Tag: microsoft

Look out Amazon: Here comes Microsoft's Cloud OS

Post ImageIf you’ve been following the news about Windows Live Core, also referred to as “Cloud OS”, then today’s article at News.com probably is nothing new. Still, it’s a good overview of what is known thus far:

In addition to making available its existing services, such as mail and instant messaging, Microsoft also will create core infrastructure services, such as storage and alerts, that developers can build on top of. It’s a set of capabilities that have been referred to as a “Cloud OS,” though it’s not a term Microsoft likes to use publicly.

It’s about time.

Just as Windows handles memory management, storage, and other “fundamentals” as Microsoft likes to call them, for your computer, Cloud OS would handle the fundamentals for distributed web apps. Developers can spend less time worrying about how the application will run, and more time building out what the application should do. That’s a win-win for everyone.

The most visible company doing this today is Amazon.com with their web services. Services like S3 for storage and EC2 for computing power are tremendously valuable for developers. As I’ve said before, S3 made a big difference for Podcast Spot, and we’d like to use more services if only they existed.

I know there’s going to be pushback, simply because it’s Microsoft, but I am happy to finally see more news on Cloud OS. I can’t wait until the services are available – competition will explode.

It’s a buzzword, and not a very meaningful one at that, but I think this guy has it right:

IMHO, the cloud is the true Web 3.0 – the distributed, ubiquitous web.

Let the Web 3.0 wars being! Microsoft, Google, Amazon, maybe even Yahoo, all competing to provide the best cloud infrastructure for developers to build amazing applications and experiences on top of.

Read: News.com

Microsoft on your telly

Post ImageI was fortunate enough to land a guest posting gig over at last100, a blog dedicated to tracking the digital lifestyle. My two part series is about “Microsoft on your telly” and my articles take a look at where Microsoft is and has been in the television market, and where they are going. You can read the first post here. Please let me know what you think!

If you’ve never heard of last100, check it out. From the About page:

The name last100 refers to what industry insiders call the “last 100 feet” problem, which is the gap between the typical home’s computer and its living-room TV set. Whilst the digital living room is a primary focus, we’ll also be covering other areas of the digital lifestyle (VoIP, portable media, mobile web etc).

I love the name!

Looks like my first post has received a bunch of attention on Digg too, so feel free to digg it (up to 95 diggs right now). All I can say is I am glad the Digg mob is focusing their attention on Microsoft rather than on me!

Read: last100

Get ready for a major Microsoft product launch in February

Post ImageNovember of 2005 was an important month for Microsoft developers as Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 were launched. Technically BizTalk Server 2006 was part of the launch too, but it kind of took a backseat to the other two products. I doubt that will happen with the next big launch, coming in February 2008:

Microsoft announced at its partner conference on July 10 that it will launch Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 together in a single launch on February 27, 2008, in Los Angeles.

Those are three incredibly important products for Microsoft itself, and for Microsoft developers around the world. Combined with Windows Vista SP1, expected to be released alongside Windows Server 2008, it’s going to be a very exciting time. I can almost see the free copies of Visual Studio 2008 now…

The above quote comes from Mary Jo Foley’s post, titled “Microsoft plans a triple-play”. I have to admit, for a moment I half expected to read about Microsoft jumping into competition with AT&T, Verizon, and others! In telecommunications, a triple play means a bundle of high-speed Internet, television, and telephone services.

Mark your calendars!

Read: ZDNet

No @live.com email address for Canadians

Post ImageBack in April I posted about Windows Live Hotmail and the news that users would be able to sign up for an @live.com email address. I was quite excited – after all, it’s a pretty cool domain name. Today though, some disappointing news:

Apparently country code addresses will only be available in countries outside the US (I’m assuming a bit here, as Jacky talks only about .ca, Canadian addresses), so that a Canadian will be able to get an @live.ca address, but not an @live.com one.

The news comes from Jacky Mok, a product manager for Windows Live in Toronto.

I am a proud Canadian, but @live.ca just isn’t the same as @live.com, dammit! Maybe I can proxy my way around the registration restrictions. Or maybe Microsoft can smarten up and remove any such restrictions!

Read: LiveSide

Evil stuff from Apple with the iPhone

Post ImageI say ‘evil’ and you say ‘Microsoft’, right? Wrong. When you think evil, you should think Apple. At least that’s what I thought after reading this:

One of the first things you’ll need to do with your new iPhone is register with the iTunes Store in order to activate the handset.

Presumably, most of the iPhone early adopters will be Apple devotees with current iTunes Store accounts, but for those who don’t have an account already, have your credit card ready during the iPhone setup process.

Imagine the iPhone was a new product from Microsoft and it required you to have a Windows Media Player account (via Live.com or something). Would there not be an uproar? You can bet your ass there would be. People would be bashing Microsoft like there’s no tomorrow.

Why aren’t more people complaining about Apple? Double standards suck.

Read: crave

Microsoft Surface – Surface Computing Has Arrived

Post ImageMicrosoft Surface is insanely cool. I mean uber cool. Seriously, go watch the videos and tell me you’re not excited (Channel 10 has a longer video and Popular Mechanics also has a video). If there was ever a question about whether or not Microsoft can innovate, that question has been answered. Sure, similar ideas have existed for a long time, but not commercially available products. Microsoft Surface is new, different, and exciting. They’ve made it happen. From the press release:

Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, dynamic surface that provides effortless interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. Beginning at the end of this year, consumers will be able to interact with Surface in hotels, retail establishments, restaurants and public entertainment venues.

It’s kind of like the user interface in Minority Report, except that Surface is not a hollywood trick. Surface is real!

Five years in the making, Surface is being targeted at businesses initially. According to CNET News.com, Microsoft expects that individuals will be able to get their own surface computers “within three to five years.” The devices currently have a price tag of around $10,000. Okay, that kind of sucks, but it’s to be expected for cutting edge technology I suppose.

Don’t be surprised if Surface is all you read about for the next few days – the blogosphere is sure to be buzzing. Heck, there’s already a bunch of articles and posts available and it was just announced! For instance, this “making of” article is an interesting read.

So yeah, Microsoft Surface looks awesome! I’m all excited now 🙂

Read: Microsoft

Facebook is the web application Microsoft should have built

Post ImageYesterday at an event called f8, Facebook launched their new “platform” which enables third party companies to integrate applications right inside of Facebook. Mashable has a pretty good overview of thirty such applications. Everything about the Facebook Platform seems fairly ballsy, but you can’t argue with statistics like these:

  • Facebook is growing 3% per week, which is 100,000 new users per day.
  • 50% of registered users come back to the site every day.
  • Facebook is generating more than 40 billion page views per month. That’s 50 pages per user every day.
  • 6th most trafficked site in the U.S. More page views than eBay. Says they are targeting Google next.

In short, there’s no better place for such a platform to be built than on Facebook.

The last point above, as reported by Michael Arrington, is particularly interesting. I suspect there are millions of people around the world right now who think that Google is the Internet. Increasingly though, you might say the same thing about Facebook. If their user growth continues, and the Platform takes off, Facebook might become the new on-ramp to the web. No need to go anywhere else when all your friends (and family, colleagues, etc) and apps (webmail, shopping, stocks, etc) are in one place.

Not only is the name “Facebook Platform” incredibly obvious, it’s also very astute. Facebook is no longer just a social networking site. It really is becoming a social operating system, as some have called it.

What does this have to do with Microsoft?

Microsoft is a platform company, plain and simple. Think of a Microsoft product – chances are it’ll be a platform product. Windows, Office, SharePoint, .NET, Xbox, etc. Microsoft is pretty good at laying the foundation and helping others build on top (which only serves to make their platform all the more important).

The Facebook Platform sounds very much like something Microsoft would build. To see what I mean, read this sentence:

Facebook is a platform that provides a common abstraction of the infrastructure and guts of a system, allowing third parties to build interesting and useful applications on top.

Now replace Facebook with Windows. Or Office. Or .NET. See what I mean? It still makes sense. Facebook is very much taking a page from the Microsoft playbook with Platform. I think it’s brilliant. And I think Microsoft should have done it a long time ago.

But they didn’t. I think they are moving in the right direction with Windows Live, but it sure is taking a while. Perhaps Colin is right…maybe Microsoft should just buy Facebook. I don’t think it’ll happen though.

At least Microsoft isn’t totally out to lunch on this – they are partnering with Facebook to integrate Popfly.

Windows Live Hotmail with Outlook

Post ImageYesterday Microsoft launched the new version of Hotmail, called Windows Live Hotmail. I rarely use Hotmail anymore, but I signed up for the Windows Live beta quite a while ago to check it out. I will say it’s better than what they had, but it’s still not for me. I really wasn’t that excited about it at all, until I came across something interesting. From the press release:

Windows Live Hotmail will deliver a safer, more powerful and productive e-mail experience than previous versions with flexible access via the Web, on a mobile phone or with an e-mail client.

Say what!? An email client? That’s something I’d be interested in.

Available later this month in 11 languages worldwide, the new Microsoft Office Outlook Connector beta will enable people to view and manage their Windows Live Hotmail account from Outlook for free, with full contact, e-mail and e-mail folder synchronization.

I have Outlook open almost 24/7 as you know, so I’ll definitely be checking out the awkwardly named Connector. If they throw in the @live.com address too, I’ll be just peachy!

For more info, check out LiveSide.

Read: Microsoft

Microsoft & Yahoo!

Post ImageEveryone is buzzing about the New York Post story that Microsoft is very seriously trying to hook up with Yahoo!. You can read lots of opinion over at TechMeme. The idea is not new – rumors surfaced back in January 2006, and probably existed before that too.

I am excited about the possibility of a combined Microsoft-Yahoo! organization. However, it seems the reason behind such a deal would be to better compete with Google. I don’t think that’s a good enough reason for MSFT and YHOO to tie the knot. Why not? For the same reason this person thinks Google should buy Starbucks (what a stupid idea):

Google was listed as the 17th largest US company in market value, $143 billion at the time of publication in the Forbes 500. Google sprang to that size faster than any company in history. It remains the only company that is not diversified, at that scale or anywhere close to that scale. And when you check on its standing according to revenue (10.6B), it drops from #17 to #241.

Google has one source of revenue: AdSense. What if something happened to AdSense? Nothing is bulletproof. Without AdSense, Google would die. Period. I’m not saying that Microsoft and/or Yahoo! should try to disrupt the AdSense machine. All I am saying is that it’s far easier for Google to make a mistake and pay the price than it is for Microsoft or Yahoo!.

Do it like they do in F1
In Formula 1 racing, one strategy for passing a competitor who is in front of you is to wait, especially if there are a lot of laps left in the race. The reason behind this is simple. If you get too impatient and a take a big risk to go for it, you could very well crash. In general, you’re far better off staying close behind your competitor, putting immense pressure on them. Most of the time, they’ll make a mistake, and you’ll have a chance to capitalize on it with a clean pass. Michael Schumacher was incredibly good at this.

Perhaps Microsoft should take a page out of Schumacher’s playbook? Microsoft can afford to be patient, and the race is far from over.

If Microsoft and Yahoo! want to join up to share technology and build better products, that’s one thing. If it’s just about beating Google, there’s better ways of doing it.

Read: TechMeme

Tell us about Internet Explorer 8!

Post ImageThe 72-hour conversation that Microsoft likes to call Mix is over tomorrow, and so far, there has been absolutely no news about Internet Explorer 8. As I like to say, the silence has been deafening! Oh there’s been lots of news about Silverlight (Colin has a number of great posts), but nothing about IE8. A quick search shows that Miguel de Icaza (among others, undoubtedly) noticed this as well:

Someone mentioned (and I forget whom it was) that talk about IE8 was strangely missing from the whole conversation. There were no announcements about new upcoming features in IE, no mention of whether IE8 will support what-wg nor any future plans.

It makes sense that Silverlight should have its day to shine, but seriously, IE8 is important! Why not drop even a few tidbits about what to expect? Firefox 3 received a ton of press back in February when it became clear that the nextgen browser would support offline applications.

Maybe Microsoft is keeping quiet about IE8 to let the “we love all platforms and browsers” message permeate the blogosphere.

I should point out that the IE team posted this almost two weeks ago:

We will have more information to share about the next release in the future, but MIX07 is too early yet to discuss specifics.

All I want are tidbits, not specifics!

UPDATE: Mary Jo Foley has written a post describing what was mentioned about IE8 at Mix today. Mostly general stuff, like security being the top priority.

Read: IE Blog