Articles by Mary Branscombe

Contributor

Mary (Twitter, Google+, website) started her career at Future Publishing, saw the AOL meltdown first hand the first time around when she ran the AOL UK computing channel, and she's been a freelance tech writer for over a decade. She's used every version of Windows and Office released, and every smartphone too, but she's still looking for the perfect tablet. Yes, she really does have USB earrings.

Articles by: Mary Branscombe

The reasons behind Microsoft's drive for open source

By Mary Branscombe published 22 March 16

Instead of being a 'cancer', open source is now a valuable tool for Microsoft.

Why businesses should use hybrid cloud for their data

By Mary Branscombe published 15 March 16

Microsoft has plenty of interesting things to say about the benefits of hybrid cloud.

Dynamics AX is switching to be a cloud service on Azure – or Azure Stack

By Mary Branscombe published 11 March 16

Dynamics AX is now a cloud service, integrating other Microsoft services like Power BI.

Windows 8.1 review

By Mary Branscombe, Dan Grabham published 17 February 16

Recommended

Updated The Start button returns, and with Update 1, users can boot straight to desktop. But this is still refinement over reinvention.

Machine language: Computers are on the brink of mastering speech recognition

By Mary Branscombe published 27 January 16

Microsoft is open sourcing the deep learning tools it uses to build Cortana's speech recognition, which it hopes will match humans by 2019.

How Microsoft beat Google at understanding images with machine learning

By Mary Branscombe published 28 December 15

Skipping some of the layers in a very deep neural network let Microsoft get the best image recognition results in the annual machine learning contest.

15 products Microsoft should definitely open source – and 5 it won't

By Mary Branscombe published 25 December 15

Microsoft open sourced Live Writer – could that mean other Microsoft software might go open source too?

Windows Server 2016 brings all the benefits of the cloud to your own servers

By Mary Branscombe published 8 December 15

Jeffrey Snover, lead architect for Windows Server, wants to take the drama out of running servers by making them more like the cloud.

Microsoft's PowerApps: The easiest way ever to create a mobile app

By Mary Branscombe published 30 November 15

Anyone who can use Excel or PowerPoint can develop mobile apps, says Microsoft.

Microsoft's plans for Office: More features, more mobile, more intelligent

By Mary Branscombe published 23 November 15

Office on iPad, Office in the cloud, Sway, Outlook on Android – Office is everywhere but what is Microsoft planning next?

How to control updates on Windows 10

By Mary Branscombe published 23 November 15

Choose what to update and whether to stick with standard updates or try the future out faster as a Windows Insider.

10 long-lost Microsoft Office features which are sorely missed

By Mary Branscombe published 19 November 15

It's the 25th anniversary of the release of Office, so we thought we'd recall some of the features we pine for (and a couple we don't).

Can computers tell how you're feeling?

By Mary Branscombe published 12 November 15

Microsoft has released more machine learning tools for making apps that can detect emotions, recognise voices and more.

Has Microsoft been looking at user files to find the 75TB OneDrive hoarders?

By Mary Branscombe published 4 November 15

What exactly did Microsoft look at to find out who was using so much space that it had to reduce OneDrive storage limits?

Should you upgrade to Windows 10?

By Mary Branscombe published 3 November 15

Updated Can't decide if you're ready for Microsoft's Windows 10? We can help on that score…

How to share desktop backgrounds between PCs with Windows 10

By Mary Branscombe published 1 November 15

The Windows theme system has changed slightly but you can still share images.

How to manage Wi-Fi in Windows 10

By Mary Branscombe published 31 October 15

Making the most of wireless with Wi-Fi Sense and managing data usage for metered connections.

How to report problems in Windows 10

By Mary Branscombe published 30 October 15

For feedback and bug reports in Windows 10 we show you how to gather more info using built-in reporting tools.

How to use the Windows 10 touch keyboard

By Mary Branscombe published 29 October 15

The touch keyboard in Windows 10 is useful even if you have a real keyboard.

How to fix Windows 10 activation problems

By Mary Branscombe published 24 October 15

Windows 10 might be a free upgrade for many users, but it's not always easy to get your system to believe it's legitimate.

How to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro

By Mary Branscombe published 22 October 15

Want to join the domain or encrypt your PC? You need Windows 10 Pro. Here's how to get it without reinstalling.

20 smart new and improved features in Windows 10

By Mary Branscombe published 20 October 15

Updated Windows 10 doesn't just go back to the Start menu – it's full of useful new tools and some things that are just different.

10 of the best Office Store apps

By Mary Branscombe published 20 October 15

Office add-ins let you add more features to Office 2016 on multiple platforms, and here are our favourites.

How to manage notifications in Windows 10

By Mary Branscombe published 17 October 15

The smartphone-style Action Centre in Windows 10 collects alerts from multiple apps, and pop-up notifications have more features.

How to set up Enterprise Mode and Edge to launch Internet Explorer

By Mary Branscombe published 14 October 15

Not all websites work with Edge, but you can still use Enterprise Mode to get them to run in the right IE mode.

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