Welcome to the new Directions on Microsoft Twitter account! (Our previous channels @On_MS_Products and @On_MS_Licensing are being subsumed here.) Directions provides info on Microsoft enterprise products, roadmaps and licensing. I (@maryjofoley) will be your curator in chief.

Sentinel data lake -- a cloud-native data lake built specifically for security -- is in public preview: #MSTech.

The preview of the integration between Fabric data agents and Copilot Studio is now available. Microsoft says this is a stepping stone toward multi-agent orchestration: #MSTech.

Microsoft Connected Cache now generally available for enterprise and education customers. Designed to save bandwidth and speed up access to monthly updates, Windows upgrades, Intune provisioning and more: #MSTech.

Microsoft recently announced SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) was rolled into M365 Copilot licenses for no additional cost. Is this a big advantage for organizations wanting to roll out M365 Copilot -- or a possible licensing hazard? #MSLicensing.

Do AI assistants really accelerate development? Can they replace your developers? Directions' analyst @BarryBriggs has thoughts: #MSTech

ICYMI: Microsoft releases emergency patches for on-premises SharePoint RCE flaws exploited in attacks: #MSTech.

New episode now available. Directions on Microsoft analyst @BarryBriggs talks about what needs to happen among execs, IT and employees on for data governance in an AI-centric world to really work: #MSTech

Exchange, Skype Servers Get Barely Extended Security Updates: #MSTech #MSLicensing

Microsoft 365 Copilot Search will begin rolling out to licensed M365 Copilot users starting in Aug. 2025. Here are a few features to note: #MSTech #MSLicensing.

Memory feature will be generally available in M365 Copilot later this month (July 2025). It will be on by default, but both users and tenant admins will have controls to manage it: #MSTech.

Microsoft is finally nixing its Mesh mixed-reality efforts: #MSTech.

For anyone with an Arm-based Windows 11 PC (running 24H2 Enterprise), hotpatching is now available. (It already was since April on AMD/Intel x64 devices.) #MSTech.

For those trying to follow along with Microsoft's ongoing AI branding changes, Copilot for Finance is no longer a thing. It was renamed "Finance Agents" a few months ago. (Still in preview): #MSTech #MSLicensing.

The new on-premises versions of Exchange and Skype for Business Server are GA. More on Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE); and Skype for Business Server SE: .#MSTech #MSLicensing.

What Is AGI and Why Should You Care? Directions analyst @BarryBriggs explains one of the key technologies at the heart of the Microsoft-OpenAI battle over the future of their partnership: #MSTech.

Reminder: Planned 10% price increases for on-prem SharePoint Server, Exchange Server, Skype for Business Server all take effect July 1. However, Microsoft has delayed until August 1 the 15% price hike for Core CAL and Enterprise CAL suites: #MSLicensing.

RT @DirectionsMSFT: New podcast is out. SQL Server 2025 is coming later this year. Our special guest, Microsoft Regional Director and MVP @….

Microsoft is taking a multi-pronged approach to try to get more Windows 10 customers to move to Win11 before 10 exits support by offering more Extended Security Update options, as well as beefing up Windows 11's security core: .#MSTech #MSLicensing

New podcast is out. SQL Server 2025 is coming later this year. Our special guest, Microsoft Regional Director and MVP @andrewbrust & Directions' Andrew Snodgrass talk with @maryjofoley about the biggest AI and other features customers can expect: #MSTech

SQL Server 2025 will NOT include Reporting Services. MSFT is consolidating reporting into Power BI Report Server (PBIRS). Won't really be an issue until Jan. 2033 when SQL Server 2022 retires. More details coming in Fall 2025: #MSLicensing.