Fans around the world have long expressed hope that Batista will be cast for the role of Marcus Fenix in the film version of Gears of War, an opportunity he’s described as a “dream role.”
While the movie remains in development, The Coalition didn’t want any more time to go by without giving Batista a chance to don the armor, which he wore for as part of an upcoming WWE Network promotion for Gears 5. According to those who were there, the armor which was created to match the specifications of the game, “fit him perfectly.”
Rod Fergusson, who has cast and directed every Gears title, directed Batista’s performance for Gears 5, including over seven hundred lines recorded for the game.
“Adding Batista to Gears 5, we started with the fantasy of ‘Batista as Marcus,’ putting Batista into Marcus’ armor, and starting with Marcus’ script. Then we added elements of “The Animal” Batista into his voice performance and onto his look by adding his signature Hollywood shades to his character. Batista was great in the booth and I can’t wait for Gears and Batista fans alike to stomp some Swarm as The Animal.”
Xbox has partnered together with WWE to create a special countdown to Batista’s availability in the game, including behind-the-scenes with Gears 5 and Batista on WWE’s UpUpDownDown gaming channel. This all leads up to WWE Network’s “Clash of Champions” event on Sunday, September 15, available through a 30-day free subscription on the Xbox app (new subscribers only).
To unlock Batista, simply play any version of Gears 5 (including with your Xbox Game Pass membership) beginning September 15. The promotion ends October 28.
Gears 5 launches on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC on September 6 for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members; September 10 for Xbox Game Pass members. Gears 5 is also available for pre-order today from the Microsoft Store. Click here for purchase details.
Data extraction from printed forms is by now a tried and true technology. Form Recognizer extracts key value pairs, tables and text from documents such as W2 tax statements, oil and gas drilling well reports, completion reports, invoices, and purchase orders. However, real-world businesses often rely on a variety of documents for their day-to-day needs that are not always cleanly printed.
We are excited to announce the addition of handwritten and mixed-mode (printed and handwritten) support. Starting now, handling handwritten and mixed-mode forms is the new norm.
Extracting data from handwritten and mixed-mode content with Form Recognizer
Entire data sets that were inaccessible in the past due to the limitations of extraction technology now become available. The handwritten and mixed-mode capability of Form Recognizer is available in preview and enables you to extract structured data out of handwritten text filled in forms such as:
Medical forms: New patient information, doctor notes.
By using our vast experience in optical character recognition (OCR) and machine learning for form analysis, our experts created a state-of-the-art solution that goes beyond printed forms. The OCR technology behind the service supports both handwritten and printed. Expanding the scope of Form Recognizer allows you to tap into previously uncharted territories, by making new sources of data available to you. You may extract valuable business information from newly available data, keeping you ahead of your competition.
Whether you are using Form Recognizer for the first time or already integrated it into your organization, you will now have an opportunity to create new business applications:
Expand your available data set: If you are only extracting data from machine printed forms, expand your total data set to mixed-mode forms and historic handwritten forms.
Create one application for a mix of documents: If you use a mix of handwritten and printed forms, you can create one application that applies across all your data.
Avoid manual digitization of handwritten forms: Original forms may be fed to Form Recognizer without any pre-processing, extracting the same key-value pairs and table data you would get from a machine-printed form to reduce costs, errors, and time.
Our customer: Avanade
Avanade values people as their most important asset. They are always on the lookout for talented and passionate professionals to grow their organization. One way they find these people is by attending external events, which may include university career fairs, trade shows, or technical conferences to name a few.
During these events they often take the details of those interested in finding out more about Avanade, as well as their permission to contact them at a later date. Normally this is completed with a digital form using a set of tablets. But when the stand is particularly busy, they use a short paper form that attendees can fill in with their handwritten details. Unfortunately, these forms needed to be manually entered into the marketing database, requiring a considerable amount of time and resources. With the volume of potential new contacts at these events, multiplied by the number of events Avanade attends, this task can be daunting.
Azure Form Recognizer’s new handwritten support simplifies the process, giving Avanade peace of mind knowing no contact is lost and the information is there for them immediately.
In addition, Avanade integrated Form Recognizer as a skill within their cognitive search solution, enabling them to quickly use the service in their existing platform and follow-up with new leads, while their competitors may be spending time digitizing their handwritten forms.
“Azure Form Recognizer takes a vast amount of effort out of the process, changing the task from data entry to data validation. By integrating Form Recognizer with Azure Search, we are also immediately able to use the service in our existing platforms. If we need to find and check a form for any reason, for example to check for a valid signature there, we can simply search by any of the fields like name or job title and jump straight to that form. In our initial tests, using Form Recognizer has reduced the time taken to digitize the forms and double check the entries by 35 percent, a number we only expect to get better as we work to optimize our tools to work hand in hand with the service, and add in more automation.” – Fergus Kidd, Emerging Technology Engineer, Avanade
Getting started
To learn more about Form Recognizer and the rest of the Azure AI ecosystem, please visit our website and read the documentation.
This summer, young women in San Francisco and Seattle spent a weekend taking their creative problem solving to a whole new level through the power of artificial intelligence. The two events were part of a Microsoft-hosted AI boot-camp program that started last year in Athens, then broadened its reach with events in London last fall and New York City in the spring. Check out the wrap-up video from the three U.S. events:
YouTube Video
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“I’ve been so impressed not only with the willingness of these young women to spend an entire weekend learning and embracing this opportunity, but with the quality of the projects,” said Didem Un Ates, one of the program organizers and a senior director for AI within Microsoft. “It’s just two days, but what they come up with always blows our minds.” (Read a LinkedIn post from Un Ates about the events.)
The problems these girls tackled aren’t kid stuff: The girls chose their weekend projects from among the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, considered to be the most difficult and highest priority for the world.
The result? Dozens of innovative products that could help solve issues as diverse as ocean pollution, dietary needs, mental health, acne and climate change. Not to mention all those young women – 129 attended the U.S. events – who now feel empowered to pursue careers to help solve those problems. They now see themselves as “Alice,” a mascot created by the project team to represent the qualities young women possess that lend themselves to changing the world through AI.
Organizers plan to broaden the reach of these events, so that girls everywhere can learn about the possibility of careers in technology.
As you say goodbye to summer and hello to your students, we’re grateful that so many of you see us as a resource for bringing continuous improvement and innovation into the classroom.
We’ve packed a lot of news into this month’s What’s New in EDU to help you get the year off to a great start. From short videos answering your top questions to free professional learning opportunities and big updates on classroom tools, we’re confident there is something here for you.
You Can in :90 videos
First, we hope you check out the video above—hosted by the most enthusiastic and adorable team of video journalists in the world: Amiyah, Soren, Estelle and Jorian. They’ve taken over this month’s What’s New in EDU, and we have a feeling you’ll want to see more of this crew in the future.
As Jorian explains, we have a new “You Can in :90” video series ready for you to view. The series features 90-second “how-to” videos based on your most-requested tips for using Microsoft Education tools. Check out a few of the videos below.
Professional learning and collaboration
Also just in, as reported by Soren: we’re announcing the new class of Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts and are inspired by the 9,600+ passionate educators joining our team. If you’re interested in checking out the program for next year, please note that we’ll begin accepting nominations between April 15 and July 15, 2020. Congratulations to all our MIE Experts for 2019-2020! You can see the names of them here: http://aka.ms/mieexpertlist
And there are plenty of other ways to get involved in our educator community:
Discover the power of networked learning through our Minecraft Mentors program by connecting with other teachers using Minecraft with their students. Mentors are selected monthly. You can apply here.
The Student Voice Ambassador community is made up of educators working together and with the Flipgrid team to exchange ideas and further develop the tool that’s done wonders to amplify student voice. New classes are announced quarterly, and we’ll be putting together another group this fall. You can apply here.
And please check out our Skype Master Teacher program if you’re looking for ways to broaden your students’ horizons. We just welcomed a new class, but find out how to get involved next year here.
Schoolwide programs include:
Our Microsoft Schools If you’re part of a school community working to integrate technology effectively and transform learning, this could be a perfect fit.
The Microsoft Showcase Schools program in which participating schools use the Microsoft K12 Education Transformation Framework to bring about innovation with an emphasis on personalized learning.
And the Microsoft Flagship School program, a collaborative effort to transform education from the ground up by designing and delivering amazing new places to learn. You can read more about it in our recent blog post.
You can also get started anytime on free training tailored to your individual needs through the Microsoft Educator Center. You’ll find courses to help you use Microsoft tools, develop new skills and build on existing knowledge.
New Tools and Resources
As you can tell from the kids’ enthusiasm in the What’s New in EDU video above, we’ve also rolled out some new tools and updates that we think your students will love and benefit from academically.
Immersive Reader has been integrated into Minecraft: Education Edition to help learners read and decode in-game text.
If you’re a fan of the Mystery Skype game, in which students from different classrooms around the world guess where each group is located, you can download new activity plans here.
And we’ve got a new graphics feature for Word, Excel and PowerPoint that students will find useful when working on diagrams and models. It’s an outline style with a sketch-like quality that allows you to convey that a work is in progress and not finished. You can read more about it in this recent post.
We also have a new feature for storing work. It allows documents created in Word, Excel or PowerPoint to automatically be stored on OneDrive.
Microsoft Teams has some updates too. We redesigned the Assignments tab, making it easier for you to track existing assignments and create new ones. When creating an assignment, you can now add resources from any team and even set a close date to ensure no submissions will be accepted after that date. Once created, you can preview the assignment as students see it and students can use Immersive Reader to read assignment instructions and feedback Check out these and more Assignments updates here!
With the help of educator feedback, we rolled out a host of new Flipgrid features earlier this month. Every Flipgrid response video is now transcribed and delivered through an updated closed-captioning experience. Plus, full response video transcripts are now available. We’ve also enhanced storytelling capabilities with the Shorts Camera, allowing students to stitch together unlimited segments into one simple video. Finally, Flipgrid videos can now be viewed in augmented reality with FlipgridAR.
Whew. That was a lot for one month! We hope the start of the year goes well for you and your students and that you’re able to put these new resources to good use. Keep in touch, and let us know what you’d like to see more of and how we can continue to partner with you to amplify student voice and engage all learners.
We recently introduced several features that help you boost your productivity when sending messages in Skype* and enrich your overall chat experience. New features include draft messages, the ability to bookmark messages and preview media and files before sending, as well as a new approach to display multiple photos or videos. We also launched split window, so you never mix up conversations again!
Message drafts
Now you’ll never forget about messages that didn’t get sent. Any message that you typed, but didn’t send, is saved in the corresponding conversation and marked with the [draft] tag—so you can easily recognize, finish, and send it later. Messages saved as drafts are even available when you leave and come back to your Skype app.
Message bookmarks
You can now bookmark any message in Skype—whether it’s work related or family photos—and come back to it with one click or tap anytime! Just right click or long press the message and click or tap Add bookmark. The message is added to the Bookmarks screen and is saved with your other bookmarked messages.
Preview media and files before sending
You can now preview photos, videos, and files that you’ve selected to share before sending. Once you select media and files to share, they’re displayed in the message panel, so you can ensure they’re the ones you want to share with your contact. You can also remove ones added by mistake or add new ones right from the panel. In addition, should you want to write an explanation or description for what you’re sending, you can add a message that will be sent along with the files.
New approach for displaying multiple photos or videos sent at once
If you want to share a bunch of photos with your friends or family after great vacation or nice event—just do it and Skype will make sure they’re nicely presented in a conversation. You’ll see a nice album in the chat history with all the photos combined. And you can see each one by navigating and clicking between the photos or videos in an album.
Never mix up conversations in Skype again with split window
A few months back, we announced the launch of split window for Windows 10, which lets you put your contact list in one window, and each conversation you open in separate windows. We’re pleased to say that this feature is now available for all versions of Windows, Mac, and Linux on the latest version of Skype.* To learn more about how to use the split window view, visit our FAQs.
Let us know what you think
At Skype we’re driven by the opportunity to connect our global community of hundreds of millions, empowering them to feel closer and achieve more together. As we pursue these goals, we’re always looking for new ways to enhance the experience and improve quality and reliability. We listen to your feedback and are wholly committed to improving the Skype experience based on what you tell us. We’re passionate about bringing you closer to the people in your life—so if we can do that better, please let us know.
*These new features are available on the latest version of Skype across all platforms, except for split window, which is currently only available on desktop.
Today marks the launch of the ID@Xbox YouTube channel! Click here to give it a visit. With this channel, we are going to present the very best in Independent games coming to Xbox One and Windows PC, and maybe even some fun original programming along the way. ID@Xbox has been around since 2013 (ed – holy cow has it been that long?). The very first ID@Xbox game, Strike Suit Zero, shipped on April 4, 2014, and since then we’ve helped Independent developers, both big and small, launch nearly 1,500 games on Xbox.
We know there’s a community out there that’s passionate about Independent gaming – we interact with them every day on social media, at shows and events, on Mixer, and in games. And we’re extremely passionate about Independent games ourselves, if you hadn’t guessed! With this channel we simply want to share stuff that we think is awesome and see what you think. Please feel free to jump in the comments and let us know what you like and want to see more of, and what games you’re excited about.
We’ve created a video to celebrate the launch – check it out to meet some members of the ID@Xbox and hear what some of our favorite games are. The ID@Xbox YouTube channel is live now and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any of the amazing content from Independent games going forward.
It’s estimated that there are about 36 million people in the world who are blind, and a further 216 million who live with moderate to severe visual impairments. Although the World Health Organization points out that up to 80% of vision impairment around the world is avoidable with better access to treatment, the number of people who are blind or have low vision is rising as the global population ages.
But technology is playing a vital role in tearing down barriers, and artificial intelligence is making real inroads into improving accessibility.
Here are seven examples of how smart technology can be a game-changer, allowing everyone to interact with the world in new ways.
As we’ve reported, Microsoft’s Seeing AI is an app designed to help people with low vision or who are blind. It enhances the world around the user with rich audio descriptions. It can read a handwritten note or scan a barcode and then tell the user what the product is. Point a camera at something and the app will describe how many people it can see and where they are in the image – center, top left and so on.
It creates layers of context and detail by drawing on location data, sound beacons and synthesized 3-D stereo sound to build a constantly updating 3-D sound map of the surrounding world.
Knowledge at your fingertips
Braille has been used for nearly 200 years as a tactile way of reading with fingertips. It has now jumped from the page to the screen with the updated version of Narrator, the screen-reader for Microsoft Windows, supporting digital Braille displays and keyboards.
Outside of Microsoft’s efforts, Braille touchscreens that work in the same way as tablets have already proved popular among students and teachers. At the Assistive Technology Industry Association’s 2019 conference in Orlando, Florida, innovations on display included the BraiBook, a Braille e-reader that fits into the palm of a hand, and even an electronic toy called the Braille Buzz, designed to teach Braille to preschoolers.
Beacons of change
Bluetooth beacons, such as those being used by the company Foresight Augmented Reality, act like highly precise, personalized guides for people who are blind or partially sighted. While basic GPS technology can take users to a location, beacons mounted in a store, restaurant or public building can guide them to the entrance of the building in question. And when the user is inside, other beacons can direct them to the bathroom or other important facilities.
Electric vehicles
The European Union is taking no chances with people’s safety. New legislation means electric vehicles have to be audible at low speeds and while reversing. Some manufacturers are already incorporating artificial noise into their electric vehicles.
Smart Glasses
Researchers at Ajman University in the United Arab Emirates are working on the development of a set of smart glasses that can use AI to read, provide navigation information and potentially identify faces. Glasses are connected to a smartphone through a processing unit, allowing the system to function without an internet connection.
These smart glasses are still in the early stages of development but are said to work with a reading accuracy rate of 95%.
AI for Accessibility
Microsoft’s AI for Accessibility program was launched last year, with a $25 million commitment to put Microsoft technology in the hands of start-ups, developers, researchers and non-profits in order to drive innovation and amplify human capability for people with disabilities. The program is continuously looking at new projects to support.
How we’re crafting Dark Mode experiences across Microsoft 365 that adapt to your daily flow
People often think of Dark Mode as a choice between a black or white screen, but this feature involves a wide spectrum of both grayscale and color gradients.
It’s an apt metaphor for why we love Dark Mode: human needs unfold across an equally broad spectrum. Whether you want to reduce eye strain, improve battery life, or it just has aesthetic appeal, Dark Mode exemplifies our ability to craft simple and powerful Microsoft 365 experiences that give you choice and flexibility.
Customer choice was why we first brought a darker UI theme to desktop apps in Office 2010, and we’ve brought it to more Microsoft experiences ever since due to its popularity.
A cross-company design collaboration propels us to seamlessly bring Dark Mode to the broader M365 product suite, and today marks the initial rollout of Dark Mode on Outlook for iOS and Android, as well as Office.com! The upcoming launch of iOS 13 will then extend this rollout to Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneDrive, Planner, and To-Do on mobile.
Today’s fast and fluid world constantly blurs the lines between work and life, and we believe in meeting people where they are. Our tools are used to keep up to speed on everything from work communication, to personal events that include friends and family, to changes in shared documents. This often means viewing email, calendars, or files in places where the default white mode may be less suitable, like darkened airplanes, movie theaters, or in bed at night.
Our design research specifically focused on these contexts where folks would want to use Dark Mode, and the response was very positive. While some Dark Mode experiences can be neon or overly bright, people felt that Outlook mobile kept the kind of relaxed feeling you might want in a dimly lit living room or bedroom. They described the experience as comfortable, crisp, clear, and aesthetically pleasing, a nod to how Dark Mode can reduce eye strain.
Dark Mode experiences on iOS. The colors pop for legibility without overwhelming the darker feel.
Dark Mode may also save battery life when you’re traveling or on the go for long stretches of time. We’re building in capabilities so following the next round of OS releases on iOS and Android, Outlook will automatically switch to Dark Mode depending on the preference you set. In the meantime, Outlook for Android automatically switches to Dark Mode when you choose Battery Saver. These perks all hold true for Dark Mode on Office.com.
Dark Mode experiences on web.
The seamlessness and flexibility that we’re building into Microsoft 365 design systems mirrors our own fluid creative process. We brought designers together from across the company to create a common Dark Mode experience for all our mobile and web apps. The creative energy that came from exchanging ideas and collaborating with new peers was one of the most fun parts of this entire effort.
Starting from the ground up and using the new gray palette for Fluent, our app teams began by aligning to the single palette. This included increasing contrast, brand color saturation, and consistency among details like how and when we use shadows when in Dark Mode.
We explored hundreds of color options against various backgrounds before selecting these muted color categories.
We’re excited to bring Dark Mode to even more of the Microsoft 365 product suite, starting with additional mobile experiences. Dark Mode comes to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for mobile with the launch of iOS 13, as well as iPad, where we know many people choose to use those apps. That same launch will also bring Dark Mode to SharePoint, OneDrive, OneNote, Planner, and To-Do on mobile.
There will be more experiences to follow — Dark Mode for Planner and OneDrive on web are coming down the pipe — so stay tuned for those rollout dates. Meanwhile, we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback in the comments below!
This month, we’re rolling out improvements to help you build a more productive, collaborative, and secure work environment for you and your organization. The new XLOOKUP formula for Excel helps you find data and improve calculation time. OneNote and Yammer mobile updates help you work on the go and find the answers you need more quickly. And the new FastTrack guidance will help ensure seamless Windows 10 migrations.
As always, every Microsoft 365 update reflects our commitment to improving the experience for you—so if you have feedback or ideas on ways we can improve, please let us know. Let’s look at what’s new in August.
Make work faster and easier
New features simplify data searches and calculation times and help you quickly visualize information.
Find and retrieve data quickly in Excel—We heard your feedback about the VLOOKUP formula for working with data in Excel—that it requires sorted data, fails to discover results on left-hand columns, and takes wildcards by default. So this month, we introduced XLOOKUP, our successor to the VLOOKUP, and HLOOKUP formulas. XLOOKUP addresses our most common user feedback and takes advantage of recent backend changes to improve calculation time. It‘s available today to Office Insiders, with general availability coming later this year.
Create work-in-progress diagrams and slides—Because we know it can be hard to express work-in-progress diagrams and models without stamping “DRAFT” on top of them, we built Sketched Shapes. With this new Office style, you can transform standard shapes in PowerPoint, Word, and Excel into rough outlines that look handdrawn and convey a sense of in-progress work. Sketched Shapes is perfect for building wireframes, drafting designs, or adding an artistic touch. You can also easily move between sketched and standard shapes. Sketched Shapes is currently rolling out to Windows Insiders and Office Insiders for Mac. To get started, insert a shape into your document and select your favorite sketched outline. You can also download the PowerPoint Wireframe toolkit for more information.
New for PowerPoint on the web: Subscript, Superscript, and Change Case—Up to this point, users needed the PowerPoint Desktop App to add subscript, superscript, or change text casing in their slides. That made it tricky for professionals, educators, and students to communicate their equations and information in PowerPoint for the web. Now, you can simply select your text and click the new Subscript, Superscript, or Change Case buttons on the Home tab of the ribbon. This feature is rolling out to PowerPoint for the web.
Work on the go
We introduced updates to OneNote, Yammer, and Office to help you find answers more quickly and stay in your workflow.
Add shapes, graphs, and Outlook meeting details to Microsoft OneNote for iPad—You can now insert shapes in OneNote for iPad, including straight lines, basic shapes, and graphs. Whether you want a straight line to keep things aligned, an arrow to point to information, or a graph to show a trend, you’ll find it under the Draw tab in OneNote. You can also add Outlook meeting details to OneNote for iPad and OneNote for Mac—including attendees, time, subject, and more.
Annotate your notes with ink in OneNote for iPhone—We also added Ink in OneNote for iPhone, so you can easily use your finger or a stylus to annotate with the natural feel of ink—even when you’re on the go. To get started, just tap on the squiggle symbol in the upper right-hand corner of your OneNote page and use the red pen and yellow highlighter to mark up, annotate, and highlight key information in your notebooks.
Stay connected and get answers with an enhanced Yammer mobile experience—Today’s employees need to be empowered while on the go. With this in mind, we recently announced a new Yammer mobile experience that brings live events, group search, updated feed and conversations views, enhanced encryption, and more to iOS and Android devices. Highlights include a modernized feed experience that reduces visual clutter and delivers improved readability, live events, and townhalls that you can view on the go; Seen Counts to let you know how many people have viewed your messages; and group search to cut down on search time and find the information you need. These features have rolled out to customers running the current Yammer for iOS and Android apps.
Use Dark Mode in more of your favorite Microsoft apps—Today’s fast and fluid world constantly blurs the lines between work and life, and we understand you need experiences that adapt to your needs. We’re happy to announce this month that we’re starting to roll out Dark Mode to Outlook mobile and Office.com. Dark Mode is not only easier on the eyes and may extend battery life, it also enables you to comfortably continue using your device in places where the default bright mode isn’t appropriate, like darkened airplanes and movie theaters. Dark Mode is rolling out over the next couple of weeks to Outlook mobile and Office.com.
Streamline IT management
New tools and capabilities streamline Windows 10 migrations and meet data residency needs.
Migrate to Windows 10 with new FastTrack guidance—We know upgrading and updating complex technology environments is no small task. To support you through every step of your Windows 10 deployment, we introduced new FastTrack deployment guidance. This guidance helps customers upgrade from Windows 7 and Office 2010 to Windows 10 Enterprise and Office 365 ProPlus. FastTrack guidance is available to all eligible commercial customers. To learn more, watch our mechanics video or jump right in by signing in to microsoft.com/FastTrack and requesting assistance.
Meet data residency needs with new Microsoft datacenter capabilities—Now, new Microsoft Teams customers in South Korea will have their data stored in an in-country datacenter, helping organizations with data residency requirements meet their obligations. Additionally, Multi-Geo Capabilities is now available to customers in South Africa and United Arab Emirates with a minimum of 500 Office 365 services subscriptions. Multi-Geo Capabilities enables you to easily move users and data between Microsoft cloud geos to address data residency needs. Contact your Microsoft representative for details.
Also new this month
We also announced the following updates in August:
Have ideas or feedback on how to improve Microsoft 365? We look forward to hearing from you.
Microsoft ♥ Linux – we say that a lot, and we mean it! Today we’re pleased to announce that Microsoft is supporting the addition of Microsoft’s exFAT technology to the Linux kernel.
exFAT is the Microsoft-developed file system that’s used in Windows and in many types of storage devices like SD Cards and USB flash drives. It’s why hundreds of millions of storage devices that are formatted using exFAT “just work” when you plug them into your laptop, camera, and car.
It’s important to us that the Linux community can make use of exFAT included in the Linux kernel with confidence. To this end, we will be making Microsoft’s technical specification for exFAT publicly available to facilitate development of conformant, interoperable implementations. We also support the eventual inclusion of a Linux kernel with exFAT support in a future revision of the Open Invention Network’s Linux System Definition, where, once accepted, the code will benefit from the defensive patent commitments of OIN’s 3040+ members and licensees.