Mix08 in Las Vegas  (5-7 Mar 2008)

Ray Ozzie
[KYN0801, 0:00]

– Lots of great products during past year
– Many software projects finally coming to fruition this coming year
– Mix ’08 is 1st of key launch milestones this year, culminating at PDC in October
– Many key elements of Software+Services will be released this year
– Let’s look at big picture, put various products into context

– Two distinct aspects of Microsoft’s services strategy
– Things that we do to deeply embrace advertising, which is economic engine that powers the web
– Internet is reshaping & transforming Microsoft’s existing products and services

– Advertising
– Innovation in the experiences on the web provides fuel for ad-based economic engine

– Content, Commerce, Community web properties–key drivers of user engagement
– Innovation in community area transforms the other properties (content/commerce) on the web
– E.g. blogs, social networks, etc.
– Greater and greater user engagement
– This user engagement is why advertising is now huge economic force on the web
– Online ads projected to grow from $40 billion to $80 billion over next 3 yrs
– Advertising is going to be the primary way that we all monetize services/apps on the web

– Aspect 1:  What is Microsoft’s role in advertising on the web?
– Ensure that there is vibrant advertising ecosystem on the web
– Based on highly competitive ad platform
– Significantly investing in search and in content/commerce/community innovation
– Goal: highly engaged, well-targeted audience

– Aspect 2:  How is the web impacting Microsoft’s products/services?
– Look at 3 core principles that MS is using to drive reconceptualization of its software, to embrace world of services

– 3 core principles
– People — Think of the web as a hub — of social & technology experiences — our “social mesh” and “device mesh”
– (Fundamental changes impacting the individual)
– Business — provide power of choice as enterprise moves to embrace the cloud
– Developers — We need to embrace a world of “small pieces, loosely joined”

– Principle 1 — Think of web as a hub / mesh
– Social mesh — interpersonal nature of web will impact everything that MS does
– All applications will incorporate the “group forming” aspects of the web   (linking, sharing, ranking, tagging)
– Device mesh — number & diversity of our devices is on the rise  (phones, PCs, smart TVs, DVRs, media centers, game consoles, car nav systems, etc)
– Idea of “My computer”, single PC, is dated, quaint
– Give way to personal collection of connected devices, brought together by the web
– Web serves as hub for these meshes

– Principle 2: Power of choice in the enterprise
– Most enterprises are in early stages, transition from dedicated application servers to virtualization and consolidating apps on computing grids
– “Virtualization powered utility computing model”
– Spans from enterprise data center, to cloud
– Utility computing model will reshape enterprise applications
– All of Microsoft’s software will be re-factored to have symmetry between
– Enterprise-based software
– Partner-hosted services
– Services in the cloud
– Power of server-service symmetry, allows IT to choose
– Systems are distributed, and federated

– Principle 3: Small pieces loosely joined
– Fabric of software & service componentry, spans from cloud to to world of devices
– Applications are trending towards loosely-coupled compositions
– Cooperating systems
– Transparency, standards, interoperability are key
– Lightweight APIs ubiquitous, e.g. REST, RSS, between services across the web
– XAML allows repurposing UI components
– New apps needing to extend beyond the browser, beyond the PC
– Users expecting rich, seamless experiences, delivered across all of their devices
– Applications take advantage of unique strengths of each platform
– Multi-device UI environment
– At back-end, new design models, more appropriate for cloud
– Vast arrays of commodity computing resources–storage & software
– Need new skills to: write code on back-end; deploy across grid; debug remotely
– Developer skills changed by shift to utility computing model

– How will Microsoft products be impacted by these principles?
– Will talk about specific offerings in 5 major groupings
– Connected devices, connected entertainment, connected productivity, connected business, connected development

– Connected devices
– We’re juggling/managing more and more interconnected devices
– Many of them are internet-aware at birth
– Use software to bring them all together into your own personal device mesh with web as hub
– Devices report into central server for status, health, location
– Remote control of all your devices, from anywhere
– Transparent synchronization of data across all devices
– Bi-directional synch of arbitrary feeds
– Application mgmt–centralized web-based deployment of device-based applications
– App platform that is cognizant of all of your devices
– MS has been working on this already
– For starters, looking at PCs, bringing all your machines into single seamless mesh
– Using web as hub
– Live Mesh tech preview

– Connected entertainment
– Only license your media once
– Organized collections/subscriptions once
– Use any of your devices to access/enjoy your media
– On portable device, in living room, on desktop
– Each person has “media-centric web presence” — express your tastes, interact w/others
– Microsoft entertainment products/services will be progressively transformed by this connected entertainment vision

– Connected productivity
– Productivity (for MS) =
– Office for PC
– Office Mobile for phone
– Office Live for web
– Seamlessly enjoy
– Rich dynamic benefits of working on PC
– Mobility, capture capabilities of phone
– Work-anywhere ubiquity of Internet
– Devices seamlessly connected, using web as “experience hub”
– Office live extends productivity into social mesh, sharing/tagging, etc.
– Office Live Workspace — in beta, Mar08
– Focus on servicing individual’s productivity needs
– Also deliver connected productivity to people in enterprise  (e.g. Sharepoint, Exchange)

– Connected business (enterprise)
– Services, e.g. CRM, CRM Live
– Well received by small businesses
– Biggest impact of services on business — will come from shift to utility computing within enterprise
– During past year:
– Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V
– System Center products, e.g. Virtual Machine Manager
– “Embrace utility computing in the cloud”
– Now releasing:
– Online business services, beta in Mar08
– Run Exchange, Sharepoint, Office Communications as either local servers or as services in the cloud
– Beta for SQL Server Data Services — API for online data storage; high-scale database services

– Connected development
– Realizing connected development environment through:
– .NET Framework
– Silverlight
– Expression Studio  (designers)
– Visual Studio  (developers)

– This year, delivering on potential promised w/Silverlight
– Devs have many amazing technology choices to pick from
– You should “bet on Microsoft” — can create extraordinary experiences across world of devices