TNW Network Editor’s Note: This is NOT a sponsored post but a welcome to The Next Web’s new Microsoft channel where, as you might imagine, we will be discussing, dissecting and bringing you news of Microsoft’s every move.
Microsoft always knew how revolutionary the Internet would be, Bill Gates outlined Microsoft’s direction in an internal memo titled The Internet Tidal Wave back in 1995.
Another memo from Bill Gates in 2005 and several attempts later Microsoft now has reached a stage where they are a formidable force in the online sector. No more a company with boat-loads of cash being randomly thrown around. Windows Live Essentials Suite, Skydrive and Windows Azure are the pillars of Microsoft’s Internet strategy. Several key products show Microsoft’s vision of a unified web – both in the consumer and enterprise segment.
Window To The Web:
Windows Live Essentials
The Live Essentials Suite was a master move by Redmond, it robbed the EU of some good fun and allowed Microsoft to push significant updates regularly. Windows Live Essentials will have its 4th major release in the coming months and is highly anticipated by the enthusiasts. Live Essentials consists of:
- Windows Live Mail
- Windows Live Messenger
- Windows Live Photo Gallery
- Windows Live Movie Maker
- Windows Live Writer
- Family Safety
- Sync
The move to unbundle the above from Windows pleased quite a few power-users who use alternatives. Windows Live Writer is a favorite amongst users and there are quite few who prefer to use their Windows machine for blogging over a Mac. Yes, the software is that good. Mail, Messenger and Movie Maker have improved significantly with each build and are pretty good at what their supposed to do. The Ribbon interface (of Office 2007 fame) has helped Microsoft streamline the UI of these products.
Internet Explorer
The other important desktop software for the Internet is the browser. The moment I mention Internet Explorer some people cringe. With one of the most popular version publically buried, the successors not competitive enough and EU breathing down their neck, Microsoft had their task cut out. At PDC last year Windows chief Steven Sinofsky made it clear that standards compliance was one of Microsoft’s top priority for Internet Explorer 9. At MIX10 Microsoft announced Internet Explorer 9 Preview highlighting HTML5, CSS3 and hardware acceleration. Recently leaked images show a rather good looking UI for IE9. It is quite evident that Microsoft knows what it needs to do to fix their browser.
Services:
Bing
Bing and the subsequent announcements around Bing have a lot of users excited. Blaise Aguera’s demo on augmented reality and Bing Maps at TED got a lot of positive attention. Bing is undergoing an update wherein the search results for certain queries will focus on data followed by links. For example, a search for an automobile will result in automobile specs and prices along with links to pages with that information. Bing now has Twitter and Foursquare integration, strategic deals with Facebook and Yahoo search make Bing a strong competitor to Google. Semantic search is what Microsoft engineers are banking on to trump competition.
Xbox Live and Zune Marketplace
For Microsoft the Xbox 360 isn’t just a gaming console for the hardcore frag-loving gamers, it is a device for every living room. To watch movies & television with your Xbox Live friends on a virtual couch, stream content from the web and of course play games. Xbox Live is a vibrant social community and as a friend puts it, possibly the only successful paid social network. Windows Phone 7 (no more Series) presents a huge opportunity for Microsoft to bring the experience to a wider audience. The amazing demo where a game started on the desktop was continued on the Windows Phone 7 and finally completed on the Xbox 360 is an experience made possible by seamlessly integrating individual products – Xbox 360, Xbox Live, WP7 and Live on Windows (Microsoft’s 3 screens and the cloud strategy).
The Zune might not be selling in numbers but with WP7, the developers and users have a single platform to access content for both devices.
Office Web Apps
Office is an important product for Microsoft, when competitors started offering basic office suite functionality over the Internet for free, Redmond had to respond. It wasn’t a question of will they but rather when would they. About six months ago, Microsoft announced Office Web Apps. A minimalistic web based version of their flag-ship product. Office Web Apps can be accessed from within Skydrive and comprises of 4 products:
- Word
- Powerpoint
- Excel
- OneNote
Note: As of now Powerpoint and Excel are fully functional, with Word offering only viewing and editing.
The web based versions have an interface similar to Office 2010 and offer basic editing capabilities. Silverlight will enhance Powerpoint’s performance to show rich presentations, having Silverlight installed is not a compulsory requirement though. No PDF support is a bummer.
Note #2: Office Web Apps work on the iPhone and should on the recently launched iPad.
Skydrive
The Office Web Apps announcement hinted at Skydrive as the hub of online data, this thought was strengthened with image leaks that showed videos uploaded to Skydrive being played within Skydrive. Photographs, videos and documents – all on Skydrive. Skydrive started as an online storage space with a mere 500MB space for all users who had a Hotmail or Live id and was promoted as a photo and data sharing service. According to some stats from Microsoft about 4 to 5 Million images are uploaded to Skydrive on a normal day. Office 2010 that hits retail in June of this year has a feature that allows you to save your documents directly to a Skydrive folder.
Coming to what probably started this all – email. Hotmail, not the most loved service but certainly not bad at what it’s supposed to do. Coupled with Windows Live Mail Hotmail is a great service. It did undergo some identity crisis for a while but with a new campaign, Hotmail is back in the mix. A leak has shown that Microsoft plans to integrate Office Web Apps and Hotmail allowing you to open your document attachments without having to download them. Not innovative or revolutionary, but having these features is now a necessity.
To recap: Skydrive to create and access documents, Office 2010 can save documents to Skydrive and Hotmail to integrate with Office Web Apps. Three separate services to come together to offer a better user experience.
Office Web Apps has a separate edition for enterprises whereby the documents can be stored on their servers and not on Skydrive.
Enterprise:
When considering the enterprise side of things, the combined capabilities of Exchange 2010, Outlook Web and Mobile Office 2010 is what Microsoft is excited about, then there is Windows Azure. In simple terms Azure is Windows for the web. Offering enterprises and enthusiasts ability to deploy web applications without having to worry about scalability, reliability and the rest of the back-end. Microsoft has a comprehensive suite of products along with Sharepoint for the enterprises and their adventures in the cloud. Steve Ballmer speaking at the University of Washington emphasized their commitment to the cloud with a new campaign – We’re all in.
Welcome to Microsoft’s next web. Welcome to The Next Web’s Microsoft channel.
What a first post Manan, great work.
Microsoft deserves its own channel for sure. It's interesting that Microsoft has been successful in areas outside of it's core business (unlike Google). Also, its ventures into verticals like Health (Healthvault) are important to watch as well.
Looking forward to more here. Nice jobs guys
Welcome to TNW, Manan. Informative stuff, here. Looking forward to having a good source for MS news.
Hi Manan,
Any specific reason why you haven't mentioned Microsoft's My Phone service?
Thanks Charlie, looking forward to bringing it
Why don't we see a link to this Channel and the Google channel in the drop down list?
You know, the one in the top left corner?
I hope that Mr. Kakkar has a thick skin, because everything that Microsoft does always
stirs up emotions.
This blog post simply shows that Microsoft is indeed the killer of innovation.
Why is Microsoft offering their Windows Live product suite for free?
They aren't making any money with it, but they sure as hell don't want anyone
else to make a buck in this category too.
That's why they killed the 'digital-life-style-sector' by offering their Windows Live essentials
package for free.
Which VC will back a company that has a product in the 'consumer digital lifestyle'
space? NONE.
That market has now been cornered by MS.
Capitalism is about making money! And I love it!
But how the fuck are we going to make a buck in the online space if a couple
of giants hold the entire industry hostage?
It's all Bill Gates' fault really :-D
Billy has always been a frightened little puppy that wet himself once a new player
arrived on the scene. Because they could very well be the next Microsoft and kill them off.
This mentality is now a part of their corporate culture and we see it in action every day.
AAH HELP, there's this Yammer thing, kill it quickly! How?
Well we build a similar product into MS office and allow you to import your Yammer blurbs.
Crisis averted! Killed another prospering company, YEAH!
One more notch into the MS belt.
PS. Google is Evil to.
@Twinkle Toes appreciate the opinion. Microsoft had been providing a mail client, messenger, photo viewer & Movie Maker as part of Windows install itself. But the problem with that was that they had to wait for a new OS to upgrade these components due to the product cycles. Another issue Microsoft avoided was potential anti-competitive suits. This has nothing to do with competitors.
Hi Axe, to be honest, it skipped my mind since I've never actually tried it. I did plan on touching upon Mesh and Silverlight too but decided not to. :)
As an MS guy myself, I have been wishing for something like this, but was afraid to ask for it in fear of retaliation :D Great work Manan. I'll be following this closely.
Well DUH!
They had to remove these components from Windows, because they already received a bitch slapping from the EU about bundling products into Windows, and thereby killing any competition!
Who will buy a messenger program when Windows comes with one installed?
Who buys a zip/rar utility when it's already baked into Windows?
Who buys a photo viewer app when there's already one baked into explorer?
Who will buy a movie player when Windows already has one built in?
Why buy a movie editor when you can use the default tools in Windows?
These are all products in the digital life style category.
And no one innovates and creates anything in this category anymore.
All innovation is dead in this category.
The very first thing you see when you run Windows Upate on a fresh PC is:
“Get The Free Windows Live Essentials Tools” !!
In my world that's still bundling of products.
MS has this whole market cornered.
The web has been a god's blessing to Developers.
All major applications are Web Applications.
No one builds products for an OS anymore.
When was the last time you saw a NEW friggin' Windows app?
Developers don't want to be tied to Windows.
VC-s don't want to invest in Mac, Window or Linux projects.
They only invest in web projects/companies.
Steve Balmer can scream: Developers, Developer, Developers all he wants.
But we all reply with a thundering: Go fuck yourself Steve!
The way to make money is to go the opposite of Microsoft.
Silverlight? Nah we will go with Java FX and Adobe Air.
.NET? Nah, that's just a clone of Java. We will go with that instead.
SQL Server? Dude, we have MySQL and a shit load of other free DB-s.
Microsoft CRM? All CRM-s are a joke. They are half baked ERP systems.
MS Axapta? If we're already paying a shit load for ERP than why not go with SAP.
Hell, I am willing to bet that the Free ERP OpenBravo has feature parity with
everything that MS has to offer in its ERP line of tools.
Valid points indeed. Just for a quick note, I don't use Live Messenger, Digsby is my choice so far. But here's the problem – if they don't provide these, the OS is handicapped and if they provide versions with very basic functionality one would say why have it? So I don't see a black and white in this scenario, what do you suggest? Would you rather have a handicapped OS that needs you to search for necessary software?
Answer that one an average user's PoV and not from an enthusiast's PoV.
Thank you… will do my best :)
Fine, I accept the challenge.
I like the MS browser selection screen.
It gives the user a choice and it also shows that there is actually something to choose from.
MS needs to develop something similar for their additional software.
After you install/start your Windows 7, you should see a window in which you can select the kind
of additional software you wish to install.
You want a Word Processor? Well here are your options:
- Open Office (Desktop)
- Lotus Symphony (Desktop)
- Zoho (Online)
- Google Docs (Online)
- MS Office (Desktop/Online) (At the bottom of the list)
This shows you that there is something else besides MS Works and MS Office.
The same thing can be done for various other tools like: e-mail, chat, movie player and
Anti-Virus!
A lot of PC-s come preloaded with a (trial) virus scanner.
This pre-loading should become illegal. It's usually the OEM that pre-installs
the additional trial software, because they get royalties from it, but they are killing
competition by preloading (trial) software.
The user should be able to see what other Virus software is available and at what price.
So it basically comes down to a Marketplace.
There needs to be some sort of Software Marketplace that is truly independent and lists all
the available software products and services.
We need a marketplace where every software vendor can create a landing page and display their wares.
A marketplace that looks like download.com sans the banners.
That's what we need to see after we've chosen our web browser and start surfing.
This Marketplace should be one click away with a prominent link on your desktop.
The marketplace should not be run by any software company.
It should be a foundation that runs the service/website.
The website should only provide a description + link to the product's website.
So running the marketplace will be a pretty simple and low cost operation
with a low barrier for entry.
There is no middle man (e.g. MS) that takes a 60% transaction fee
and there are no annual fees for being listed in the marketplace.
So there, I basically want an App Store sans the Apple certification bullshit and fees!
It took only a shit load of words to come to that conclusion.
Peace out!
PS. This marketplace will not kill sites like download.com, because Vendors
could also simply link to Download.com or other similar sites from their landing page.
Download.com picks up the distribution bill and makes money from bannering.
doesn't that make user experience really bad especially compared to alternatives like OS X and in some cases even Ubuntu? I'd really hate to have several pop-ups asking me to choose whether I want a or b or c. When I buy a PC I want it to work. As I said you're answering the question from an enthusiasts PoV. You know the several 3rd party software that might be amazing for you but a lot of my friends don't really care. They want their PC to play music, browse the Internet, let them do basic document editing and that's pretty much it.
Now if these guys have to go through several selection pop-ups those old Windows 95/98 days come to mind where Windows didn't have all that much and i had to spend hours installing configuring stuff. Certainly not the best user experience.
As I said this is not a black and white situation where having ballot screens for everything is the solution. It doesn't help Windows and certainly doesn't help its users. But that's my opinion.
Have you ever considered SSuite Office as a free alternative to MS Office?
Their software also doesn't need to run on Java or .NET, like MS Office and so many open source office suites, so it makes their software very small, efficient, and easy to use. :)
http://www.ssuitesoft.com/index.htm
You completely bypass the argument I made for a Marketplace inside of Windows.
If you need additional software, you simply browse the marketplace for it.
And YES, this does mean that you have to configure a lot more than before, but this does LEVEL the playing field for other software vendors and it does lead to more competition in an otherwise cornered market.
don't mind the marketplace. But killing the user experience thinking that it will help the 3rd party developers is absurd. If anything it will only make Windows more unusable and cause defections from the platforms, the 3rd party devs will be affected all the more.
The usability / user experience argument was the very reason that Microsoft gave for building Internet Explorer into Windows itself. If usability is the key thing here, then MS can simply bundle each and every MS product into Windows, from MS Office to SQL Server to even friggin' Windows Live Essentials.
But this 'better user experience' leads to reduced competition and less competition simply means less innovation.
And MS knows this, that's why you have to download Windows Live Essentials separately and don't have it on the install DVD.
It's also the reason why MS doesn't bundle Security Essentials into Windows, because that would simply kill every other Anti Virus vendor on the planet.
If we were to use your argument of usability, then MS would have simply bundled Security Essentials with Windows, because a PC without Anti Virus is simply not adequate.
I’d love that too happen but practically it cannot since there are rival products. Less innovation, I don’t understand this point to be frank. If your product is “innovative” good and offers something more than what someone is using, they will surely use your “innovative” product. But making random arguments about innovation being killed is rather absurd.
For so long, IE was bundled and still is, where was innovation killed? Competitors increased, in fact!
It’s the same debate about twitter acquiring tweetie and offering better user features on their site and 3rd party client devs crying foul.
Last thing to consider:
A basic windows install is MORE than adequate for the average PC user.
Does your mom need any extra software besides Windows? NO!
So your basic out of the box PC is USABLE.
A basic Windows install is now a demarcation for every other software vendor on the planet.
Building software below that line is stupid, because MS owns it thanks to your usability argument.
Building software above that line is all that rests, but MS is constantly moving that line upwards.
They simply want to own every aspect of the software industry.
And they use the USABILITY and User Experience (BULLSHIT) argument each time.
what extra software are we talking about here?