Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT), having recently planned layoffs and experienced the death of a colleague, is likely in the mood to get some goodwill going. To that end, Microsoft announced a set of new plans to support the Presidential AI Challenge. This includes a substantial amount of free stuff and education plans. The move did not deliver much help for Microsoft stock, though, as shares slid over 2.5% in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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Microsoft, in a blog post, announced that it was offering up a range of new “commitments” to support both the Presidential AI Challenge and the AI Education Executive Order, which would help supply American schools with not only new AI tools, but also AI-related training. The idea was to help “…empower teachers and students, build AI skills, and create economic opportunity…”
More specifically, and perhaps more tangibly, this means Microsoft will be offering 12 months of free Copilot access in Microsoft 365 for college students. That would be great, if college did not last four or five years, maybe even longer. Also, Microsoft opened up access to Microsoft Elevate, which meant more Copilot access for schools. Microsoft offered $1.25 million in educator grants, free LinkedIn Learning courses in AI, and AI training for job seekers as well as community college certifications.
Windows Mixed Reality Headset Comeback
Meanwhile, Microsoft also managed to bring back the Windows Mixed Reality headset, as an Xbox engineer reportedly built an Oasis driver that gives the headset access to SteamVR. When Microsoft rolled out the 24H2 update to Windows 11, it rendered the headsets largely useless as Microsoft basically discontinued the platform, reports note.
The name Oasis is the codename for Windows Mixed Reality efforts, and apparently, has nothing—at least, nothing official—to do with the massive virtual reality gaming platform of the same name from Ready Player One. But the new driver depends on an Nvidia (NVDA) GPU, and allows the headsets to not only run OpenVR, but also OpenXR, through SteamVR. It serves as “…full headset and motion tracking controller as well through a native SteamVR rendering pipeline.”
Is Microsoft a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 32 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 26.46% rally in its share price over the past year, the average MSFT price target of $627.67 per share implies 26.95% upside potential.
