MB-240 test - Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service Updated: 2023

Microsoft’s Bing AI is about to appear in all major web browsers according to a new report.

This comes from Windows Latest, which tells us that according to sources, the Bing chatbot will no longer be exclusive to Edge, but will be available in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox – all the main browsers – at some point this week (in a few days apparently).

Take that with a pinch of seasoning, naturally, but we already heard from Mikhail Parakhin, Microsoft’s head of Advertising and Web Services, last week, who informed us that “hopefully” the first experiments in enabling third-party browsers would be happening soon.

So, it seems that hope is now a reality, or is about to become one, with Windows Latest further reporting that Microsoft actually tested Bing AI in Apple’s Safari browser over the past weekend.

If you blinked, you’d have missed this, though, as the test was a brief one.

Windows Latest also received an email through, apparently sent to some Bing AI mobile users, which mentions new features inbound for the AI. That includes the idea of “characters with personalities in Bing AI”, meaning a more in-depth choice than the simple creative, precise, or balanced personalities that currently grace the chatbot.

Microsoft is also planning to lift some restrictions, we’re told, so that could mean longer chat sessions with Bing AI are on the way, perhaps.

Windows Latest actually got to use Bing AI in the Safari test, and reports that it’s much the same experience as using the chatbot in Microsoft’s Edge browser. That’s pretty much what we’d expect, of course – there’s no reason it would be meaningfully different.

As we’ve discussed previously, it makes more sense for Microsoft to focus on driving usage of the Bing chatbot, than it does to use the bot as a lure to get people to switch to the Edge browser.

Yes, Edge is doubtless very important to Microsoft, but having its AI outgun Google’s Bard is surely a far more important consideration. And so having Bing AI in all the big browsers will help to that end, though we weren’t expecting this to happen quite as soon as this week. That would clearly indicate this is a real priority for Microsoft.

As for the idea of more varied personalities, this was something hinted at before in the very early days of Bing AI. Windows Latest points to leaked personalities that include ‘friendly’ and ‘sarcastic’ modes, though in the latter case, we’re skeptical as to whether this might be in the works.

Granted, sarcastic mode would be entertaining, certainly. But when folks have tried to get entertainment out of Bing AI in the past, pushing its buttons and boundaries, Microsoft has done its best to limit the chatbot’s more off-the-wall responses, and we’re not sure we see that changing anytime soon.

Microsoft is treating Windows 11 more and more like a billboard bus, finding ways to stick advertisements for its services along every surface and armpit of its operating system. In addition to ads in the Start menu, the latest test build for Windows 11 includes notices for a Microsoft 365 trial and more in the Settings menu.

On Friday, Windows beta user and routine leaker Albacore shared several screenshots of the latest Insider Preview build 23451. These shots come from the ultra-early Canary test build, and show a new “Home” tab in Settings that includes a notice to “Try Microsoft 365.” This appears to link to a free trial of the company’s office apps suite. There’s also a notice for OneDrive and another to ask users to finish setting up a Microsoft account, advertising users can use the 365 apps and its cloud storage on desktop. Another notice in the Accounts tab also blasts users with a request to sign in to their Microsoft account.

These ads are very similar to other preview builds with so-called “badging” that shows up when users click on the Start menu. In that menu, the ads are more subtle and ask users to “Sign in to your Microsoft account” or advertise to users that they can “Use Microsoft 365 for free,” of course ignoring that users have to input their credit card information to access their free month of office apps.

Microsoft declined to offer additional comment beyond what was mentioned in its Build 23451 blog post. It’s clear the Redmond, Washington company is seeing how far it can get with ads for its own services inside its OS. Albacore wrote the test Settings page has been hidden “for a few weeks,” though it’s received more of these cards, AKA ads, over the last few builds.

Based solely on the screenshots, it’s unclear if users will be able to disable these ads like they can for the Start menu (by navigating to the Settings menu). This version of the Home tab on the Settings page doesn’t seem to include anything but the ads themselves.

Microsoft has been trying to push its 365 apps recently, with updates that add AI features to apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The company retired the old Office monicker late last year in a rebranding and consolidation effort to fight off Google’s own suite of cloud-based workspace apps.

Windows 11 can already be a hard sell over Windows 10, especially considering how it took Microsoft quite a while to add new features like File Explorer tabs and a native video editor. The problem for Windows 10 holdouts is that Microsoft said it is no longer providing any new feature updates to its earlier OS. In addition, the company won’t provide any new security updates for Home, Pro, Enterprise, and Education versions of Windows 10 starting in October, 2025. Announcing the new client roadmap, product manager Jason Leznek said the company “highly encourage[s]” users transition to Windows 11.

Unfortunately, with all these proposed additions, Microsoft is making that transition a much harder pill to swallow.

Want more of Gizmodo’s consumer electronics picks? Check out our guides to the best phones, best laptops, best cameras, best televisions, best printers, and best tablets. If you want to learn about the next big thing, see our guide to everything we know about the iPhone 15. Click here to save on the best deals of the day, courtesy of our friends at The Inventory.

Update 05/08/23 at 4:11 p.m. ET: This post was updated to include that Microsoft declined to comment further.

Developers and enthusiasts who want to test Windows 11 and its dev tools can download the latest Windows 11 Development Environment (WDE) release, also known as "free Windows 11 virtual machines from Microsoft," from the official website. Microsoft has bumped its virtual machines to version 2304 and set the expiry date to July 18, 2023.

Windows 11 Development Environment includes everything a developer may need to start creating apps for Microsoft's latest operating system. The virtual machines come prebuilt for four virtualization services: VMWare, second-gen Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and Parallels (the official method to run Windows on ARM-powered Macs), and they include the following:

• Windows 11 Enterprise edition build 22621.1555 (Moment 2 Update)

• Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition with UWP, .NET Desktop, Azure, and Windows App SDK for C# workloads enabled

• Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 enabled with Ubuntu installed

• Windows Terminal installed

• Developer mode enabled

Microsoft's virtual machines are free during the evaluation period. On July 18, 2023, the operating system will prompt you to enter a valid Enterprise license key to continue using it. The desktop background will turn black, and the OS will power off every hour.

You can download the latest Windows 11 Development Environment from the official website. Make sure you have at least 23GB of free disk space, and your PC can allocate 8GB of RAM to run the WDE.

"The devices would have gotten us killed."

Bad Marks

The US military finally tried out Microsoft's much-delayed, very expensive augmented reality goggles during a recent Army test — and per an Insider report, the company's tech failed pretty spectacularly.

According to the report, the Army's Integrated Visual Augmented System (IVAS) device failed four out of six "evaluation events" in its recent "operational demo," according to a source at Microsoft.

For a contract worth nearly $22 billion dollars, those are some dismal results.

Glowing Immobile Ducks

Soldiers allegedly found the goggles to have some fatal flaws.

"The devices would have gotten us killed," one of the headset's testers said in an excerpt of an Army report dictated to Insider, referring to the fact that the goggles generate light that's visible from thousands of feet away — essentially turning wearers into glowing enemy targets.

Beyond giving away the positions of soldiers, the report also found that soldiers complained that the device was uncomfortable and heavy, limiting their movement and even cutting off their peripheral vision.

It's Fine, Actually

Surprisingly, despite these damning claims, the Army is maintaining that the devices were actually a success.

"The emerging results indicate that the program achieved success in most of the Army evaluation criteria," brigadier general Christopher Schneider told Insider in a statement, very much contradicting the results revealed by the leaked report.

"However," he continued, "the results also identified areas where IVAS fell short and needs additional improvements, which the Army will address."

We get it — most of us have had bad cases of buyer's remorse, too. Most impulse buys, however, don't come with a multibillion-dollar price tag.

Hopefully, Microsoft and the military can figure it out — although with the Microsoft mixed reality division's recent history in mind, we won't hold our breath.

READ MORE: 'The devices would have gotten us killed.' Microsoft's military smart goggles failed four of six elements during a recent test, internal Army report says

© Microsoft null

• Microsoft has announced a preview version of Windows Paint that supports dark mode.
• The new Paint will be coming in an update to all users later this year.
• Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels can test it starting today.

FINALLY! After being announced alongside the original version of Windows 11 in 2021, Microsoft is finally making available a preview version of the Windows Paint app that supports dark mode, 37 long years after the app first debuted in Windows 1.0 in 1985.

The new Paint app with dark mode is rolling out in preview today for Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels, and will roll out to all users later this year. In addition to the new dark mode, Paint is also getting some nice quality of life improvements in the "zoom" department, with finer granular increments now available via a new drop-down menu.

Windows Paint received its first major overhaul in years alongside the original launch version of Windows 11. At the time, Microsoft had promised more features coming to the Paint app soon, including dark mode and a centered canvas. While we're still waiting for the centered canvas, it's good to see dark mode finally show up two years on.

Microsoft just announced a bunch of new features coming soon to Windows 11, including a new AI Copilot, 7zip and .RAR support in File Explorer, ungrouping Taskbar items, and the ability to customize RGB devices among many others. These features are expected to ship as part of the version 23H2 feature update coming in the fall, and it looks like we can add dark mode in Paint to the mix.

Windows 11 is getting more features as soon as this month too, with updates to the Widgets Board, seconds in the system tray clock, and an updated Photos app rolling out this month.

Determined to build students’ capacity in the use of Microsoft Offices such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Microsoft is putting together the 2023 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship for students (MOSWC) scheduled to hold in Disneyworld, Orlando, Florida in the USA.

The competition, which is designed to test students’ capabilities in the use of Microsoft, has six students from schools across Nigeria who will be representing the country in the competition.

The six students include Fenna Nwokeji, Victor Omoyajowo, Adesuwa Igbinedion, Daniel Uzugbo, Aderinsola Adeegbe and Bolurinwa Fabuyi.

They were selected to represent Nigeria after emerging as winners of the 2023 MOS Nigeria Competition conducted by ReadManna in Nigeria between October 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023.

Speaking on the competition, Edna Agusto, founder of ReadManna Empowerment Initiative, said Nigeria has come 2nd and 3rd in the World Championship in the past 14 years and had finished in the top 10 places nearly every year.

Agusto said the Nigeria version of the championship is sponsored annually by Zenith Bank PLC, Agusto Consulting Limited and Airtel PLC and it challenges students to demonstrate their proficiency in the use of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

According to Agusto, these Microsoft Office Specialist programmes are the most commonly used productivity tools by businesses worldwide and the official MOS certification programme assesses and demonstrates proficiency in these programmes.

She further said the winners of the 2023 Microsoft Office Specialist in Nigeria and their school’s ICT teachers will be representing Nigeria at the World Championship in the USA.

Read also: Sunshine Stars will perform creditably well in NPFL super — Ondo Govt

Giving the details of the students, Agusto said Fenna Nwokeji is an Excel 2019 winner from Aduvie International School, Abuja who scored 1,000/1,000 at the competition; Victor Omoyajowo, a Word 2019 winner is from Faith Academy, Canaanland, Ota in Ogun State scored 976/1,000; Adesuwa Igbinedion, a PowerPoint 2019 winner is from Faith Academy, Canaanland, Ota, Ogun State scored 1,000/1,000.

Others are Daniel Uzugbo, an Excel 2016 winner from Faith Academy, Canaanland, Ota, Ogun State scored 980/1,000; Aderinsola Adeegbe, a Word 2016 winner, Faith Academy, Canaanland, Ota, Ogun State scored 1,000/1,000; Bolurinwa Fabuyi, a PowerPoint 2016 winner, from City of Knowledge Academy, IjebuOde, Ogun State scored 925/1,000.

On the benefits of being a Certified MOS user, Agusto said through the MOS certification, users will become proficient in the use of Microsoft Office programmes, thereby improving their chances of becoming gainfully employed in today’s digital world.

“It is globally recognised and gives certified users the opportunity to apply for jobs anywhere in the World. MOS certification also provides a solid foundation for advanced ICT training and certified users will be able to pursue training in advanced computer technologies,” she said.

She further said ReadManna Empowerment Initiative, as a not-for-profit organisation drives current, practical and relevant digital literacy skills aligned to global standards among students, youths and teachers in Nigeria through competitions and conferences.

The MOSWC competition scheduled for July 30 to August 2, 2023, is an annual event contested by students from over 150 countries.

As a marketer, you want to Excellerate your website’s performance and drive more conversions. In many cases, A/B testing could be the answer.

By comparing two versions of a webpage, you can determine which one is more effective at achieving your goals.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to set up A/B testing using Microsoft Clarity and GA4.

Microsoft Clarity is a free heatmap analytics tool that has all the necessary segmentation functionalities to set up A/B testing, especially when Google Optimize is sunsetting as a marketer; you need alternative ways to run your tests.

The easiest and most straightforward way to set up A/B testing is to set up two versions of the webpage and direct traffic to each.

By using a URL filter of Microsoft Clarity, you can segment data and analyze them for different versions of your webpage.

But what if you want to test different layouts of the page on the live traffic without different URLs?

Fortunately, Clarity has custom tags (and GA4 custom dimensions), so you can tag your users and filter them in reports.

What Are Microsoft Clarity Custom Tags?

Clarity’s custom tags are arbitrary alphanumeric custom labels you can assign to the visitor and later use to segment data and analyze recordings and heatmaps for different testing groups.

Are There Limits To Custom Tags In Microsoft Clarity?

There are no limits. You can add as many tags as you want to your project without any restrictions or limitations.

How To Tag A Visitor Using Microsoft Clarity

Tagging is as simple as running a small snippet of JavaScript code:

clarity("set", "experiment", "group_name");

But I would like to guide you through a specific, real-life example of how this can be used from our experience.

At SEJ, we conduct various tests on different types of ads and webpage layouts to gain insights into how user behavior is impacted by factors such as the type of banner ad or webpage layout.

Examples of A/B tests we are running:

• Static banner ads vs. animated banner ads.
• Left sidebar vs. right sidebar.
• Changing menu labels.

The goal is to understand in what case users scroll deeper into the article and thus engage in studying – or whether changing menu labels can help drive more clicks.

1. A/B Testing Static Banner Ads Vs. Animated Banner Ads

We use Google Ad Manager to load ads on our webpage, and thus we can use Google Publisher Tag API to pass key values to our ad server.

We evenly distribute traffic by utilizing the Math.random() function in JavaScript, which returns 1 or 2.

To get the experiment running, copy and paste the below.

We use key “ads_type” with predefined values “static_ads” and “animated_ads” in GAM to be able to run reports of ads on the GAM side as well, such as CTR for each group.

Then in your webpage <head> section, copy and paste the JS code, or you can use GTM custom HTML tag on every pageview where you have ads.

<script>
   window.group_name = "animated_ads";
   let randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1; // either 1 or 2
   if( randomNumber == 2 ){
      group_name = "static_ads";
   }   
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {   
   //make sure publisher tag has loaded   
   if( typeof googletag != 'undefined' ){   
      googletag.pubads().setTargeting("ads_type", group_name );
   }
   //check if clarity has loaded and set tag "experiment" with values "static_ads" or "animated_ads"
   if( typeof window.clarity != 'undefined' ){
      window.clarity("set", "experiment", window.group_name );
   }
});
</script>

When “DOMContentLoaded” event fires, publisher tag and Clarity are usually loaded. If not, you may consider wrapping JS inside into a setTimeout() function with a small delay.

With the ads_type key in GAM, it is possible to configure different banner types to be served to each group. As we have that key set up as a tag value for “experiment” key in Clarity, we can analyze data for each group and run your reports.

If you need a specific setup that requires advanced coding you may try using ChatGPT to write for you a code.

If you want to track how users’ conversion rates change in GA4 you can add a custom dimension with the key “experiment” in GA4 and populate it when the configuration tag loads by using datalayer.push method.

dataLayer.push({ 'experiment': group_name });

Alternatively, you can use GTM JavaScript variable to get window.group_name global variable value we set above as a testing parameter.

And in the configuration tag, set up a custom dimension to pass that variable value as shown below:

Populate custom dimension “experiment” from the global JS variable window.group_name, and voila!

Now your experiment custom dimension is passed to GA4, and you can filter reports using the custom dimension “experiment.”

(Quick tip: When naming your custom dimensions, make sure you don’t use any of the reserved parameter names to function it properly.)

2. Left Sidebar Vs. Right Sidebar

The principle is the same. Use Math.random() function in JavaScript in order to split test.

<style>
/*when adding this class to the content div it swaps sidebar position */
.main_content_right{
flex-direction: row-reverse;
}
</style>
<script>
   // since we have no any css under .main_content_left class it will do nothing i.e. sidebar will be the default right;   
   window.group_name = "main_content_left" 
   let randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1; // either 1 or 2. 
   //let randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 5) + 1; // random number from 1-5. use this if you want to run test on the  demo of your traffic e.g. on the 25%.
   if( randomNumber == 2 ){
      group_name = "main_content_right" // we will use group_name as a class name and a custom tag at the same time;
   }
//If DOMContentLoaded has loaded run the code, otherwise attach an event listener   
if (document.readyState === 'complete') {
     move_sidebar( group_name )      
   } else {
   // DOMContentLoaded event has not yet fired
   document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
       move_sidebar( group_name );
   });
   }
function move_sidebar( class_name ){   
   document.querySelector('.sej-sect>div').classList.add(class_name);// add class 
   //check if clarity has loaded and set tag "experiment" with values "right_sidebar" or "left_sidebar"
   if( typeof window.clarity != 'undefined' ){
      window.clarity("set", "experiment", class_name );
   }
   console.log('sidebar position', class_name );
}
</script>

In this case, we are manipulating DOM in order to change the layout.

In your specific case, you may need to apply different CSS for layout adjustments. You can use ChatGPT as a handy tool to help you with your custom coding.

After a certain time, when you have enough demo data for your split testing, you can use Microsoft Clarity’s tag filter “experiment=main_content_left” or “experiment=main_content_right” to segment your data.

3. A/B Test Menu Labels

Again we will be using Math.random() function and manipulating DOM via JavaScript.

We want to test the menu label “Latest” vs. “News”  in our website’s navigation bar.

For that, let’s get the JS path using browser DevTools as shown below.

We will be using JS path to access elements in the DOM and change the label.

<script>
   //We want to test the menu label for the Latest section in our website's navigation bar
   window.group_name = "Latest" 
   let randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1; // either 1 or 2. 
   //let randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 5) + 1; // random number from 1-5. use this if you want to run test on the  demo of your traffic e.g. on the 25%.
   if( randomNumber == 2 ){
      group_name = "News" // we will use group_name as a label and a custom tag at the same time;
   }
//If DOMContentLoaded has loaded run the code, otherwise attach an event listener   
if (document.readyState === 'complete') {
     change_label( menu_label )      
   } else {
   // DOMContentLoaded event has not yet fired
   document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
       change_label( menu_label );
   });
   }
function change_label( menu_label ){   
   document.querySelector("#main-navigation > li:nth-child(1) > a").textContent=menu_label;//set label, in your case it will be different
   //check if clarity has loaded and set tag "experiment" with values "right_sidebar" or "left_sidebar"
   if( typeof window.clarity != 'undefined' ){
      window.clarity("set", "experiment", menu_label );
   }
   console.log('menu label', menu_label );
}
</script>

To add your code, you can either insert it into the <head> section of your webpage or use GTM, as explained earlier.

Note that if you’re tracking with GA4, you’ll also need to use a custom dimension.

To pull reports in GA4 you would need to use “Explorer Reports” and filter your metric by custom dimension “experiment”.

Conclusion

Buying A/B testing tools can be expensive, and they may not always offer the specific features you need for your goals.

For instance, none of the A/B testing tools we tried could provide a user-friendly interface for testing different types of ads without custom coding.

However, the methods described here may require some effort to learn custom coding.

With ChatGPT available to help you write code, however, the process shouldn’t be too hard.

More resources:

Featured Image: Burdun Iliya/Shutterstock