GoKawiil
Tech News
A university-affiliated blogger describes being blocked from editing a PowerPoint file on a Mac despite having an institutional Microsoft account, receiving a message saying editing isn't allowed on Mac under that license. The writer argues this stems from restrictive licensing terms tied to costly institutional contracts that effectively push users toward Windows machines.
A newly published Nix flake automates installing Microsoft 365 (click-to-run Office) on Linux without a virtual machine, using the umu-launcher tool alongside GE-Proton, the gaming-focused Wine build from Valve and GloriousEggroll, with Bottles' ProtoSoda Wine core offered as an alternative runner. The project doesn't bundle any Microsoft software itself; instead its ms365 script fetches the Office Deployment Tool and Office files at install time, requiring users to supply their own Microsoft 365 license and sign in. The approach builds on prior community work, including Bottles' reports of Office 365 running on Wine and older ruados/eylenburg registry and DLL tweaks.
Newly unsealed court documents from The New York Times-led copyright lawsuit reveal internal Microsoft and OpenAI communications acknowledging the risks of scraping news content for AI training. Microsoft's Brent Hecht reportedly called the practice possibly the 'largest theft of labor in human history' and undermined the companies' own fair-use defense, while OpenAI's Nick Turley warned that AI products could pose an 'existential threat' to publishers.
Newly unredacted court documents in The New York Times' copyright suit against OpenAI and Microsoft reveal that a senior Microsoft executive privately labeled the companies' AI training practices as theft, while OpenAI leaders reportedly acknowledged their models posed an existential threat to publishers. The filings also allege the companies bypassed paywalls, scraped content en masse, and removed copyright notices to build training datasets.
Unionen and Sveriges Ingenjörer have issued a strike notice against King, the Microsoft-owned studio behind Candy Crush Saga, after leadership rejected a proposed collective bargaining agreement in August. Unless a mediator helps the two sides reach a deal, the strike is set to begin September 25. King has argued its current global benefits already exceed what the CBA would offer Swedish staff.
Newly unsealed court documents in the New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft reveal internal admissions from both companies' executives. Microsoft's director of applied science Brent Hecht reportedly described AI training as the 'largest theft of labor in human history,' while OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman acknowledged that generative AI products pose an 'existential threat' to publishers because they are increasingly substitutive of original content.
Microsoft has confirmed that its Copilot AI assistant is experiencing degraded service, with many users receiving error messages instead of answers to their prompts. The company says it has traced the problem to a specific API endpoint and is reviewing diagnostics to find the root cause.
Microsoft will hold a San Francisco event on October 7, its first major Windows-focused gathering in over two years, to outline upcoming plans for Windows, Surface hardware, and local AI computing. CEO Satya Nadella and Windows/Surface chief Pavan Davuluri will appear alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, pointing to deeper collaboration on AI-capable PCs. The event is expected to bring updates on the Surface Laptop Ultra, a device built on Nvidia's RTX Spark platform with up to 128GB of unified memory.
Retired Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer detailed on X how the infamous FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 Windows XP volume license key spread widely despite being reserved for enterprise partners. He explained that XP's copy protection compared install keys against a heavily encrypted 10MB blob on the disc that turned out to be the old Microsoft Bob software, and that retail and volume-license media used entirely different validation keys and discs.
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, released a 37-page 'Humanist AI Code of Conduct' outlining Microsoft's principles for AI development, including its stance on issues like AI consciousness. In an interview and a companion essay, he criticized Anthropic's approach to 'model welfare,' arguing it dangerously misconstrues what AI systems actually are and complicates the broader safety debate.
Nokia shares jumped 6.3% after the company announced a partnership with Microsoft aimed at expanding its data offering for telecommunications providers. The gain pushes Nokia's stock up nearly 70% for the year so far.
Microsoft confirmed that Windows 11 version 24H2 Home and Pro editions, along with Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016, will stop receiving security and non-security updates on October 13, 2026. Enterprise and Education editions of 24H2 will continue receiving updates until October 2027. Microsoft is urging affected users to move to Windows 11 25H2, which will install automatically on unmanaged devices.