August, 2006

Firstly, apologies for the incredibly weak link between a UK Quiz Show from the 1980's, and Microsoft's sparkly new music and entertainment project; Zune.  It's still early on a Friday morning - it will get better, I promise!

I posted a couple of weeks ago, about how Microsoft is going to challenge the iPod (Part I and Part II), but since then, a whole host of information has been released, so I thought I'd take the chance to summarise it all here in one convenient place.

So, what do we know so far?  Firstly, it's important to understand that Zune describes the brand, not the individual product, backed up by Chris Stephenson who, in this article on CNet News, stated "Under the Zune brand, we will deliver a family of hardware and software products, the first of which will be available this year".  The article goes on to discuss some of the features of the devices that will come under the Zune brand, including Wi-Fi connectivity, Hard-Disk storage and also Video capabilities.  With Zune, "we're looking to build a community for connecting with folks, all to discover new music and entertainment".

In this article, over at eWeek, analysts say that Microsoft's Zune "May not carry the day" yet they accept, that it is currently too early to tell for sure - only consumers will decide.  I, as a consumer, believe that if Microsoft can integrate all the parts together, such as the music service, the hardware and other hardware such as the Xbox, it could pose a serious challenge to the iPod, however, by releasing the device, we will in fact be competing with some of the partners we have worked with on music devices, such as Creative.  The article goes on to say that the first of the Zune devices should be available before Christmas this year.

As I mentioned, one of the features planned for the Zune devices, is Wi-Fi connectivity, and this article, over at CNet, goes some of the way to describe the importance of this feature.  In an interview with Billboard magazine, Microsoft General Manager Chris Stephenson said "the company is still considering seven or eight "scenarios," including using the Wi-Fi connection for direct music downloads and sampling music from other nearby listeners".  That would be an excellent feature - streaming other people's music to see if you like it, then logging onto the web, via Wi-Fi to purchase and download the music yourself!

Regardless of the Wi-Fi connection, Gartner analyst Michael McGuire believes "the key will be how easy or difficult the gadget is for consumers to use. For example, designing an interface that enables downloading music from a catalog without using a keyboard is tricky"  This is an excellent point, but if you look at the new interface in Windows Media Player 11, and how much of an improvement it was from Windows Media Player 10, you can begin to see how much Microsoft are putting into the user interface, and how intuitive it really is.

If Microsoft could squeeze a Media Center, or Media Player 11 style interface into the Zune products, perhaps with some kind of touch screen or hand writing functionality into the device, I believe that it would be the most intuitive portable entertainment device on the market.  Microsoft would not be the first company to produce a wireless music device; MusicGremlin recently hit the market with a player that can download subscription music content wirelessly.  But, as with all Microsoft products, there is always some scepticism; "It's very easy to create a wireless device," he said. "It's very difficult to make it work and connect in the way that a lot of people envision".

Speaking of how much Microsoft is putting into the project, this article over at CNet, details that Robbie Bach, President of the Entertainment and Devices Division, thinks "of this in the hundreds of millions of dollars of investment over several years.  It is something that is going to take time. This is not a six-month initiative".  Bach goes on to say "Microsoft is not abandoning its partner-oriented PlaysForSure program, even as it looks to build its rival Zune approach.  PlaysForSure continues as it is today.  We're going to continue to support that".

As time grows closer to the end of the calendar year, and the launch of the first Zune device, more concrete details have been released.  You can read about them in this Twice article.  The article states that the device will arrive in 3 colours, and will be priced at $299 (hopefully this price will be around £160 in the UK / 234 EURO).  "Retailers said the player would incorporate a 30GB hard drive. One said the unit’s display screen would be larger than Apple’s iPod models. The retailers were pleased with Microsoft’s feature-per-price package".  It is important to note that Microsoft had not yet responded to confirm these details.

The most recent news, and an excellent feather in the Zune cap, is the announcement that EMI Group, the world's third-largest music company, said it had signed a deal to provide preloaded music videos on Microsoft's soon-to-launch Zune digital media player.  The news dispels speculation in media reports this month that Microsoft would have to delay the introduction of Zune's video capability until after its launch, which is expected to be in time for Christmas.

So, to summarise:

• Zune is a brand, not just the name of the device
• It will have Wi-Fi, a hard-disk (30Gb) and video capabilities (not delayed)
• PlaysForSure will still be supported
• It will be priced around $299 and come in 3 colours
• It will have a larger screen then the iPod (Size does matter ;) )
• EMI will provide pre-loaded video content

What a long post!  Hope you get this far!

One of my colleagues from Microsoft France has published a great post demonstrating the control of Windows Vista using speech!

The video shows the power of speech recognition to demonstrate solitaire, paint, opening documents, pictures, administering your PC and more!  It really is a great example of how we are moving forward in this space.

Great work from Benjamin Gauthey to find the video.  The video appears courtesy of http://www.istartedsomething.com.

On March 7th, Microsoft announced that it had acquired Apptimum Inc, a company which provides award-winning products that automatically transfer customers’ applications to new computers.  Microsoft plans to use the acquired intellectual property and technology assets to provide Windows customers with the tools they need to simplify the transfer of their applications to their new computers.

According to this article on eWeek, Alohabob is due to be included in the first Release Candidate of Vista, scheduled for later this quarter.  In the article, Jim Allchin, the co-president of Microsoft's platforms and services division, states that "Migrating applications and files from one computer to another using Windows has long been a tedious and time-consuming process, but that is now a thing of the past as Alohabob will make the application transfer experience easier and faster for customers".

Jim also went on to say that he has in fact been using the product, and managed to move all his applications from one computer to another in just 30 minutes.  This speeds up the build of a new machine dramatically, as much of the time spent with a build is reinstalling up to the same point you were at before the rebuild.  I personally, as a regular new-build tester of Vista, would welcome this ability to quickly move all my applications that were previously on an old build and place them on a new build.  Bring on Alohabob!!

The article on eWeek goes on to talk about whether Jim beleives Vista will ship on time, his views on his own departure in January 2007 and the 12 principles to guide development of the Windows Desktop platform.

Should you be after even more information, you can read the announcement that Microsoft have acquired Apptimum Inc, or visit the Alohabob homepage.

There has been a great article posted over at CNet News, which discusses Microsoft's attendance at the Black Hat Briefings.

"This year, for the first time in the event's 10-year history, several sessions are focused on the security--rather than the insecurity--of a single vendor's product. Microsoft, a platinum sponsor, is giving presentations on Vista."

Vista attracted an audience bigger than many of the other sessions, and the talk was very technical oriented, rather than marketing based; something that pleased many of the attendees.  Microsoft also handed out early builds of Vista and is hoping for feedback from the attendees.

According to the article, Microsoft's Black Hat presentations cover various aspects of security in the operating system update, including broad talks on fundamentals and security engineering, and specific sessions on networking technology, Wi-Fi, heap management enhancements, and Internet Explorer 7.  The article also goes on to mention Microsoft's 'Blue Hat' initiative, where Microsoft invite hackers to come to the HQ and talk security.

From reading the article, I really do get the impression that many people believe that Microsoft really is heading in the right direction.

There are currently 2 Microsoft Events taking place in September, focussing on Windows Vista.  These events are as follows:

• Windows Vista System Integrity Technologies
  11 September 2006 14:00 - 16:20 GMT (13:30 Welcome Time)
  Microsoft London, Swimming Pool, Microsoft House,
  10 Great Pulteney Street, London W1F 9NB, United Kingdom
  
  The main products covered include Security and Windows and the recommended audience is IT Professional and Partner.
  
  Windows Vista will ship with several new system integrity technologies, including code integrity, secure startup, service hardening, mandatory integrity control, and Internet Explorer protected mode. In this session, Steve Lamb explores how these technologies work to thwart malware's attempts to take over your computer.
  
  For more information, or to register, visit the Events Page
  
  
• What’s new in Administering Vista
  14 September 2006 18:30 - 21:00 GMT (18:00 Welcome Time)
  Microsoft Ltd, Chicago 1&2, Building 3, Microsoft Campus
  Thames Valley Park, Reading, Berkshire RG6 1WG, United Kingdom
  
  The main products covered include Windows and Windows Server and the recommended audience is IT Professional.
  
  In this session we will examine Group Policy functionality improvements that have been made with Windows Vista. We will also describe the new and updated features and how these help to alleviate the problems that were present with previous version of Windows. We will also introduce Quality of Service policies which are available with Windows Vista.
  
  For more information, or to register, visit the Events Page

I hope you find the events useful!

Off the usual track, but still, this is quite a cool one!  Microsoft takes a light-hearted swipe at itself, talking about Small Business Server, in a Da Vinci Code style!

The movie talks about the importance of patching, installing updates, getting the green check of software health and more...

You can stream the video here.

Interested?  You may want to check out the Top 10 Reasons to Use Windows SBS over at Microsoft.com, and for more information on the world of Small Business, visit David Overton's blog.

Enjoy.

Over the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed many of my posts relating to Windows Vista.  Since returning from Orlando in July, there have been some changes in the department for the new Microsoft Year 07, and this reshuffling has resulted in a move away, for me, from the Management and Virtualisation side of Technology, over to Windows Vista.

So, from today, my blog will be focused on Windows Vista, our cool new OS, but I will still be dipping into Virtualisation, and other cool technology out there (which may include Management Technologies!).

I'm really looking forward to taking this further, as Vista is an incredible product, something that i have really grown to love, and it will be an incredible experience to be involved with the product, in this, key year for Microsoft.

I hope the information I provide on Vista will be useful to you, and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.  Other than that, welcome from Mr Vista (self-proclaimed ;-))

Thanks,

Matt.