Our friends over at Lucas Blake have brought us the roundup of the latest IT news for 2016.
With the number of PC’s running with the Windows 10 update, Microsoft is making a final push to get all consumers and businesses to convert to Windows 10. Microsoft has switched the automatically offered Windows 10 upgrade to a “Recommended” download that in turn scheduled the upgrade process unless the user interfered.
Many people are not happy with Microsoft’s tactics and consider them aggressive. Users of Windows 7 and 8 over the last few months have been presented with an upgrade box displaying ‘update now, or update later’, with the X in the top right corner to skip the process. However, Microsoft has made an uncharacteristic alteration in the upgrade alert, and rather than dispelling the upgrade by clicking on X (which is standard behavior), it instead activates the upgrades.
The free upgrade period for Windows 10 will end on July 29th, where Microsoft have promised to scale back on upgrade notices as most users who want the upgrade should have it. But have Microsoft gone too far to achieve its stated goal of one billion Windows 10 installations “within 2-3 years”.
In other news related to Windows, it was revealed this week some U.S government agencies are using IT systems running Windows 3.1. A backup nuclear control messaging system at the U.S Department of Defence runs on an IBM series 1, which was introduced in 1976 and uses eight-inch floppy disks. Lawmakers are therefore pushing U.S agencies to replace outdated IT systems as only 25% of government agencies IT budget is spent on procuring new systems.
In Europe
The European Commission have recently revealed its plans to make the EU a “digital single market.” The commission will also overhaul EU telecoms rules to create incentives for investment in high-speed connectivity. The information and communication technology (ICT) sector represents nearly 5% of the EU economy and generates a quarter of total business expenditure.
In this agenda produced by the European Commission, websites will have to offer the same goods and services to customers wherever they live in the EU. Whether they’re delivered in parcels or in data packets, goods and services should be available to all European Union citizens wherever they live, moving 28 national markets to a single one. A fully functional digital single market could contribute €415 billion per year to our economy, creating thousands of new jobs. Furthermore, the number of jobs that require information and communications technology (ICT) skills is expected to rise by 16 million by 2020. These proposed regulations are not yet becoming law. It still needs the support of member state’s governments, meeting as the Council of the EU, and the European Parliament. You can read the digital agenda for Europe here
Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.