Thurrott Daily: June 30

Tech tidbits from around the web.

6/30/2016 4:12:11 PM

Note: I was stuck in meetings for much of the day, so this will be a longer Thurrott Daily than usual. –Paul

Microsoft names Gavriella Schuster its new Worldwide Partner Group corporate vice president

About ten days ahead of its Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), Microsoft announces:

Today, we are excited to share that Gavriella Schuster has been named the new Corporate Vice President for Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Group (WPG). Schuster has more than two decades of experience with Microsoft, and most recently as general manager for WPG. In her words:

“There has never been a more exciting time to help our partners capitalize on the explosive demand for cloud services,” Schuster says. “Our partners are vital in helping us deliver on our promise to customers, and I’m deeply committed to helping them build successful businesses in support of our mutual customers.”

During her 20-year Microsoft career, Schuster has successfully managed and deployed program and product initiatives as well as licensing, pricing and go-to-market strategies. During her tenure she has delivered consistently high business growth through the commercial segments, ranging from small businesses to global enterprises.

I used to talk to Schuster quite a bit, mostly about Windows licensing. She’s great, and what an awesome promotion.

Facebook Messenger comes to Windows 10 Mobile

And as Neowin notes, it’s just a port of the iOS app:

The app is an iOS port, which is very clear from the Third Party Notices. It doesn’t use Microsoft’s Project Islandwood; instead, it uses Facebook’s own Osmeta tools.

The good news is that being an iOS port, it brings a feature parity to the Windows 10 Mobile app. Just two weeks after Facebook introduced its trio of Windows 10 apps, the Instagram app for Mobile received the major overhaul that its iOS counterpart saw. This type of turnaround is unprecedented for Windows phone users.

Yeah, things are really looking up for Windows phone users!

You can download Facebook Messenger from the Windows Store.

Microsoft has sold over 1 million Xbox Elite Controllers

I tweeted this the other day, but it bears repeating: Microsoft, incredibly, has sold over 1 million units of its expensive (but awesome) Xbox Elite Controller. From Twitter:

Great milestone, our one millionth Xbox Elite controller. Thanks to all who have supported.

Android N to be named Android Nougat

In keeping with Google’s silly naming scheme for Android releases, Android N will be named after yet another sugary confection. For some reason. Via Twitter:

Introducing #AndroidNougat. Thank you, world, for all your sweet name ideas! #AndroidNReveal

Spotify accuses Apple of dirty tricks

Apple is back at it, denying a rival service the ability to update its iOS app. Recode reports:

Spotify says Apple won’t approve a new version of its app because it doesn’t want competition for Apple Music

In a letter sent this week to Apple’s top lawyer, Spotify says Apple is “causing grave harm to Spotify and its customers” by rejecting an update to Spotify’s iOS app.

The letter says Apple turned down a new version of the app while citing “business model rules” and demanded that Spotify use Apple’s billing system if “Spotify wants to use the app to acquire new customers and sell subscriptions.”

The letter, sent by Spotify general counsel Horacio Gutierrez to Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell on June 26, suggests that Spotify intends to use the standoff as ammunition in its fight over Apple’s rules governing subscription services that use its App store.

Attention U.S. government. Let’s put a stop to this anti-competitive behavior. And assess damages.

Google Cast comes to the classroom

Google announces an intriguing use for its Google Cast technologies:

Google Cast for Education is a free Chrome app that allows students and teachers to share their screens wirelessly from anywhere in the classroom. Cast for Education carries video and audio across complex school networks, has built-in controls for teachers, and works seamlessly with Google Classroom. And because the app runs on the teacher’s computer that’s connected to the projector, it doesn’t require new hardware. Teachers run the Cast for Education app, and students share their screens through the Cast feature in Chrome.

It’s amazing to me how well the Google Cast stuff works compared to Miracast (which is still laughably bad) and AirPlay (which can be quite glitchy as well).

Linux Mint 18 Cinammon is released

Exciting news, Linux fans! OK, maybe not exciting. But there’s a new release of this year’s trendy Linux for the desktop out today:

Linux Mint 18 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2021. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use.

This new version of Linux Mint contains many improvements.

Here’s the complete list of new features.