Meta is shutting down its Office platform subsequent yr, however Microsoft is planning to maintain the dream of Fb at work very a lot alive. A number of sources at Microsoft inform me the corporate has began testing a completely built-in Fb-like feed inside Microsoft Groups just lately.
Groups customers will have the ability to put up to the feed, often called a Storyline, or reply to colleagues’ posts very similar to you’ll on Fb. Microsoft is pitching this as a manner for colleagues to share bulletins, information, or progress on a mission. It may be used to congratulate colleagues on work objectives or key milestones. I’d anticipate, in lots of instances, this will even be used to share the kind of content material you’d usually discover on LinkedIn.
Microsoft isn’t utilizing LinkedIn to energy this new function, although. Storyline in Groups is constructed on prime of Viva Have interaction, the Yammer alternative that Microsoft launched just a few years in the past. Viva Have interaction was already out there inside Groups, but it surely was hidden away in a separate tab. Microsoft is now taking the Storyline function of Viva Have interaction and integrating it deeply into the primary interface of Groups.
The principle button in Microsoft Groups that you simply use to ship a brand new DM or create a brand new channel will quickly embody an choice to create a brand new Storyline put up. These posts will even seem in a Storyline tab on folks’s profiles, alongside the conventional chat and recordsdata sections.
You’ll even have the ability to comply with colleagues such as you’d comply with a public determine on Fb or Instagram, and any reactions or feedback on posts will present up within the Groups exercise feed. Sources inform me Microsoft can be engaged on paid options for Storyline, together with the flexibility to see profile analytics for those who’re prepared to pay additional for Microsoft Groups Premium.
IT admins will have the ability to management who can create new posts or bulletins, however the moderation of posts will come right down to particular person workers and office insurance policies. You wouldn’t anticipate colleagues to put up vacation snaps on a Fb-like feed at work, however given a number of the heated posts in Microsoft’s inside Viva Have interaction communities, I wouldn’t be shocked if some companies should rigorously handle who can and may’t put up on Storyline.
Microsoft first teased this Storyline integration into Groups at Ignite in November, but it surely flew underneath the radar given the sheer quantity of reports that comes out of the IT-focused convention. Storyline in Groups is because of be out there in preview type early this yr, and in current weeks, Microsoft has began rolling it out internally to some variations of its Groups shoppers. That’s signal that it’s almost prepared for a public preview earlier than broader availability later this yr.
Storyline is only one of many new options that Microsoft is planning for Groups this yr. Copilot will quickly have the ability to produce file summaries, pulling out the important thing elements of a Phrase doc or PowerPoint presentation. Microsoft can be rolling out the flexibility to document the proper pronunciation of your identify to share in your profile.
Groups is getting stay transcription help for a number of languages quickly, and a brand new Tremendous Decision function is being constructed to reinforce video high quality on Qualcomm-based Copilot Plus PCs. The brand new Tremendous Decision function entered public preview earlier this week, alongside the rollout of a brand new calendar expertise that lastly integrates the Outlook calendar into Groups and consists of month and break up views.
With Microsoft’s Construct developer convention arising in Might, I’m certain there will probably be a lot extra AI-powered options coming to Microsoft Groups this yr, too.
Extra Xbox video games arrive on PS5
Microsoft’s Mission Latitude, the Xbox technique to carry extra first-party video games to extra platforms, has been full steam forward just lately. Microsoft introduced final week that Forza Horizon 5 is making its technique to the PS5 quickly, giving PlayStation house owners top-of-the-line Forza titles to this point.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Version will be part of Forza this spring, after Age of Mythology: Retold launches for PS5 on March 4th. All three video games have been introduced for PlayStation in weblog posts, slightly than being a part of a Microsoft occasion or perhaps a PlayStation one.
Whereas Forza showing on PS5 would possibly shock some Xbox followers, it has been closely rumored for months now. I additionally reported in Notepad in June of final yr that Age of Empires and Age of Mythology have been heading to PS5 in early 2025 and that Microsoft was additionally “engaged on some type of a Halo: Fight Advanced remaster that [was] additionally being thought of for rival consoles.”
Microsoft has been weighing whether or not to launch Gears of Battle and Microsoft Flight Simulator on PS5, too, as I first reported almost a yr in the past. I wouldn’t be shocked if Microsoft goes forward with porting Halo and Gears of Battle quickly, as Xbox chief Phil Spencer just lately made it clearer than ever earlier than that extra Xbox video games are coming to PlayStation.
“It does imply extra of our video games delivery on extra platforms, not simply PlayStation. We love the work we do with Nintendo, we love what we do with Valve on Steam. Our video games will present up in increasingly more locations,” stated Spencer in a podcast in January.
Whereas Xbox video games on PlayStation are making the headlines proper now, there will probably be bulletins for Nintendo’s upcoming Change 2 console, too. The extra highly effective {hardware} means Microsoft can port much more Xbox video games to Nintendo’s platform and fulfill its promise of bringing Name of Responsibility to the Change.
- Microsoft’s Construct developer convention begins on Might nineteenth. Microsoft has confirmed that its Construct developer convention is being held once more in Seattle this yr. It can run from Might nineteenth by means of Might twenty second on the Seattle Conference Heart. Microsoft hasn’t hinted at what to anticipate this yr, however right here’s a clue: AI.
- Microsoft 365 is shedding its free VPN function. Lots of people didn’t even notice Microsoft 365 had a VPN function, however you solely have just a few weeks left to make use of it. Designed as a privateness function, the VPN makes use of the Microsoft Defender app to encrypt web site visitors and conceal IP addresses. Microsoft is eradicating this function on February twenty eighth, after elevating Microsoft 365 Private and Household subscription costs for the primary time in 12 years.
- Microsoft’s performance-based cuts have began. Over the previous few weeks, I’ve heard from a number of workers who’ve been affected by performance-based cuts at Microsoft or who know of colleagues that have been let go. Enterprise Insider reviews that some ousted staff acquired no severance. Given the character of those cuts, it’s tough to get a transparent image of what number of Microsoft workers have misplaced their jobs just lately, so for those who’ve heard something, please get in contact confidentially on the Sign messaging app, the place I’m tomwarren.01.
- Microsoft Paint is getting a Copilot button, too. The generative AI options in Paint are actually being rounded up right into a Copilot button. A drop-down menu will embody the Cocreator function that permits you to flip doodles into AI-generated pictures in addition to options like generative erase, background removing, and a text-to-image creator. Home windows Insiders are the primary to check this new Copilot button, and it’s attention-grabbing to see Microsoft lastly begin branding these Home windows AI options as Copilot ones.
- Nvidia hires a Microsoft graphics veteran. Once I first began masking Microsoft as a youngster within the late ’90s, Kam VedBrat was in control of the Home windows person expertise. He went on to steer lots of the key advances within the Home windows graphics platform and was a part of a workforce that overhauled the Home windows UI, giving Home windows Vista its Aero design language stuffed with glass-like window borders and 3D animations. VedBrat is now becoming a member of Nvidia as a senior director within the GPU software program group. He says he’ll be “targeted on the following wave of challenges in an space that has been near my coronary heart all through my profession.”
- Microsoft AI CEO headhunts former Google colleagues. Google DeepMind founder Mustafa Suleyman has employed three former colleagues to create a brand new Microsoft AI workplace in Zurich. Marco Tagliasacchi, Zalán Borsos, and Matthias Minderer all introduced this week that they’re becoming a member of the Microsoft AI workforce, simply weeks after Suleyman employed different ex-DeepMind employees for an AI well being unit at Microsoft.
- Microsoft PowerToys is getting a media transcoding function. Changing video or audio recordsdata inside Home windows has by no means been simple, however PowerToys is about to make it much more accessible. A brand new addition to the Superior Paste function will quickly allow you to transcode audio recordsdata to MP3 or transcode video recordsdata to MP4. It appears prefer it’ll be a helpful function for anybody who desires to extract audio from a video file or simply convert movies right into a extra appropriate format.
- Outlook for Mac is getting the recall emails function. Microsoft has began testing the flexibility to recall emails in Outlook for Mac. It’s a function that has lengthy been out there in Outlook for Home windows or Outlook on the internet, and it’s lastly coming to the macOS consumer. Microsoft 365 Insiders within the Beta Channel can take a look at it proper now, earlier than it rolls out to a broader preview later this month.
- Microsoft is bringing main MIDI enhancements to Home windows 11. Microsoft has began testing the largest replace to MIDI because the musical communication protocol was first launched. A brand new Canary construct of Home windows 11 consists of MIDI 2.0 help and the flexibility for MIDI 1.0 to run on Home windows on Arm. MIDI 2.0 consists of enhancements to hurry, constancy, and instrument management to assist enhance fashionable music manufacturing.
Thanks for subscribing and studying to the very finish. When you’ve heard about any of Microsoft’s different secret tasks, you possibly can attain me through electronic mail at notepad@theverge.com or converse to me confidentially on the Sign messaging app, the place I’m tomwarren.01. I’m additionally tomwarren on Telegram, for those who’d want to talk there.
