May 26th, 2008
Microsoft to showcase social bookmarking at TechEd
One of the new technologies that Microsoft is planning to showcase at its upcoming TechEd U.S. conference is its social-bookmarking tool.
John Martin, Lead Evangelist for Server & Tools Online — as he describes it, “the group that manages the global MSDN, TechNet, Codeplex, and Expression websites” — blogged on May 23 about his unit’s plans:
“Next week (the week of May 26), we will release a preview version of Social Bookmarks for both MSDN and TechNet and showcase it at TechEd North America the following week.”
Microsoft launched the initial beta of its social book-marking technology, codenamed “TagSpace,” in 2006. At that time, company officials described TagSpace this way:
“This is the stand-alone service piece, along the lines of del.icio.us or other third-party social bookmarking sites.” Ultimately, it will act as “a means for Microsoft.com to begin to aggregate a ‘folksonomy’ of terms that can be used to enrich and enliven Microsoft-related sites and community properties on the Web.”
For the first time this year, Microsoft will follow suit with its European TechEd scheduling, turning the annual U.S. TechEd show into a two-week affair. The first week, which commences the week of June 1, is aimed at developers; the second week is tailored to IT professionals.
One thing that won’t debut at TechEd is Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. Previously, Microsoft officials had said that Beta 2 of that technology would be available “this summer.” In a blog post last week (thanks, ActiveWin, for the link), Microsoft Senior Technical Account Manager Nick Machechnie said to expect IE 8 Beta 2 some time in the third calendar quarter of 2008.
Microsoft officials still have not said when the final IE 8 release will hit, but given that Firefox 3.0 is due imminently, I’d bet Microsoft is trying to push out the newest release of its browser sooner rather than later.
Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 20 years. Don't miss a single post. Subscribe via Email or
RSS. You can also follow Mary Jo on Twitter.
Got a tip? Send Mary Jo your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. For disclosure on Mary Jo's industry affiliations, click here or to see Mary Jo's full profile click here.
