Ray Ozzie, CTO of Microsoft and leader of Microsoft's service business, is now blogging on MSN Spaces. MSN Spaces is one of the many Microsoft services receiving an overhaul as part of Windows Live. Ray's former company, Groove, was one of the first companies to introduce a blogging policy. Groove's policy has guided the policy of other companies in the many years since it was first introduced. I had to point to a copy of Ray's previous blog at the Internet Archive because all of his previous blog entries now redirect to his Spaces blog homepage. Please don't lose the…
The latest version of Office, 12.0.3111.1010, has hit the peer-to-peer networks and developer Alexander Gorlach has posted his first impressions and detailed screenshots of the subscription and reading interface. Microsoft throttles the feed update rate and respects the TTL element. Users can override this update limit which could be pretty scary as RSS updates are currently integrated with the standard send/receive function along with e-mail and most e-mail is checked every 5 minutes or so. Outlook 12 also supports the ability to download all enclosures for a subscription, regardless of the file type. Enclosures can deliver some nasty payloads to…
MSN has a new beta version of its homepage online with a cleaner look and easy to find links to other areas of MSN. The site does not look too great on Safari or Firefox but the site should be of interest as it will likely become the default homepage for millions of users. Tags: msn…
Dave Winer just posted the full text of memos sent by Microsoft's Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie to Microsoft executives announcing the company's new services strategy. Both executives are very frank about Microsoft's failure to properly capitalize on the latest online trends, including many technologies pioneered by Microsoft. Ray Ozzie encourages updates in MSN and Windows Update to "better serve a broad range of highly-influential early adopters." The entire plan is not yet complete, but corporate executives are working towards a December 15 deadline to outline next steps and product revisions. Thanks Dave for tracking down these documents and taking…
Microsoft Office Live is a set of small business services built around a Microsoft's Sharepoint technologies. The new site combines bCentral with Sharepoint for free web hosting, e-mail, and group sharing online. Microsoft will also offer subscription plans with less or no advertising and access to over 20 additional online business applications. Anyone can now sign up for a domain name, setup their own website, and have a professional e-mail address. You can design your site using Microsoft templates directly from their web page. You can signup for up to 5 e-mail addresses at your-domain.com with 2 GB of…
Microsoft has a new collaborative editing program named Mojo. Mojo is a way to connect with other people to edit a document in real-time. Microsoft demonstrated connecting to a contractor off-site to edit some financial documents. You can initiate a connection via Messenger, e-mail, or phone and talk to the other person through your PC while you both work on the document. Mojo is a better solution than remote desktops because you share only the open window and not everything on your computer. There is a button at the top of the window labeled "Take Control" that suggests two…
MSN has been openly centered around Hotmail and Messenger for their online services strategy. Microsoft announced major upgrades to both components today with even more Web goodness. Windows Live Messenger Windows Live Messenger is a MSN Messenger replacement with lots of new social networking features built-in. You can now store up to 600 contacts, which is very good because Messenger now shows you all of your contacts through the program regardless of if they currently have a Messenger account. Messenger users can share and annotate their friends list with others through Microsoft's people search interface. You can add even add…
Windows Live is a suite of Internet powered applications and services designed to run on top of the Windows platform. Microsoft unveiled a variety of services at its technology preview event today that it plans to release next year. All components of Windows Live are currently listed on the Windows Live Ideas page. Live.com Live.com is the center of the Windows Live experience. Users will access this personalized portal page for the latest weather, news, mail messages, and whatever else catches their interest. Live.com is similar to the Google personalized start page and My Yahoo!. Users select a content…
Microsoft announced today its new strategy around live services to integrate products and services across a variety of devices to 87 journalists and analysts at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Microsoft software already powers a variety of systems including servers, desktops, mobile phones, and the Xbox. The Microsoft Live architecture connects these devices through to allow end users to share preferences, presence data, and a digital identity whenever they access a compatible device. Microsoft has embraced the Internet as part of the desktop experience and invested in technologies to connect individuals and groups with their data and contacts….
Windows Live beta is up and running at Live.com. This page will be the default start page for Windows in the near future with Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista. Note that Microsoft has built feed search into the default home page on the top right under the "Add Content" header. Microsoft also now has a "Feeds" tab on its Windows Live search page, part of the MSN Search "Skylight" project it appears. You can also add podcasts direct to your home page by subscribing to the feed and the latest entry will appear with Windows Media Player loading the…
I am covering the Microsoft Technology Preview this morning in San Francisco. Microsoft is launching their "Live" software initiatives that include software as a service, synchronization, and even peer to peer. The biggest news to me so far is Bill Gates announcing that Microsoft will build advertising as a service for software development. Developers can call a web service and receive Microsoft advertising content targeted to their users directly in their applications. As the application grows in popularity it can provide different monetization options, but advertising is a good bootstrap model. Microsoft is announcing Windows Live and Office Live…
A large portion of Los Angeles lost power today as thousands of geeks converge on the city for Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference. Coincidence? Suggested headlines: Windows Vista takes so much it brings down an entire power grid. Microsoft opens a portal to Hell, sending Los Angeles into darkness. 12,000 geeks charge their laptops at once, cripple local power grid. Totally joking, but a strange coincidence. Tags: pdc05…
A Microsoft recruiter's e-mail to Eric S. Raymond, a well-known open source developer and evangelist, cracked me up this morning. Senior recruiter Mike Walters sent Eric an e-mail allegedly on the recommendation of a research team at Microsoft. If you had bothered to do five seconds of background checking, you might have discovered that I am the guy who responded to Craig Mundie's "Who are you?" with "I'm your worst nightmare", and that I've in fact been something pretty close to your company's worst nightmare since about 1997. Tags: opensource…
I am currently attending Gnomedex in Seattle where there are many product announcements happening. The big announcement of the morning is Microsoft's integration of RSS into Longhorn at the platform level. Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer, admitted Microsoft is "trying to get on the Cluetrain." Microsoft's marketing message for its RSS integration is "Browse. Search. Subscribe!" They distributed jackets to all Gnomedex attendees and expect to see this message at PDC in September and other marketing venues. RSS is again being used as a generic term encompassing all feed formats including RDF and Atom. Dean demonstrated Internet…
Microsoft is making available a public preview of Windows XP SP2 RC1. If you have a Tablet PC, this download provides RC1 of the new Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, codenamed "Lonestar." Lots of security updates which could impact your applications….
Scoble is wondering what Microsoft could do to evangelize Windows XP to users of Windows 98. My comment entry was getting a bit long, so I will post it here instead. Ask the average user and they have no clue when the support life of Windows 98 ends and why that might matter to them. I assume that Windows 98 users are mostly home users. The real question is will my stuff still work, how much will it cost me, and is all this change worth the chance that my stuff will not work as it is supposed to? What…
I just bought Office XP and I have been experimenting with it tonight. I figured out how to embed smart tags in Web pages, and I may try it on my Web space for everyone who has Office XP….
I just spent the weekend in Seattle, which was really nice. I visited Safeco Field, The Space Needle, Monorail, Pike Place Market, and the Experience Music Project….
