John Smith/VIEWpress via Getty
Microsoft today unveiled a suite of tools and integrations designed to empower frontline workers across the globe. Central to this release is an innovative Copilot offering, which harnesses the capabilities of generative AI to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of service professionals on the frontline.
The tech giant underscores the considerable magnitude of this workforce, estimating their global count at 2.7 billion, more than twice the number of desk-based workers. These individuals perform diverse roles, from customer-facing associates to dedicated healthcare providers and operational stalwarts who navigate on-site tasks…..Story continues….
By: Victor Dey
.
Critics:
On March 26, 2020, Microsoft announced it was acquiring Affirmed Networks for about $1.35 billion. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft closed all of its retail stores indefinitely due to health concerns. On July 22, 2020, Microsoft announced plans to close its Mixer service, planning to move existing partners to Facebook Gaming.
On July 31, 2020, it was reported that Microsoft was in talks to acquire TikTok after the Trumpadministration ordered ByteDance to divest ownership of the application to the U.S, On August 3, 2020, after speculation on the deal, Donald Trump stated that Microsoft could buy the application, however, it should be completed by September 15, 2020, and that the United States Department of the Treasury should receive a portion if it were to go through.
On August 5, 2020, Microsoft stopped its xCloud game streaming test for iOS devices. According to Microsoft, the future of xCloud on iOS remains unclear and potentially out of Microsoft’s hands. Apple has imposed a strict limit on “remote desktop clients” which means applications are only allowed to connect to a user-owned host device or gaming console owned by the user.
On September 21, 2020, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire video game company ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, for about $7.5 billion, with the deal expected to occur in the second half of 2021 fiscal year. On March 9, 2021, the acquisition was finalized and ZeniMax Media became part of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios division. The total price of the deal was $8.1 billion.
On September 22, 2020, Microsoft announced that it had an exclusive license to use OpenAI‘s GPT-3 artificial intelligence language generator. The previous version of GPT-3, called GPT-2, made headlines for being “too dangerous to release” and had numerous capabilities, including designing websites, prescribing medication, answering questions, and penning articles. On November 10, 2020, Microsoft released the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S video game consoles.
In April 2021, Microsoft announced it would buy Nuance Communications for approximately $16 billion. The acquisition of Nuance was completed in March 2022. In 2021, in part due to the strong quarterly earnings spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft’s valuation came to nearly $2 trillion. The increased necessity for remote work and distance education drove demand for cloud computing and grew the company’s gaming sales.
On June 24, 2021, Microsoft announced Windows 11 during a Livestream. The announcement came with confusion after Microsoft announced Windows 10 would be the last version of the operating system; set to be released in the third quarter of 2021. It was released to the general public on October 5, 2021.
In early September 2021, it was announced that the company had acquired Takelessons, an online platform which connects students and tutors in numerous subjects. The acquisition positioned Microsoft to grow its presence in the market of providing online education to large numbers of people.In the same month, Microsoft acquired Australia-based video editing software company Clipchamp.
In October 2021, Microsoft announced that it began rolling out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) support for Microsoft Teams calls in order to secure business communication while using video conferencing software. Users can ensure that their calls are encrypted and can utilize a security code that both parties on a call must verify on their respective ends.
On October 7, Microsoft acquired Ally.io, a software service that measures companies’ progress against OKRs. Microsoft plans to incorporate Ally.io into its Viva family of employee experience products. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced the acquisition of American video game developer and holding company Activision Blizzard in an all-cash deal worth $68.7 billion.
Activision Blizzard is best known for producing franchises, including but not limited to Warcraft, Diablo, Call of Duty, StarCraft, Candy Crush Saga, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Tony Hawk’s, Guitar Hero, and Overwatch. Activision and Microsoft each released statements saying the acquisition was to benefit their businesses in the metaverse, many saw Microsoft’s acquisition of video game studios as an attempt to compete against Meta Platforms, with TheStreet referring to Microsoft wanting to become “the Disney of the metaverse”.
Microsoft also named Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox brand since 2014, the inaugural CEO of the newly established Microsoft Gaming division, which now houses the Xbox operations team and the three publishers in the company’s portfolio (Xbox Game Studios, ZeniMax Media, Activision Blizzard).
Microsoft has not released statements regarding Activision’s recent legal controversies regarding employee abuse, but reports have alleged that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, a major target of the controversy, will leave the company after the acquisition is finalized. The deal was closed on October 13, 2023. In December 2022, Microsoft announced a new 10-year deal with the London Stock Exchange for products including Microsoft Azure; Microsoft acquired ~4% of the LSE as part of the deal.
In January 2023, CEO Satya Nadella announced Microsoft would lay off some 10,000 employees. The announcement came a day after hosting a Sting concert for 50 people, including Microsoft executives, in Davos, Switzerland. On January 23, 2023, Microsoft announced a new multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment deal with ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
At a November 2023 developer conference, Microsoft announced two new custom-designed computing chips: The Maia chip, designed to run large language models, and Cobalt CPU, designed to power general cloud services on Azure. On November 20, 2023, Satya Nadella announced the former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former president and Chairman of Greg Brockman will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team.
Leave a Reply