OpenAI’s new reasoning model series for developers and enterprises on Azure

Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Studio, and GitHub Models. The o1 series enables complex coding, math reasoning, brainstorming, and comparative analysis capabilities, setting a new benchmark for AI-powered solutions. The o1-preview and o1-mini models are now accessible in Azure AI Studio and GitHub Models to a select group of Azure customers to collaboratively explore and identify the unique strengths of each model.

Complex code generation: Capable of algorithm generation and advanced coding tasks to help developers.

Advanced problem solving: Perfect for comprehensive brainstorming sessions and tackling multifaceted issues.

New updates in our commitment to responsible AI and Safety by default Safety continues to be our top priority in delivering new generative AI models, o1 and o1-mini models in Azure OpenAI Service have “on-by-default” Content Safety features, at no additional cost for you. 

OpenAI has invested in additional safety advancements with these models, including new methods that help the model refuse unsafe requests. This makes the o1 series of models among the most robust models we have deployed to date. You can assess the safety of their AI application and model deployments with Azure AI Studio safety evaluations. More Details

Boost your apps with advanced reasoning! Explore, integrate, and scale with our latest models… Try it now!

Azure Database for MySQL - August 2024 updates

We're excited to share a summary of the Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server announcements from last month, as well as the latest roadmap of upcoming features! Flexible maintenance options for Azure Database for MySQL flexible servers (General Availability). The new flexible maintenance options enable greater control over the timing of the maintenance activities performed on Azure Database for MySQL flexible server instances, so that you can align maintenance schedules with your operational needs. After receiving a maintenance notification, you can reschedule it to a more convenient time, irrespective of whether it was system or custom managed.

The new flexible maintenance options enable greater control over the timing of the maintenance activities performed on Azure Database for MySQL flexible server instances, so that you can align maintenance schedules with your operational needs. After receiving a maintenance notification, you can reschedule it to a more convenient time, irrespective of whether it was system or custom managed. Since we released this feature in public preview last year, we've incorporated several important updates and feedback to ensure a smoother and more flexible experience.

Expanded Reschedule Window: The reschedule window has been extended to cover all available maintenance dates within the region (ensuring up to 30-day reschedule windows), offering much more flexibility compared to the limited 14-day window from the public preview.

Reschedule via Azure CLI: You can now reschedule maintenance activities through the Azure CLI. This provides flexibility and automation for managing maintenance windows across multiple servers.... Read More

Explore Azure MySQL’s flexible maintenance—align schedules!…… Contact MTC!

Fabric Pipeline Integration GA; SQL Server Certificate Issue

This release of the on-premises data gateway is now ready to support your production Pipelines in connecting to on-premises data sources. This is a significant milestone in expanding our data integration offering, as you can now use the Copy Activity with on-premises sources. Users on this gateway release or later connecting to SQL will need to make the changes below or will see SQL errors. When establishing a connection to an on-premises SQL Server using the on-premises data gateway or Power BI Desktop and the SQL Server utilizes a self-signed certificate, it’s possible that the refresh operation for a Fabric semantic model or dataflow can fail.

On the local machine where the on-premises data gateway is installed, navigate to C:\Program Files\On-premises data gateway. Make a backup of the configuration file named Microsoft.PowerBI.DataMovement.Pipeline.GatewayCore.dll.config. Open the original Microsoft.PowerBI.DataMovement.Pipeline.GatewayCore.dll.config configuration file and locate the SqlTrustedServers entry. Update the SqlTrustedServers value with the names of the SQL servers to trust and connect to.

This version of the gateway will ensure that the reports that you publish to the Power BI Service and refresh via the gateway will go through the same query execution logic/run-time as in the August version of Power BI Desktop. View the data connectivity section of Power BI’s September 2024 feature summary for updates on relevant connectors.

Please continue to send us feedback for what new capabilities you’d like to see in the future! You can vote for your favorite feature suggestions at... Read More

Update your gateway to avoid SQL errors with self-signed certificates… Contact MTC!

Announcing GitHub Copilot Chat for Power Pages in VS Code (Preview).

GitHub Copilot Chat is the world’s most widely adopted AI-powered developer tool, helping organizations and developers globally to code faster and achieve greater impact. With the introduction of the @powerpages participant, developers can now use Power Pages AI code capabilities directly while using GitHub Copilot Chat experience. By incorporating the @powerpagesparticipant in GitHub Copilot Chat, users can access coding assistance specifically targeted for Power Pages, improving productivity and simplifying development tasks.

First, download your website content using the Power Platform CLI. This requires authentication with your Microsoft Dataverse environment. For more detailed guidance, refer to the tutorial Use Microsoft Power Platform CLI with Power Pages – Download Website Content.

The Power Platform Tools extension simplifies using Power Platform CLI commands within Visual Studio Code’s Integrated Terminal. Once authenticated, navigate to the desired file and open it in the editor.

Copilot will provide targeted suggestions to help you write or explain Power Pages-specific code. You can also use GitHub Copilot’s capabilities to iterate on the generated code until it meets your requirements.

We are eager to hear how these new features improve your development experience. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us continue enhancing the Power Pages AI and GitHub Copilot Chat integration... Read More

Boost your coding with GitHub Copilot Chat and @powerpages! ………. Try it now! 

Build user-focused intelligent solutions in Power Apps, start with a plan.

This week our team has had the pleasure of spending time with our amazing community at the Power Platform Community Conference (PPCC). The energy and excitement at PPCC are unmatched, and it’s inspiring to see the creativity and passion everyone brings to the platform. Power Apps will enable makers and end users with Copilot and a team of agents, each with rich domain skills across solution architecture, data modelling, and data exploration. Makers will be able to build intelligent solutions that solve business problems faster and with less effort.

Great solutions don’t (usually) start in code, or by immediately designing the UI. Most experienced developers and teams start with an understanding of the problem, the users involved, and their requirements, before they even write the first line of code or draft a first app screen. We’re excited to bring the ability to build a plan to the Power Apps Studio. With this ability developers will be able to start working on the business problem in an iterative discussion with Copilot in Power Apps – they will be able to better keep connection between the business requirements and the solution they are building. This iterative and outcome focused development cycle can all happen right within Power Apps Studio.

Makers will be able to start with a description of their business problem as well as provide additional context like process diagrams, data models, or even screenshots of legacy apps. Copilot will use this input to draft user roles and requirements for the solution. From this starting point, makers can continue to add or change roles and their requirements directly or with the assistance of Copilot.

Additionally, when working over a large number of records, Copilot is able to help search and filter the data for users. Instead of numerous point-and-click actions, they can use natural language to quickly filter and search through data directly on the grid.

If you’re passionate about these updates coming for makers and end users, please join our Early Adopters Program. This doesn’t grant immediate access but will get you on the list as we expand to more users to engage with the product team, provide feedback, and get hands-on with the plan designer and intelligent apps... Read More

Plan your user-focused solutions in Power Apps today!…… Upgrade now with MTC!