Windows Now

October 2003 - Posts

• What is Longhorn?

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 31 2003, 04:07 PM

  What is Longhorn? Really short version before I hop on a plane to go home:

  a) a new User Interface. (code-named Aero). Nicer looking, more productive.
  b) a new file storage system. (code-named WinFS) Easier to search for files. Allows for new views on files, people, and data. Lets you build “associations” between data and people.
  c) A new set of APIs. (code-named Avalon, now called WinFX). Much more productive for programmers. Offers new user interface capabilities.
  d) A new way for software/computers to talk to each other (code-named Indigo). The next version of SOAP and Web services.
  e) A new way to communicate (code named RTC). The next version of collaboration and IM functionality.

  We'll be talking about each of these areas more soon.
  

  9,403 Views

• I'm the luckiest geek alive...

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 31 2003, 03:42 PM

  What an interesting time in my life.

  I sat four doors away from the guys who created the Amazon and Adobe demos. I'll talk more about them sometime later after I get permission to talk about them. But, what a task. Building software on top of a platform that's changing every day and very unfinished under strict deadlines (they had to be ready for the keynotes at the PDC).

  I couldn't have imagined I'd have gotten to have that experience. I am the luckiest geek alive.

  Thanks to Vic Gundotra who hired me and put me on this team. Last night we went to dinner and thought “wow, this is the Super Bowl of software.”

  More next week after I get back home.

  Oh, one thing, the stats here on Longhorn blogs are astounding. I remember the days when only 15 people would see what I wrote. In the past four days we've had 65,000 sessions and 480,000 hits.
  

  7,183 Views

• Writing Your First Longhorn App

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 31 2003, 03:24 PM

  Sam Gentile: “Writing Your First Longhorn Application.”
  

  6,722 Views

• Today's the Day

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 27 2003, 02:24 AM

  Today's the day when these Longhorn blogs can start having some real content.

  When I first saw Longhorn back in February it changed my life.

  Now the rest of you get to see what I'm talking about.

  Unfortunately, we're going to all be stuck in a huge hall with limited, if any, wireless until about 2 p.m. so the blogging news will be pretty light until then.

  See ya this afternoon!

  Oh, and please do “Moo” if you're at the PDC and you like a feature. :-)
  

  7,413 Views

• One more note about the Longhorn blogs

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 24 2003, 12:08 PM

  These are community-run blogs. Microsoft neither reads, nor edits, nor controls what is on these blogs.

  I see that Eric Meyer took what was written by Ryan Dawson (who is not a Microsoft employee) and said he thought it came from Microsoft. Ryan has not seen Longhorn yet. He does not know what's coming. He's making guesses as to what we're going to announce on Monday.

  These are true community blogs. They are run by the community. They are not being funded in any way by Microsoft. Robert McLaws is running them. He's not a Microsoft employee. He's letting anyone who wants to have one of these blogs. Eric Meyer can even have one, if he'd like.

  Also, note, there is no rule that anything you post here must be accurate. Or friendly toward Microsoft. I meant what I said the other day when I wanted people who will be critical of Microsoft to post to these blogs. This is not a PR event here folks. See http://www.microsoft.com/presspass for “the official voice of Microsoft.”

  Weblogs will be chaotic. Don't assume what you see here is the truth. Even on my own blog. Question assumptions. Get a second, third, nay 600th opinion before coming to any conclusions (I'm reading more than 600 blogs now every day).

  Anyway, the truth will come out next week. Let's continue this discussion then.
  

  9,112 Views

• Ryan does not work for Microsoft

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 24 2003, 09:30 AM

  I've gotten a couple of questions today along the lines of “does Ryan Dawson work for Microsoft?”

  Turns out there +is+ a Ryan Dawson who does work at Microsoft, but the Ryan Dawson keeping the blog here doesn't. The blogger Ryan is a smart kid, though and I'm interested in seeing what his reactions are to Longhorn (he wrote an early takeoff of the sidepanel idea). As far as I know the blogger Ryan has not seen Longhorn yet (very few people have). That'll all change on Monday.
  

  9,882 Views

• Thanks to Text America

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 23 2003, 11:24 PM

  Thanks to Text America for hosting my PDC photoblog. There will be a separate photoblog over on the PDCBloggers site too. Tons of us will be posting photos. Please post your own photos as well!
  

  7,143 Views

• What's going on in that photo

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 23 2003, 11:18 PM

  The photo I just posted shows Steve Cellini presenting to all the Microsoft employees who will be speaking at the Microsoft Professional Developer's Conference in Los Angeles starting on Sunday. This afternoon we had a little mandatory get together for everyone who'll be working with customers at the PDC (mostly to let speakers know standard housekeeping stuff like what to expect when on stage).

  Cellini is the guy who lead the team that planned all the PDC content.

  Things he told the speakers (and other Microsoft employees). “Customers come first.” Some things we're doing along that vein:

  1) Microsoft employees will sit in the very back of the auditorium to make sure that customers get the best seats (and Microsoft employees are asked not to attend the Sunday pre-conference sessions).
  2) We will not get the goodie bags that attendees will get (at least not until every customer gets their bag first).
  3) Employees are asked to wait for at least half an hour before heading for lunch, so that customers have first shot at the food.
  4) We have very literally sold out and are not letting more attendees in the door (I saw the staff turn down requests from VPs here, which shows you how seriously it's sold out).

  Some other things that Microsoft employees who are attending the PDC were asked to do:

  1) Be available in the Track Lounges (and other places) to answer questions.
  2) Wear our identifying cards (we call them resource cards). These will quickly become collector items because each employee only has a few to share with attendees. But, each Microsoft employee should have a card in his/her badge holder to identify what team they are on. That way you can say “oh, I see you're on the WinFS team, can I ask you some questions....”
  3) Help attendees in any way possible.
  4) Listen and learn.
  5) Do whatever you can to improve customer trust and satisfaction.
  6) Watch the blogs and the newsgroups and participate.
  7) Answer customer needs. Get in your customer's shoes and help them fix their business problems. Turn around the customer perception that we don't need to listen and respond to those needs.

  We're honored to be able to present to you next week. A great deal of work by thousands of employees went into what will be presented next week and there's definitely excitement in the room. Everyone is 100% focused on making sure that those of you who are coming to the PDC will have an absolute top-of-the-line experience. If you're not, please please let us know so we can respond.
  

  5,667 Views

• The PDC speakers prepare

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 23 2003, 10:57 PM

   
  

  5,131 Views

• How to Hate Microsoft

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 22 2003, 06:18 PM

  In all my travels throughout the blogosphere, I've met quite a few people who viscerally hate Microsoft. In fact, a few even admit it openly on their weblogs.

  So, I figure I'd write a guide called “how to hate Microsoft.” The problem is, there are two types of people:

  1) Those who hate Microsoft.
  2) Those who hate Microsoft but want to see it improve.

  So, if you just plain old hate Microsoft, here's what to say:

  “I hate Microsoft. Your monopoly is the only thing keeping you in business. You guys are unfair in business. You are weasels. Your software sucks. You smell. Anyone who works at Microsoft is a shill. Why do you keep bringing out software that infuriates me?”

  If you hate Microsoft, but want us to improve, here's what to say:

  “I hate Microsoft. Your monopoly is the only thing keeping you in business. You guys are unfair in business. You are weasels. Your software sucks. You smell. Anyone who works at Microsoft is a shill. Why do you keep bringing out software that infuriates me?”

  Whoa, there's no difference between the two, right? Might look like it on the surface, but the person who wants us to improve will keep reading. After all, if you just hate Microsoft, why you reading a Longhorn blog?

  If you want us to improve, now we're getting someplace. Take a deep breath. Relax. Feel better?

  See, next week we're doing something different. We're asking you to help us improve Longhorn so it's an operating system that you can't hate.

  Why is this a massive change? Everytime we've released a version of Windows before we kept it secret. We made anyone who saw it sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Even many of those of you who signed NDAs weren't really given full access to the development teams and often if you were, it was too late to really help improve the product.

  Let me explain. I've only been a Microsoft employee for five months. Back in the good old days I was a beta tester. First with Windows 95 and NT, later with 98, ME, 2000, and XP.

  I never really got to work with the development teams while the software was in a “pre-beta” state. I never had a weblog where I could tell them “I hate the UI” years before the software will ship. Yeah, we had secret newsgroups back in the good old days. Some of us even got invited to meet with the development teams. But, never did Microsoft ask me to write on my public weblog all of its dirty laundry so that it could improve.

  Next week, that's exactly what we're asking for. Tear into Longhorn and tell us what you think.

  We're giving our developers open access to a very recent build of Longhorn. Just days old at this point. And we want you to hate it. Openly. On your weblog. Tell us what's wrong with it. What can be improved about it.

  On Monday we'll open up newsgroups where you can talk directly to the product teams here and tell us what you hate about Longhorn. We'll be there, listening. Taking notes. Having conversations with you.

  Why is it different this time around? Because when it ships, we want it to be a product that's impossible to hate.

  We're a long way from that, believe me. Next week I'll be joining you and posting things I hate  about Longhorn (I have a long list myself). We want you to be brutal. Tough. Critical. Negative. Harsh.

  Don't worry, we can take it. We want to have an operating system that's beyond reproach when it ships.

  This is a big chance Microsoft is taking. We're bringing customers directly into our design process. We're giving our community members extreme power. We're giving the press an unparralleled look at how an operating system is designed and developed. Many of our executives are now reading RSS newsfeeds of blogs. I'll point at the best of the "I hate Longhorn" blogs and I'm sending the feedback I see directly to the product teams (plus, you won't believe who's reading the blogs lately).

  It's the equivilent of if General Motors invited all of its customers into its design shop as it was developing its next Corvette and saying “hate it“ and then, when someone says “I hate the way that fender looks“ the design team changed the fender design.

  Imagine what that is going to do for Longhorn.

  So, hate our fenders. Er, our APIs. Hate Indigo. Hate Aero. Hate Avalon. Hate XAML. Hate WinFS. Hate our security model. Our app delivery model. Hate our compositing engine. Hate it all.

  Just tell us how to make it so that you can't hate it anymore.

  +++

  Oh, a couple of other tips, here's a few ways to really get our goat:

  1) Say “I have all that stuff on my Mac today.”
  2) Say “a four-year-old Linux developer could make a better API than that.”
  3) Say “wake me up when it ships.”
  4) Say “you should have open sourced it.”
  5) Say “it's too boring to hate.”
  6) Say “I'll stick with XP cause I like the UI better there.”
  7) Say “I hope there's still a bunch of security holes cause I'm on Linux and I can't make fun of you guys if you close them all.”
  8) Say “XAML shmamel. Just give me HTML and be done with it.”
  9) Say “why can't we go back to Windows 95?”

  PS: if you see me at the PDC, say hi.
  

  57,053 Views

• A better Longhorn through blogging

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 17 2003, 01:20 PM

  InternetNews: A Better Longhorn Through Blogging.
  

  6,230 Views

• Apple shipping new OS right before PDC

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 08 2003, 02:42 PM

  Congratulations to Apple for shipping a new version of Mac OSX on October 24.

  Apple is pointing out they are shipping now, but Longhorn won't ship for a couple of years.

  Apple is asking us “when you gonna ship Longhorn?” Wrong question. if I were in the industry, I'd have a list of questions for both Microsoft and Apple to answer. For instance:

  Can we make personal computers better? I mean, dramatically better? (Define better however you want: more productive, lower TCO, easier to use, more secure, what other metrics would you use to define better?)

  Is there a PC that you can use while standing up (or while sitting in coach) or while sitting at a desk or while watching video on it? In fact, why can't this industry go way beyond laptops and come up with something far more usable (ever try to use a laptop while sitting in coach? It's horrible)? Is there a way that we can get PC's that you can interact with the way you want to interact with it, which might not be a mouse and a keyboard. Ever try to use a mouse and keyboard while standing up in a subway, for instance? Pretty difficult, huh? Heck, how about a computer that let's me use a mouse and keyboard in some situations, ink in others, and voice in yet others?

  Is there a way to come up with a file system that's dramatically better than the hierarchical file systems we all use today?

  Is there a way to come up with a UI that is seriously productive? Something that is not just a new color scheme with 3D stuff sliced in? Something more than just a glitzy demo that no one will end up using?

  Is there a way for developers to develop world-class applications in dramatically less time than it takes today while delivering code that's far less buggy and has even more features? (And while not limiting developers to a lowest-common-denominator approach -- even while having a best-of-breed lowest common denominator approach?)

  Is there a way that the software industry can support the development of new kinds of applications that just aren't possible today? Oh, and where the developers of those applications can get handsomely rewarded instead of derided (or, worse yet, competed with?)

  Is there a way to make it possible to build far more interactive and visual applications than is possible today?

  Is there a way to get and install software that doesn't mess up your system?

  Is there a new way to really exploit the new machine trends? For instance, in 2006 I expect a very high percentage of machines to have digital ink (translation: Tablet) technologies. In 2006 I expect an NVidia or ATI graphics processor card (translation: thing that lets you play cool video games -- but could be used to display stuff in new ways that we haven't even imagined yet) to be tons more powerful than they are today, and cost a fraction of what they do today. In 2006 I expect a high percentage of homes and businesses to have WiFi (and many will have multiple nodes -- what happens today when you walk between nodes). In 2006 I expect a high percentage of people will have SmartPhones. I expect we'll have very high resolution digital cameras. I expect that we'll have terabyte hard drives. Gigs of RAM. Processor speeds that'll be two to five times what they are today. In 2006 I expect many of you will have HDTV's at home with a PVR or two. Is there a way to make our PCs really take advantage of these trends?

  Is there a way to make your computing experience scale from a small hand-held device or SmartPhone to a huge-wall-based 4000 dpi or more resolution monitor?

  Is there a way to make text easier to read for all humans, even those with bad eyes? (Hey, I'm getting older and my eyes are getting worse and worse).

  Is there a much better way to use multiple monitors? (Microsoft research shows that using multiple monitors makes you much more efficient and productive).

  Is there a way to really increase the quality of our collaboration that goes beyond a single camera and a one-to-one video experience?

  Is there a way to build dramatically new series of video games that'll have new interaction models that just haven't been seen yet today?

  Is there a better way to get data from one computer (or service) to another? Through firewalls, NATs, and proxy servers? Oh, and while keeping my data private, confidential, and all that.

  Is there a better way to present information in ways that humans can understand what they are seeing?

  Is there a way to weave video and other media types into everything on the OS? How about doing video in previews, or video on top of video? How about giving me multiple videos on the screen? Without requiring me to download a player?

  Is there a dramatically better way to search your files and find what you want?

  Is there a way that all of us can become not just world-class consumers of information (hey, TV did that for us) but world-class producers of content as well? How about simple things like sharing your pictures with your mom? Can we find a better way to do that?

  Is there a way that you can make it possible to read the content from hundreds, if not thousands of Web sites -- that I choose -- in an hour or less?

  Is there a way to make our systems more administratable? You know, can you make it so that your kids can only do what you'd like them to do? For instance, do their homework instead of surfing or playing games without your permission? How about for the corporation? What could the industry do to make it easier to administer hundreds, thousands, and even millions of computers?

  Is there a way to control your watches or other devices from your PC? How about sending pictures to new kinds of devices like Nokia's “photo jewelry?“

  Is there a way to turn on a Website/weblog on Monday and have 10,000 readers by Friday?

  Anyway, those are the questions I'll be asking the industry in the weeks ahead. What kinds of questions do YOU think the industry should be asking (and answering)?

  Bring this list to the PDC. I will. Then we'll see who really is taking on the hard questions, and not the easy “when will you ship?” ones.
  

  11,366 Views

• Benchmarking Longhorn to be harder?

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 07 2003, 02:52 PM

  ExtremeTech: Benchmarking's Bleak Future (Longhorn is gonna be tougher to judge speed on, says Loyd Case).
  

  5,239 Views

• Feedster lets you search blogs

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 02 2003, 12:59 PM

  Another great place to watch for Longhorn information is blogs themselves. How can you search blogs for Longhorn info? Visit Feedster. Here, I built a search for Microsoft Longhorn for you. What's really killer is that each search is exposed as an RSS feed too, so you can subscribe to a search term. (If you don't know anything about an RSS news aggregator, it's a piece of software that lets you subscribe to feeds produced by many blogging and other sites). You'll see little "XML" or "RSS" icons on pages. Even MSDN is doing it. I watch 536 blogs now in my news aggregator, which is why I often point to things before other people do. Yet another trick for someone who really wants to keep up on Longhorn news.
  

  5,511 Views

• Where to get Longhorn information

  Posted by scoble to The Scobleizer LonghornBlog on Oct 02 2003, 09:59 AM

  There are several places to watch for Longhorn information:

  1) Watching Microsoft Like a Hawk's Longhorn page. They aggregate tons of Longhorn articles from all over the net into a single page.

  2) Google News' Longhorn search. Google watches 4000 news sources. Great place to get the latest, especially when Microsoft announces something.

  3) Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. Lots of looks at early news about Longhorn.

  What other good resources do you watch for Longhorn news?
  

  5,857 Views