vendor lock-in

Google has moved the cloud market’s chess pieces with a tactical — and loudly publicised — concession: for customers in the European Union and the United Kingdom, Google Cloud will no longer charge data‑egress fees for qualifying “in‑parallel” multicloud transfers through a new offering called...

Google has announced a dramatic change to how it charges for cloud data movement in the European Union and United Kingdom, waiving fees for certain multicloud transfers through a new “Data Transfer Essentials” option that it says is available at no cost — a move timed to land just ahead of the...

Google has moved to eliminate a key friction point for organisations running workloads across multiple cloud providers in Europe and the UK, announcing that its Data Transfer Essentials service will be available at no cost for customers processing workloads “in parallel” across two or more...

ENGIE Impact’s leap into cloud-native AI shows how a specialist sustainability consultancy can turn mass invoice and supplier data into sharper risk signals and faster client value by running Azure AI Foundry, Azure Databricks, and Microsoft 365 Copilot together in a governed Azure estate. The...

Ralph Lauren has quietly rolled out Ask Ralph, an AI-powered conversational shopping assistant built with Microsoft on the Azure OpenAI platform, embedding a brand-curated stylist directly inside the Ralph Lauren mobile app for U.S. customers and presenting shoppable, head‑to‑toe outfit...

Ralph Lauren has quietly embedded a branded AI stylist into its mobile app — Ask Ralph — a conversational, shoppable assistant developed with Microsoft on the Azure OpenAI platform that delivers brand‑curated, head‑to‑toe outfit recommendations and in‑app purchase actions to U.S. shoppers...

Rutgers Business School is systematically embedding generative AI into course work across undergraduate and graduate programs, pairing hands-on tool experience with ethics, critical evaluation, and new degree tracks so students graduate with AI fluency that matches employer expectations for the...

Ralph Lauren’s new conversational stylist, Ask Ralph, is rolling out to U.S. app users today — a generative-AI feature built with Microsoft on the Azure OpenAI platform that promises brand-curated, shoppable outfit suggestions delivered through natural-language conversation and visual laydowns...

Microsoft’s new federal bargain is one of those rare deals that looks simple on paper and seismic in practice: deep, governmentwide discounts on Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365, security tooling and — critically — up to 12 months of Microsoft 365 Copilot for qualifying G5 agency customers...

Microsoft’s AI team has shipped two first‑party foundation models — MAI‑Voice‑1 and MAI‑1‑preview — a move that signals a deliberate strategic pivot from being primarily a host and integrator of external models toward building proprietary AI infrastructure optimized for Microsoft’s product...

Artificial intelligence has gone from boardroom buzzword to an urgent operational question: executives know AI matters, but too many organisations are frozen at the starting line — unsure how to prioritise use cases, estimate costs, or keep data and compliance under control. Chris Badenhorst of...

The White House’s latest tech summit ended not with a policy white paper but with a photograph: senior executives from Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, Apple and other Silicon Valley heavyweights gathered at a dinner hosted by First Lady Melania Trump to endorse a national AI education push, pledge...

Thanks to OpenAI’s early consumer push, the generative AI era that reshaped work life began in plain sight — and business users have kept voting with their keyboards. What started as a viral consumer tool has become a persistent presence inside enterprises, while legacy software vendors and...

Artificial intelligence has become the corporate obsession of 2025 — simultaneously promising transformational gains and producing widespread paralysis at the point of first step, argues Chris Badenhorst of Braintree as organisations struggle to move from enthusiasm to execution. Overview...

Google and Microsoft have publicly committed to sweeping new AI-in-education initiatives announced at the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education, pledging broad product access, large-scale training programs, educator grants, and multi‑year investments intended to put...

Silicon Valley’s top executives converged at the White House on September 4, 2025, to publicly endorse the First Lady’s AI education initiative — a high-profile meeting that fused corporate pledges, government policy ambitions, and the politics of technology into a single, consequential moment...

Microsoft’s announcement at the White House AI Education Task Force marks a major consumer- and education-facing push: the company is offering Copilot built into Microsoft 365 Personal free for 12 months to every U.S. college student (including community college students) for sign-ups through...

Microsoft's new OneGov arrangement with the General Services Administration (GSA) hands federal agencies a fast lane into the AI era: Microsoft 365 Copilot will be offered at no cost for an initial period to qualifying government customers, while steep, government‑wide discounts across Azure...

If you’re seriously contemplating ditching Windows and can’t (or won’t) keep both, the choice between Linux and macOS comes down to a handful of practical questions — ecosystem, apps, hardware, cost, and how much control you want over the machine. ZDNET’s “7-step” checklist frames the decision...

Microsoft and the U.S. General Services Administration have struck a sweeping OneGov agreement that puts Microsoft’s cloud and AI stack — including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure services, Dynamics 365, and security tooling — on preferential terms for federal agencies, with Microsoft and GSA...