Paul Thurrott

Because it’s that time of the month, this edition of Short Takes focuses largely on Microsoft’s quarterly earnings: Plus I riff on some headlines and report on a few other things.

Because my Fitbit is telling me to exact revenge, this edition of Short Takes focuses on Xbox One’s third month on top, an Amazon/VMWare partnership to take on Microsoft, an IBM/Google partnership to take on Intel, the iPhone isn’t more secure than Android, HP job cuts, more.

Because I’m still sick and I’m taking this entire town down with me, this edition of Short Takes focuses on the PC market nosedive, whether Microsoft should buy Fitbit, Samsung profits are exploding like its phones, Blackberry will try to license its mobile OS, and a lot more.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith appeared in Dublin this morning at the beginning of a multi-city trip to woo customers in Europe. And in a ceremonial beginning to this trip, the two announced a major new cloud infrastructure investment in Europe and … a new book.

Because I already miss Atlanta, this edition of Short Takes focuses on Salesforce and Microsoft, Microsoft’s new AI-focused reorganization, Google’s new enterprise cloud push, Xbox strategy changes, China accuses Samsung of discrimination in Samsung Note 7 recall, and a ton of headline riffs.

As part of a sweeping series of announcements aimed at business customers on Thursday, Google announced that it is rebranding its Google Apps offering as G Suite. But the mission remains the same: Chip away at the popularity of Microsoft’s productivity offerings, in particular Office 365.

One year ago, Microsoft launched its Surface Enterprise Initiative, in which it allowed select partners to both sell and support Surface devices to the enterprise. This week, the initiative is expanding to Microsoft partners worldwide.

Microsoft announced today that it will make Adobe Marketing Cloud the preferred marketing service for its Dynamics 365 Enterprise offering. The new partnership will give customers a powerful, comprehensive marketing service for intelligent business applications, Microsoft says.

Because I’m sick and have to fly again on Sunday, this edition of Short Takes focuses on a massive Microsoft stock buyback, a UK consumer watchdog that hates Windows 10, Microsoft goes green, Yahoo reveals massive hack, over half of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 users are idiots, and more.

Today, Microsoft announced an audacious new goal: its researchers will attempt to “solve” cancer by treating the disease group as information processing systems that can be modeled and reasoned, and then use sophisticated analysis tools to better understand and treat cancer.

Because it’s International iPhone Day today, this edition of Short Takes focuses on the iPhone 6SE (sorry, iPhone 7), ongoing problems with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft’s terrible new Surface ads, Microsoft Stores are now offering small business support, a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall, and more.

Because it’s Apple’s world and we just live in it, this edition of Short Takes focuses on the U.S. Army migration to Windows 10, a rumored Surface AIO, a HoloLens tour comes to Microsoft retail stores, more Surface phone rumors, another Xbox One victory, and more.