What a week! As our feet touch the Austrian and Swiss ground again, we are very excited to process all the news, announcements and experiences from Microsoft Ignite 2024 in Chicago. It has been an incredible week jam-packed with sessions, meetups, social events and new connections. With thousands of posts out there, we will keep it short and sweet reflecting on our #1 favorite takeaway from Ignite. 

Gabriel's #1 favorite takeaway

Windows 365 Link (Coming in Q2 2025)

The new Windows 365 Link is a mini PC that Microsoft developed specifically for using Windows via the cloud. It was presented at Ignite 2024 and is scheduled to be available in April 2025 for $349.

As Experts Inside is now part of early Adopter Program of Windows Link we’ll have it much earlier for testing.

The aim is to provide users with easy access to their Windows 365 cloud environment without storing any local data or applications – The Link is booting natively into the Windows365 Cloud-PC UI.

Hardware and features:

• Processor and memory: Intel processor, 8 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage for the minimalist local operating system (based on Windows Core OS, an IoT Version of Windows 11).
• Connectivity: Supports Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet and dual 4K monitor setup.
• Design: Fanless, compact and silent – ideal for flexible workplaces.

Cloud-based approach:

The device runs primarily on a slimmed-down version of Windows and serves as a bridge to the Windows 365 cloud. Users can access their personalized Windows environments from any location, which is particularly advantageous in offices with a hot-desking culture or for companies with high security requirements.

Security:

Microsoft places a high value on data protection. No data is stored locally, and access is via secure authentication methods such as Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft Authenticator. TPM, Secure Boot and BitLocker are also integrated.

Isidora's #1 favorite takeaway

New Copilot Features (coming in Q1, 2025)

With tons of announcements and sessions at Microsoft Ignite, it's hard to choose one specifically. Nevertheless, I chose one which will make my life and work much much much easier and more efficient. Being part of our community team at Experts Inside, alongside with our experts organizing / presenting at tech conferences globally, we deal with PowerPoint decks on a daily basis. Wether creating decks for our customers to showcase our products & services, or starting a brand new deck from scratch for an event - we can do this much faster and more cost efficient with the new Microsoft 365 Copilot features in PowerPoint. The majority of our customers is based in the DACH-region with German being its primary language - so we often need content in multi-language. 

New features include: 

• Narrative Builder based on a file: generally available with Copilot in January 2025, the narrative builder will soon take your decks to the next level. With a prompt and a file, you can take insights from this document and transform it to a perfect first draft in your company's design including built-in transitations and animations. No need to manually dive into your documents anymore to create presentations, Copilot will do this for you in seconds. 
  
  
• Presentation translation: something I deal with every day, is deciding if we make a presentation in German or English, or often even both. This costs a lot of time translating, have natives on our team proofread for perfection, and copying pasting text and translations into slides. From January onwards, Copilot will inside of PowerPoint translate the entire deck (40 languages available!) keeping its existing lay-out and design. So in just a few seconds and without manual additional work, everything gets translated without leaving PowerPoint. 
  
  
• SharePoint Organization Asset Library: we have a broad collection of ready-to-use images in our company's housestyle. Choosing which image to use where, and uploading those manually into slide decks, is fun of course because it makes your decks look prettier, but it's also very time consuming. From 2025 (first quarter), Copilot will integrate these images automatically into your decks keeping your slides on-brand. 

So many announcements, need a Trusted Advisor?

30+ Microsoft 365 & Azure Experts are ready to assist you

We fully understand a flagship event like Microsoft Ignite with tons of announcements and new features, raises interest and questions. We have 30+ experts on board focused on different areas within Microsoft 365 & Azure. As a certified Microsoft Partner, we often have early access to new products and features and direct contact with Product Groups to assist our valued customers in the best way. With many years of hands-on experience, we know products inside and out and are always ready to assist companies with M365 & Azure services. Get in touch with our team or chat directly on the website to discuss how we can assist your organization with projects, workshops, adoptions, migrations and more. 

Save The Date

For Microsoft Ignite 2025! 

While we are still fully in the Ignite 2024 bubble, we're also already planning our engagements for 2025. Save the date for Microsoft Ignite in the week of November 17, 2025 hosted in San Francisco. We hope to see you there!