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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly investigating Microsoft like its 1998. In the waning days of the Biden administration, outgoing chair Lina Khans probe is said to be picking up steam, according to ProPublica. The FTC is particularly concerned with Microsofts bundling of ubiquitous Office products with cybersecurity and cloud computing services. That includes a deal to upgrade government bundles for a limited time, which essentially had the effect of using a government cybersecurity crisis to sell more licenses. It adds more detail to reports from Bloomberg and the Financial Times in November about an FTC probe into the Windows maker. The publications said Microsofts competitors complained that its bundling of its popular software with cloud services made it harder to compete. ProPublica says FTC attorneys have recently interviewed and scheduled meetings with Microsofts competitors. Microsoft confirmed to ProPublica that the FTC issued a civil investigative demand (essentially a subpoena), forcing the company to hand over information related to the case. A Microsoft spokesperson told the publication without providing on-the-record examples that the FTC document is broad, wide ranging, and requests things that are out of the realm of possibility to even be logical. The investigation follows a separate ProPublica report from November about how Microsoft appeared to exploit a series of cyberattacks to sell more licenses to the US government. Following a meeting with President Biden in the summer of 2021, the company was said to have offered to upgrade the governments existing bundles (including Windows and its Office suite) to a more expensive version that added its advanced cybersecurity products. Microsoft also sent consultants to install the upgrades and train employees to use them. Many divisions of the US government accepted including all of the Defense Departments military services and then began paying for the more expensive bundles after the trial ended. (The hassle of switching to a different cybersecurity product after the trial ended practically guaranteed that would be the case.) ProPublicas account essentially paints Microsoft as exploiting a cybersecurity crisis to expand sales and pad its bottom line. Just late-stage capitalism things, yall. Microsoft Ironically, the sales tactic resulted from security lapses from you guessed it Microsoft. Bidens request from Big Tech leaders to boost government cybersecurity followed the SolarWinds attack that exploited a vulnerability in a Microsoft identity service. The company reportedly knew the app contained a security nightmare that let hackers spoof legitimate employees and probe sensitive information without raising suspicion. But patching the flaw would add friction to government logins when the company was competing for US contracts. Microsoft reportedly opted to stay mum instead of risk losing business. According to experts who spoke to ProPublica, the government trial sales scheme could have violated regulations on contracting and competition. The publication reported that even Microsofts attorneys worried the deal would spark antitrust concerns. If this sounds familiar, it echoes the governments 1998 antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. Bundling was also a star of that show, with the FTC accusing the company of engaging in anticompetitive practices by including Internet Explorer with Windows, a move viewed in those early days of the internet as stifling rivals like Netscape.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-ftcs-microsoft-antitrust-probe-reportedly-focuses-on-software-bundling-193545163.html?src=rss
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If you've tried to use Xbox Cloud Streaming and experienced issues loading games or unexpected disconnects, you're not alone. Microsoft's game streaming services has been experiencing issues since Thursday and is still not totally back online 24 hours later. Users on r/xcloud, the subreddit devoted to Xbox Cloud Gaming, have reported unusually long wait times to get a game to load, stretching a process that's supposed to be instantaneous into a 50 minute or longer wait. On Microsoft's status page, the company says "you may have trouble starting cloud games or be unexpectedly disconnected from a game after it begins." We are aware users may be experiencing issues launching Cloud Gaming titles. We appreciate your patience, and please watch here or on our status page for updates. https://t.co/kQKp1MgssY Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) December 26, 2024 Microsoft acknowledged that Xbox Cloud Gaming was having issues on Thursday, and followed-up today by saying that "users may see an incorrectly high wait time when attempting to launch a cloud gaming title," but that the company expects everyone to be able to connect faster than that. It's not clear if that means the issue is fixed, in the process of being resolved or what the problem was in the first place, but Engadget has contacted the company for information and will update if we learn more. Xbox Cloud Gaming has experienced outages in the past, but any kind of hiccup with the service hits harder in light of Microsoft's "This is an Xbox" marketing push, which made the ability to stream Xbox games basically anywhere a core benefit of using the company's platform.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-cloud-gaming-has-had-trouble-loading-games-for-the-last-24-hours-190625047.html?src=rss
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The second season of the smash hit sci-fi drama Severance finally premieres on January 17. However, Apple just threw us a bone by dropping the first eight minutes of the season. Its been nearly three years since season one completed its run, so this is a nice little holiday gift. You can find the exclusive preview on the Apple TV+ app under the Bonus Content section of the Severance page. There will be no spoilers here, but the snippet does get into the fallout of the events of season one and may even touch on that surprising cliffhanger. For the uninitiated, Severance is a sci-fi take on work/life balance in which certain employees at a shadowy corporation sever their work selves from their regular selves. This results in a harrowing, and occasionally hilarious, treatise about human identity and the lengths our corporate overlords will go to make a buck. Its very good. Best of all? Newbies wont have to wait three full years to watch season two. Apple TV+ also just posted a bunch of images to social media that heavily imply its planning on a free weekend of sorts for non-subscribers, scheduled for January 4 and 5. The images are all tagged with slogans like see for yourself and save the date. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/ph7k2Wh75G Apple TV (@AppleTV) December 26, 2024 If true, this would be a mighty fine way to check out Apples impressive slate of sci-fi originals without ponying up for a subscription. The streamer has become the de facto home of sci-fi in recent years, airing standout programs like Severance, Silo, Foundation and For All Mankind, among many others.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/apple-just-dropped-the-first-eight-minutes-of-severance-season-two-181627223.html?src=rss
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