Day 11 - Microsoft

Boy what a day. I started at 7:30 arriving at the Executive Briefing Centre in the Microsoft Complex. I started with breakfast at 7:45 with both Josh Rice, Sr. Director, Tech Sales WWPS and Alan Merrihew, ITS Govt, WWPS. So from about 8am - 9:30 was a welcome and discussions on some of my findings to date and outlining my research topic. From there both Josh and Alan identified other sources of information which might be of interest and assistance to my project.


We discussed many thing across a wide variety of issues and products. A number of them were very interested especially the MAVIS (Microsoft Audio Visual Indexing Service) this service which is currently available. This service using some software and a SQL database using Microsoft's Azure services will take a video and capture and convert audio to text which is then indexed to positions within the video. This then give you the ability to search the content of a video for a work or parse and select that position within the video so you can review at that point. I saw the possibility within DCP to utilise that service and will be exploring that on my return. 


Another area of discussion was with big data issues and what Microsoft was doing in that space. I was surprise to find that Microsoft is working with an open source solution called Hadoop. They are committed to broadening the accessibility and usage of Hadoop to users, developers and IT professionals. Hadoop distribution for Windows offers ease of use by simplifying the acquisition, installation and configuration experience. Developers are able to install and deploy Hadoop in hours instead of days. 


With the relentless growth of data which we face at DCP which is growing at an alarming rate. At the same time the complexity of that data and with unstructured data such as Word and PDF files, images, videos and potentially geo-spatial data in future. Microsoft's experience with where they analyse over 100 petabytes of data in the delivery of their search results in Bing. They are able to help companies in this space. 


The next issue with big data is the visualisation of that data for this we spoke about ChromeZoom a product developed by Microsoft Research. Another area of discussion was the use of big data analysis of BOTs and work in the area of virus and trojan detection. This was work being doing by the Microsoft Digital Crime Unit. Another topic was the work being done with the Kinect and Autism, this is relevant to the work that my wife does in teaching autistic kids at school. There is a good video of the work they are doing with Microsoft's Kinect. The second is a video with respect to the work they are doing with physio.


After the discussions we then went ahead with the program of the day. The next session was on the work that Microsoft Research was doing and how the research program worked within the Microsoft corporate environment. This presentation was lead by Behrooz Chitsaz, Director IP Strategy, Behrooz has been with Microsoft for 20 years and his presentation was very interesting. I am looking forward to the copy of the slide deck to review what we covered. Today was a very intensive day and very exciting with so much information. The slide decks will be useful to remember some of the details. Behrooz went over some of the points initially raised by Josh and Alan. One of those is work that have been done on contact lenses that work as a heads up display and can be used as a medical device to check on sugar levels in the systems.


After this I had a break for coffee before Jeff Fong the Principal UX Design Lead and Creative Director for Windows Phone Jeff presented the story of windows journey from the start through to the work that went behind the new interface design which is incorporated in the new mobile phone interface and Windows 8. It was most enjoyable to be talking with someone who was so passionate about their work. The new metro style is not a style guide to how to build the interfaces but a set of principles which are lead by Jeff and being adopted across Microsoft. I have use the new Windows 8 Preview and enjoyed the user experience and looking forward to the release of Windows 8. Which I did not get any other indication other than what is in the press that it should be sometime before the end of the year. :)


After Jeff I then went to see the Microsoft Future Home. I then meet Jackie Giuliano who greeted me at a door in another corridor. Out side this door was a motor scooter which was being charged. It was electric but looked exactly like it petrol counter part. After giving me an outline of what I was about to see he then lead me into the next room. This room look to be the front of a house. Bit by bit Jackie lead me through the house explaining and showing me examples of some of the things we could expect with a house in the next 5-10 years. You can see a little of what I saw with the video on youtube.


After this I had lunch with Alan and then Arjmand Samuel, SR Research PM presented their work in the tool set used to develop phone applications on the phone. This is currently available for download and there is considerable amount of information at the Touch Develop Website. Some of the things discussed and shown were under NDA so I am unable to discuss what I saw. Other than what I saw looks exciting for the future of true mobile development. When Windows 8 is released then I will be able to discuss in more details.


After another break I then went to the Envisioning Labs where I meet Karla Clark who took me through the labs to see some of the possibilities for the future. The video here shows some of the prototypes that I saw in these labs of what Microsoft believes we will be using in the not to distant future. 


After the presentation in the Envisioning labs I then return to the room where I started to have a presentation by Ken Malit, Systems Solutions Specialist with the Microsoft Surface Version 2 technology. Ken when through a presentation about the work that Microsoft has been involved with since 1997. This was a major improvement over version 1. To get a better sense of what I am talking about check out this demo video. The following video is made up with the demonstration of the possibilities of surface technology, alternative realities being used in the not to distant future.


After my session with Ken I then headed off from the Executive Briefing Centre to have a presentation by  David Vey to see a demonstration of the Microsoft Global Security Operations Center (GSOC). David meet me at the door and then took me into the center to present information about the GSOC's around the world and how he with the use of all out of the box software is able to manager and communicate with all people and locations to both manage the security of their property and people but also their continuity of business. During the demonstration he made calls to check on communication in locations in London and India. Within seconds he had both verbal responses and video conferencing over the net work and via Lynx. Behind him was a which wall which looked to be a white board work area. He then proceeded to the entrance of the room flicked a switch and the glass area became transparent showing the GSOC there in Redmond. 


All up today was very informative and quite exciting to be at the Head Office of Microsoft. Tomorrow I am hoping to visit the Usability Labs and then a little more sight seeing before heading off to Austin, Texas on Wednesday morning.


Signing off - 11:49pm 21st May

2011 has ended, so where will the Technology go in 2012

127 days, 19 hours, 16 mins and 02 seconds
till my Churchill Trip - 11th May - 13th July 2012
Perth>SF>Seattle>Austin>NY>Boston>London> Heidelberg >Salzburg>Vienna>Singapore>Perth 

2011 has been the launch of many different tablets. Apple has the iPad 2 and I would suspect that iPad 3 is close around the corner. There are roamers that something will be announced at iWorld. Samsung has let a cat out of the bag with the announcement of a new System-On-Chip (SOC) Exynos 5250. They have indicated the capabilities and specs and some believe it is the strongest indication of where iPad 3 may be heading.

Apple has been in the courts battling with Samsung over the Galaxy Tab 10.1 over IP, but all they have done is highlighted that this may be something to checkout. And boy have you seen the ads, and when they come on everyone is aware of Samsung and the Galaxy Tab. Well done Apple great advertising campaign for Samsung. Are Apple afraid that it is too good and could take market share from the iPad, why don't they just let the market decide. Apple user will stick with Apple but the undecided will now wait because Apple has made such a point maybe there is more to the Samsung offering to consider. This may or may not be true but you would have to ask why a company with such innovate products would try so hard to stop someone from getting their product to market, there has to be more than just being a look alike.

I believe that tablets will now start to come out with more power, features and function and the price will also drop. We are seeing it happen already with Sony just in the last couple of days reduced the cost of theirs table S by $100.

The Operating Systems are all starting to level out, take a look at iOS, Android 4 (ICS) and Windows 8. These OS's are all now taking into consideration the touch experience on large format tablets. I still say there is an issue with data input and that the devices that will win in the end will have a pen device which recognise hand writing, and utilise Wacom technology. The important part is that you can search your hand writing. There is no point in having the hand writing capabilities and not being able to search that writing. You are then reduced to searching visually, with a couple of documents that is fine but if you are serious this is totally impractical.

The other areas which is starting to really pick-up is the Ultra-books. These are starting to become serious desktop replacement material. Currently I am researching more into finding the ultra that has the power and capabilities of a desktop. Connecting to a screen and keyboard for when you are working from a fixed position then detaching easily to become totally mobile.

Over 2011 the table market has hit the Desktop PC market the greatest. I believe that end of the market will start to change in a big way to end up with very small foot print devices. So as I indicated last year the old desktop as we know it will become smaller and smaller mobility with the growth area. Especially with the tablets and Ultrabooks, what will add to the Ultrabooks and which is starting to show with the tablets is having an imbeded phone sim capability. A big area for improvement is the screen technology. Its fine having all the mobility but if you can not read the screen while you are mobile then where is the value of the mobility. We started to see the Pixel Chi screen coming out with their liquid paper technology making the screen readable in full sun light. I suspect this screen technology as seen in the Kindle will get even better and full colour. 

Another screen technology is the transparent screens, if you saw the move Avatar you will understand the concept. Recently some people at MIT have developed transparent battery technology so this will add more to the possibilities.


The next area we will see some big steps I believe with be in the bluetooth arena. Providing the connection to your mobile device and having all the functions of your phone. The audio area with better bluetooth ear pieces, bluetooth storage devices and you are already seeing digital camera's with wireless capability to transmit their photos to you computer or onto the net directly. 

The place to see what we will be getting is at the International Consumers Electronics Show (CES) Jan 10-13th in Las Vegas. Follow it online unless you are lucky enough to get there in person.

So where do I see it going this year: 

1. Tablets will keep dominating the market. ICS, Win8 and iOS are all out there these devices will really take off

2. I hope Apple gets back to it game of innovation and leaps ahead of the game and gets out of the courts. Its harder to copy if you are leagues in front. But once the competition gets in front then the challenge becomes harder. Has Apple lost its way? have they reached their pinical of innovation? We will see this year hopefully

3. There will not be any major updates to the range of Netbooks and they will disappear if not this year by 2013.

4. Ultrabooks will become even more powerful with better battery technology they will start to have a major impact on the desktop and they will become cheaper.

5. There will become more technology integration with the phone and other technology, storage, internet, cameras the lines will start to blur.

6. Finally I believe and hope there will be the appearance of more surface technology. Microsoft is one of the leaders in this space. They demonstrated their version 2 surface last year at CES 2011 what will come this year? This is becoming more cost effective and there will be some of this technology demonstrated at CES this year. The Minority Report, have a look at the real thing and Avatar were great examples of the real direction this technology is starting to move. To see some great examples take a look at 'A Day Made of Glass'

i.e. an example of some of the types of integration can be seen with ASUS Padphone.

ASUS Padphone

I am really looking forward to what comes next.