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Microsoft updates Dev Channel Windows 10, breaks Arm x64 emulation

Also: Departures from Redmond, going big with Surface Hub, and celebrating third place

In brief Build 21292 of Windows 10 arrived for Dev Channel Windows Insiders last week and while there was little of interest, the team was delighted to note that it had continued to work on the x64 emulation in the Arm edition of the operating system.

Arriving later than expected, the x64 emulation in Windows 10 on Arm allows the running of x64 apps in an environment that had previously only supported x86 emulation. The code arrived in preview form for that rare breed of enthusiast who is both a Windows Insider and using Windows 10 on Arm.

Microsoft followed things up in the usual way, with a cumulative update that it said "does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline."

It also left that x64 emulation borked due to "an issue with the way the update is installed." Uninstalling it was the way to recover the functionality.

Then again, if something breaks but hardly anybody is using it, can it really be said to have broken at all?

Two old hands leave Microsoft

Microsoft veterans Julia White and Brad Anderson are to depart the mothership after 19 and 17 years of service respectively.

Both leave their divisions in good health. White, corporate vice president for Azure Marketing, is heading to SAP as chief marketing and solutions officer, while Anderson, corporate vice president for Commercial Management Experiences, is off to be president of products and services at SAP-owned Qualtrics.

Both were survivors of the transition from the Ballmer to Nadella era. White had previously served at Intuit before signing up to Microsoft's Server division in 2001, while Anderson had put in over a decade of service at Novell before leading what he described as "the turnaround for the problematic SMS product."

It was confirmed that Harv Bhela will replace Anderson and Azure veep John Chirapurath has taken on White's marketing duties on an interim basis.

85-inch Surface Hub 2S finally ships

As well as a specification and battery boost in the form of the Surface Pro 7+, Microsoft unveiled the heftiest sibling in the Surface Hub 2 family last week.

Aimed at deep-pocketed enterprises that have bought into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, the behemoth comes complete with the Windows 10 Team 2020 update. Admins can still pop on Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise if there's that one win32 app required that the locked-down Team 2020 Update edition won't run.

You'll also need Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise in order to use the device's fingerprint reader for signing on in multifactor fashion with Windows Hello.

In addition, Microsoft has thrown a bone at those wondering how the device might be manoeuvred inside with an elevator-friendly wheeled pallet.

Sadly, of the long-promised and modular Surface Hub 2X there remains no sign. Most likely in the same Redmondian dungeon as the dual-screen Neo.

SQL Server trails Oracle and MySQL

"Azure SQL Database is among the most popular databases of 2020 according to DB-Engines," said John 'JG' Chirapurath, vice president, Azure Data, AI and Edge last week.

Kind of. Taking aside the methodology of the rankings used by DB-Engines, which uses metrics such as search engine queries, frequency of discussions in places such as Stack Overflow, and mentions in the likes of LinkedIn to build its charts, a look at the rankings might make for some uncomfortable reading.

At time of writing, Microsoft SQL Server is number three. Microsoft Azure SQL Database is actually at position 15, behind luminaries such as Microsoft Access, which lurks at number 11.

Sadly, Chirapurath did not mention the infamous .mdb wrangler in his proclamations. ®

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