A team combining Microsoft researchers and Niels Bohr Institute academics is confident that it has found the key to creating a quantum computer.

If they are right, then Microsoft will leap to the front of a race that has a tremendous prize – the power to solve problems that are beyond conventional computers.

In the lab are a series of white cylinders, which are fridges, cooled almost to absolute zero as part of the process of creating a qubit, the building block of a quantum computer.

“This is colder than deep space, it may be the coldest place in the universe,” Prof Charlie Marcus tells me.

The team he leads is working in collaboration with other labs in the Netherlands, Australia and the United States in Microsoft’s quantum research programme.

Right now, they are behind in the race – the likes of Google, IBM and a Silicon Valley start-up called Rigetti have already shown they can build systems with as many as 50 qubits. Microsoft has yet to demonstrate – in public at least – that it can build one.

But these scientists are going down a different route from their rivals, trying to create qubits using a subatomic particle, whose existence was first suggested back in the 1930s by an Italian physicist Ettore Majorana.

This week scientists from Microsoft’s laboratory in Delft published a paper in the journal Nature outlining the progress they had made in isolating the Majorana particle.

Their belief is that this will lead to a much more stable qubit than the methods their rivals are using, which are highly prone to errors. That should mean scaling up to a fully operational quantum computer will be far easier.

At the Copenhagen lab they showed me through a powerful microscope the tiny wire where they have created these Majorana particles. Later over dinner, Prof Charlie Marcus tried, not altogether successfully, to demonstrate to someone whose last physics exam was more than 40 years ago what was unique about this approach with three pieces of bread and some cutlery.

“What’s really astounding with this activity compared with what everybody else is doing is that we have to invent a particle that’s never existed before and then use it for computing,” he explains.

“It’s a profoundly more exotic challenge than what’s going on with other approaches to quantum computing.”

Other scientists taking those other approaches are looking on with great interest and a little scepticism.

“It’s one of those things that on paper look incredibly exciting but physics has a habit of throwing up spanners in the works,” says University College London’s Prof John Morton, whose research involves using good old fashioned silicon to build qubits.

“Until we see the demonstration we don’t know how well these Majorana qubits developed by Microsoft will really behave.”

He says this is a big year for the field, with the strong likelihood that Google or IBM will demonstrate what is known as quantum supremacy, where a problem that is beyond a conventional supercomputer is solved using quantum methods.

But Microsoft seems confident that its years of research will soon pay off.

“We will have a commercially relevant quantum computer – one that’s solving real problems – within five years,” says Dr Julie Love, Microsoft’s director of quantum computing business development.

She is already out selling the company’s customers a vision of a near future where quantum computers will help battle climate change, create new superconducting materials and super-charge machine learning.

“What it allows us to do is solve problems that with all of our supercomputers running in parallel would take the lifetime of the universe to solve in seconds, hours or days.”

So, the heat is on for the research team. Prof Charlie Marcus, who spent most of his career at Harvard before being recruited to run the Copenhagen lab, says his life has been about creating knowledge, not building products.

“My job is to find out what works and hand it off to the engineers and computer scientists who will turn it into a technology.”

Heading up the whole programme is Todd Holmdahl, the Microsoft executive previously in charge of the Hololens mixed reality headset and the Xbox games console – a measure of how serious the company is about making some quantum hardware pretty soon.

I pressed Prof Marcus on whether his team was going to hit that ambitious five-year target set by his employer.

“We’re sure going to try,” he says with a grin.

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Source: BBC

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The school gained the attention of a number of organizations after a picture of an ICT teacher drawing parts of the computer on the chalkboard went viral on social media.

The absence of computers and other learning materials forced the teacher, Richard Akoto Appiah to draw sections of a Word document on the board.

Microsoft, in collaboration with its local Education partner in Ghana, eSolutions Consulting, equipped the computer lab of the school with 27 laptop computers, tables and chairs for both pupils and teachers, a projector, a UPS back-up and routers, as well as one year 3G internet connectivity.

The organizations also donated mathematical sets and school uniforms to the school.

Education Lead for West, East and Central Africa at Microsoft, Warren La Fleur said the mission of his outfit was to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more with technology.

“Microsoft believes that enablement must start at the grassroots level by way of education. It is the teachers and the work they do through their lessons, that allow for this to happen effectively”, he added.

Teachers and pupils of the school told Citi News that the provision of computers and other learning materials by Microsoft will improve their study of the subject.

15-year-old Emelia Serwaa, one of 127 students at the school said: “I am really happy because I have not used a laptop before. This the first time I am touching a laptop and it is so flexible.”

She commended Microsoft for the donation and said the device will help her to achieve her grade one target in the ICT subject when she sits for the 2018 Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).

13-year-old form two pupil, Baafo Emmanuel could also not hide his excitement as he was seated before a brand new laptop computer donated to his class by Microsoft.

“It is better to bring it here. When we didn’t have computers, we used to draw everything in our notebooks, but now we can try it in our own laptops”, he said.

Teacher Richard Akoto Appiah, who has for over six years taken to the chalkboard to draw Microsoft Word interface and other computer parts for his students due to the absence of computers, said he has heaved a sigh after the intervention.

“I so happy with what Microsoft has done. We were doing everything on the chalkboard now they have a laptop so it will make it very easy leaning the subject”.

His efforts have brought relief not only for his pupils but also those from nearby schools.

He has, for over six years, taken to the chalkboard to draw Microsoft Word and other computer programmes for his students.

The Betenase M/A Junior High School (JHS), like many others in the area are bedevilled with infrastructural challenges, inadequate furniture and teaching and learning materials.

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By: Hafiz Tijani/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Richard Akoto, was in Singapore on the ticket of Microsoft as part of the global technology giant’s support for him after he went viral earlier this year.

The event brought together over 400 educators and school leaders from 91 countries to discuss the role of technology in education.

The Vice President for Worldwide Education at Microsoft, Anthony Salcito, praised Richard Akoto for overcoming major obstacles to help his students.

“Your work has really inspired the world. It really shows the amazing innovation and commitment and passion that teachers have for helping their students get ready for the future,” he said.

Richard Akoto said he was excited about the support being provided by Microsoft, adding that it was refreshing he was no longer going to the blackboard to teach ICT in his school.

“I wanted to teach them [the pupils] how to launch Microsoft Word. But I had no computer to show them. I had to do my best. So, I decided to draw what the screen looks like on the blackboard with chalk,” he said.

“I drew the features and labeled them correctly so that they would know what-was-what. Then I drew what you would see on your computer screen after launching Word.

“I have been doing this every time the lesson I’m teaching demands it. I’ve drawn monitors, system units, keyboards, a mouse, a formatting toolbar, a drawing toolbar, and so on. The students were okay with that. They are used to me doing everything on the board for them. When I did this, it was nothing new or strange for them,” he said.

“Something very positive has come out of this and I am very happy. We are no longer going to use the chalkboard again. We will have computers,” he added.

Microsoft will be working with Richard through a local partner in Ghana to provide device and software support required for his students at the Betenase Municipal Assembly Junior High School in the town of Sekyedomase in rural Ghana.

He will also gain access to the Microsoft Certified Educator Program (MCE) for professional development, so he can nurture his passion for teaching and build rich, custom learning experiences for his students.

Meanwhile, Richard Akoto’s viral story has gotten a benefactor at UK’s University of Leeds to donate a brand new laptop to this school.

NIIT Ghana, an IT training school, has also donated five (5) desktop computers to the school and one laptop to Mr. Akoto for his personal use.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana with additional information from Microsoft

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The event, supported by Zepto Ghana Ltd, Point of View and Africa Schools Online, brought together Heads of Institutions, Directors of IT, Teachers and actors in the education sector to appreciate how Microsoft’s latest technologies and education tools can help institutions save money, attract students, and aid teaching and learning globally.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, an education director of Microsoft in the Middle East, Jaye Richard Mills, said it was vital that educational institutions employ ‘real-world’ teaching and learning methods in order for the youth to better translate what they study into their daily lives.

“I think the challenge as students is that you come into university or college expecting it to be reflective of the life that you live outside, and what you very often find [that isn’t the case]. We need to make better connections between education and real life outside,” she said.

“So I think the purpose of today is to talk about windows and Microsoft in education, and what Microsoft is doing around the world to encourage the grown of the skills driven agenda in our schools and universities.”

According to her, the world had shifted from knowledge acquisition to a greater focus on skills and capacity development.

“[There’s] a fundamental shift from pure knowledge and acquisition to very much skill for 21st-century life. The skill that you need to take your place in the 21st-century information age, are the types of skills that you need to acquire during education.”

The event saw the unveiling of some new software like Microsoft 365 Education, which combines the essentials of the Windows 10 platform all within a simplified licensing framework for better and easy learning, Office 365 for productivity and collaboration and Enterprise Mobility Suite for security and management.

Jaye Richard Mills also said the programs are meant to better education and equip the young to be able to face and adapt to the technological age, which is at the heart of Microsoft.

“Microsoft is about supporting educators, and supporting them on a journey to improving their skills, and we do that through the various programs that we have for training which you will find on our Microsoft.com/education site, and also in the teams that we have working around the world to develop our software.

“So for Microsoft this is very much about supporting educators to deliver quality education that speaks for purposes in this 21 century information age,” she added.

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By: Ann-Shirley Ziwu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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“As a result of the issuance of this policy, we are taking steps to dismiss our lawsuit,” Smith said.

The company expects the changes to end the practice of indefinite secrecy orders.

Microsoft filed the lawsuit in April 2016 arguing that the U.S. government was violating the constitution by preventing the company from informing its customers about government requests for their emails and other documents.

The suit argued that the government’s actions were in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which establishes the right for people and businesses to know if the government searches or seizes their property, and the company’s First Amendment right to free speech.

The changes will ensure that secrecy order requests are “carefully and specifically tailored to the facts in the case,” Smith said.

“This is an important step for both privacy and free expression. It is an unequivocal win for our customers, and we’re pleased the DOJ (Department of Justice) has taken these steps to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans,” the statement said.

While Microsoft has agreed to drop its lawsuit, Smith said the company is renewing its call to Congress for the amendment of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act which was adopted in 1986.

The DOJ did not respond to request for comment outside regular business hours.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling preventing federal prosecutors from obtaining emails stored in Microsoft computer servers in Dublin, Ireland in a drug trafficking investigation.

Government lawyers argued the lower court ruling threatened national security and public safety.

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Source: Reuters

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The patents were assigned to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe by technology company SRC Labs, and it will receive a share of any award.

Tribal sovereignty means that the patents cannot be reviewed by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

A similar deal has drawn criticism from US lawmakers, who claim it is a loophole to avoid patent scrutiny.

Democratic US senator Claire McCaskill drafted a bill this month, in response to another attempt to transfer patents to the same tribe.

In that case, it was pharmaceutical giant Allergan, and a patent for dry-eye medication.

Ms McCaskill said at the time. “Congress never imagined tribes would allow themselves to be used by pharmaceutical companies to avoid challenges to patents, and this bill will shut the practice down before others follow suit.”

The tribe issued a statement questioning why the legislation targeted Native American tribes but not other sovereign governments or state universities.

John Tothill, a partner at law firm Dehns, said the US appeal board was frequently used to revoke patents.

“Microsoft or Amazon could pre-empt this action by applying to have the patents revoked,” he said.

“It is a way of playing the system, if you like, and trying to block potential litigation.

“I am assuming that passing the patents on like this stops that because the US federal government does not have rights over the sovereignty of Native Americans.”

Neither Amazon nor Microsoft have responded to requests for comment.

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Source: BBC

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The company’s Windows 10 chief has tweeted that developing new features and hardware for the Mobile version of the OS was no longer a “focus”.

Joe Belfiore added that he had also switched to Android himself.

Windows 10 Mobile tried to attract users by letting them run the same “universal apps” on both their PCs and handsets, but the concept failed to catch on.

The OS accounted for just 0.03% of the global market – based on smartphone shipments – between April and June, according to research company IDC.

The market intelligence provider said the news had been a long time coming.

“There wasn’t a wide range of devices running Windows 10 Mobile, so it wasn’t attractive to retailers or operators,” said IDC’s Francisco Jeronimo.

“And from a consumer perspective, the operating system didn’t provide as good an experience as Android or iOS.”

Mr Belfiore began a series of tweets on Sunday by discussing the recent launch of a test version of Microsoft’s Edge web browser for Android and iOS – the latest in a series of releases of its core software for rival mobile platforms.

He then went on to respond to questions about whether there was any point sticking with Windows 10 Mobile.

He said that while Microsoft would support the “many companies” that had adopted the platform, he had switched to Android for the diversity of its apps and hardware.

“Of course we’ll continue to support the platform… bug fixes, security updates, et cetera,” he said.

“But building new features or hardware is not the focus.”

Mr Belfiore posted Microsoft had tried “very hard” to incentivise other companies to release universal apps – even writing their software for them in some cases – but the number of users had been too low for most to bother.

The announcement comes a week after HP had said it no longer planned to release further Windows 10 Mobile handsets, and a fortnight after Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates disclosed that he had already made the switch to Android.

However, some manufacturers – including the UK’s Wileyfox and Germany’s TrekStor – had unveiled new models powered by Windows 10 Mobile as recently as last month.

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Executives from Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc. were among the strongest in condemning Trump’s decision on Tuesday to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Known as DACA, it lets children brought to the U.S. as undocumented immigrants work, drive and enroll in college. The president gave Congress six months to pass laws to replace the program. If that doesn’t happen, it could open a new front in the intermittent flame war between the world’s most powerful tech companies and the U.S. government.

“We’re going to fight alongside you to help this get resolved. Not just for the folks that are on DACA but for all dreamers and undocumented folks,” Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a live-streamed conversation with three DACA grantees, known as dreamers. Microsoft Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith urged Congress to prioritize finding a replacement for DACA and later told NPR that the government would have to “go through us” if it tried to deport dreamers employed by the company.

“To know directly from the CEOs that they’re the ones saying they support it and why they feel it’s important, that’s never happened before — not to the extent that it’s happening now,” said Elizabeth Vilchis, a dreamer who works at Samsung Electronics Co.’s NEXT startup investment unit. Samsung declined to comment.

Six Months
Vilchis said she and other dreamers expect the most-powerful tech companies to follow their words with actions, such as suing the government or giving affected employees the option to keep their jobs but transfer to other countries. She’s doubtful six months is enough time for a meaningful replacement to be enacted by Congress and is preparing for the worst.

Ava Benach, an immigration lawyer based in Washington, said tech has been the most vocal critic of Trump’s move to come from the broader business world. She attributes Silicon Valley’s aggressiveness to a desire to stay in line with customers, a contrast to other immigration priorities, like the H-1B visa program, that impact large proportions of their workforce. Microsoft applies for thousands of H-1B visas each year, for instance, but says it has 39 employees whose immigration status relies on DACA. “For the 39 Microsoft employees, there are 800,000-plus DACA holders that use Microsoft products and want to feel good about that,” Benach said.

The tech sector, which employs many foreign-born workers and their children, has been more vocal than other industries on immigration issues, leading to lawsuits against Trump’s order to ban immigration from some majority-Muslim nations earlier this year. Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft have already joined a lawsuit led by a coalition of state governments in support of DACA.

There’s also the fact that California — home to Silicon Valley — stands to lose the most from the demise of DACA. The state has around 200,000 employed dreamers, double the next-biggest concentration in Texas, according to the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. Those workers contribute an estimated $11.6 billion to California’s economy each year, the think tank estimates.

No Guarantee
There’s no guarantee that Congress will act though. The legislature has a busy fall calendar and some conservatives also oppose giving any ground on immigration.

If the program isn’t replaced, workers will eventually lose their right to work, putting them and their employers in legal limbo. Some fear that authorities could use the personal information applicants provided for work permits to find and deport them. Though Trump said that isn’t his intention, Vilchis, who came to the U.S. from Mexico as a seven-year-old, isn’t so sure.

“This administration isn’t going to go anywhere for the next couple years,” she said. “I can either go to a country that is supportive where they’ll help me grow my skills, help me advance my career, or I can sit here and be filled with worry and anxiety that my information is going to be used and I’m going to be targeted.”

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Source: Bloomberg

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Paint has been part of the Windows operating system since its release in 1985 and is known for its simplicity and basic artistic results.

Paint’s successor, Paint 3D, will still be available.

The list was issued as part of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, which rolls out in the autumn.

Microsoft says that features on the list will be either removed from Windows 10 or “not in active development and might be removed in future releases”.

Other features facing the axe include the Outlook Express email client, which is replaced with the built-in Mail app, and the Reader app, which will be integrated into Microsoft Edge.

The BBC has contacted Microsoft for comment.

RIP Paint

People have expressed disappointment at the news on social media, with many tweeting “RIP” messages.

Welsh YouTuber Chaotic described Paint as “the greatest thing to have ever existed” – perhaps with tongue in cheek.

The artist known as Jim’ll Paint It uses the program to create artwork on outlandish themes, commissioned by strangers. He has nearly 700,000 followers on Facebook.

“Paint hasn’t been all that since they messed about with it anyway. I’m running XP on a virtual machine because it’s the best one,” he tweeted.

“They should just release the source and make it public domain,” tweeted games developer Mike Dailly, creator of Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto.

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Source: BBC

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Users of Windows-powered phones – which have failed badly against rivals from Apple and Google Android – were invited to upgrade to its latest Windows 10 version after Microsoft officially stopped supporting the earlier version on Wednesday.

But Microsoft, which is now concentrating on business services, cloud computing, augmented reality, remains a part of the mobile landscape with applications, digital assistants and other offerings.

‘I think it’s the death of Windows 8 phones; not the death of Microsoft’s offerings in mobility,’ said Moor Insights and Strategy principal analyst Patrick Moorhead.

‘Microsoft is very active in mobility, just not active in phone devices.’

Microsoft in May unveiled a forthcoming Windows update aimed at keeping its desktop and laptop computers at the heart of lifestyles increasing reliant on smartphones.

Enhancements to the widely used operating system to roll out later this year are designed to make applications built on Microsoft technology work more harmoniously across an array of internet-linked devices, according to demonstrations given at the company’s Build developers conference in Seattle.

One key addition of the Windows 10 Fall update will allow people to leave what they are doing on one device and pick up where they left off on another – be it a Windows, Apple, or Android driven machine.

Windows personal computers ‘will love all your devices,’ said Microsoft operating systems group corporate vice president Joe Belfiore.

Windows 10 will be able to integrate with a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets and virtual or augmented reality gear, executives said.

Microsoft has held firm that it has not given up on the mobile market, but in the interim is updating Windows to remain relevant in a smartphone-centric world.

Better tuning Windows-powered computers to mobile devices could also serve as a ‘bridge’ to what is being heralded as the next big computing platform — mixed reality infused with artificial intelligence, according to analysts.

Microsoft is aggressively creating a mixed reality technology platform and HoloLens augmented reality gear, which Windows 10 is crafted to support.

‘Microsoft has the lead on augmented reality hardware, which might take 10 years to take hold but is the point where the phone gets less important,’ Moorhead said.

‘They will be patient.’

Some reports say Microsoft could launch a Surface phone, spinning off the success of tablet computers by that same name.

While Microsoft’s main business remains software and services, having its own handset would enable it to optimize and own the entire experience, much the way Apple has control over all aspects of its iPhones.

‘I think that s why Microsoft would consider a Surface device,’ Moorhead said.

‘I do think with the success they have had with Surface gives them some permission to try it again, but it would be super risky.’

Meanwhile, Windows phone sales continue to fall due to a lack of new hardware partners or enthusiasm for a platform showing little life, according to industry tracker IDC, which estimated its market share at 0.1 percent in the first quarter of 2017

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