Microsoft has announced that its AI-powered reading tutor, Microsoft Reading Progress, is now free for anyone with a Microsoft Account. This means that students, teachers, parents and anyone else who wants to improve their reading skills can access the tool from any device and get personalized feedback and guidance.
Microsoft Reading Progress is a web-based app that helps learners practice their reading fluency and comprehension. It uses speech recognition and natural language processing to analyze the learner’s reading performance and provide metrics such as accuracy, rate, expression and pronunciation. It also highlights the words that the learner misread, skipped or inserted, and gives suggestions on how to improve.
The app was originally designed for educators and students in grades K-8, but Microsoft says that it can be used by anyone who wants to enhance their reading abilities. The app supports 15 languages and dialects, and allows users to choose from a variety of texts or upload their own. Users can also adjust the difficulty level and the feedback mode according to their preferences and goals.
Microsoft Reading Progress is part of Microsoft’s broader effort to democratize education and empower learners of all ages and backgrounds. The company says that it hopes that by making the app free for everyone, it can help reduce the learning gaps caused by the pandemic and foster a culture of lifelong learning.
To use Microsoft Reading Progress, users need to sign in with a Microsoft Account, which they can create for free if they don’t have one already. They can then access the app from any browser on any device, such as a laptop, tablet or smartphone. Users can also integrate the app with Microsoft Teams if they want to collaborate with others or share their progress.
Microsoft Reading Progress is a powerful and innovative tool that can help anyone improve their reading skills and confidence. Whether you are a student who wants to ace your exams, a teacher who wants to support your students, a parent who wants to help your child, or just someone who loves reading, you can benefit from this app. You can start using it today by visiting https://aka.ms/readingprogress.
The free Upgrade offer for windows 10 will end on July 29th 2016 as we approach the release of the anniversary update.
Windows 10 in the latest statistics, currently runs on over 300 million devices actively and gets better with more fine tunings and updates to the OS.
Windows 10 offers experiences that are familiar, safer and more secure, and more personal and productive – enabling innovative new experiences.
What this means for users is, if you have already upgraded to Windows 10 or bought a new device with Windows 10 already installed, you have nothing to worry about or do. You’ll receive the anniversary update and any other OS updates for free.
But if you are still using Windows 7, 8, XP, Vista or any other edition, you’ll have to buy Windows 10 when you decide you are ready to use it. After July 29th you can get windows 10 with a new device purchase or by purchasing a full version of Windows 10 home at $ 119.
Bryan Roper from the Windows team in a video has 10 reasons why you should upgrade now if you haven’t yet.
If you’ve already upgraded to Windows 10 – thank you. If you haven’t upgraded yet – we hope you’ll consider upgrading today.
Microsoft has announced Windows 10 will be available for free for the first year after launch. Microsoft’s Operating System Group chief Terry Myerson made the announcement at the Next Chapter media briefing. This strategy he said is a way we shared our desire to redefine the relationship we have with you our customers. It’s also a way to get more users on a common Windows release across all types of devices to give developers a more unified platform for which to build their apps.
“We will offer a free upgrade to Windows 10 for qualified new or existing Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices that upgrade in the first year! And even better: once a qualified Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it up to date for the supported lifetime of the device, keeping it more secure, and introducing new features and functionality over time for no additional charge.
And just like any Internet service, the idea of asking “What version are you on?” will cease to make sense which is great news for our Windows developers. With universal Windows apps that work across the entire device family, developers can build one app that targets the broadest range of devices including the PC, tablet, phone, Xbox, the Internet of Things, and more
For enterprise customers and partners, we will continue to deliver exclusive value and offer extensive flexibility in how Windows 10 is deployed and managed as Windows evolves to become a service. For companies that require these enterprise-grade capabilities, Windows Software Assurance (SA) will continue to offer the best and most comprehensive benefits.”
Despite Microsoft making Windows 10 free upgrade, it expects your device to qualify for it;
“It is our intent that most of these devices will qualify but some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1. Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise outside of this offer.”
With all the features coming in Windows 10 and it being available for free as an upgrade I don’t believe you’ll like to be left out. Did Microsoft get it right this time around? What do you think?