Technologies

Microsoft Will Lower Price of Office 365 Without Teams Platform, Avoiding EU Antitrust Fine

Slack filed an official complaint in 2020, accusing Microsoft of being anticompetitive by bundling Teams into its Office suite.

Microsoft has agreed to sell Office 365 suites unbundled without Teams for a significantly lower price than previously, ending a five-plus-year European Union dispute with Slack and avoiding a fine by the EU.

The software giant was charged with EU antitrust violations in June 2024 for bundling Teams with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. The dispute began in July 2020, when Slack (now owned by Salesforce) filed an official complaint, alleging Microsoft was conducting an «illegal and anti-competitive practice of abusing its market dominance» by tying Teams «into its market-dominant Office productivity suite,» according to a Slack news blog post.

Microsoft must comply with the EU agreement for at least seven years, or else face penalties. EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said the deal «opens up competition in this crucial market and ensures that businesses can freely choose the communication and collaboration product that best suits their needs.»

Microsoft’s agreement should translate into significant cost savings for Office/Microsoft 365 customers. The difference in price between suites with Teams and those without will drop by a further 50%. The price reductions will take place in the EU but could possibly extend worldwide.

Other changes will include:

Customers with long-term licenses can switch to licenses that don’t include Teams.
Teams competitors (like Slack, Google Meet and Zoom) will have interoperability with Office software such as Word and Excel.
Customers can move their data out of Teams if they want to switch to a different communications platform.

The EU announcement «sends a clear message: Microsoft’s anticompetitive tying of Teams has harmed businesses, denied customers fair choice, and resulted in many years of lost competition,» said Salesforce Chief Legal Officer Sabastian Niles in a statement Friday.

Slack won’t make much of a dent against Teams in terms of market share, said Anurag Rana, sector head and senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. «Most enterprises have established software tools that they are using internally right now, and we are not expecting them to shift vendors because of lower pricing or any other incentives rivals may offer,» Rana told CNET. «This is not specialized software, and most apps now have comparable features.»

In 2024, Teams had five times as many monthly users as Slack and brought in $8 billion in revenue, roughly double what Slack is projected to bring in this year.

Technologies

Facebook Brings Back Local Job Listings: How to Apply

One of Facebook’s most practical features from 2022 is being revived by Meta.

On the hunt for work? A Local Jobs search is being rolled out by Meta to make it easier for people in the US to discover and apply for nearby work directly on Facebook. The feature is inside Facebook Marketplace, Groups and Pages, Meta said last week, letting employers post openings and job seekers filter roles by distance, category or employment type.

You can apply or message employers directly through Facebook Messenger, while employers can publish job listings with just a few taps — similar to how you would post items for sale on Marketplace.

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Facebook offered a Jobs feature before discontinuing it in 2022, pushing business hiring toward its other platforms. Its return suggests Meta is attempting to expand Facebook’s usefulness beyond social networking and to position it once again as a hub for community-driven opportunities.

«We’ve always been about connecting with people, whether through shared interests or key life events,» the press release states. «Now, if you’re looking for entry-level, trade and service industry employment in your community, Facebook can help you connect with local people and small businesses who are hiring.»

How to get started with Local Jobs on Facebook

According to Meta, Local Jobs will appear as a dedicated section in Facebook Marketplace starting this week. If you’re 18 or older, you can:

Tap the Marketplace tab on the Facebook app or website.
Select Jobs to browse available positions nearby.
Use filters for job type, category and distance.
Tap Apply or message the employer directly via Messenger.

Businesses and page admins can post jobs by creating a new listing in Marketplace or from their Facebook Page. Listings can include job details, pay range, and scheduling information and will appear in local searches automatically.

The Local Jobs feature is rolling out across the US now, with Meta saying it plans to expand it in the months ahead.

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.