The free year-long Windows 10 upgrade won't be offered to Enterprise users

While Microsoft will offer consumers who own a Windows 7 or 8.1 PC a free upgrade to Windows 10 for a year after it officially launches, the company won't extend that same offer for Windows 7 and 8.1 Enterprise users.

In a blog post on Friday, Microsoft stated:

"For enterprise customers and partners, we will continue to deliver exclusive value and offer extensive flexibility in how Windows 10 is deployed and managed as Windows evolves to become a service. For companies that require these enterprise-grade capabilities, Windows Software Assurance (SA) will continue to offer the best and most comprehensive benefits. Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise are not included in the terms of free Windows 10 Upgrade offer we announced last week, given active Software Assurance customers will continue to have rights to upgrade to Windows 10 enterprise offerings outside of this offer – while also benefiting from the full flexibility to deploy Windows 10 using their existing management infrastructure."

Microsoft plans to release feature updates for Windows 10 at a much faster pace compared to previous versions of the OS. However, some businesses want to simply get security updates and bug fixes. Microsoft stated:

"To support Windows 10 devices in these mission critical customer environments we will provide Long Term Servicing branches at the appropriate time intervals. On these branches, customer devices will receive the level of enterprise support expected for the mission critical systems, keeping systems more secure with the latest security and critical updates, while minimizing change by not delivering new features for the duration of mainstream (five years) and extended support (five years). "

Other business users of Windows 10 would still like to update their devices to use new features in the OS but they also want them to be tested beforehand. Microsoft stated:

"To that end, we are introducing a new approach for business customers, which we are referring to as the Current branch for Business. By putting devices on the Current branch for Business, enterprises will be able to receive feature updates after their quality and application compatibility has been assessed in the consumer market, while continuing to receive security updates on a regular basis. This gives IT departments' time to start validating updates in their environments the day changes are shipped broadly to consumers, or in some cases earlier, if they have users enrolled in the Windows Insider Program."

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central 

Cleartrip update lets users in India book train tickets directly from their phones

Cleartrip has launched an update to its Windows Phone app that allows users in India the ability to book train tickets. The added functionality is on top of the flight and hotel booking services already being offered. Along with the ability to book train tickets, users can also view schedules for up to two weeks, as well as the running status of the train, all from within the app.

Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1 grabs a tiny update tonight

Microsoft is not quite done with Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1. Tonight, version 2.6.657.0 is live in the Store, and it looks to be a rapid-release fix for an issue affecting some users.

No other details were posted on the Xbox User Voice page, so it is safe to surmise no new features were added. In addition, seeing as this is a minor number change from 2.6.656.0 just a few days ago, this looks to be more about addressing a very specific bug for some people.

"A new release is coming for the Music app on Windows Phone 8.1 which includes a fix for an issue impacting some users launching the app. Version 2.6.657.0 will be available in the store later today.

"Many thanks to those who reported the error and to those who helped us verify the fix by sharing log files from their phones."

"Please continue making your feedback known on User Voice, in store reviews, and elsewhere on the Internet. We're listening!"

Regardless, hit the Store now and grab the update. The new version of Xbox Music is still very fresh, so give it some time if you do not see the update right away.

• Download Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

Bank of America to end support for its Windows Phone app in early March [update: Windows 8.1 too]

Update: According to its store listing, it looks like Bank of America will be dropping its Windows 8.1 app in March as well (thanks, Brent, for the tip).

Original story: Yet another major US bank is ending its support for the Windows Phone platform. This time it's Bank of America, which has posted a note on its app's store page that it will stop supporting Microsoft's mobile OS sometime in early March.

The post did not offer a specific reason for this decision. It only stated, "We're sorry for the inconvenience." It also recommends that Windows Phone users access Bank of America's website from now on. The app was first launched for the Windows Phone operating system in May 2011. Bank of America also has a Windows 8.1 app in the Windows Store, but so far there's no indication they plan to remove support for that app.

As we reported earlier this month, the Chase Mobile app for Windows Phone has been removed from the store, and will stop working completely on March 22.

Bank of America did update their iPhone app just yesterday, but they are obviously not discontinuing support for that platform. In other words, this is not a new mobile strategy for the massive bank but rather a clear rejection of the Windows Phone platform due to low market share.

Bank of America released their Windows Phone app way back in 2011. For them to end their support now is shocking.

• Download Bank of America from the Windows Phone Store

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

Bill Gates is helping Microsoft create 'Personal Agent', thinks HoloLens is 'amazing'

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote today that the company's recently revealed Microsoft HoloLens hardware is "pretty amazing" and "the start of virtual reality." He also revealed, as part of a Reddit AMA session, he is working with Microsoft on a project called Personal Agent.

Today was Gates' third such Reddit AMA session and while most of his responses were based around his annual letter from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he did answer a few Microsoft-based questions. One person asked him what he thought of the HoloLens device that was shown last week as part of Microsoft's Windows 10 event. Gates replied:

"The Hololens is pretty amazing. Microsoft has put a lot into the chips and the software. It is the start of virtual reality. Making the device so you don't get dizzy or nauseous is really hard - the speed of the alignment has to be super super fast. It will take a few years of software applications being built to realize the full promise of this."

Another person mentioned that 2015 is the 30th anniversary of the first version of Windows and asked Gates what he thought the next 30 years would be like in terms of technology and personal computing. Gates wrote:

"There will be more progress in the next 30 years than ever. Even in the next 10 problems like vision and speech understanding and translation will be very good. Mechanical robot tasks like picking fruit or moving a hospital patient will be solved. Once computers/robots get to a level of capability where seeing and moving is easy for them then they will be used very extensively."

"One project I am working on with Microsoft is the Personal Agent which will remember everything and help you go back and find things and help you pick what things to pay attention to. The idea that you have to find applications and pick them and they each are trying to tell you what is new is just not the efficient model - the agent will help solve this. It will work across all your devices.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central 

FLAC support will also come to Windows 10 for phones

While we already knew that Windows 10 would be bringing native access to lossless audio in the form of FLAC support, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore took to Twitter today to confirm that support for FLAC files will come to Windows Phones as well.

Belfiore says:

"Yes, FLAC support will be on phones/small tablets... won't be in the first insider build, though, will be a few months later.."

The addition of native FLAC support in Windows 10 for both desktops and phones is great news for audiophiles who have historically had to rely on outside codecs or programs, such as VLC, to play the files on their machines.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

Xbox Music for Windows Phone picks up substantial bug fixing update for January

Microsoft today pushed out an update for Xbox Music on Windows Phone 8.1. The update is the first for 2015 and the first since the update last December.

Although no new features were introduced, the 2.6.656.0 update does address numerous user complaints and issues with the app. The changelog itself is quite substantial, and we will post it in its entirety.

Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1 (2.6.656.0): Fixes and improvements

• Three of the top unexpected app exits (e.g. at launch)
• Downloading tracks sometimes resulted in an error message
• Issue that caused background image to flicker on shuffle setting toggle
• Playback errors on specific content
• Unreliability in delete action
• Inaccurate group headers (a, b, c. etc.)
• Issue that prevented all fans across the globe from being able to sync purchases and playlists consistently – the experience in these countries should be improved:
  • AR / Argentina
  • BR / Brazil
  • DK / Denmark
  • FI / Finland
  • MX / Mexico
  • NO / Norway
  • SE / Sweden

The update is very new to the Store, so if you do not see an update just yet, just keep checking as the update is surely to come to your device in the next few hours.

Additionally, some people have noted that a User Voice request has had a status change to 'Started'. The request is in regards to storing and playing back music on OneDrive for playback. This change is in reference to the announcement last week in Redmond by Microsoft about such a feature, which is coming to Windows 10 in the coming weeks and months.

• Download Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central