changes work culture around the world.  

    Tech giants like Facebook and Google have also allowed most of their employees to work remotely until the end of this year.

    Microsoft has also extended its work-from-home policy until October at least, besides, nothing will hinder the operations and progress of Microsoft as the CEO clearly stated, “We’re going to boldly allocate and acquire, build, innovate, partner, whatever.”

    “We are also going to make sure that we have the ability to do credit for small businesses and other organisations that need that help.”

  • Windows 7 is officially out of support from Microsoft

    Windows 7 is officially out of support from Microsoft

    Last month, Microsoft shut down Windows 7 completely. Even then, a large number of people are still using the same operating system, but should immediately upgrade to better versions for a number of reasons. 

    Windows 7 users are receiving troublesome bugs since the shutdown. The first bug broke the operating system’s wallpapers and internet browser but a recent one is much more dangerous. 

    Some users have been reporting a new bug that prevents them from shutting down or rebooting their PC, claiming that “you don’t have permission to shut down this computer”. The source of this bug is still unknown. 

    Windows 7 is officially out of support and Microsoft may never fix this bug, but some hope still remains as they did make an exception to the rule when they patched the wallpaper bug a few days ago.

    It is recommended that all users upgrade their operating systems and even their old devices. When a new technology is introduced, companies start focusing on their contemporary products to improve users’ experience.  

  • Saudi Arabia’s energy company ‘Aramco’ worth’s $1.7 trillion after a historic IPO

    Saudi Arabia’s energy company ‘Aramco’ worth’s $1.7 trillion after a historic IPO

    Saudi Arabia has recently turned Aramco (Arabian-American Oil Company) in publicly owned enterprise. By making it a public entity – that investors can buy and sell shares in the stock market.

    Shaybah

    In the Initial Public Offering (IPO) phase, the worth of the company has plunged to $1.88 trillion that break all the records of the recent decades.

    The offering price of Armaco shares were 32 Riyals ($8.53) and people bought the shares of $25.6 billion – eclipsing Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO of 2014.

    Moreover, seconds after the debut on Riyadh’s Tadawul exchange, the price per stock rose to 35.2 riyals. This development further boosted the energy giant’s valuation.

    Haradh Gas Plant (Aramco)

    On the launch ceremony, the Chairman of Aramco Yasir Al-Rumayyan said “Today the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is no longer the only shareholder of the company. More than five million shareholders have joined including citizens and residents, in addition to Gulf countries and international investment institutions. The kingdom is immensely proud of this day.”

    It was the strategy of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to overhaul the oil-reliant economy.

    The IPO process had put the energy giant’s value at $1.7 trillion, far ahead of other firms in the trillion-dollar club, including Apple and Microsoft.

    The listing of Aramco, with its huge capital value, boosts the Saudi bourse — known as Tadawul — to the ranks of the world’s top ten.