November 18th, 2009

So where's Microsoft's Live Mesh?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 9:38 am

Categories: Azure, Code names, Corporate strategy, Live Mesh, PDC 2009, Utility/cloud computing, Windows Live, Windows Mobile, Zune

Tags: Microsoft Azure, Ray Ozzie, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Web Site Development, Benefits, Channel Management, Operating Systems, Software, Internet

One noticeable no-show at this week’s Microsoft Professional Developers Conference is Live Mesh.

Live Mesh, Microsoft’s synchronization service that is the pet project of Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie, was one of the main attractions at previous Microsoft developers’ conferences. When Microsoft first described the service, it was billed as a way to prove to consumers that Microsoft’s Azure cloud would have something of interest to them and not just business customers and developers.

Earlier this year, as part of one of the company’s many reorgs, Microsoft moved the Live Mesh team under the Windows/Windows Live group. Since then, things have gone quiet.

At the PDC this week, I (and others) thought Microsoft might give us a progress report on Live Mesh… or a demo of the latest version of it… or a roadmap for it… or something. But no.

I had a chance to ask Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie about Live Mesh during a one-on-one interview with him at the show on November 17. I asked Ozzie why there was nothing about Mesh at the PDC. He said:

“We’re pushing the Live platform stuff to Mix. Or I shouldn’t actually say Mix, in terms of that, it is going to be spring….The Live stuff and phone stuff basically is out in that time frame.

“But that (Live Mesh) will no longer be discussed in the context of ‘Live Mesh,’ but rather in ‘the Windows Live platform,’ which is now, as you know, which it’s now part of.

I asked Ozzie a follow-up: If you aren’t using Live Mesh any more as a way to get consumers excited about the Azure platform, what’s the new plan to push the “commercialization of IT” strategy with Azure? Ozzie’s response:

“(T)he reality is — I know this isn’t very sexy — but I don’t think people are really going to be aware that it (Azure) is there. I think when people go to Web sites, they’ll just go to a Web site. They won’t really know what it’s connected to. When they use a phone or a piece of client software or a TV or a cable box that happens to talk to a cloud back end, it will just happen. And the way they will experience it is it will be reliable, it will be fast, it will scale.

“Probably the most important thing is that we live in a very faddish culture,… Whenever there is a service that’s backing up something that’s very trendy, these things will just happen without any issues. There will be black Friday and everyone wants to just buy their Beanie Baby and they’ll be able to.”

So if Live Mesh isn’t the consumer proof point for Windows Azure, what is? Ozzie said:

“(T)he best example I have is this app that (Microsoft Online Systems Division President) Qi Lu announced at Web 2.0 some weeks ago with Bing/Twitter integration. That came together in a very short time.

“In just a few weeks, a few developers got together and they had the Twitter fire hose, because of our relationship with — an early relationship with Twitter, and suddenly because of Azure, they were able to ingest this whole thing and start to do some amazing analysis that they could have never done if they had to, let’s see, how many machines should we order? When do we get them configured? When can we have rack space in GFS (Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services)? Those apps just never would have happened. And that’s why I’m so excited about this Dallas stuff because even though it is obscure, it’s hard to give compelling examples of how to use that data, once people have the ability to make a discovery based on data and then scale it to lots and lots of data, I think new possibilities are opened up.

“I think consumers are going to experience the benefit of the apps. Just take the H1N1 thing that’s going on right now. I’m not sure exactly what the benefit will be, but when there are these large challenges, suddenly some new app may be overlaid on maps or maybe it’s an app on a map that brings together some health data with geo data or an industry that you work in or something like that will pop up, and we’ll take it for granted at the time when it happens, but it will never have been able to happen without all that data behind it.”

When I recently asked some execs in Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division — the folks behind Windows Mobile and Zune — about their plans for implementing Live Mesh, I didn’t get a sense they had any real, near-term plans (and I don’t think they were just being cagey).

I’m really wondering what’s going to happen with Live Mesh going forward. Any guesses/hopes?

October 7th, 2009

When will Microsoft's Live Mesh matter?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 9:16 am

Categories: Azure, Code names, Corporate strategy, Live Mesh, Red Dog, Utility/cloud computing, Windows Live, Windows Mobile, Windows client, Xbox, Zune

Tags: Team, Microsoft Corp., Team Management, Management, Mary Jo Foley

It was April 2008 when Microsoft rolled out a first beta of its Live Mesh synchronization/backup software. The promise was Live Mesh would help users more seamlessly integrate ther PCs, phones, digital picture frames, Xbox consoles — the whole gamut — and not just devices from Microsoft. It sounded almost as though Live Mesh was a precursor to, if not the heart of, the whole three-screens-and-a-cloud strategy Microsoft execs have been increasingly touting.

But maybe not. This week, I asked some of the executives and teams participating in Microsoft’s consumer open-house showcase in New York about how and when they planned to start making use of Live Mesh. The stammers and blank stares said a lot to me.

I asked Robbie Bach, the President of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division about how and when he expected teams in his unit to take advantage of Live Mesh. He didn’t have a whole lot to say. He noted that Live Mesh is more plumbing/infrastructure than something Microsoft plans to offer as a new product or service directly to consumers.

“My Phone (Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile service for provisioning and securing phones) is not using all of Mesh today,” Bach said. Sometime, Microsoft could use Mesh to help replicate files and other information across multiple devices, he said. But that’s going to happen “tomorrow,” Bach said.

Not to be a contrarian, but I’m actually not sure that My Phone is using Live Mesh today, either. I asked Aaron Woodman, Director of Product Management for Windows Mobile about the WinMo team’s intentions around Live Mesh and got a similarly vague statement.

“From a techncal standpoint, Live Mesh is important,” Woodman said. “But it’s more about plumbing. It’s not something we will put in front of consumers.”

A year ago, members of the Mesh team were contemplating how to make consumer devices like Zune and Xbox part of a user’s Mesh. (In other words, to make the kinds of scenarios highlighted in this much-shared Live Mesh marketing/promotional video a reality.) But how and when is this going to happen?

Microsoft has continued to provide beta updates to Live Mesh for the past year and a half. There’s a Live Mesh software development kit out there. Testers who are using the Live Mesh beta seem to really love it, from feedback I’ve gotten. Undeniably, something is changing with Mesh — strategy and/or technology-wise Microsoft has been moving supporting Live Services components of its Azure cloud environment around as of late. But the Softies claim Live Mesh is alive and well and not a victim of the product/head-count cuts Microsoft has been making.

Given the champion of Live Mesh is none other than Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie himself, you’d think product teams at Microsoft would be falling all over themselves to Mesh-ify their products and services.Maybe Microsoft will have something tangible to show and say at the Professional Developers Conference in November, given that it would be the perfect place to talk about Live Platforms Services and the “Live Mesh Cloud.”

But when Mesh will actually figure in Microsoft’s products/services line-up is anyone’s guess at this point.

August 21st, 2009

Microsoft to cut Live Framework and Services from its Azure cloud platform

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 12:58 pm

Categories: .Net Framework, Azure, Code names, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Live Mesh, Red Dog, Utility/cloud computing, Windows Live

Tags: Developer, Microsoft Windows Live, Microsoft Corp., Azure, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

When Microsoft showed off its comprehensive Azure cloud “layer cake” diagram back at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in 2008, to me, it had somewhat of a slapped-together feeling.

Up until last fall, Microsoft was building two “cloud” developer platforms in parallel that were meant to provide programmers with a consistent set of programming interfaces and services: The Azure services platform and the Live Framework platform. At the PDC Microsoft officials made a case for a unified cloud platform, with Live Framework/Services and Azure’s .Net Services happily coexisting.

It now looks like the unified-platform vision didn’t hold together once the frosting dried.

Via an August 21  blog post by Corporate Vice President of Live Services David Treadwell, Microsoft officials shared the news that they are shifting gears. Microsoft is rejiggering its Live Framework and Live Services platform, somehow making it part of the Windows Live Wave 4 set of consumer-focused Web services that is expected to go to testers in the coming months. (Microsoft is telling developers it will provide specifics about how it plans to integrate the Live Framework into Windows Live in the coming months.)

Meanwhile, developers who’ve been using the existing Live Framework/Services infrastructure are going to have to download any data and/or code from the service prior to September 8, the date on which Microsoft is planning to phase out the current Live Framework. Company officials also are telling developers to remove any devices and controls making use of the Framework/Services platform.

Microsoft is telling testers that Live Mesh, its online synchronization and collaboration service, won’t be affected by the change — at least in terms of its availability to testers. Back at PDC, Microsoft officials positioned the Live Services platform as the underpinning for the Live Mesh developer stack… but it seems the two aren’t as tightly joined as Microsoft execs may have hinted.)

From the Microsoft-provide Q&A on the Live Framework changes, posted on August 21:

“Q: What is changing in the Live Services developer portal (live.azure.com)?
“A: The ability to create Live Framework-enabled web sites and Mesh-enabled web applications will be removed.  It will not be possible to edit the settings of Live Framework-enabled web sites and Mesh-enabled web applications and Analytics because these applications won’t be available any longer.  Live Framework CTP tokens will no longer be valid and can be discarded.”

A Microsoft spokesperson sent me the following statement when I asked about the company’s long-term commitment to the Live Framework:

“Microsoft is very committed to the Live Framework. Our goal is to integrate this rich technology into one of the largest online offerings from Microsoft, Windows Live. This will enable developers to connect and create compelling solutions across the web and devices for the more than 500M users of Windows Live. Our goal is to give developers a great developer experience going forward with a more consistent programming interface for our services.”

I had been thinking Microsoft might roll out the final version of Live Mesh at this year’s PDC in November, given that the company is planning to remove the “beta” tag from Azure around that time. But with all these under-the-hood changes, now I’m starting to wonder…

Anyone have any observations, thoughts or guesses about what these latest moves mean for Azure and Windows Live?

August 4th, 2009

Microsoft PDC 2009: What's on tap for developers this November?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 5:41 am

Categories: Azure, CRM Live/CRM Online, Channel, Corporate strategy, Database, Development tools, Live Mesh, Microsoft Big Brains, Multicore/distributed computing, Office 2010/Office 14, PDC 2009, Red Dog, SQL Server, SharePoint Server, Silverlight (wpf/e), Utility/cloud computing, Visual Studio 10 ("Hawaii"), WinHEC, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server"), Windows client, Windows server

Tags: Developer, Microsoft Corp., WinHEC, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Mobile Operating Systems, Mobile Applications, Handhelds, Software, Hardware

Microsoft opened up registration for its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2009 on August 4. This year’s developer-fest is in Los Angeles again, as it was last year, and will run from November 16 to 19.

As it will be too early for Microsoft to start detailing publicly what’s coming in Windows 8, what will the Softies be highlighting at this year’s conference?

Keynotes are on tap from the elusive Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie and Server and Tools President Bob Muglia. (Other keynotes will be added to the agenda later this year, company officials said.) Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform, is slated to go from beta to final around the time of the PDC. And Microsoft also plans to offer a number of sessions on its hosted-development strategy at the show, as well. (Think xRM, SharePoint Services, and other “utility computing” building blocks.) Sessions dedicated to SQL Azure, Microsoft’s hosted SQL Server service, also are on the agenda.

Even though Microsoft will have launched Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 less than a month before the PDC, on October 22, there will still be lots of sessions around developing for those platforms. Windows expert and Technical Fellow Marc Russinovich is on tap to talk about the kernel changes Microsoft made in Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2.

Russinovich isn’t the only “Big Brain” slated to speak at the confab. Other Microsoft Technical Fellows, including parallel-computing expert Burton Smith and database guru Dave Campbell are on the line-up, as well.

There is going to be a lot of content on .Net Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010 (both of which are expected to launch around spring 2010, last I heard). Microsoft also is promising a “sneak peek” at some of the so-far unspecified new features in the next version of Silverlight (which I’d expect to be called Silverlight 4) during the PDC.

There are a few sessions dedicated to developing for SharePoint 2010 on the docket. There’s a session on “Office 2010 as a RAD (Rapid Application Development) platform.” I’m assuming this is Microsoft’s updated Office Business Applications (OBA) platform/strategy.

I asked Tim O’Brien, Director of Microsoft’s Platform Strategy Group, whether there would be much, if any, PDC content dedicated to developing for Windows Mobile. The first Windows Mobile 6.5 phones are set to launch in October and developers are champing at the bit for information on Windows Mobile 7.

“We are marching toward getting 6.5 out. That’s our focus right now,” is all O’Brien would say. In other words, guess we’ll have to wait and see if WinMo makes it onto the PDC agenda in any meaningful way.

I also asked O’Brien whether Microsoft was still planning to hold a Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) this year. Last year, Microsoft cancelled WinHEC.

“There’s no reason to say we won’t,” said O’Brien. But he also acknowledged he didn’t know for sure whether or when Microsoft would hold a WinHEC in 2009. Guess that’s another wait-and-see, too.

Microsoft is planning to Webcast the keynotes and many of the PDC sessions for those who can’t make the show in person. Me? I’m planning on making the cross-country trek myself to my favorite Microsoft show of the year.

July 8th, 2009

Will Google's Chrome OS look rusty by late 2010?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:39 am

Categories: App Compatibility, Channel, Corporate strategy, Google, Internet Explorer, Live Mesh, OEMs, Resellers, System builders, Windows 7, Windows client

Tags:

After years of repeated denials, Google has finally acknowledged that it is, indeed, building an operating system for PCs.

I think it’s good for customers, PC makers, software makers and even for Microsoft that Google is getting into the operating-system game. After more than two decades, Microsoft has only one real competitor in the desktop OS space: Apple. That’s not enough. Competition is good. It keeps prices down and true innovation up.

However,  after reading the very few Chrome OS details that Google smartly dropped a couple of weeks before Microsoft is expected to announce the release to manufacturing of Windows 7, I’ve got a few doubts…. And quite a few more than the huge number of Google fanboys and girls who seem to forget for all its product debuts, Google hasn’t had any home runs other than search.

Google will undoubtedly fill in a lot of the holes that it left open with today’s announcement. But here are a few that already have me wondering:

1. Google Chrome OS is shipping in the second half of 2010? And people criticize Microsoft for  preannouning vaporware by years? Late 2010 is eons from now in the computing world. (It’s even later than Windows Mobile 7, which is expected to start showing up on phones in the first half of 2010.) To those saying that Chrome OS will drop at the same time as Windows 7, your calendars need adjusting. Windows 7 goes on sale October 22, 2009.

2. Google is going to let people modify and change the OS source code? As Apple has shown quite well, when one vendor controls the end-to-end process, both the computer hardware and software, and doesn’t let anyone else touch it, a PC has more cohesiveness and less crapware. Microsoft has shown that OEMs can be allowed to customize their PCs without tinkering with — and introducing more support headaches, bugs and glitches into — the OS. How many different Chrome OSes will there be? Who will be entity users call when they have OS problems?

3. What happened to Google’s positioning that no one was going to want software running on PCs in our brave new world? People just needed devices and browsers and Google Docs and Apps. PCs were dated and clunky and only for people who wanted to run old-school apps locally. Weren’t they? Now, Google is adopting the same world view as Microsoft: There will be different OSes for different platforms (Android and Windows Mobile for phones; Chrome OS and Windows for PCs).

I also think it’s telling that many of Google’s fans seem to be assuming Microsoft is standing still. Yes, Windows 7 is just another version of Windows… a good one, but still another iteration of what Microsoft’s been developing for years.

Remember: Microsoft has a number of projects in the works that I’d say are more likely to be competitors to Chrome OS than is Windows 7. The Gazelle OS-in-a-browser project from Microsoft Research is still just a research project and not in incubation or test-release form. But if Microsoft decides it has legs, they could put it on a fast track. There’s Live Mesh — which is more like Google Wave in theory, than the Chrome OS. But no one at Microsoft has talked publicly about the implications of “meshifying Windows” and what that might look like.

I say welcome to the OS party, Google. But I know I am not going to be in line in late 2010 for a version 1.0 product on a netbook. Will you? And even if you won’t, what kinds of effects do you hope Google getting into the PC OS business will have on Microsoft?

June 24th, 2009

Five reasons why Microsoft's Hohm is more than just another Web 2.0 service

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 5:59 am

Categories: Azure, Code names, Corporate strategy, Dynamics ERP, Healthcare, Live Mesh, Research, Search, Security, Utility/cloud computing, Windows CE

Tags: Web, Web 2.0, Health Care, Microsoft Corp., Energy, Hohm, HealthVault, Vertical Industries, Benefits, Healthcare

Microsoft’s Startup Business Accelerator (the folks who brought you the Microsoft Vine public-information service) are introducing another new service on June 24. That offering, known officially as Hohm and which which handles home-energy management, looks like yet another generic Web 2.0-type service.

But Hohm is more than an attempt by Microsoft to establish its cred in the “save the planet” movement. Recently, I had a chance to ask Troy Batterberry, the Hohm product manager, about the service. After talking to him, here are five reasons I think Hohm is more than initially meets the green eye:

1. Hohm is a hosted serice running on Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform. There are relatively few Microsoft services that already are running fully on top of Azure. HealthVault is one; Live Mesh is another. The calculations upon which the Hohm service is built are “really complicated,” Batterberry said, and require historical modeling. By running on Azure, Hohm can be scaled up or down, depending on demand, to use lots of compute cycles during peak demand.

2. Speakng of HealthVault, Hohm was patterned after it and uses the same security and privacy mechanisms that Microsoft’s health-information service uses. While energy consumption data doesn’t seem as in need of guarding that patient health data is, energy usage and pricing are information that is sensitive and to which access needs to be controlled, said Batterberry.

3. Hohm is one of Microsoft’s first — but not only — product tailored to the energy market. (The Dynamics team already launched an energy-management dashboard product last year, making it Microsoft’s first energy-specific “product.”) Remember how Microsoft began hiring doctors and healthcare experts — and even bought a healthcare-specific company — in order to build and field HealthVault and Azyxxi? The company is planning a similarly serious foray into the energy field, building out additional energy-centric software products and services, Batterberry said.

4. Is Microsoft working on an energy-centric search capability/engine, the same way that Microsoft has incorporated health-specific search data into Bing? “It could make sense to go into the decision-specific energy area,” Batterberry said.

5. Microsoft considers Hohm part of a “10-year (investment) journey” into the energy market. Microsoft’s energy-specific focus will encompass consumers, utility companies, device makers and more, Batterberry said. Microsoft may end up fielding some kind of enerprise-focused energy-management product/service, he said. The company may become a player in the energy-centric device-control space (not a big stretch, given Microsoft’s work in embedded operating systems with Windows Embedded Compact).

Users (in the U.S. only for now) interested in test-driving Hohm — which was codenamed “Niagara,” as the energy pioneer Nikola Tesla did a lot of his research in Niagara Falls — will be able to sign up for the beta this week on the Hohm page. Microsoft is expecting the final version of the service to be released in about six to nine months, Batterberry said.

May 29th, 2009

With Wave, did Google jump the (Microsoft) shark?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:25 am

Categories: App Compatibility, Apple, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Google, Live Mesh, Office, Utility/cloud computing, Web 2.0

Tags: Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Web 2.0, Microsoft Project, Collaboration, Groupware, Open Source, Internet, Microsoft Office, Office Suites

Is Google Wave a threat to Microsoft or an example of Google becoming too Microsoft-like for its own good?

If and when you manage to wade through the “Google Wave is the next best thing to Google search” tweets and blog posts, a few interesting counterpoints rise to the surface. A few brave doubters are throwing some tentative questions out there: Is Google Wave bloatware? Is Wave actually useful? Or, is it, as CodingHorror/Stack Overflow’s Jeff Atwood tweeted, “possibly the most Microsoft-y thing I’ve ever seen come out of Google. This is not intended as a compliment, by the way.”

Google is pushing Wave — which it rolled out to developers at the Google I/O conference on May 28 — as a new Web 2.0 collaboration tool. From what little I’ve seen and read about it, it looks like a mashup of mail, Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook. And to be part of the Wave, you need to write to yet another protocol, not protocols or standards that already exist.

Also see: Gallery Tour: Google Wave rolls into action

• Google Wave: It’s still a work in progress.
• Meet Google Wave: a new way to communicate and collaborate

But wait: Aren’t these limitations for which Microsoft often is dinged? Reinventing — or even (shudder) copying — existing products and technologies? Requiring programmers to write to their protocols, even if the protocols are “open” and/or managed by an independent body or standards group? And is it a coincidence that Google’s engineering chief Vic Gundotra is a former Softie?

Microsoft, ever careful not to publicly criticize its competitors, hasn’t issued any proclamations about Wave and how it competes or doesn’t with Outlook/Windows Live, etc.  One Softie, Program Manager Dare Obasanjo, did note in a tweet yesterday that Google Wave bears a striking resemblance to two Microsoft projects, one scrapped (Hailstorm) and one active (Live Mesh). Hailstorm was axed for a variety of reasons, among them that it created too much vendor lock-in.

TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington claimed Wave stole all the thunder from Microsoft’s Bing rollout. His parting shot: “And while Wave certainly deserves every bit of positive attention it got today, the fact that it’s an open source project didn’t hurt, either. San Francisco engineers love open source like east coast liberals love Obama.”

I’d suggest, instead, the Google Wave swoonfest might be a case of the Valley press/blogging core loving their Web 2.0 companies (like Google and Apple) too much to admit when those companies start sliding down the slippery slope plowed by … Microsoft.

May 20th, 2009

Microsoft's Ozzie defends Microsoft's aggressive online spending

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:54 am

Categories: Azure, Code names, Corporate strategy, Google, Live Mesh, MSN, Management tools, Mobile services ("Pink"/"Rouge"), Red Dog, Search, Utility/cloud computing, Web 2.0, Windows Live, Windows Mobile

Tags: Ray Ozzie, Microsoft Corp., Azure, Corporate Law, Investment, Operating Systems, Business Operations, Finance, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie defended Microsoft’s continued heavy investments in the online-systems arena, claiming the flowing trail of red ink from Microsoft’s Online Systems Business (OSB)  doesn’t tell the whole story.

Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom Conference on May 20, Ozzie touched on his favorite topics — software plus services, Microsoft’s “three screens and a cloud” (mobile devices, PCs and TV) vision; and the need for Microsoft to field consumer services as a way to show off its cloud-computing prowess.

But a question from one audience member on why Microsoft continues to pour so much money into its still-unprofitable online services division got Ozzie to deviate a bit from his script.

(For its FY 2009 Q3, Microsoft’s OSB lost $575 million. Its latest round of layoffs allegedly included some OSB personnel, but relatively few, according to company scuttlebutt.)

The benefit of continued research and investment in Microsoft’s consumer-facing Live services — everything from Windows Live Hotmail, to the soon-to-be-rebranded Live Search — “is bigger than the numbers indicate,” Ozzie said.

Microsoft’s growing family of enterprise-focused services — Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, etc. — have taught the company a lot about cloud requirements. Its investments in consumer services  have taught the company important lessons about scale, Ozzie said.

The underlying infrastructure Microsoft has built to deploy and run its consumer services is now being extended to support other services throughout the company, he said. Ozzie pointed to “Cosmos,” the high-scale file system that is part of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, as ultimately supporting and aiding every consumer, enterprise and developer property at Microsoft. He noted that the management systems for Microsoft’s current and existing cloud services are all derived from the learnings Microsoft has gleaned from managing its consumer online services.

Read the rest of this entry »

May 19th, 2009

Microsoft opens My Phone beta to the public

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:46 am

Categories: Apple, Azure, Channel, Corporate strategy, Live Mesh, Network service providers, OEMs, Resellers, Telecommunications, Utility/cloud computing, Windows Live, Windows Mobile

Tags: Phone, Microsoft Corp., Beta, Upgrade Process, Telecom & Utilities, Mary Jo Foley

As of May 18, Microsoft’s My Phone beta is available to all Windows Mobile users running version 6.X and higher of the operating system.

Microsoft announced the broadening of the test of its phone-synchronization service via a post to the company’s My Phone Engineering blog. Microsoft plans to roll out an upgrade to the My Phone software component over the next few weeks. From the blog post:

“Over the next few weeks, we will be updating the companion software for your phone, at which time you will be prompted to download the updated software. The upgrade process is quick and easy – all your settings and data will be retained — so we encourage you to upgrade when prompted to do so.  Today’s web site upgrade includes enabling 19 additional languages on the web portal, adding a Video Demo on the welcome page, providing Help content, and making a number of other improvements based on your feedback.”

My Phone, the service formerly codenamed Skybox, allows Windows Mobile users to store up to 200 Mb worth of contacts, calendar entries, photos and other information on a server hosted by Microsoft. The first generation of the service is expected to be released in final form this fall, around the time that Windows Mobile 6.5 phones come to market. For now, Microsoft isn’t charging for the My Phone service (though it is expected to charge a subscription fee for a premium version of the My Phone service, possibly some time later this year).

While My Phone synchronizes contact and calendar items between Windows Mobile phones and the cloud, there are some interesting caveats listed on Microsoft’s Web site, in terms of what the My Phone service won’t do, synchronization-wise.

* “If you have an active connection with Microsoft Exchange server (which is frequently used for corporate e-mail), My Phone will not synchronize your contacts, calendar appointments, or tasks.
* “If you have Windows Live installed on your phone, it will synchronize your Windows Live contacts with the Windows Live web site, and My Phone will synchronize your other contacts to your account on the My Phone web site.
* “If you have an external memory card and selected My Phone’s recommended settings, information on the external memory card will not be synchronized.
* “If you store contacts on the SIM card provided by your mobile operator, My Phone will not synchronize these contacts.
* “If you have any documents stored outside the My Documents folder on your phone, My Phone will not synchronize these documents.”

Microsoft officials still have not explained the distinctions between Live Mesh, SkyDrive, Live Sync (FolderShare) and My Phone and why users might opt for each of these synchronization services.

March 16th, 2009

Microsoft Mix '09: Fewer sheep to be thrown, more business apps shown

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:55 am

Categories: Azure, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Expression Studio, Google, Internet Explorer, Live Mesh, Mix '09, Red Dog, Utility/cloud computing, Web 2.0, Yahoo

Tags: Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft Corp., Mix, Data Management, Cloud Computing, Channel Management, Marketing, Mary Jo Foley

If you’re tired of Web 2.0 conferences where “Throw a Sheep” apps reign supreme, Microsoft’s Mix ‘09 might be a breath of fresh air.

At previous Mix events — Microsoft’s showcase for designer/developer tools — Microsoft has played up the same kind of consumer-focused social-networking scenarios as its Web rivals. But this year’s Mix looks a bit more business-focused (at least based on the Mix ‘09 session list).

Microsoft execs are on tap to talk up more of what’s coming in Silverlight 3, ASP.Net 4.0 and Expression Studio 3.0 at this week’s Las Vegas confab. A new Azure cloud-computing Community Technology Preview (CTP) also may be on tap. And many company watchers are expecting Microsoft to announce on Thursday during the morning Mix keynote that Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) is as done as it’s going to be and will be released to the Web.

But business uses of Microsoft’s Web-centric technologies are getting a surprising amount of attention at this year’s Mix. These sessions caught my eye:

Microsoft Silverlight Is Ready for Business
Come learn how to build a Silverlight business application today with the new UI features including DataGrid, DataForm, validation and navigation. Also see an example of how to connect to services using a LINQ enabled, Entity Framework-backed, data management solution.

Experience Design Patterns for Business Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 3
Come hear how creating great user experiences for business applications can result in both improved productivity and significant support cost savings. Learn how to use proven user experience patterns in cost effective ways with Silverlight 3, including rich data display, data input and advanced data validation, and application navigation

Building Amazing Business Centric Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 3
This will be a great Silverlight session, but we won’t be able to release any details until after MIX09 Keynotes. Check this abstract after MIX09 Keynotes for a complete session description.

Building Data-Driven Applications with Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft ASP.NET
This will be a great Silverlight session, but we won’t be able to release any details until after MIX09 Keynotes. Check this abstract after MIX09 Keynotes for a complete session description.

It also seems the Softies are ready to share more about how Live Mesh can do more than allow users to sync their photos across different devices. Mesh-enabling an existing Web app gives it a lot of new capabilities, as this Mix session hints:

Mesh-Enabled Web Applications
Come learn how to extend your existing Web applications and get them to live and breathe within Live Mesh. See how Mesh-enabled Web applications can be accessed from anywhere through a Web browser as well as run locally (and offline) on a user’s desktop. Also see how Web applications can take full advantage of value-add Mesh services such as a dedicated sandbox, online and offline synchronized storage, automatic application updates, identity, application catalogue, social computing, and more.

What are you hoping and/or expecting Microsoft to unveil this week at Mix?