The current state of Windows 7
It’s been around a year since the launch of Windows 7, so in the final interview from Tech.Ed last week, I discuss the current state of Windows 7. In an interview with Moragh Blyth and Michael Niehaus from Microsoft we discuss Win7 Service Pack 1, business adoption and a whole lot more.
Check out the 11 minute video below.
Tech.Ed 2010 – Microsoft’s Cloud
One of Microsoft’s key strategies for the future is cloud computing not only for some personal use – skydrive, office web apps and My Phone, but also business. Their cloud platform Azure hosts services like Exchange, SharePoint, SQL to name a few. There are few companies that do things at the scale that Microsoft does, which means Azure customers have access to ‘hundreds of thousands’ of Microsoft servers.
In a pay-as-you-go model, Cloud services are particularly cost effective for start-ups that want avoid massive up front investment for server infrastructure. Also those businesses that often experience peak demands at certain times of the year. Valentine’s day for a florist is the example used during my interview with Gianpaolo Carraro & Phil Goldie from Microsoft.
Cloud services are pivotal to another key strategy from Microsoft – three screens and a cloud. This means that content delivered to your phone, desktop / laptop and you tv are all stored up in the cloud. This provides new possibilities like taking your game status from the Xbox and picking it up on your WP7 device. An interesting concept indeed, it’ll be a case of wait and see just how well Microsoft manage to execute on this vision.
Watch the interview below.
More info @ http://microsoft.com/windowsazure
Natural user interface coming to your future
This year’s keynote at Tech.Ed Australia 2010 was done by Microsoft evangelist Michael Kordahi with special guest August de los Reyes who spoke about Natural User Interfaces. To discuss this concept further I sat down with the guys to get some more information on the concept of NUI.
NUI is an evolution is design, moving past how we think about interfaces today. GUI or graphical user interfaces still require the users to learn how to interact with it. NUI is an interesting discussion with concepts that will likely shape future Microsoft products to make technology fit us more naturally. Rather than humans having to learn technology as we do today, NUI focuses on the idea that technology can integrate into our lives to the point where we don’t need to think about it. August references the example of doors with sensors that automatically open as we try and walk through.
Check out the video interview below.
Tech.Ed Australia 2010: Day 3–Closing Party [photos]
Last night the Tech.Ed 2010 closing party was hosted at the Gold Coast Convention Centre. In previous years the closing party has been held at theme parks or night clubs, this year the closing party offered a number of activities for attendees to participate in.
Activities included gaming on the Xbox, cricket, giant chess, table tennis, human fuse ball, sumo wrestling, arcade machines and laser tag. Those wanting a more relaxed evening grabbed a seat in the main arena and was entertained by comedians and ‘musical talent’.
Props to Microsoft for having so many different elements for people to the 2,700 attendees to get involved in. The underground car park was completely transformed and with great lighting, smoke machines, loud music and arcade machines, it felt like you were transported to underground japan.
The biggest criticism of the event is that Kinect wasn’t available. After being teased with Kinect during the keynote, that’s the last we seen of it for the entire conference. Last night would have been a great opportunity for attendees to get first hand experience prior to its launch in November.
Hands-on Domain app for WP7 (video) [updated]
During Tech.Ed 2010 I got hands on with the Domain WP7 application. The application has a very similar feature set to that of the iPhone version. Providing access to search on Rental or Sale properties and not only filter that list, but also to save out your shortlist of properties is a nice inclusion.
There’s the ability to view property photos in portrait or landscape, as well as book an appointment with the property manager right from within the app. Check out the video below for a hands-on demo of one of the first Australian developed applications for Windows Phone 7.
The Domain application for Windows Phone 7 will be free and available at launch.
Update
I sat down with Dave Glover from Microsoft and Matt Faries from Fairfax Digital to discuss the development of the app. Check out the interview below.
Windows Home Server Vail and Aurora details
Yesterday I sat down with Rosemary Stark & Jeff Alexander from Microsoft to discuss the upcoming releases of Windows Home Server. Vail and Aurora are currently in beta, so be sure to check out the video below for all the details.
Tech.Ed Australia 2010: Day 2 – Women in IT, WP7 [photos]
Another busy day contained a number of interviews and sessions, but also a Women in IT lunch and hands on with Windows Phone 7. Check out today’s gallery below.
