MSeng
Premium,Ex-Mod 2001-08
join:2000-07-13
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Re: [Info] MVP Summit 2005 News
Today was rather interesting -- we spent the morning hours with keynote addresses by some of the major players in the Microsoft organization.
Steve Ballmer led off the discussions with some interesting commentary, specifically in the area of competition by others who provide search capabilities and this sites pet Internet browser project. He then challenged the MVP's to use the latest technologies and offer constructive feedback to the company on the improvements they (Microsoft) are touting. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this man...he is passionate about the company he represents and is big enough to admit where the weak spots may be. One of our own regulars ( Steve  ), actually challenged Ballmer about the user privileges he's currently running on his workstation. Mr. Ballmer didn't hesitate to tell everyone in the room that he was running with Admin privileges but said to stay tuned -- because times are changing.
The same held true with Jim Allchin, Co-President of the Platforms Group. I saw this last year and repeated again today...Microsoft executives are not afraid to take criticism for any weak points in their products. But when they say that they will effect changes, by god, I believe them.
This afternoon, we broke up into our areas of expertise for what I deem "Marketing Day". This is where the groups take the opportunity to tout upcoming changes to their products. Because Vista and IE7 are such high profile items, many of the things demonstrated in the morning sessions were repeated in our group later in the afternoon. As mentioned last night, we are bound by NDA on many things, but I do want to mention some things that were exciting to me in the area of Operating Systems and Internet browsing.
First off, Vista is going to be the BIGGEST single change in Operating Systems since Windows 95. The UI is top notch, with translucence and visual fade that is second to none. For those who've had the opportunity to play with the beta, I think everyone would agree the changes being made are exciting and I can't wait for it to come out.
Even more important is some of the things that are coming in the background. Everyone focused on the fact Microsoft has backed off of releasing their new file system (WinFS) with Vista...but the features included for Search and Virtual folders will absolutely knock your socks off. The other BIG change is the introduction of Limited User Access (LUA) and User Account Protection. Although the product is still in early beta stages, the ability to truly run applications on a Limited User account is something that has been needed for a long time and Microsoft (IMO) will finally deliver on their promise to secure the OS and allow privilege lock-down, even in the Home versions.
Next up in my afternoon session was demonstration on IE7, due to come out later this year. Once again, Microsoft is continuing the focus started with IE6 (SP2) on security with the advent of Protected access. Simply stated, when running the browser in this mode, the Operating System is protected from malware that wants to make changes to your system by running in a virtual space (Temporary Internet Files), that will discourage changes to Start Pages, addition of unwanted ActiveX, etc. They are listening to the feedback being provided with respect to ease of use (particularly in the are of tabbed browsing, those who are testing the product should give the Quick Tour a try) and the added bonus of easily hooking into RSS feeds is pretty damn cool.
Finally, we ended up this evening with a demonstration of the latest Media Center technologies. I myself do not own an MCE box but after todays session I would seriously consider purchasing one in the future. Integration with their latest gaming console (the XBox 360) is fantastic, the feature sets included for Video and Audio recording\authoring in the upcoming Rollup package is a dramatic step forward and some upcoming partnerships (soon to be announced) make this an incredibly powerful consumer device which has already surpassed TIVO as the device of choice.
Tomorrow, we are going to delve into the OS in a much more elaborate fashion. I'm excited...my breakout session includes meeting with a Windows Developer and a discussion on building the Windows community. Stay tuned for the next installment.
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A)bort, R)etry, I)nfluence with large hammer. |
