Enhancing AI development: Microsoft's New .NET extensions now available

Microsoft has announced the general availability of its AI and Vector Data Extensions for .NET, marking a significant step in simplifying the development of AI-powered applications. These libraries provide standardized abstractions for AI models and vector stores, promoting interoperability and extensibility across the .NET ecosystem. Developers can now build scalable and maintainable applications with greater ease, leveraging these foundational tools to integrate various AI services and vector databases seamlessly.

Here’s what you need to know about these extensions:

• What is it? A set of .NET libraries that provide shared abstractions and utilities to streamline working with AI models and vector stores.

• What’s included?

  Available as NuGet packages:

  • Microsoft.Extensions.AI.Abstractions – Common types and abstractions for AI models

  • Microsoft.Extensions.AI – Utilities for working with AI extensions

  • Microsoft.Extensions.VectorData.Abstractions – Types and abstractions for vector store integration

• Why use them? They promote interoperability, extensibility, and consistency, making it easier to scale and maintain your AI solutions.

• Use case: Write portable code that works across different AI models and vector store providers. Easily switch providers based on your environment—while keeping your codebase clean and adaptable.

Improved editor classification and prompting experience in Visual Studio extensibility

Microsoft has introduced enhancements to the Visual Studio extensibility model, focusing on improved editor classification and refined user prompts. These updates aim to provide extension developers with more consistent behavior and clearer guidance when working with classification types and user input requests.

Here’s what’s new:

• Text Classification Support: Enable custom text coloring within open files — enhancing both semantic and syntactic colorization.

• ShowPromptAsync API Enhancements: The ShowPromptAsync API now supports icons and includes a new capability to capture user input directly within the prompt.

• Share Your Feedback: Help shape the future of Visual Studio by reporting bugs and suggesting new features or improvements.

Microsoft enhances Power Apps with human-agent collaboration features

Microsoft is charting a bold new course for enterprise app development with the latest evolution of Power Apps. By focusing on seamless collaboration between humans and AI agents, the platform aims to make building apps more intuitive, efficient, and accessible. This marks a significant step toward transforming how organizations approach digital innovation.

Discover how the latest Power Apps updates — Plans, the new Agent Feed, and Managed Platform Expansion — empower you to build intelligent, agent-centric apps like never before.

• Start with a plan: Collaborate with agents to define requirements, map processes, and design solutions that work together seamlessly.

• Turn business needs into agentic solutions: Transform requirements into process maps that guide development and align with user personas.

• AI-powered app creation: Describe what you want — Power Apps generates tailored React code to bring your vision to life.

• Human + agent = next-gen collaboration: Get real-time guidance, see agent actions, and automate work with intelligent actions.

• Bring your code-first apps to the Power Platform: Take apps from Visual Studio Code or Cursor and run them on a fully managed, enterprise-grade platform.

Streamlining .NET modernization: GitHub Copilot's new agent mode enhances developer efficiency

Microsoft has launched a public preview of the "GitHub Copilot app modernization – Upgrade for .NET," an AI-driven tool designed to simplify and expedite the process of updating .NET applications. This new feature leverages GitHub Copilot's Agent Mode to intelligently assess existing codebases, determine optimal upgrade paths, and implement necessary changes with minimal manual intervention. Developers can access this capability through Visual Studio 17.14 by installing the dedicated extension and enabling Agent Mode within the Copilot Chat interface.

By automating complex upgrade tasks, this integration aims to reduce the time and risks associated with manual code modernization, allowing developers to focus more on innovation and less on routine maintenance.

Here’s how you can start your modernization:

• Getting Started: Install the extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace: GitHub Copilot app modernization – Upgrade for .NET.

• Enable Copilot Agent Mode: Install Visual Studio 17.14, sign in with your GitHub Copilot subscription, enable Agent Mode via Tools > Options, then open Copilot Chat → Click “Ask” > “Agent” → Select the “Upgrade” tool.

• Running the Upgrade: Right-click your project or solution in Solution Explorer and choose “Upgrade with GitHub Copilot”, or simply ask Copilot in the chat: “Upgrade my solution to .NET 8.”

• What’s Included: Automated code transformations, customizable workflows, learning from your changes, Git integration, test validation, and full Agent Mode support.

• Share Your Feedback: Help improve the experience—click the “Leave Feedback” button to share your thoughts.

Microsoft rolls out .NET Aspire 9.3 with enhanced developer tools

Microsoft has released .NET Aspire 9.3, introducing several enhancements aimed at improving the developer experience. The update includes quality improvements, integration enhancements, and API updates, reflecting Microsoft's commitment to refining its cloud-native development tools.

Here are some of the updates:

• AI Debugging Assistant: Review hundreds of log messages with a single click, trace root causes across multiple apps, spot performance issues, and decode obscure error codes using GitHub Copilot's AI smarts—all without leaving your dashboard.

• Context Menu in Resource Graph View: A new context menu gives you quick access to a resource’s telemetry, commands, and URLs directly from the graph view.

• Enhanced Tracing: Visualize outgoing calls to resources that don’t emit telemetry—like databases, caches, and infrastructure components—ensuring nothing is missed.

• Integration Updates: New capabilities include self-hosting a YARP instance, MySQL support, and enhanced Azure integration to boost your app connectivity.

• App Model Enhancements: The updated Custom URLs feature lets you control whether URLs are shown on the resource page or the dashboard’s resource details page.

Microsoft improves supervisor oversight in Dynamics 365 Contact Center and Dynamics 365 Customer Service

Microsoft has introduced new capabilities in Dynamics 365 Contact Center aimed at improving supervisors' ability to monitor customer service interactions. These enhancements provide supervisors with greater visibility into ongoing conversations, allowing for more effective management of customer engagements.

The update is designed to help supervisors identify potential issues in real-time, enabling timely interventions to maintain high service standards. By offering deeper insights into chat activities, the enhancements support better decision-making and resource allocation within customer service teams.

Here’s what you need to know:

• How it works: Navigate to Ongoing Conversations in the Copilot Service admin center, select a conversation, and click Monitor to view the full transcript, current status, and elapsed time.

• Why it matters: Instantly assess whether a conversation is progressing as expected, whether the customer needs more support, or if the conversation should be escalated or transferred.

• Key benefits: Ensure service quality, improve response monitoring, speed up customer replies, and streamline supervisor workflows in async channels.

Power BI May 2025 enhancements continue to elevate the data experience

Microsoft has rolled out its latest monthly update for Power BI, bringing a fresh wave of improvements that continue to push the boundaries of data visualization and reporting. With a strong focus on user experience and performance, the May 2025 update sets the stage for even more impactful data storytelling.

Here are some of the enhancements:

• Events & Announcements: Stay informed with the all-new Power BI Roadmap page — your go-to for upcoming feature release dates.

• Copilot and AI: Introducing the standalone Copilot experience in Power BI! Effortlessly find and analyze reports, semantic models, apps, and data agents you have access to — all in one place.

• Reporting: New visual calculations like LOOKUP and LOOKUPWITHTOTALS let you focus on one visual at a time — enabling easier creation and validation of complex calculations.

• Modeling: Drag and drop your way to faster data modeling! Create relationships between Direct Lake tables with a simple UI based on row counts.

• Visualizations: Meet the Dandelion chart — a fresh way to visualize column data with dynamic breakdowns as floating flowers above each bar.

See the full list here.

Microsoft unveils translytical task flows preview in Power BI

Microsoft has announced the public preview of Translytical Task Flows in Power BI, introducing a transformative feature that enables users to automate actions directly within reports. This innovation allows for real-time data modifications, dynamic notifications, and seamless integration with workflows, enhancing decision-making and operational efficiency.

Powered by Fabric User Data Functions, the new capability supports tasks such as updating records, annotating data points, and triggering approval workflows, all within the Power BI interface. This development marks a significant step towards interactive and actionable business intelligence solutions.

Here are its capabilities:

• Modify data records: Add, update, or delete data records based on filter context and report inputs.

• Annotate data points: Capture and display annotations directly within the report for better context and collaboration.

• Send dynamic notifications: Trigger real-time alerts to drive awareness or prompt specific actions.

• Launch approval workflows: Initiate workflows that route requests for approval to designated users or admins.

• Augment data: Retrieve additional data in real-time based on what's shown in your report.

• Integrate custom AI: Embed tailored AI assistance or launch AI-powered workflows directly from your report view.

Microsoft enhances Dynamics 365 Contact Center with the new Schedule Calendar feature

Microsoft has introduced the “My Schedule” calendar for Dynamics 365 Contact Center, streamlining workforce management for customer service teams. The new feature enables agents to view their shifts, time off, and tasks in daily, weekly, and monthly formats, helping them stay on top of their schedules more effectively.

• What Is the Schedule Calendar?
  The Schedule Calendar provides comprehensive insights into both productive tasks and non-productive shift bookings, so you’re always prepared for what’s next.

• Key Features:

  The key features of the Schedule Calendar include shift schedule bookings, day view, week view, month view, agenda view, and time-off requests.

Microsoft introduces adherence tracker to enhance service team performance in Dynamics 365 Contact Center

Microsoft unveiled the Adherence Tracker for Dynamics 365 Contact Center, a new tool designed to help organizations monitor and manage service representative activities effectively. By ensuring that service reps adhere to their schedules and are consistently available during shifts, this feature aims to improve overall team performance and customer satisfaction.

The Adherence Tracker provides real-time insights into agent availability and adherence to scheduled activities, enabling supervisors to identify and address potential issues promptly. This proactive approach supports better resource planning and helps maintain high service standards across customer support operations.

Here are its detailed features and benefits:

• Real-Time Monitoring: Continuously monitor service reps' activities against their scheduled shifts to quickly spot deviations and maintain optimal productivity.

• Metrics That Matter: Track adherence percentage, total scheduled time, time in current state, and time out of adherence to ensure accurate performance insights.

• Visual Oversight: Use a Gantt chart to display reps' activities on a timeline with near real-time data for immediate tracking.

• Schedule Integration: The Adherence Tracker seamlessly integrates with the Schedule Calendar, offering a comprehensive view of adherence alongside scheduled tasks.

• Benefits: Boost performance, increase accountability, gain data-driven insights, and drive operational efficiency.