June, 2010

Computer gaming is perhaps the most powerful and influential communications media of our time. More money is spent and made in the video game industry than all other media combined. The recent E3 convention in Los Angeles supports this notion. The conference, where the world’s heavyweights in the game industry came together to demonstrate “what’s next,” showed that without a doubt, gaming and game hardware serve an integral part of the media and society. As Captain of the...

(Last in a series of Microsoft Blog posts about the cloud in vertical industries. Today: Healthcare.) Just about everyone I know in healthcare is asking the same question: “What can cloud computing do for me?” My answer: Plenty. Cloud computing promises enormous benefits for healthcare world. These could include improved patient care, better health for the overall populations providers serve, and new delivery models that will make healthcare more efficient and effective. And cloud...

I’ve found that most customers think about the services and support offerings available for a product only when they truly need it. Support is often “out of sight, out of mind” for many customers. But, as the leader of Microsoft’s customer service and support team, I know through my conversations with friends, family, and with many of our largest customers that once they do need help, they are glad that we are there. The launch of Office 2010 earlier this month reminded...

[UPDATE: We made an error in the reported figure for Apple’s Net Income in our original post – the cited source had the correct number but we somehow got a wrong number into the body of my post. This post has been updated with the correct figure.] You probably saw the news this week that we’ve sold 150 million Windows 7 licenses in 8 months. That's more than 600,000 per day. And, perhaps fittingly for a product called Windows 7, it adds up to 7 copies every second of every day...

(Third in a series of Microsoft blog posts about the cloud in vertical industries. Today: Retail) Retailers today are working to do more with less. And for retailers seeking to get big results with minimal resources, cloud computing is beginning to look like a miracle. In a recent Microsoft-commissioned survey of about 3,000 business decision-makers across the United States, nearly half of the respondents (48 percent) from the retail industry said that their companies have used cloud computing...

(Second in a series of Microsoft Blog posts about the cloud in specific industries. Today: Manufacturing.) These days, manufacturers have their heads in the cloud. Cloud computing promises to drastically improve the ability of companies and their customers to drive modern product design and development. Collaboration isn’t new to manufacturing — it has long been essential. But it’s no secret that collaborative processes have tended toward the awkward and time-consuming. That’s...

(First in a series of Microsoft Blog posts about the cloud in specific industries. Today: Financial Services.) Financial services firms have never been shy about using technology. They have long pushed the envelope for more speed and more sophisticated models for business operations. Now they’re getting ready to leap to the next generation of IT: cloud computing. We view the cloud as a fundamentally disruptive technology for financial services. While new algorithms and business models...

In 2008, the financial markets changed fundamentally and completely. The causes will be debated and they of course predate the collapse. But there is no argument that the summer of 2008 is when the market certainties that had prevailed since 1945 evaporated. Patrick Brazel It was at this time that my business partner and I had been working on a plan to address what we saw as a huge gap in the financial market. We saw a need to empower individual investors with the online...

Earlier this month members of my team attended Tech●Ed 2010 in New Orleans, an event where we share our training and expertise with IT professionals. It’s an event that’s not only energizing, it also reminds me of the importance of connecting with community leaders on a global scale. During the event, we had great opportunities to meet with Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). Those are exceptional members of the technical community who share their keen insights and real...

People don’t always realize the astonishing breadth of Microsoft’s technology footprint. Certainly, this past week demonstrated that big shoe. Over Sunday and Monday, for instance, we unveiled what we believe is the future of electronic gaming – Kinect , our controller-free gaming device, and a new Xbox 360 . Plus a bunch of new games that take advantage of both the Kinect and Xbox 360 . Go here for great coverage of all that news from the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in...

With each release of Office, we’re closer to achieving what we set out to do more than 20 years ago: Helping users to work better, faster and smarter. In creating Office 2010 , we’ve invested time to listen to millions of customers, to enhance existing features, and to develop new ones. Now, everyone’s favorite Office applications fit their lifestyle -- on the PC, on the phone and on the Web. ComScore recently announced that they see Office installed on 1 billion PCs worldwide....

Ever since we first demonstrated Project Natal at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) a year ago, gamers have been waiting for a chance to use the controller-free Xbox add-on. Their wait is almost over. This week at the 2010 E3, we’ve announced a pile of news around Natal. First, of course, is the official name – Kinect for Xbox 360 . We have a slew of games on the way to take advantage of Kinect’s other-worldly ability to recognize users and make them part of a game’s...

Without even standing up from my desk right now, I can see four jerseys representing four different FIFA World Cup contenders – Mexico, England, the United States, and South Africa. (OK, the South African is actually a rugby jersey…). It underscores the international nature of Microsoft, and how much fun the next month of football (which we in the U.S. of course call “soccer”) mania is going to be. Football aside, next week is going to be a huge week for Microsoft. On...

Not to be outdone by the historic Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup win Wednesday night, Microsoft put on quite a show Thursday at the Chicago Academy for Advanced Technology. Founded only 12 months ago, “Chi Tech” (as it is called) is a proof-of-concept school that focuses on technology-based curriculum and learning. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer takes a student’s question during his Thursday visit to the Chicago Academy of Advanced Technology. While at the school, Ballmer...

I have a deep passion for football – or, soccer as it is called in the United States. On Friday, the FIFA World Cup , watched by billions around the world, kicks off with a game between the team of the host country – South Africa – and Mexico. So in this post I want to meld my business passion – analytics – with my sports passion. Many people are using models to figure out the potential World Cup winners; from PWC's recent study to Sorbonne professor Wladimir Andreff...

Over the last several months, I have had the opportunity to talk to about 300 CIOs in a variety of forums all around the world. I consistently hear from my peers and colleagues that they have spent much of the last few years focused on reducing costs and increasing efficiency. And we’ve all gotten pretty good at that. Now, as we emerge from the economic downturn, many organizations are experiencing a substantially increased demand for IT, driven in part by the CEO/COO’s desire to aggressively...

Last week the University of Arizona adopted the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite , our cloud-based communication and collaboration package. This week the Kentucky Department of Education has gone one better and deployed our Live@edu system to more than 700,000 students, faculty members, and administrators in the largest cloud deployment ever in the US. Live@edu gives the Kentucky school system a flexible, cloud-based solution with great e-mail tools, excellent storage, and effective...

I’ve been managing technology in schools for more than 20 years. And there’s one thing I know: There are very few times when you can simultaneously streamline output and lower costs, while also dramatically increasing capacity and adding new features. Chuck Austin But one of those rare occasions occurred during the weekend of May 21. That’s when the Kentucky Department of Education – where I work – switched its email, communications and collaboration...

Without question, cloud computing continues to be the hot topic of discussion in information technology circles. Vendors, customers and industry observers are all weighing in on the opportunities and challenges posed by the cloud. Many IT professionals are, quite reasonably, asking question such as: “What does my job look like as the tech industry and my company move toward cloud computing?” Of course, IT managers know that their roles never stop evolving. New technologies and business...