Server and Tools Business News Bytes blog : PDC

PDC 2009: Microsoft Cloud Services Vision Becomes Reality with Launch of Windows Azure Platform

mdingle — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Microsoft today announced the availability of the Windows Azure platform at the Professional Developers Conference. In his opening keynote, Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect, described Windows Azure and SQL Azure as core elements of the company’s cloud services strategy. The company also announced a set of new Windows Azure features, Windows Server capabilities, and marketplace offerings that make it easier for developers to build profitable businesses from their Microsoft-based solutions.

Bob Muglia also announced today the company’s plan to offer Windows Server virtual machine support on Windows Azure, enabling customers to more easily support virtualized infrastructure across the continuum of on premises and cloud computing, and the release to manufacturing of Windows Identity Foundation, enabling developers to provide more secure, simplified user access to both cloud and on-premises applications with open, identity-based claims.

For more information about today’s announcements at PDC visit www.microsoftpdc.com and follow the latest on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pdc09 and www.twitter.com/ch9live.

PDC 2009 keynote tomorrow at 8:30 am PT

mdingle — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:24:00 GMT

The Professional Developer Conference 2009, one of the world's leading events for software developers and strategic architects focused on the future of the Microsoft platform is just one day away! We hope to see you at PDC 2009, but if you are not able to make it this year, we would like to invite you to watch Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect and Bob Muglia, president of the Microsoft Server and Tools Business, give the keynote address streaming live at 8:30 a.m. Pacific.

In addition, you can follow PDC 2009 on Twitter (hash tag #PDC09) and checkout the Windows Server Division and Forefront product blogs for more information.

Registration is now open for PDC

mdingle — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:02:00 GMT

Registration is now open for Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference, happening November 17-19, 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The PDC is the definitive Microsoft event for software developers and strategic architects focused on the future of the Microsoft platform. This year, join us as Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie and Server and Tools Business President Bob Muglia unveil the next wave of computing and provide insights on the future developer tools and technologies that will lead to a better end user experience.

Registration is OPEN and since PDC sells out quickly, we encourage folks to register early. Visit http://www.microsoftpdc.com/ to learn more.

PDC 2008- Microsoft announces its Azure Services Platform

grantkd — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Today, during a keynote at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2008 (PDC 2008), Ray Ozzie, Microsoft Corp.'s chief software architect, announced Windows Azure, the cloud-based service foundation underlying its Azure Services Platform, and highlighted this platform's role in delivering a software plus services approach to computing. The Azure Services Platform is an industry-leading move by Microsoft to help developers build the next generation of applications that will span from the cloud to the enterprise datacenter and deliver compelling new experiences across the PC, Web and phone.

Key components of the Azure Services Platform include the following:

Windows Azure for service hosting and management, low-level scalable storage, computation and networking
Microsoft SQL Data Services for a wide range of database services and reporting
Microsoft .NET Services which are service-based implementations of familiar .NET Framework concepts such as workflow and access control
Live Services for a consistent way for users to store, share and synchronize documents, photos, files and information across their PCs, phones, PC applications and Web sites
Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Services for business content, collaboration and rapid solution development in the cloud.

For more information about today's news check out the below resources:

Microsoft unveils RoboChamps winners, launches “Sumo” challenge

grantkd — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:13:00 GMT

Microsoft revealed today the winners of the first challenge of its simulated robotics competition, RoboChamps. Dave Sprague, a robotics enthusiast from the U.S., and Jackson Matsuura, a college professor from Brazil, won the first and second prizes of the “Amazed” Challenge. First place winner Sprague will take home a real robot, the CoroWare CoroBot. The second-place prize is a Boe-Bot Kit for Microsoft Robotics Studio, which Matsuura won. Sprague and Matsuura were among more than 6,500 people who downloaded the Amazed Challenge Kit.

Sprague, whose RoboChamps avatar is named “Shakey,” has been interested in robotics since he was a child. He has worked for Intel and helped coach a middle school FIRST Lego robotics team in Belfast, Maine. Matsuura, also known as “Kirk” in the competition, teaches in one of the most high-profile engineering schools in Brazil and enjoys participating in robotics competitions to introduce his students to the exciting world of robotics.

RoboChamps has attracted thousands of professionals, academics and enthusiasts from around the world, and participants in the Amazed Challenge hail from 77 different countries. RoboChamps.com, the competition’s official Web site, averages one million page views per month, and videos describing the competition have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Channels 8, 9 and 10 since the competition started.

The Amazed Challenge was the first of several RoboChamps contests. Today, we are pleased to announce the launch of the “Sumo” Challenge, where participants will program their robots to out-navigate opponents, pushing them out of the ring in a sumo competition. The Sumo Challenge uses the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 July CTP (Community Technical Preview), released July 18.

At the end of the season, top finalists in the RoboChamps contest will travel to Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC), where they will take the code they’ve used in the simulator and apply it to real robots in a live finals competition