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Windows Phone 8 software architecture vs. that of Windows Phone 7, 7.5 and the upcoming 7.8

June 22, 2012 11:35 am / 6 Comments on Windows Phone 8 software architecture vs. that of Windows Phone 7, 7.5 and the upcoming 7.8

Announcing Windows Phone 8 [Joe Belfiore on Windows Phone blog, June 20, 2012]

Many of Windows Phone 8’s new capabilities come from a surprising source: Windows, the most successful and powerful operating system on the planet, and one used by more than a billion people.

Joe Belfiore at the Windows Phone SummitYes, you read that right: Windows Phone 8 is based on the same core technologies that power Windows 8. As a result, Windows Phone 8 will unleash a new wave of features for consumers, developers, and businesses.

…

We’ve based the next release of Windows Phone on the rock-solid technology core of Windows 8. It means Windows Phone and its bigger sibling will share common networking, security, media and web browser technology, and a common file system.

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Windows Phone…7.8!

The new Start screen is so useful and emblematic of what Windows Phone is about that we want everybody to enjoy it. So we’ll be delivering it to existing phones as a software update sometime after Window Phone 8 is released. Let me repeat: If you currently own a Windows Phone 7.5 handset, Microsoft is planning to release an update with the new Windows Phone 8 Start screen. We’re calling it “Windows Phone 7.8.”

Some of you have been wondering, “Will we also get Windows Phone 8 as an update?” The answer, unfortunately, is no.

Windows Phone 8 is a generation shift in technology, which means that it will not run on existing hardware. BUT we care deeply about our existing customers and want to keep their phones fresh, so we’re providing the new Start screen in this new update.

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Developers, developers, developers

Since we’re talking about apps, I want to tell developers a little bit about what they can expect in Windows Phone 8. Some of the exciting changes on the way include:

  • Native code support: Windows Phone 8 has full C and C++ support, making it easier to write apps for multiple platforms more quickly. It also means Windows Phone 8 supports popular gaming middleware such as Havok Vision Engine, Autodesk Scaleform, Audiokinetic Wwise, and Firelight FMOD, as well as native DirectX-based game development.
  • In-app payments: In Windows Phone 8 we make it possible for app makers to sell virtual and digital goods within their apps.
  • Integrated Internet calling: In Windows Phone 8, developers can create VoIP apps that plug into our existing calling feature so Internet calls can be answered like traditional phone calls, using the same calling interface.
  • Multitasking enhancements. Windows Phone 8 now allows location-based apps like exercise trackers or navigation aids to run in the background, so they keep working even when you’re doing other things on your phone.

This is just a taste. Later this summer, we’ll have much more for developers on the Windows Phone 8 Software Development Kit (SDK) and the new Visual Studio 11-based development tools. So stay tuned.

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The first wave of devices for Windows Phone 8 will come from Nokia, Huawei, Samsung, and HTC, all built on next-generation chips from Qualcomm. …

Introducing the New Windows Phone Start Screen [Windows Phone YouTube channel, June 20, 2012]

Live Tiles are the heart and soul of a Windows Phone. With the new start experience, your Windows Phone is even more personal than ever before.

Watch Microsoft introduce Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone Summit video [YouTube copy of the MS recorded summit session, June 20, 2012]

originally published on http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Windows-Phone/Summit (there are also structurally organised parts of the whole video)

From the whole presentation for the subject of this post the most important is this:

  1. Shared Windows Core: Technical Overview
  2. Developer Platform Early Preview

which is available in the following parts of the whole video:

1. Microsoft Windows Phone 8 Summit Complete Video – Part 6 Developer Features

Kevin Gallo, Group Program Manager 00:40: Shared Windows Core: Technical Overview; 04:15: Developer Platform Early Preview: Native Code in detail [ in the next part: –> Multitasking improvements –> New speech platform –> Focus on developers]
    • image[00:40]: KERNEL
      – State-of-the-art Windows 8 Kernel
      – Increased scalability
      – Proven robustness

Drivers
– Established driver ecosystem
– Focus on optimized driver
– Better devices, faster

Security
– Hardware-based security of Windows
– Never regret installing an app
– Your content under your control

Networking
– IPV6
– NFC, tap to share
– Improved Bluetooth

Graphics & Media
– Built on hardware accelerated Direct3D
– Media Playback and Record
– High-fidelity experiences

Developer Platform
– Share more code (both native code and .NET code) because the same builiding blocks are shared
– Native code: C/C++ [especially for games because the same DirectX componentry between Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, even the same gaming middleware, like Havok could be used making porting easier]
Use the same native code to make it easier to port applications to Windows Phone 8
– Same .NET engine that runs on the Windows desktop
– Compile in the Cloud enabled as part of taking that .NET engine
Basically what happens is, when developers publish their applications to the Marketplace we will compile them in the cloud to machine code, and then when the end user installs that application it will start faster and run faster.
[04:15]

2. Microsoft Windows Phone 8 Summit Complete Video – Part 7 Developer Features

Kevin Gallo, Group Program Manager Developer Platform Early Preview (continued) –> Multitasking improvements –> New speech platform –> 08:55: Focus on developers 13:05: Enterprise Ready (soon to be continued on in the next part)

[08:55]  Focus on developers … [09:15] Maximizing Developer Investments: Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 applications will run on Windows Phone 8. Also this technology I talked about, compiled manipulation  in the cloud, will go to compile every existing Windows Phone application in our Marketplace, so that Windows Phone 8 end-users get the benefit of every application being faster, and developers will not have to do anything beyond that of having supplied their applications, do any work. It will just be done for them. Also Visual Studio 2012 will support development for both Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8 applications, and of course they already support Windows 8 applications. This means that as a developer you can use one tool to build for all the platforms that matter to you. [10:06]

Windows Phone Application Platform Architecture

[between 7:17 and 8:15]

We created a brand new, organized OS. It is based on [Windows] CE* [renamed Windows Embedded Compact] kernel, but it has virtual memory support, paging, security, networking, just like Windows. It’s a modern OS. One of the key functionality we added also, when we are writing device drivers it used to be a big issue, that for OEMs had to do a lot of heavy lifting to interact with the hardware and write device drivers. We changed the game there as well. We are writing most of the device driver software, and so hardware vendors need to write only the very silicon specific part of the device drivers. And we write a lot of the software ourselves, which of course also have established a common foundation across all devices.

Note: Because the first “partner only and confidential” information of February 2010 was that the WP7 OS is based on Windows CE 6.0 kernel you can still find such misleading information even in wikipedia (althought stated as of “Kernel type: Windows CE 6/7.0”). The reality was nevertheless that it was based on CE 7.0 (Chelan) kernel code base, more precisely both the Chelan derived Windows Embedded Compact 7 and the Windows Phone 7 were based on the same Chelan kernel with the Compact 7 product having more resamblance to Chelan kernel than the Windows Phone one:

Olivier Bloch (Microsoft) on Windows Phone 7 Series announced at MWC, 02-18-2010 10:26 PM

Windows Phone 7 and Windows Embedded Compact 7 are based on the same kernel.

Olivier Bloch (Microsoft) on Windows CE is NOT dead!, 05-03-2010 9:54 PM

By the Way, Windows Phone 7 is based on the Windows Embedded Compact 7 core

Background:

Discussion with analysts on 2012 Mobile World Congress [Terry Myerson, Corporate Vice President, Windows Phone Division, Feb 29, 2012]

I joined Windows Phone in October 2008, and that was right about the time Android launched, the iPhone had been out a little over a year, and our product was Windows Mobile 6.1, which was a product that really was optimized for what we call the QWERTY monoblock form factor. It had a hardware keyboard, a small QVG screen, sort of the canonical products at the time, were the Blackberry ‑‑ I’m sorry, the Samsung Blackjack, and the T-Mobile Dash. So, that was the products of October 2008, and we had the iPhone out for over a year.

You know, at that time, we decided to commit to a new vision for a consumer mobile experience, and we developed Metro, and we shipped Windows Phone 7 approximately two years later. And so, from there, now we need to get the message out to consumers, and here we are today.

More information on that history is in the:
– Tackling the Android tide [Experiencing the Cloud blog, July 16 – Aug 17, 2011]

Experiment 19: Re-imagining the Windows Phone OS [MS Research video, recorded on June 25, 2009]

This video shows a comparison of two identical prototype phones with NVIDIA Tegra APX2500 processors. The phone on the left is running the Windows CE kernel, the same OS kernel used in Windows Phone 7. The phone on the left is running the Windows NT kernel, the same OS kernel used in Windows Phone 8. Dubbed “Experiment 19”, the prototype system on the right proved that the Windows NT system could achieve better performance than Windows CE on identical hardware. The system was first demonstrated at MSR TechFest 2009. Filmed in 2009, this demonstration proved for the first time that Microsoft could use the same core windows components for both PCs and phones. On June 20, 2012, nearly 3 years after this video was recorded, Microsoft publicly announced that Windows Phone 8 would use the same Windows core as Windows 8.

Experiment 19 [Microsoft Research, June 21, 2012]

A skunkworks project in 2008/2009 to re-imagine the OS platform for Windows Phone. The prototype proved that Windows NT and the CLR could deliver better performance than Windows CE and the .NET Compact Framework on identical hardware. Within months of the completion of Experiment 19, Microsoft launched efforts to build what would become Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT for ARM tablets.

Re-imagining the Windows Phone Platform

In the fall of 2008, our Operating Systems Group was participating in the Menlo project to explore new phone-related experiences. At the time, Windows Phone 7 was in early development using the Windows CE kernel and .NET Compact Framework. We had been experimenting with these “legacy” platform components for over a year. While they performed well, we were frustrated by their lack of compatibility with the Windows NT system and .NET Framework Common Language Runtime (CLR) used on PCs. We realized the time had come for a bold experiment: could we replace CE with NT and replace the Compact Framework with the CLR?

We undertook a skunkworks project, codename “Experiment 19”, to re-imagine the software platforms used by Windows Phone. We started with a core set of windows system components (called MinWin) and a port of the Windows NT kernel to the ARM processor. Working closely with MinWin pioneers—Adam Glass, Mark Russinovich, Richard Pletcher, Richard Neves and Bryce Cogswell—and with partners at NVIDIA, we created the device drivers and firmware necessary to boot and run MinWin on our prototype phones. We created an ARM JIT compiler for the CLR and ported the CLR runtime to ARM. To complete the system, we ported the phone implementation of Silverlight to run with our ARM implementation of the CLR.

The resulting system proved that the “desktop” code bases actually performed better on modern phone hardware than the legacy mobile systems. Why? Because mobile chips now provide advanced features and capabilities, such as multiple cores, rivaling PCs of just a few years ago. The Windows NT and the CLR code bases had long since learned to exploit those capabilities to maximum benefit. With Experiment 19, we proved that Microsoft could build mobile devices using the desktop code bases (NT & the CLR). Within months, Microsoft began efforts to build the systems that would become Windows RT for ARM tablets and Window Phone 8.

People

Barry Bond
Barry Bond		 Chris Hawblitzel
Chris Hawblitzel		 Galen Hunt
Galen Hunt		 Reuben Olinsky
Reuben Olinsky

Note: Samuel Phung, ICOP Technology, Inc. described Windows Embedded Compact 7 Advantages [Oct 26, 2011] (this also gave a glimpse into it) after it was released in March, 2011:

  • Small-Footprint, Modular, Scalable and Optimized for Embedded Device
  • Platform Builder: Efficient Tool to Develop Custom OS Image
  • Visual Studio: Efficient Environment to Develop Embedded Application
  • Silverlight for Windows Embedded: Enables Designer and Developer to Jointly Develop Compact 7 Application
  • Compact 7 Advantage: The Development Environment
  • Develop Compact 7 OS Run-time Image
  • Develop Silverlight for Windows Embedded Application

Microsoft’s own description in History of Windows Embedded Compact 7 is:

Windows Embedded Compact 7 is the latest release of the componentized, hard real-time operating system for small footprint devices. Compact continues the history of embedded innovationwith:

  • Silverlight for Windows Embedded, a UI framework included with Compact, combines the flexibility of declarative UIs with the performance of native code. Silverlight for Windows Embedded is based on Silverlight v3.0 and allows developers and designers to create and update device UIs using Microsoft Expression Blend.
  • Compact also includes an updated Internet Explorer, built on the same core as IE in Microsoft Windows Phone 7 and includes support for Flash 10.1, panning and zooming, multi-touch, and viewing bookmarks using thumbnails.

More information:
– product microsite:  Windows Embedded Compact 7 (Formerly CE)
– a new product blog (since May 15, 2012): Approaching Embedded Intelligently / Windows Embedded Compact
– What are the differences between Silverlight and Silverlight for Windows Embedded [Olivier Bloch from the Windows Embedded Compact team, Dec 13, 2010]
– Maximizing Internet Explorer in Windows Embedded Compact 7 [the new product blog, June 11, 2012]

In Microsoft Drives Agile Approach to Intelligent Systems [Nov 14, 2011] press release Microsoft announced the following changes for the next release:

According to [Ben] Smith [director of Program Management for Windows Embedded], the power and complexity of tomorrow’s distributed computing, such as intelligent systems, will require a shift from less frequent, full-scale software upgrades, often the industry standard, to ones that are more frequent and incremental.

“The industry has reached a point where successful companies are those that can iterate the smartest and drive value in terms of the customer experience,” says Smith.

With that in mind, Microsoft has made the following specific changes:

  • Combining the development teams for each of the Windows Embedded solutions — Windows Embedded Standard, Windows Embedded Enterprise, Windows Embedded Compact 7 — into one larger team focused on creating many products with a common platform
  • Adopting agile methodologies that help developers avoid last-minute feature cuts and respond to customer feedback with midstream course adjustments
  • Creating more focused and frequent code release cycles

In the adjacent Microsoft Unveils Product Road Map Delivering on Intelligent Systems Vision [Nov 14, 2011] feature story the following information was given about the roadmap:

[Kevin] Dallas [general manager of Windows Embedded] also confirmed that Microsoft updated Windows Embedded Compact 7, the current generation of the Windows Embedded CE platform, in October 2011, and Windows Embedded Compact v.Next will follow in the second half of 2012, introducing support for Visual Studio 2010.

Windows Embedded Standard v.Next will support the ARM architecture, in addition to continuing support for the Intel x86 and x64 architectures. Windows Embedded Compact will continue to provide a proven, real-time operating system and a full tools suite for a streamlined development experience on small-footprint, specialized devices. Windows Embedded Standard v.Next will deliver technologies for customized, rich user interfaces, enhanced always-on connectivity, and all of the management and security functionality provided by Windows 8.

“Windows Embedded Compact and Windows Embedded Standard represent Microsoft’s platforms for intelligent systems.” Dallas says. “We need Windows Embedded Standard v.Next to take the lead around application-rich devices, and Windows Embedded Compact v.Next to take the lead around real-time, small form-factor devices. Both are critical to the success of our partners and enterprise customers building intelligent systems.”

Thin/Zero Client and Virtual Desktop Futures

May 30, 2012 5:36 pm / 1 Comment on Thin/Zero Client and Virtual Desktop Futures

26 years of Wyse and Citrix collaboration resulted in an advanced infrastructure solution bringing the Windows desktop into a virtualised cloud environment and accessible from any cloud computing client device, including even thin client and zero client devices, or ones  presenting a HTML5 browser functionality only. The infrastructure is getting a universal device management capability as well. And the most important hallmark of this infrastructure solution is complete security meaning immunity from viruses et al. In addition to the Windows desktop applications the next wave of web applications as well as SaaS applications (such as those provided by Salesforce.com) are made easily accessible and usable from any of those device and access points. The hallmark here is the possibility of continuing usage at the point where it has been left off from another device and access point. True flexibility from the user point of view.

For more introductory information please watch these two videos:

Jeff McNaught Interview One [CitrixTV YouTube channel, May 24, 2012]

Jeff McNaught, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer from Wyse shares thoughts about Synergy i.e. Wyse and Citrix collaboration results. Everything started in 1995 !!

Zenith2 – The Product that Changes Evertyhing [CitrixTV YouTube channel, May 24, 2012]

Jeff McNaught, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer from Wyse shares the benefits of Zenith2 which is the first zero client built for Citrix that is managed by Citrix XenDesktop. The only completely secure [“virus immune”] device, high performance for all types of workers and optimized for multimedia.

The detailed elaboration of the “Thin/Zero Client and Virtual Desktop Futures” topic will go through the following sections of the post:

  • Wyse entry-level solution for education
  • A glimpse into the Wyse portfolio and their large public / enterprise markets
  • Essential technology and market information
    A highly important preview from it:
    XenDesktop and Metro Receiver [CitrixTV YouTube channel, May 9, 2012]
Citrix Synergy demo: XenDesktop and Metro Receiver. Brad Peterson, Chief Demo Officer,  Citrix

Before going into those detailed sections here is a highly important introduction as well (in order to understand the future potential of this advanced infrastructure solution):

Wyse Technology’s President and CEO Tarkan Maner speaks with Edie Lush at Hub Davos [hubculture YouTube channel, Jan 26, 2012]

Wyse Technology’s device dramatically lowers the cost of computing by connecting users directly to the internet. There is no Software or Operating Systems on the device – everything comes from the cloud. The technology is much cheaper and much greener – they have no fans, create no heat and use much less power. The technology is being used by private companies trying to cut costs and by schools from San Jose, California to South Africa, making it possible for every student to have a computer, access to the internet and the ability to learn faster.

Notes:
– [00:40] Presumably the entry-level zero (which has no OS – see much below) client, Wyse E01 is shown as “working on only 2 watts” (the spec much below says upto 3 watts) and “costing less than $50, start at $35” (the current single unit retail price of E01 is $76 however, while the list price is $99 – see much below).
– That device is even presented as needing only the data center. Currently however entry-level zero client devices such as E01 (and the latest E02) require Microsoft MultiPoint Server (see much belo). So he is definitely pointing to an upcoming solution.
– [03:00] He mentions South-Africa with “10 million devices this year” as an educational example. So that kind of upcoming solution could definitely be in the works already. The power consumption difference might also indicate such a new entry-level device.

Management team [Wyse webpage, April 2, 2012]:

President, CEO and Chief Customer Advocate, Tarkan Maner

Tarkan Maner is the President and CEO at Wyse Technology, the global leader in Cloud Client Computing. Cloud Client Computing is the ultimate end user computing solution for our time, replacing the outdated, unsecure, unreliable, un-green and expensive client/server-centric systems. Cloud Client Computing delivers the security, manageability, availability, reliability, scalability, flexibility, and user experience with the lowest energy usage and total cost of ownership. Cloud Client Computing simply connects all the dots: Cloud client software, hardware and services.

Wyse provides its customers and partners with the broadest and deepest portfolio of Cloud Clients, including Thin, Zero and Cloud PC clients, supported by the leading cloud-centric firmware, virtualization, management and mobility software in the industry. Wyse independently partners with the leading data center, networking and collaboration solution providers within its global partner ecosystem to help organizations and people reach the clouds – in a private, public, government or, even in a personal cloud. Wyse’s mission is to enable any user, anywhere, to connect to any content via any app in any work environment without constraints, conflicts or compromises.

Tarkan believes that Cloud Client Computing not only drives better economic and productivity results for organizations, but, also drives societal change throughout the world. Cloud Client Computing reduces the cost, eliminates the complexity and enables the reach of computing to the next six billion users via billions of devices pervasive in every aspect of our lives.

…

Tarkan in the news

facebook.com/TarkanManer

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Wyse entry-level solution for education

Post-PC Era Expands as Wyse and Serbian Government Partner for Nation-wide Cloud Client Computing Deployment in Education [Wyse press release, Sept 28, 2011]

More than 30,000 Students Gain Access to Latest Learning Technology with Wyse and Microsoft Solutions in Schools across Serbia

LONDON, UK and SAN JOSE, Calif. – 09/28/2011 – Wyse Technology, the global leader in cloud client computing, today announced a major implementation of its zero client technology in the Digital  School  project to transform classroom teaching in Serbia. In one of the largest projects of its kind in Europe, all elementary schools in Serbia will be outfitted with a new IT infrastructure based on Wyse zero clients and Microsoft Windows MultiPoint Server 2010, enabling every student to have access to the latest computing software, educational applications and online resources.

Committed to modernizing the country’s educational system,  among other reforms, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Society, identified the need for a better information technology and communications infrastructure to support teaching and learning in classrooms.

Working with its technology partner company ComTrade, the solution is based on Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 and enables multiple users to simultaneously share a single computer while each using their own monitor, keyboard and mouse. This is an ideal solution for educational customers that want to extend IT access to more students, easily and affordably. The solution is designed for simple implementation and ease-of-use for teachers, provides the familiar Windows 7 desktop experience, and requires no advanced IT expertise.

The ministry selected Wyse E01 zero clients because they maximize the advantages of Windows MultiPoint Server. The zero clients simply plug into the host computer which automatically configures and enables a student to start work immediately. Unlike comparable devices for Windows MultiPoint Server, the Wyse E01 zero client supports USB peripherals such as, webcams, and USB flash drives, allowing a more flexible computer-based teaching and learning experience.

Jasna Matic State Secretary for Digital Agenda, former Minister for Telecommunications and Information Society said , “Enhancing ICT for education is a major goal of the Government with this programme delivering on our promise to give every student access to their own computer at school. With cutting edge technology from Microsoft and Wyse, our schools have a solid foundation for delivering education to the highest standards.”

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Deployment of the Microsoft and Wyse education solution started in December  2010 and will be completed this year.

For more information about Wyse E01 zero clients, please visit, http://www.wyse.com/products/hardware/zeroclients/E01/index.asp

Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 Overview [msmultipoint YouTube channel, May 25, 2011]

Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 is a low-cost computing solution that creates a 1:1 user to computer experience built on Windows Server. With MultiPoint Server 2011, one PC can provide up to 20 computing sessions at a fraction of the cost.

Wyse® E class™ – Affordable computing for education [Wyse brochure, Jan 23, 2012]

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image1. One Windows Multipoint server shares its operating system and applications with up to 20 users at a time.

2. Features Wyse E class zero clients, one per desktop and each one linked by a USB [E01] or Ethernet [E02] cable.

3. Low cost, fast and simple to set up delivery of Windows desktops.

Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 Quick configuration guide

4 ~ 6 users 8 ~ 20 users
CPU Intel CPU i5/i7 Intel CPU i5/i7
Memory 4 GB 8 GB
Hard drive 250 GB 500 GB
Graphics/1 On board Intel HD Graphics 2000 or similar same
Graphics/2 PCI-Express Card ATI Radeon™ HD 4600 / 4770 / 5750 nVidia GeForce 8x, 9x Series / GT220,GT240 same
Software Microsoft Windows Multipoint Server 2011
Zero client Wyse E01 [retail: $76+] and E02 [$99] Zero Client
Licenses (Microsoft Academic VL) Microsoft MultiPoint Server License [$115]Microsoft MultiPoint CAL License per device [$29]

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Technical specifications Wyse E01
[E02 difference is Ethernet networking + 2 USB 2.0 port instead of 4 with E01 + 98 x 98 x 20 millimeters dimensions and 128g + standing position]

Server OS Windows MultiPoint Server 2011
I/O peripheral support One VGA (DB-15)
Four USB 2.0 ports (1 on left side, 3 on right side)
One Mic In / One Line Out
USB keyboard (not included)
USB mouse (not included)
Networking One USB in to connect to host computer (cable included)
Maximum distance between each Wyse E01 zero client and the host computer is 5 meters (16 feet 5 inches)
Display Up to 1680 x 1050 @ 60Hz / 32bits or 1600 x 1200 @ 60Hz / 32bits
Audio Output: 1/8-inch mini jack, full 16 bit stereo
Input: 1/8-inch mini jack, 8 bit microphone
Physical characteristics Height: 21.5mm (0.85 inches)
Width: 132mm (5.20 inches)
Depth: 87mm (3.43 inches)
Shipping Weight 145g (0.32 lbs)
Power Worldwide auto-sensing 100-240 VAC, 50/60 Hz. power supply
Average power usage with device connected to 1 keyboard with 1 mouse and 1 monitor:
less than 3 Watts
Temperature Range Vertical position: 50° to 104° F (10° to 40° C)
Humidity 20% to 80% condensing
10% to 95% non-condensing

…

Announcement information:

$99 Wyse E01 Zero Client and Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 Optimize IT and Financial Resources for Schools in Tough Economy
…
“We’re happy to be launching with strong support from Wyse, which has committed to developing innovative and effective solutions like the Wyse E01 Zero Client for the MultiPoint platform,” said Ira Snyder, general manager, Windows MultiPoint Server at Microsoft Corp.  “MultiPoint Server can deliver a familiar Windows computing experience to educational institutions around the world, helping them get the best value out of technology investments while providing the very best education for their students.”
…

Wyse Expands E Class Zero Client Offering for Windows MultiPoint Server

Wyse Technology … today announced the introduction of the Wyse E02 zero client in support of  Microsoft’s Shape the Future program
…
The Wyse E01 zero client and the Wyse E02 zero client work with Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 to enable multiple students or SMB users to share a single server. The E02 is easy for teachers to set up and use in the classroom, providing an excellent Windows 7 desktop experience for their students. While the Wyse E01 zero client provides students access to the shared server via USB cabling up to 5 meters, the E02 goes a step further to provide access via Ethernet, at a distance of up to 100 metersfrom the Windows MultiPoint Server.

“Providing students with affordable access to technology is one way Microsoft is helping to ultimately create greater opportunities and more enriched lives for youth around the world. The Wyse E02 zero client, combined with Windows MultiPoint Server, is an excellent example of how we are working to deliver on this mission,” said Microsoft’s Shape the Future Senior Director, Joice Fernandes.
…

Appropriate and sustainable technology solutions for education in Africa [in The eLearning Africa 2012 Report (p. 17), May 23, 2012]

Widening access to reliable information technology is key to how we can help our children develop educationally. This is especially true in the fast developing economies of Africa where the expectation for access to ICT in the school has increased as more citizens use information technology like mobile phones in their everyday lives.

However, in our view, the ambitious eLearning goals in Africa can only be achieved with classroom technology that is intrinsically sustainable. But, in the African context, what do I mean by sustainability? First of all this is not about ticking the box of some green IT policy set by a government. The reality of extending digital classrooms into urban or rural Africa is that IT provision must take account of the absence of reliable power supplies. Any interruptions can be managed with novel solutions around battery back-ups or solar energy to power a classroom in a remote setting.

Even when reliable power supplies are available, low power consumption is going to remain important in how schools manage their budgets. This makes thin or zero client computers very attractive as they typically only use between 3 and 15 watts of power.

Sustainability in African eLearning is much more than about energy efficiency. It also refers to how IT in schools needs to be easy to set up and manage because it is unrealistic to expect a school to always have access to IT management skills on the ground. As African educators plan their expansion of eLearning, they need to ensure the classroom technology is largely self-sufficient and simple to set up, manage and use in the classroom. The centralised management and robust plug-and-play functionality of classroom labs that use virtualisation technology answers this requirement, ensuring that investments in school classroom labs deliver the maximum educational benefit over a long period of time.

In investing in digital classrooms African educators are demonstrating incredible foresight in what new generations of Africans need to improve their lives. They need to guard against making ICT decisions that trap them in the past. While budgets are always going to be tight, African educators must be ambitious about ICT in education and take advantage of the latest 21st century thinking on virtualised and cloud computing.

Another important dimension of sustainability is the degree to which the ICT is future-proofed in how it can keep pace with future developments in applications and data. Educators are already using solutions like this to transform ICT in their schools and colleges. In South Africa more than 1.5 million students already have ICT access thanks to classroom labs that utilise Wyse cloud computing technology.

Sustainability in African eLearning is vitally important in making ICT widely accessible to students across the Continent. Indeed, African countries look set to trail-blaze other economies in their innovative use of cloud client computing on a massive scale.

David Angwin is Vice President, Field Marketing for Wyse Technology,
and based in the United Kingdom

Wyse Cloud Client Computing Highlights Sustainable E-Learning for Students at eLearning Africa 2012 [Wyse press release, May 23, 2012]

Showcases Latest Digital Classroom Solutions to Widen Availability of School Labs and One-to-One Computing for High Quality IT Enhanced Teaching and Learning in African Schools and Colleges

SAN JOSE, CA and COTONOU, Benin – 05/23/2012 – Wyse, the global leader in cloud client computing, today announced its participation in the eLearning Africaconference and exhibition. As the event’s platinum sponsor for the second year running, Wyse will discuss how advanced cloud client computing can help African educators meet their goals for widening access to technology-enhanced education, development and training. eLearning Africa runs from 23rd – 25th May 2012 in Cotonou, Benin, under the patronage of the Government of Benin.

Working across the continent with its local technology partners, Wyse has developed and deployed a range of solutions that are ideally suited to widening access to IT-enhanced education and training in Africa. The technologies involved are tailored to the continent’s requirements for classroom ICT that is exceptionally reliable, affordable and energy efficient while not compromising on access to the latest applications and data for teaching and learning.

Delegates to eLearning Africa will have the opportunity to see the latest in digital classroom solutions co-developed by Wyse and Microsoft. This includes an entry level shared computing solution for school IT labs that combines Wyse E01 and Wyse E02 zero clients with Microsoft Windows MultiPoint Server 2011; and the Wyse WSM cloud software solution, which offers a centrally-managed, scalable one-to-one computing environment for students that scales across classrooms, labs and schools. Both solutions address the requirement for classroom IT that is secure and easy to set up and run, while delivering a great desktop experience for the students.

Mark Jordan, vice president and general manager, EMEA Sales, Wyse Technology will be delivering a keynote in the opening plenary session on 23rd May 2012. He will address how cloud solutions can play a pivotal role in helping IT enhanced education transform the prospects of African students. Tarkan will be speaking alongside S.E. Max Ahouêkê, Ministère de la Communication et des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (MCTIC), Benin; and Prof Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology, Newcastle University, UK and Visiting Professor, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, USA.

The event will be ideal opportunity to be updated on how African customers are advancing their e-learning strategies with Wyse cloud client computing solutions. For example in South Africa more than 1.5 million students already have ICT access thanks to classroom labs that utilize Wyse cloud computing technology. In Nigeria, a new network of examination centers relies on a Wyse cloud client computing infrastructure to enable examinations to be delivered, taken and scored entirely electronically, saving time and money while also improving reliability and service with accurate results delivered in hours rather than months.

Education is Wyse’s second largest market, with ten of the world’s top fifteen universities using Wyse solutions to reduce costs and improve learning. They and other educational institutions benefit from Wyse’s position as the only cloud vendor to offer desktop virtualization solutions for every budget and scale of implementation, ranging from ten to upwards of ten thousand units.

A glimpse into the Wyse portfolio
and their large public / enterprise markets

image

Health care with Citrix and Wyse Xenith next-generation zero-client devices at Seattle Children’s Hospital [WyseTechnology YouTube Channel, May 23, 2011]

Seattle Children’s deployed a desktop virtualization solution leveraging Citrix XenDesktop® and Citrix XenApp™ in concert with approximately 3,000 Wyse Xenith next-generation zero-client devices. This implementation has accelerated systems logins from several minutes to less than 15 seconds, saving staff time and improving patient interactions; virtually eliminated desktop technical issues, enhancing patient service and saving, over the next five years, an estimated $1.2 million of IT staff time, $6 million in PC replacement costs, and $1 million in energy cost. Press release: http://www.wyse.com/about/press/release/565. Learn more at: http://www.wyse.com/solutions/industries/healthcare.

Microsoft HIMSS 2011 – Interview with Andre Beuchat of Wyse Technology [WyseTechnology YouTube Channel, May 10, 2011]

Microsoft’s Cindy Hibble, Industry Partner Account Manager, talks with Andre Beuchat, Alliance Manager, about Wyse’s cloud client computing solutions for the healthcare industry.

Japan’s Largest Bank Turns to Wyse for VDI and Mobility [Wyse blog, April 10, 2012]

Today, Wyse announced that Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is deploying 50,000 Wyse devices. The combination of Wyse’s desktop and mobile hardware, virtualization software and overall Wyse domain expertise in cloud and virtualization is the reason why the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi selected Wyse for its VDI implementation. Bank of Tokyo executive Mizuhiko Tokunaga commented that “… the deciding points were the technological edge of their unique software, Wyse ThinOS, their specialization in VDI, and the sense of trust we felt toward Wyse as a company. Wyse has been a global market leader for a long time, and it shows.”

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, the largest bank in Japan and eighth largest in the world, began what was considered the largest systems integration project in the world in 2008 when it started this ambitious project to strengthen security across all 773 branches in Japan and 73 abroad. For more information on this initiative and how Bank of Tokyo is using Wyse, visit: http://www.wyse.com/about/press/release/1917

Diagram - Cloud Computing / Virtual Computing Structure

Cloud Computing involves using information technology as a service over the network.

  • Services with an API accessible over the Internet
  • Using compute and storage resources as a service
  • Built on the notion of efficiency above all
  • Using your own datacenter servers, or renting someone else?s in granular increments, or a combination

We at Wyse believe cloud computing has the potential to change how we invent, develop, deploy, scale, update, maintain, and pay for applications and the infrastructure on which they run.

Essential technology and market information

XenDesktop and Metro Receiver [CitrixTV YouTube channel, May 9, 2012]

Citrix Synergy demo: XenDesktop and Metro Receiver. Brad Peterson, Chief Demo Officer, Citrix

SYN229: What’s new with Citrix Receiver for desktop users [CitrixTV YouTube channel, May 10, 2012] — absolutely important to watch in order to understand how the virtual desktop future would be assured by the upcoming Citrix Receiver universal client experience across different end-user access points (PC, Mac, tablets, smartphones, thin clients and web browsers) for Windows, web and SaaS applications (at least go forward to the  [18:53 – 23:05] timeframe in the video) !!!

The Citrix Receiver universal client [18:53 – 23:05] provides a simple, intuitive, high-definition experience when accessing virtual desktops and Windows, web and SaaS applications anywhere, on any device. While keeping Citrix Receiver on track with the mobile device explosion, Citrix continues to enrich the laptop and desktop user experience with new capabilities including self-service, ease of deployment and HDX enhancements.

Wyse, Marvell, and the Citrix System-on-Chip Initiative [Wyse blog, May 10, 2012]

Yesterday Marvell announced participation in the Citrix System-on-Chip (SoC) initiative with the Marvell® ARMADA® 510 SoC for seamless integration with Citrix HDX in a complete silicon solution. The SoC combines a high-performance, low-power SoC with a hardware graphics processing unit and video decoding acceleration hardware. The end result is excellent processing power for high-end apps like HD multimedia in a very efficient, cost-effective footprint.

Wyse already uses the Marvell ARM SoC in our industry-leading T class thin clients. Combining Marvell’s high performance SoC with software optimized for Citrix HDX enables Wyse to offer compact, efficient, and powerful thin clients like the Linux-based T50 thin client and the super-secure T10 thin client based on Wyse ThinOS. In addition, our newly announced Xenith 2 zero client for Citrix XenDesktop and HDX is also based on the ARM SoC, and sets a new price/performance standard for Citrix zero clients in its class.

Zenith2 – The Product that Changes Evertyhing [CitrixTV YouTube channel, May 24, 2012]

Jeff McNaught, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer from Wyse shares the benefits of Zenith2 which is the first zero client built for Citrix that is managed by Citrix XenDesktop. The only completely secure [“virus immune”] device, high performance for all types of workers and optimized for multimedia.

Wyse Zero [Engine] and Wyse ThinOS [Wyse webpage, Feb 24, 2012]

Built for VDI Optimized for Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop, Microsoft Terminal Server and VMware View virtual desktop environments
Lightning fast Super-fast start-up provides access to virtual desktops in under 20 seconds
Super Secure No attack surface provides immunity to viruses and malware
Easy-to-manage Hands-off, scalable device management with Wyse Device Manager; easy FTP-based configuration and automatic updates
Smart card support Seamless smart-card roaming ideal for workstation-based environments
Rich user experience Integrated Wyse TCX Suite for enhanced audio, video and multimedia

Overview

Wyse ThinOS

Wyse ThinOS is the most optimized, management-free solution for Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop, Microsoft Terminal Server and VMware Viewvirtual desktop environments. With an unpublished API and no attack surface, Wyse ThinOS is immune to malware and viruses that make other operating systems vulnerable to attack. This super-fast, purpose-built thin computing OS boots up in seconds, updates itself automatically and delivers simple, scalable administration to eliminate time-consuming maintenance tasks related to configuration, management and updates. With full support for Wyse Virtual Desktop Accelerator (VDA), ThinOS neutralizes the effects of network latency and packet loss, even in remote-branch and field-based applications.

Related link

  • What’s new in Wyse ThinOS with David Angwin, Wyse Technology Watch video »

Wyse Zero [Engine]

Already used in millions of thin clients, zero clients, and handheld smart devices, Wyse Zero [Engine] simplifies the development of cloud-connected smart devices, enabling seamless user access to cloud computing services and virtual desktops. Wyse Zero [Engine] addresses limitations with current embedded options, such as the typical security vulnerabilities of Windows and Linux-based operating systems, and slow initialization due to their large size. With a rich array of networking, management and protocol technology packaged in an engine less than 4MB in size, Wyse Zero reduces costs and simplifies management and updates. With no underlying OS to slow it down, it starts up instantly for a more satisfying user experience. And unlike Windows or Linux-based embedded products that require extensive protection, Wyse Zero [Engine] is original technology and therefore virtually immune to malware, viruses and hackers.

Wyse Stratus Overview [WyseTechnology YouTube channel, Feb 24, 2012]

Wyse Stratus is client infrastructure management from the cloud. Manage any device from anywhere. Learn more at http://www.wyse.com/Stratus

Wyse Announces Private Beta of Cloud-Based Service to Secure and Simplify Corporate Access for Users Across All Devices [Wyse press release, May 8, 2012]

Project Stratus Directly Tackles Consumerization of IT Challenges with Intelligent, Integrated and Cross-Platform User and Device Management

05/08/2012 – Wyse Technology, the global leader in cloud client computing, today announced the Project Stratus private beta program.  Project Stratus provides IT administrators with an intelligent and dynamic cloud-based console to securely manage and enable corporate access to any device, regardless if that device is owned by the company or by the individual.  Initial support will focus on securing and provisioning corporate access to smartphones, tablets, thin clients, and zero clients with plans to quickly expand support to additional devices used in the workplace.

Project Stratus delivers a unified console that goes beyond standard device management solutions by providing a complete view of the IT infrastructure serving end-users.  The console provides visibility not only into users and their devices, but also into their relationship with the IT ecosystem.  The result for IT is valuable insight into usage models, trends, and the means to identify areas of investment to more securely and effectively provide corporate services to end users.

“The biggest challenges to IT in a BYOD world has to do with the securing of corporate access to all devices being used by employees.  With Project Stratus, our goal is to eliminate the need to have a separate, silo’ed console for each device type and instead allow IT admins to set an access policy for a user that will apply regardless of what device they are using—providing for the first time a one-stop shop for device and access management,” said Hector Angulo, Product Manager at Wyse.

“For a company such as ours that relies on a distributed and mobile workforce, the means to simplify and secure our mobile devices is very appealing,” according to Adam Bari, Managing Director at IPM.  “We are very much looking forward to deploying Project Stratus to better manage our mobile computing infrastructure.”

Wyse will be showcasing Project Stratus at Citrix Synergy™ 2012 in San Francisco, May 9th – 11th in Wyse Booth #206 at the Moscone Center.   Companies interested in taking part of the private beta can sign-up by going to http://www.wyse.com/stratus

Key features of Project Stratus include:

• Simplicity.  Streamlined, discoverable interface with user-centric policy management to help automate user access regardless of what device they are using, including easy exception handling– natural and intuitive management for today’s dynamic IT world
• TCO Reduction.  Cloud-hosted service eliminates costly on-premise servers and enables instant deployment and scaling — drastically reduces the total cost of operations and ownership
• Real-time Analytics.   Dynamic and instantly personalized data feeds always present admins with the most relevant insight to help expedite the task at hand – powerful analytic engine exposes most important activities, events, and trends
• Actionable.   Pro-active alerts notify admins about compliance violations and other potential issues with option to take contextual actions in-place (i.e. warn user, block, ignore) or automate future mitigation (i.e. automatically approve roaming exception request for all members of ‘executive’ group)
• Time-Saving.  User and device pages that provide instant visibility into any managed asset, including who is using the device, what it is interacting with, and any potential performance or security issues in order to expedite issue identification and resolution
• Unified Console.  Visibility and management of all devices used in the enterprise, with support for smartphones, tablets, thin clients, and zero clients — one-stop shop for all devices, no more hassle of dealing with many consoles
• Security.  Enterprise-ready, multi-tenant architecture with fully encrypted communication ensures only you have access to your data

HDX Ready Software-on-Chip with TI and NComputing [CitrixTV YouTube channel, Nov 8, 2011]

“See more videos on CitrixTV www.citrix.com/tv/“; The new “Citrix HDX™ Ready System-on-Chip (SoC)” initiative is designed to enable an entirely new generation of devices to deliver high-definition virtual apps and desktops at an unprecedented low cost using the company’s market-leading HDX technology. By incorporating Citrix HDX technology directly into silicon, the new program will expand the market for virtual apps and desktops beyond traditional computing devices like PCs, tablets and smartphones.

HDX Ready Thin Clients [Citrix microsite, May 9, 2012]

The HDX Ready designation is reserved for thin client devices that have been verified to work with all of the XenDesktop and XenApp HDX features. HDX refers to High Definition User eXperience – a term coined by Citrix to describe capabilities in XenDesktop that optimize the user experience when accessing hosted virtual desktops and applications. The HDX Ready category assists IT managers to easily identify thin client devices that deliver the best possible high definition user experience with XenDesktop and XenApp.

There is a trade-off between a thin client’s cost and its capabilities. Not all users require the functionality of all of HDX features of XenDesktop or XenApp. Devices that are not deemed HDX Ready may still be useful for certain user types and use cases, generally at a lower price point than HDX Ready devices. The Citrix Ready thin client designation exists for those devices that support connectivity to XenDesktop or XenApp but only a subset of HDX functionality. Information regarding HDX feature coverage by a particular thin client device is available on the Citrix Ready website

HDX Ready Device Features
Feature Citrix Ready Thin Clients HDX Ready Thin Clients
HDX Broadcast clip_image001 clip_image001[1]
Out of the Box XenDesktop Integration clip_image001[2] clip_image001[3]
HDX Plug-n-Play:USB 2.0 clip_image001[4]
HDX Plug-n-Play:Printing clip_image001[5]
HDX Plug-n-Play:True Multi Monitor Support clip_image001[6]
HDX Plug-n-Play:Smartcard Support clip_image001[7]
HDX Plug-n-Play:Webcam Support clip_image001[8]
HDX RealTime:VOIP on LAN clip_image001[9]
HDX RealTime:Client Audio Recording clip_image001[10]
HDX MediaStream:CD Quality Audio on LAN (Server Rendered) clip_image001[11]
HDX MediaStream:Adaptive Display (Server Rendered): Minimum 15 Frames Per Second on LAN clip_image001[12]
HDX MediaStream: 1280*720 Quality Windows Media Redirection (Client Rendered) on LAN clip_image001[13]
HDX MediaStream: 1280*720 Quality Flash Redirection (Client Rendered; for Windows x86, Ubuntu x86, and Fedora x86) on LAN clip_image001[14]

Citrix HDX SoC spurs innovation and cuts the cost of thin clients in half [The Citrix Blog, May 9, 2012]

Today Citrix celebrates with our partners the unveiling of exciting new client computing devices that leverage the HDX SoC initiative.

Thousands of Citrix customers are already using thin client devices to access virtual desktops and apps delivered by Citrix infrastructure. These customers who have successfully deployed thin clients are getting the benefits of reducing or even eliminating their device management footprint, decreased their dependency on lifecycle management, and have reduced their power consumption by efficiently leveraging computing resources in the datacenter or server room.

There are also many customers who look at the cost of desktop virtualization and can easily justify supporting mobile workers and BYO programs. However, when it comes to replacing desktops in their offices, they may find it harder to justify purchasing a thin client when the price of the endpoint also, after all the dust settles, might be close to the replacement cost of a PC.

Delivering cost reduction

Last October, at Synergy Barcelona 2011, Citrix announced the HDX System on Chip initiative in partnership with Texas Instruments and NComputing,  to create new SoC reference designs based on ARM chipsets to accelerate HDX user experience technologies in silicon. By using optimized hardware-based  acceleration rather than decoding and rendering virtual desktop traffic on a general purpose processors in software, these SoCs can deliver the user experience of thin client devices costing twice as much or more while reducing power consumption, heat, and footprint. However, don’t mistake hardware-acceleration for “all-hardware.” Devices built on the HDX SoC initiative still run a Citrix Receiver in an embedded OS that permits updates to provide devices new functionality over time, further extending the expected lifecycle.

Taking cues from the living room

This direction of optimized delivery of high definition experience is no different than what many of us are seeing play out in our living rooms. Instead of collecting massive collections of videos to store in cabinets or home servers, cloud providers like NetFlix, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Pandora, and others store media for us, allowing us us to stream in many cases real time content to our homes. This media can be displayed from TV’s using integrated “internet streaming,” from most any smartphone, tablet, or computer, or through the addition of a $50 appliance from companies like Roku that we plug into our TVs. It is this revolution in cloud entertainment services and the drive for low-cost, low-powered – long battery life devices overtaking the consumer electronics industry that Citrix can now leverage to optimize end point devices for desktop virtualization.

To learn more about these exciting, market-changing, transformative new devices being unveiled by HP, Atrust, Centerm, NComputing, and ThinLinX, please check out the HDX SoC 2012 partner page here.

Dell Wyse: acqusition of Wyse Technologies by Dell
(a summary of the many original materials compiled in the closing part of this post)

  • Wyse – a leader in Desktop Virtualization
  • Wyse – ranking number one worldwide in thin clientunit share in the fourth quarter of 2011
    • Differentiated IP and device management, thin client operating systems, and mobility software that is customized to offer the best user experience with Microsoft, Citrix and VMware virtual desktop infrastructures.
    • Much of their software value is captured in the hardware itself. Their ThinOS and the IP around the ThinOS has allowed them to drive greater performance using less memory. So Wyse solutions require less memory and processing power than other comparable thin client solutions, making them more cost competitive and effective for customers.
    • Wyse as an independent entity has really been gaining momentum to grow into a number one market share position. In fact, they are growth accelerated in their last fiscal year to 45 percent
    • Dell’s view on that:
      – The momentum around alternative computing is a trend that they see many customers continuing to experiment with and in many cases, beginning to deploy, although t      he adoption rates are still relatively low for desktop virtualization.
      – They  don’t see the entire world going to thin clients. They still think there’s a healthy PC demand in the industry and there’s a balance of alternative computing that allows people to take advantage of securing their information, managing the assets in a very differentiated way. Even a common thin client deployment today is on a standard PC that’s been virtualized.
      – This is an opportunity particularly in the verticals around financial services, government healthcare, and the financial services sector to really take a leadership position. This is really specific use cases. For example, in regulated industries like healthcare and financial services, the value of centralizing your data to better have access and control is a specific use case that this thin client desktop virtualization lends itself to.
      – They needed it because it is also a different workload to move forward their cloud computing strategy.
      – A      gain, they don’t think a zero client or a thin client is an answer for all customers. They think in their mind that the bigger message here is they now have a range of devices, an incredibly strong portfolio of thin client devices and zero client devices from Wyse, the standard Dell set of PCs, which do virtualization, and now the ability to manage those in a very differentiated way with the key software assets that they’re bringing on board that expand themselves to tablets, expands itself to mobile phones.
  • Wyse portfolio includes a wide selection of industry leading thin and zero client devices designed easily to integrate into a virtualized or web based infrastructure
    • It compliments and extends the desktop virtualization capabilities that Dell has today.
    • Also a big part of this transaction is the synergy that Dell would get from their datacenter solutions business, including servers, storage, networking services, and software. For every thin client hardware dollar that exists in the IT industry, there’s $5 of enterprise servers, storage, networking services that go along with that.
    • This could also remove the barrier for some companies that did not have the right level of datacenter portfolio and datacenter ecosystem to exploit the thin client alternative of enterprise computing: i.e. deploying desktop virtualization centric cloud client portfolios and platforms.
    • Wyse is a company that has 31 years of experience. They have the intellectual property, they have the software and 150 R&D engineers which 140 are in software. Wyse and one other competitor basically had almost 50 percent of the market. Wyse are pretty close partners with Microsoft, and they do a lot of work with VMware, with Citrix as well. As these providers provide desktop virtualization methodology and technology between the datacenter and end use computing platforms Wyse add to that value and they partner heavily with them and obviously that’s going to continue.
      • [Wyse:] And also, one other piece to add, we provide some of the software we provide is differentiated in the marketplace, is the leader in this space also from the cloud, both on the infrastructure management side from the cloud, with a product called Wyse Stratus. So, many of you on the phone are using today, Wyse PocketCloud, the market leading product for content management from the cloud on any mobile device and also from your web browser, connecting your apps and content inside the content voice data video from your choice of your cloud, private or public.

    • The software stack that brings together the edge device, the management software that manages that, that sits into the cloud or sits into the datacenter, and the ability to build that software from essentially ground zero to being able to acquire those capabilities and that experience and the technology with it, puts Dell in a leadership position. The differentiated technology that they are getting with the integration of Brad Anderson’s [Dell president, Enterprise Solutions] and Steve Schuckenbrock’s [Dell president of Services] businesses, allow them a unique position to do this for their customers. All this allows them to move quite quickly in the marketplace, much quicker than they could have done it on their own.
  • IDC: worldwide thin client demand will grow 15 percent per year to approximately 3 billion by 2015
  • IDC: the overall end to end solutions market with thin clients is expected to exceed 15 billion by 2015

Wyse Cloud Client Computing [WyseTechnology YouTube channel, April 1, 2012]

See what Cloud Client Computing from Wyse can do for you.

Citrix Announces New Innovations in Desktop Virtualization Lowering Cost and Accelerating the Transformation to Virtual Desktops [Citrix press release, May 9, 2012]

New XenDesktop, VDI-in-a-Box & AppDNA capabilities drive adoption

San Francisco, CA » 5/9/2012 » Today, at Citrix Synergy™, the conference where mobile workstyles and cloud services meet, Citrix announced a set of new innovations that help organizations transform their Windows desktops and apps into a cloud-like service that can be managed centrally and delivered to any device in any location. New releases of Citrix desktop virtualization products and new game-changing Citrix HDX Ready SoC-based endpoint devices from key partners are helping to ease the transition to virtual desktops, drive down the acquisition costs and provide expanded capabilities targeting broad use cases from the call center, to high-end engineering and mobile workers in enterprises, the public sector and SMBs, enabling organizations of all sizes to deliver anywhere, anytime access to desktops, applications and data to users.

With the tremendous explosion of new devices, operating systems and applications, organizations are struggling to keep up with the challenge of managing desktops and applications in this new highly mobile world. At the same time, trends such as consumerization and bring your own device (BYOD) programs are putting added strain on IT resources. Citrix is raising the bar once again delivering new innovations across its desktop virtualization products and working with partners to drive down the costs of virtual desktops.

Easier On-ramp to Desktop Virtualization

  • New Remote PC Option in XenDesktop FlexCast– The new RemotePC option is part of the FlexCast® delivery technology in the Citrix XenDesktop® product line. Using the new RemotePC capability, XenDesktop customers will be able to quickly turn existing office PCs into distributed VDI hubs without setting up additional servers and storage in the datacenter. This innovative new solution makes it easy for IT to give end users fast, secure remote access to all the apps and data on their office PC from any device. Once IT is ready to move to a more full-service VDI implementation, these distributed RemotePC images can be easily moved into the datacenter to run in a traditional hosted VDI model for better consolidation, security and management efficiency. Remote PC functionality will be included in XenDesktop 5.6 Feature Pack 1, which will ship in June, 2012.
  • New AppDNA Software Release – To ease the transition to Windows 7 and a virtual desktop infrastructure, the new release of Citrix AppDNA software brings a simplified overall installation, setup and user environment to accommodate a broader range of enterprises, the channel and global SIs. Citrix AppDNA also provides even more in-depth application details so enterprises can accurately assess, rationalize and act on applications before a project begins. The AppDNA 6.1 software will be available in Q2, 2012. (see announcement blog for more detail)

Reducing the Acquisition Costs of Virtual Desktops

  • First Wave of Game-changing Endpoints Arrives – The first results of the Citrix HDX System-on-Chip initiative that was announced at Citrix Synergy Barcelona are being delivered to the market. The initiative was designed to enable an entirely new generation of devices that deliver high-definition virtual desktops and apps at game-changing price points and form factors. These devices reduce the cost of high-performance HDX Ready thin clients by more than half, further driving down the cost of desktop virtualization. New devices from ATrust, Centerm, HP, NComputingand ThinLinx are being announced today at Citrix Synergy San Francisco and are built for Citrix XenDesktop, and Citrix VDI-in-a-Box. (See announcement blog for more detail)
  • Personalized VDI for Less than the Cost of PCs – The Project Aruba technology preview delivers a cost-efficient yet complete VDI solution by extending the simple affordable Citrix VDI-in-a-Box™ with layering technology using personal vDisks to deliver highly personalized virtual desktops that retain the cost-efficiencies of pooled desktops.  Project Aruba also provides a validated blueprint for service providers looking to deliver cost-effective VDI-based Desktops-as-a-Service.

Citrix has also made available a license migration path from VDI-in-a-Box to XenDesktop for customers that want to extend beyond VDI to leverage the full flexibility of XenDesktop while preserving their investment. The end-user experience is consistent across both products as both VDI-in-a-Box and XenDesktop use the same HDX stack and Citrix Receiver. (See announcement blog for more detail)

Delivering Expanded Functionality for Broad Use Cases

Citrix is delivering new innovations that create a very seamless experience for end-users, delivering a more complete solution than other alternatives on the market.

  • Empowering Point-to-Point Unified Communications for Cisco and Microsoft– With the introduction of HDX Real Time technologies for voice and video collaboration, industry-leading unified communications (UC) solutions including Cisco VXI Unified Communications and Microsoft Lync 2010 can process voice and video locally and create a peer-to-peer connection for the ultimate user experience while taking the load off datacenter processing and bandwidth resources. XenDesktop delivers new levels of efficiency and quality of service for the most demanding use cases. HDX Real Time will be available with XenDesktop 5.6 Feature Pack 1 in June, 2012. – Support for HDX Real-Time with select Cisco VXI clients was recently announced in April, 2012 representing the first optimized UC solution for desktop virtualization on the market. This solution represents one of the first deliverables from the recent collaboration agreement between Cisco and Citrix to optimize HDX for Cisco networks.- The new Optimization Pack for Microsoft Lync 2010 will be included in XenDesktop 5.6 Feature Pack 1. This pack supports Microsoft Lync 2010 for point to point voice and video communications to Windows and Linux devices and will extend across all Citrix Receiver™-enabled devices over the coming months.- Beyond traditional unified communications support, XenDesktop also optimizes voice and video collaboration for cloud-based solutions including Citrix GoToMeeting® by compressing voice and video traffic on the client before transmission over the network.
  • Cutting Network Bandwidth for Demanding 3D Engineering Environments – Whether collaborating with design engineers across oceans using advanced CAD/CAM or GIS apps or consulting medical imaging at a patient’s bedside with an iPad, the secure, high performance delivery of GPU accelerated 3D applications and desktops with XenDesktop has never been more powerful or efficient. Using new deep compression codec technology that reduces bandwidth requirements by 50 percent, XenDesktop with HDX 3D Pro technologies secures sensitive intellectual property and privacy-sensitive data while improving collaboration and performance eliminating the need to synchronize and transfer massive data files. Meanwhile, users leverage state-of-the-art graphics processing hardware in the datacenter to access designs and images from any device, anywhere. HDX 3D Pro will be available with XenDesktop 5.6 Feature Pack 1 in June, 2012. (See the announcement blog for more detail)
  • New XenClient Enterprise and Acquisition of Virtual Computer – Citrix announced the acquisition of Virtual Computer, provider of enterprise-scale management solutions for client-side virtualization. Citrix will combine the newly-acquired Virtual Computer technology with its market-leading XenClient® hypervisor to create the new Citrix XenClient Enterprise edition. The new XenClient Enterprise, available in Q2, 2012, will combine all the power of the XenClient hypervisor with a rich set of management functionality designed to help enterprise customers manage large fleets of corporate laptops across a distributed enterprise. The combined solution will give corporate laptop users the power of virtual desktops “to go”, while making it far more secure and cost-effective for IT to manage thousands of corporate laptops across today’s increasingly mobile enterprise.
  • Simplifying Printing with New HDX Universal Print Server – Now, Citrix desktop virtualization products tame the complexity of printing by completing a universal printing architecture with the Citrix HDX Universal Print Server. Combined with the previously available Universal Print Driver, administrators may now install a single driver in the virtual desktop image or application server to permit local or network printing from any device, including thin clients and tablets, leveraging HDX optimization technology to reduce bandwidth load over wide area networks and manage printing communications outside of the virtual desktop channel for enhanced quality of service. HDX Universal Print server will be available with XenDesktop 5.6 Feature Pack 1 in June, 2012. (See the announcement blog for more details)

Quote
“Citrix is helping to drive down the costs of virtual desktops, and advancing technology around user experience and manageability to move desktop virtualization adoption forward at a rapid pace. Though product innovation and strong partner ecosystems we are addressing barriers on all fronts including acquisition costs, migration complexity and delivering complete solutions for all customer segments from large enterprises to SMBs.”
– John Fanelli, Vice President of Product Marketing, Enterprise Desktops and Applications at Citrix
Related Links

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NOW to understand the whole picture from/through a very practical demonstration of the whole range of possibilities watch these videos:

The Future is Now (17 minutes – part 1 of 2) [citrixvideos YouTube channel, April 11, 2011]

The Future is Now Video with Brad Peterson – On December 17, 2010 we WOWed thousands of customers with our execution of the Virtual Desktops: From Wow to How program. We received hundreds of requests from customers, partners and our sales team to make the video available. We listened and now we are delivering the condensed 17 minute video of “The Future is Now”. This new version is more apt for sales meetings so that you can show the video and quickly turn to productive discussion.

The Future is Now (28 minutes – part 2 of 2) [citrixvideos YouTube channel, April 11, 2011]

Citrix Receiver on the Wyse Xenith, connecting to a XenDesktop virtual desktop [citrixvideos YouTube channel, April 10, 2011]

The Future is Now video with Brad Peterson highlights the Wyse Xenith (Zero client) using an enbedded Citrix Receiver to connect to a remote virtual desktop on Citrix XenDesktop.

Wyse Product/Technology Details

Wyse Changes Everything with Announcement of Xenith 2 Zero Client for Citrix VDI-Based Deployments [[Dell] Wyse press release, May 9, 2012]

Leading Zero Client Improves Performance for VDI Installations Using Citrix Desktop Virtualization Solutions

SAN JOSE, CA – 05/09/2012 –

Wyse Technology, the global leader in cloud client computing, today announced the Wyse Xenith 2, based on the ultra-secure Wyse zero framework.  This breakthrough zero client was revealed today at Citrix Synergy™ 2012, the premier event on cloud computing, virtualization and networking.  Wyse, the leading shipper of fixed and mobile desktop zero clients in the world, will be demonstrating the Xenith 2 at Wyse Booth #206 from May 9-10, 2012.

Following on the success of the Wyse Xenith and Wyse Xenith Pro, the Wyse Xenith 2 is the ideal Citrix zero client solution for both enterprise and SMB organizations. The Wyse Xenith 2 zero client is purpose-built for Citrix XenDesktop® blending the amazing cost benefits of the ARM System-on-Chip (SoC) architecture, with a non-Windows Citrix Receiver compatible client, developed in cooperation with Citrix.  Improving on the success of the Xenith, with 30% faster performance and lower power consumption, the result is a super secure, very affordable, true high-fidelity desktop experience.  For users requiring a diverse variety of applications, including HD multimedia, the Wyse Xenith 2 delivers a new standard in price and performance in a compact zero client and delivers an unprecedented combination of simplicity, performance and security for office-based workers.

The Wyse Xenith 2 requires no local configuration or management and can offer customers of all sizes a more secure client while helping reduce management and overall client cost.  Full AES 128 bit encryption enables encryption of network certificates on the client, which is a truly ironclad level of security.  Leveraging the Wyse zero framework, the Wyse Xenith 2 is able to provide a secure, ‘instant on’ experience for end users—booting up and logging into a Citrix XenDesktop® in less than 10 seconds.  With no exposed API’s and no attack surface, the Wyse Xenith 2 zero client is malware and virus immune, removing client security concerns.

“Wyse Xenith has been a game-changer for us,” according to Wes Wright, Chief Technology Officer at Seattle Children’s Hospital.  “Not only are we saving $6 million in hardware replacement costs, more than $1 million in staff time, and $300,000 per year in energy savings, we also have devices that are faster, more secure and more reliable than anything we had before.  With Xenith 2, Wyse is simply adding more appeal to an endpoint device family that makes Citrix XenDesktop a great end-to-end VDI solution.”

Like the Wyse Xenith and Wyse Xenith Pro, the Wyse Xenith 2 changes everything, including the economics of desktop computing.  Wyse Xenith 2 eliminates the complications of management and security issues associated with traditional client devices, while ensuring an unparalleled high-definition user experience, further lowering the barriers for mainstream adoption of desktop virtualization.

“As customers look to the flexibility of desktop virtualization, Citrix is enabling these enterprises to transform their traditional Windows computing environments into a cloud-like service, delivering anywhere, anytime access to desktops, applications and data. Through collaborative relationships like the one with Wyse, we are further driving down the costs of virtual desktop deployments and accelerating adoption. The Xenith 2 achieves this goal by providing a secure, affordable solution that is optimized to deliver a high-definition virtual desktop experience through Citrix Receiver,” said Sumit Dhawan, group vice president and general manager, Receiver and Gateways at Citrix Systems.

“By tightly-integrating with Citrix, we’re delivering a zero client that is second to none in performance, security, manageability, and ease of use for this class of VDI endpoint,” according to Param Desai, VP, Product Management at Wyse Technology.  “All of this plus it is more affordable than ever before.”

“Vendors like Wyse continue to push the envelope in zero client technology,” according to Bob O’Donnell, Program VP, Clients and Displays at IDC.  “The ability to improve device performance while adding additional functionality and reducing cost bodes well for future zero client customers.”

Top Product Benefits
• Secure.  Stateless zero client has zero attack surface for viruses & malware; no local disk and no APIs.  Xenith 2 also offers single sign-on and is integrated with Imprivata support.  Full AES 128 bit encryption enables encryption of network certificates on the device.
• Powerful. The Wyse Xenith 2 includes a Citrix Receiver client and achieves unparalleled user experience, great graphics performance and high fidelity multimedia due to Wyse’s innovative performance optimizations for ARM SoC and available only on Xenith 2 and T10.  Xenith 2 starts up in 6 seconds.
• Affordable.  Sets a new level of price / performance.
• Easy to manage. Integrated out of the box with XenDesktop management console in addition to also being managed by Wyse Stratus as part of a comprehensive device management from the cloud.  Xenith 2 also comes with auto detection of server and configuration and is a completely stateless device, always using the latest zero engine delivered directly from a central configuration file server and the XenDesktop server.
• Compact.  Requires very little space or none — includes VESA mount for back of display mounting. Xenith 2 is 30 percent smaller than original Xenith and utilizes only 7 watts in full operation.
• Zero-compromise user experience.  Network-based QoS ensures quality (HDX multi-stream).  Devices offers true 720P 25+ fps HD for wmv and H.264 with HW decoding engines.  Dual display with rotation and l-shaped [which is unique and essential for financial services environments with an additional screen for spreadsheet viewing in vertical] display capabilities.  New WAN support with local echo and bandwidth reporting allowing remote and at home users greater flexibility and performance..

Pricing and Availability
The Wyse Xenith 2 will be available soon with an estimated customer price TBD.  For more information, please visit:

http://www.wyse.com/products/cloud-clients/zero-clients/Xenith2

Wyse Xenith 2 (Front left angle)

Overview

Establishing a new price/performance standard for zero clients for Citrix, the new Wyse Xenith 2 provides an exceptional user experience at a highly affordable price for Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp environments. With zero attack surface, the ultra-secureXenith 2 offers network-borne viruses and malware zero target for attacks. Xenith 2 boots up in just seconds and delivers exceptional performance for Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp users while offering usability and management features found in premium Wyse cloud client devices. Xenith 2 delivers outstanding performance based on its system-on-chip (SoC) design optimized with its Wyse Zero architecture, and a built-in media processor delivers smooth multimedia, bi-directional audio and Flash playback. Flexible mounting options let you position Xenith 2 vertically or horizontally on your desk, on the wall or behind your display. Using about 7 watts of power in full operation, the Xenith 2 creates very little heat for a greener, more comfortable working environment.

Citrix Ready logoCitrix HDX Ready logo

Wyse Xenith 2,

Specifications

Operating System: Wyse Zero™ Engine
Processor: Marvell® ARMADA™ PXA 510 v7 1.0 GHz system-on-chip (SoC)
Memory: 0MB Flash / 1GB RAM DDR3
I/O peripheral support: • One DVI-I port, DVI to VGA (DB-15) adapter included
• Dual display support with optional DVI-I to DVI-D plus VGA-monitor splitter cable (sold separately)
• Four USB 2.0
Networking: • 10/100/1000 Base-T Gigabit Ethernet
• Optional internal wireless 802.11 b/g
Display: • VESA monitor support with Display Data Control (DDC) for automatic setting of resolution and refresh rate
• Dual monitor supported with ‘L shaped’ display rotation
• Single: 1920×1200@60Hz; color depth: 32 bpp
• Dual: Up To 1920×1080@60Hz; color depth: 32 bpp
Audio: • Output: 1/8-inch mini jack, full 16-bit stereo, 48KHz sample rate
• Input: 1/8-inch mini jack, 8-bit microphone
Included: • Enhanced USB keyboard with PS/2 mouse port and Windows keys
• PS/2 mouse
Power: • Worldwide auto-sensing 100-240 VAC, 50/60 Hz.
• Energy Star V5.0
• Phase V external and EuP compliant power adapter
Power consumption: Under 7.2 Watts (average)
Dimensions: • Height: 1 inch (25mm)
• Width: 6.9 inches (177mm)
• Depth: 4.69 inches (119mm) Weight: 1 lb (450g)
Shipping Weight: 1.003 lbs. (.455kg)
Mountings: • Stand for horizontal use and VESA/wall mounting (included)
• Optional vertical stand
Temperature Range: • Operating
• Horizontal position: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
• Vertical position: Power button up: 50° to 104° F (10° to 40° C)
• Storage: 14° to 140° F (-10° to 60° C)
Humidity: • 20% to 80% condensing
• 10% to 95% non-condensing
Security: Built-in Kensington security slot (cable sold separately)
Safety Certifications: • Ergonomics: German EKI-ITB 2000, ISO 9241-3/-8
• Safety: cULus 60950, TÜV-GS, EN 60950
• RF Interference: FCC Class B, CE, VCCI, C-Tick
• Environmental: WEEE, RoHS Compliant
Warranty: 3-year limited hardware warranty

Jeff McNaught Interview One [CitrixTV YouTube channel, May 24, 2012]

Jeff McNaught, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer from Wyse shares thoughts about Synergy i.e. Wyse and Citrix collaboration results. Everything started in 1995 !!

Marvell Joins Citrix System-on-Chip Initiative to Bring Citrix HDX Technology for Thin Clients to Market [Marvell press release, May 9, 2012]

Santa Clara, California (May 9, 2012) – Marvell (Nasdaq: MRVL) today announced participation in the Citrix System-on-Chip (SoC) initiative to enable an entirely new generation of thin clients for high-definition virtual applications and desktops at a low cost. The Marvell® ARMADA® 510 SoC seamlessly integrates Citrix HDX capabilities into a complete silicon solution. The first of many ARMADA chips to be verified as part of the Citrix SoC initiative, the ARMADA 510 is a high-performance, highly integrated, low-power SoC comprised of an ARM v6/v7-compliant superscalar processor core, a hardware graphics processing unit, video decoding acceleration hardware and a broad range of peripherals, answering the need for fast processing and a rich multimedia user experience.

“The future of enterprise computing is in the convergence between mobile devices and digital content – it’s imperative that end users have access to the content they need from any device, whether it’s a thin client, tablet or smartphone. Citrix has been abreast of this monumental shift in the computing landscape for years – and now the Citrix SoC initiative makes it even easier for companies to deliver a new category of mobile-enterprise friendly devices to users quickly and affordably,” said Jack Kang, director of marketing for mobile at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. “Working closely with Wyse, Marvell is proud to integrate the performance enhancements from Citrix SoC initiative onto Wyse’s performance rich Citrix HDX Ready T50 device based on Marvell’s ARMADA 510. Marvell is also working closely with Citrix to verify its full portfolio of highly scalable enterprise silicon solutions, from cloud servers to mobile and consumer end point devices, and we look forward to further collaborations with Citrix Ready partners to deliver new and exciting products throughout the enterprise.”

“Citrix XenDesktop delivers the capabilities to enable enterprise customers to begin or accelerate their migration to Windows 7 and beyond, while gaining the mobility, flexibility, and management benefits of desktop virtualization.” said Ankur Shah, principal product manager at Citrix Systems. “We welcome Marvell to the Citrix System-on-Chip initiative. Marvell’s broad portfolio of technology will enable a wide variety of devices to leverage the benefits of Citrix desktop virtualization technology.”

”Wyse is excited about Marvell’s partnership with Citrix on the Citrix SoC initiative,” said Kiran Rao, director of product management at Wyse Technology. “The end-to-end approach, incorporating Marvell’s high performance hardware with software optimized for HDX technology, enables Wyse to quickly bring innovative devices to market that provide a superior end user experience. Wyse’s compact, affordable Citrix HDX Ready T50 and T10 thin clients, as well as the new Xenith 2 zero client, powered by Marvell’s ARMADA 510 SoC will further expand access to cloud-based desktop virtualization using Citrix XenDesktop in the enterprise and beyond.”

Wyse and Microsoft discuss cloud PCs and OS licensing [WyseTechnology YouTube channel, May 19, 2011]

Andre Beuchat, Wyse Technology, and Michael Hoyt, OEM Partner Account Manager, Microsoft Corporation, discuss the benefits of cloud PCs and how Microsoft licenses the OS for them. The cloud PC used in the demo is a Wyse Z class. Benefits of this cloud PC include: security, high performance, energy efficiency, TCO, works with Windows 7 and fit within distributed computing models. The types of license options discussed in the video are Microsoft Diskless PC COA, Windows 7 Professional Diskless PC COA, volume licensing. Software assurance is covered as well.

More Ways to Love Windows 7

Wyse Z Class Thin Client [WyseTechnology YouTube channel, Jan 31, 2011]

Wyse Z class – High performance Windows® Embedded Thin Client for the most demanding Virtual Desktop Environments. Visit product page at: http://www.wyse.com/products/hardware/thinclients/Z90/

Comparison of the current Z class products:  Wyse Z90DE7, Wyse Z90D7, Wyse Z90S7, Wyse Z50D, Wyse Z50S, Wyse Z90DW
All with dual-core AMD G-T56N. The 4  Windows® Embedded Standard 7 based ones at 1.6  or 1.65 GHz while the 2 Wyse-enhanced SUSE Linux based ones at 1.5 and 1.6 GHz respectively. Memory is 2/4/8GB Flash + 2/4GB RAM, DDR3, depending on the model. Memory on 3 models is expandable, and on 3 Windows® Embedded Standard 7 based ones SSD storage is also supported. Power consumption is under 15 Watts (average) for all. Dimensions are 200 x 47 x 225 millimeters. Weight is 1.1kg.

Wyse Introduces World’s Fastest Thin Client Family [Wyse press release, Aug 29, 2011]

Wyse, Cloud Client Computing, Z class, World, Fastest, Available, VMworld 2011

SAN JOSE, Calif. – 08/29/2011 – Today at VMworld® 2011, Wyse Technology, the global leader in cloud client computing, today announced that its fastest thin clients ever, the [Windows® Embedded Standard 7 based] Wyse Z90D7 and Z90DW are now shipping.  In addition, Wyse today introduced two new Linux-based members of its Z class family – the Wyse Z50S and Wyse Z50D.  The Wyse Z50 is the high performance thin client family based on Wyse Enhanced SUSE Linux Enterprise, the industry’s only enterprise-quality Linux operating system that combines the security, flexibility, and market-leading usability of SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell, with Wyse’s thin computing optimizations in management and user experience.

Z-ClassIn connection with the availability of these breakthrough thin clients, Wyse also announced the results of independent testing, recently conducted by The Tolly Group, of the Wyse Z class versus the competition.  Wyse made this announcement in connection with VMworld® 2011, the global conference for virtualization and cloud computing held in Las Vegas, August 29th through September 1st at The Venetian.  As part of VMworld 2011, Wyse is demonstrating their award-winning virtualization, management, and cloud software and a wide range of thin, zero, mobile and cloud PC client hardware at Booth #1111.

At the heart of the Wyse Z class thin clients lie an entirely new engine, one where all the major system elements – CPU cores, vector engines, and a unified video decoder for HD decoding tasks – live on the same piece of silicon.  This design concept eliminates one of the fundamental constraints that limit performance.

The Wyse Z class delivers a combination of performance, simplicity, and connectivity never before seen in a thin client.  With available dual-core AMD G-series Fusion accelerated processing units, the Wyse Z class is the world’s best-performing thin client, able to support the most processing-intensive applications including 3D solids modeling, HD graphics simulation, and unified communications with ease.  They also include the first SuperSpeed USB 3.0 connectivity in a thin client, enabling the newest peripherals and speeds up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0.  With Wyse Z class thin clients, users have more display options than ever before including DisplayPort and DVI.

The Wyse Z class also includes advanced networking capabilities, with support for gigabit Ethernet, and available integrated A/B/G/N dual band Wi-Fi.  They are compliant with the ENERGY STAR Version 5.0 Thin Client specification.

Independent testing by The Tolly Group recently confirmed the Z90D7s substantial leadership position in thin client performance compared to rival products.  In support of rich video-based Web applications, for example, the Z90D7 boasted a clear advantage in video playback quality while using just a fraction of its processing and memory capability.  That equates to a clearly superior user experience on a much more energy-efficient platform.  In addition, the Z90D7 scored up to five times higher in industry-standard performance ratings (CPU Mark, 3D Graphics Mark, and PassMark ratings) than the competition.  Among secure, cost-effective, yet powerful thin clients, these independent tests confirmed that the Wyse Z class is the clear winner.

“Being able to combine power and performance in such an easily-managed device is something we are extremely proud of,” said Param Desai, Sr. Director, Product Management, with Wyse Technology.  “With the availability of Wyse Z class we’ve more than doubled the performance capabilities of competing top-of-the-line thin clients with similar energy requirements.”

Built on the same exact advanced single and dual core processor hardware platform as the Wyse Z90 thin clients, the upcoming Linux-based Wyse Z50 promises more of the same industry leading power and capability on an enterprise-class Linux operating system.

“We are very familiar with the performance of Wyse products having deployed several Z90 devices throughout our campus,” according to Ryan Foster, Network Engineer at Montgomery County Community College in Southeast Pennsylvania.  “We were particularly impressed with the improvements to our desktop security, and by the capabilities of these devices handling multimedia files such as audio, video and Flash.”

Supporting Quotes

“The Wyse Z Class and VMware View™ combine to take advantage of PCoIP® in ways that will enhance the end-user experience,” said Vittorio Viarengo, vice president, End-User Computing, VMware.  “Better security, easier management and significant energy savings all combine in a high-performance thin client that will benefit both IT and end users.”

“Wyse has made innovative use of the AMD G-Series Accelerated Processing Unit which combines a multi-core CPU, a discrete-class DirectX® 11 capable GPU and HD video decoding in one tiny piece of silicon,” said Buddy Broeker, director of embedded solutions at Advanced Micro Devices “The Wyse Z class takes full advantage of the processor’s unprecedented level of graphics integration that delivers a unique combination of performance and efficiency.”

Availability
For more information on Wyse Z90 including independent report results, please visit:http://www.wyse.com/products/hardware/thinclients/Z90

The Wyse Z50 will be available later this year.

Wyse PocketCloud Family Overview [WyseTechnology YouTube channel, Feb 21, 2012]

The expanded Wyse PocketCloud family fuses streaming apps and data with search, file management and sharing across personal devices delivering content management from the cloud. Learn more at http://www.pocketcloud.com

Diagram - How Wyse Compliments Microsoft

Wyse PocketCloud Personal Cloud [WyseTechnology YouTube channel, Sept 21, 2011]

Need complete access to a cloud, your PC, Remote Desktop Services, a Terminal Server, VMware View or virtual machine from the palm of your hand? With Wyse PocketCloud™, it’s no problem! PocketCloud allows you to securely access your desktop anytime and anywhere on your iOS or Android devices. Learn more at http://www.wyse.com/pocketcloud

More videos about the PocketCloud:

Dell Wyse

Focus on Dell [May 24, 2012]

Kristen speaks with Rod Arnot (Executive Director, EUC Solutions, Dell) and Erik Dithmer (VP, WW End User Computing Sales, Dell) about the recent acquisition of Wyse technologies.

Dell Completes Acquisition of Cloud Client Computing Leader Wyse Technology [Dell press release, May 25, 2012]

  • With Wyse, Dell assumes a leadership position in Thin Clients[1]
  • Dell’s new Desktop Virtualization capabilities combined by Dell’s leadership position in Server, Storage and Networking solutions successfully positions the company as true end-to-end IT vendor

Dell today announced it has completed its acquisition of Wyse Technology, the global leader in cloud client computing. The combination of Wyse’s capabilities with Dell’s existing desktop virtualization offerings position the company as the leader in the desktop virtualization, enabling it to offer true end-to-end IT solutions for customers and partners.

Dell has made significant strategic investments over the past three years to expand its enterprise technology and services capabilities. The Dell Wyse portfolio with current Dell desktop virtualization offerings, leading data center products such as servers and storage, and Dell’s services division, provides customers and partners with a single vendor that can match the full range of their cloud computing and desktop virtualization needs.

The Dell Wyse solution portfolio includes industry-leading thin, zero and cloud client computing solutions with advanced management, desktop virtualization and cloud software supporting desktops, laptops and next generation mobile devices. Dell Wyse has more than 180 patents, both issued and pending, covering its solutions, software and differentiated intellectual property. Dell’s existing offerings include Desktop Virtualization Solution Simplified and Desktop Virtualization Solution Enterprise.

Dell recognizes it’s critical for the desktop virtualization solutions strategy to embrace simple device management, enhance security, scale, and boost user productivity, while providing the flexibility to support anytime, anywhere access on any device.

Dell plans to preserve Wyse’s channel offerings and all existing Wyse channel partners will be eligible for our PartnerDirect Program. Dell will combine the best of both companies’ channel deal registration programs, extend this new deal registration program to all partners, and introduce a program in which partners can grow and nurture a customer relationship.

Quotes
“We’re excited to officially welcome Wyse to Dell and help extend its industry-leading efforts to a broader range of customers and partners,” said Jeff Clarke, Dell vice chairman and president, Global Operations and End User Computing Solutions. “We believe the Dell Wyse capabilities, combined with our previous desktop virtualization offerings and the strength of the Dell enterprise portfolio, provides the most comprehensive and competitive DVS solution available today.”

“Wyse and Dell share the vision and passion in helping our customers and partners create a frictionless user experience via the cloud,” said Tarkan Maner, Vice President and General Manager Dell Wyse, Cloud Client Computing. “Combining our relentless IP innovation and tight operational skills, and most importantly our laser focus on customer and partner advocacy, Dell cloud client computing will develop and deliver the most advanced solutions globally, from the data center to the end user. We are and will be completely focused on the best user experience for any user, for any content, using any app, on any device, anytime, anywhere; without any conflict, compromise and constraint.”

“As a current customer who has deployed Wyse cloud client computing solutions with Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic storage, Western Wayne School District is excited about the combination of Dell and Wyse,” said Brian Seaman, Network Administrator at Western Wayne School District in Pennsylvania. “Like most school districts, Western Wayne operates in a budget constrained environment and our move to desktop virtualization technologies supported with strong enterprise infrastructure has enabled us to do more with less in service of our students and community. In working with Dell and Wyse to scope and deploy our computing environment, Western Wayne now has the right technology to help us achieve our vision of educating our students of today to become the productive citizens of tomorrow.”

“End point computing models continue to evolve and are accelerating tremendous innovation and efficiencies across enterprise desktop and personal computing,” said Bob O’Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays, IDC. “One area of strong customer growth is in the desktop virtualization space and we expect to see adoption rates continue to grow over the next several years. As use models continue to mature, so do the vendors who offer solutions in this product space. Dell’s acquisition of Wyse results in an industry-leading solutions and services provider with a formidable end-to-end technology stack from the end point to the datacenter to the cloud.”

Dell to Acquire Wyse Technology Conference Call

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Dave Johnson, Senior Vice President, Dell Corporate Strategy:

We at Dell continue to execute on our strategy to develop and expand our solutions capability built on Dell’s intellectual property.  These solutions are open with a focus on enhancing customer productivity, delivering results faster and eliminating unnecessary complexity.  We’re making great progress in delivering solid results on this strategy.

Today’s announcement is an important next step to our end user computing strategy.  It enhances our portfolio in the critical area of client computing and further supports our efforts to help our customers innovate end to end IT solutions from the edge to the core of the cloud. The acquisition of Wyse Technology compliments and expands Dell’s existing desktop virtualization capabilities, allowing us to offer industry leading and differentiated solutions to a fast-growing segment of the end user computing space.

In addition, it also provides synergies with our enterprise solutions business.  Our ability to now offer an industry leading cloud client computing solution will provide opportunities for Dell to further accelerate the growth of our servers, storage and network portfolios. IDC estimates that worldwide thin client demand will grow 15 percent per year to approximately 3 billion by 2015, and that the end to end datacenter infrastructure stack for these solutions is expected to exceed 15 billion by 2015.  And with Dell’s portfolio, we’ll be able to participate in this broader opportunity.

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Wyse Technology is a leader in the high growth and strategic area of cloud client computing, ranking number one worldwide in thin client unit share in the fourth quarter of 2011.  Wyse delivered approximately $375 million in annual revenue over the trailing 12 months.

Wyse has approximately 500 employees with 150 employees in research and development, most of which are software engineers.

In addition, it has approximately 250 sales specialists that are solely focused on selling Wyse cloud client computing end to end solutions.  They have more than 3000 channel partners that sell Wyse technology on a global basis.

This transaction expected to be accretive to Dell’s non-GAAP earnings in the second half of fiscal year 2013.

Dell’s reputation as a trusted adviser to our customer, our distribution and sales capabilities combined with Wyse’s innovative solutions in cloud computing will help address customers’ needs and is a great strategic fit, both operationally and culturally for Dell.

Finally, Dell has a strong track record of integrating acquisitions of this size.  Based on experience with similar acquisitions, we expect this transaction to be accretive to earnings on a non-GAAP basis in the second half of this year.

We’re really excited about welcoming Wyse to Dell and even more excited about the opportunities for our customers.

Jeff Clarke, Vice Chairman, Global Operations and End User Computing Solutions:

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We see a growing opportunity in cloud client computing.  This includes thin and zero client hardware, client infrastructure management software, virtualization end user optimization software, datacenter networking and implementation and managed services.

It compliments and extends the desktop virtualization capabilities that Dell has today.  These solutions offer customers an alternative compute model and helps enterprises enhance security, streamline desktop management and boost user productivity.

Examples of the benefits that a cloud client computing solution can provide include,

  • One, reducing the riskto customers’ most valuable information by protecting it behind the walls of their secure datacenter.
  • Two, improving control of their IT resourceswith a centralized, virtualized and automated approach to image and application management.
  • And three, encouraging their employees to produce their best results by giving them the flexibility to work where, when and how they choose.

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We have discussed our strategy and end user computer was first to strengthen our core business by implementing sustainable supply chain improvements and the results of which were evident in FY ’12.

Our next goal was to deliver solutions and include compelling devices plus the tools to secure, manage that hardware, software and data.  You’ve seen the results of that with some of our recent product announcements, as well as the strong growth of our transactional services business in FY ’12.

And finally, we indicated our intensions to expand our reach into new and fast-growing areas of the end user computing.  The acquisition of Wyse Technology and its portfolio of industry leading capabilities is the next step in our end user computing strategy.

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Wyse is a global leader in client – excuse me – in cloud client computing.  Its portfolio includes a wide selection of industry leading thin and zero client devices designed easily to integrate into a virtualized or web based infrastructure.

Differentiated IP and device management, thin client operating systems, and mobility software that is customized to offer the best user experience with Microsoft, Citrix and VMware virtual desktop infrastructures.

Wyse solutions require less memory and processing power than other comparable thin client solutions, making them more cost competitive and effective for customers.

To date, Dell has relied on shared IP solutions to serve its thin client customers.  With this transaction, we are moving to a more profitable industry leading and complete end to end solutions with Dell owned IP and the associated R&D capabilities with it.

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Wyse Technology’s portfolio complements and extends Dell vision of providing innovative and complete end to end solutions to our customers.  In addition, the combination of Wyse Technology with Dell’s brand and customer reach presents a dramatic increase in Wyse’s addressable demand.

I’d like to leave you with the following takeaways;

  • Client cloud computing addresses many of our concerns, or many of the concerns our customers have around security, manageability and productivity.
  • Dell is focused on developing innovative and complete end to end solutions that address the needs of our customers with key assets and fast growing and highly profitable areas of the industry.
  • Wyse Technology gives us access to best in class resources, technology, team members that position us well in this strategic segment of cloud client computing.
  • And lastly, the Wyse team is superb and a great cultural fit for Dell.

Tarkan Maner, CEO of Wyse Technology:

The entire team at Wyse is excited about joining the Dell team and becoming an integral part of enabling Dell’s end user company vision. This agreement is great news for our customers and channel members worldwide.  We’ve been focused on delivering innovative solutions for our customers and channel members for the past 30 years now.  To be exact, 31 years now.

Dell and Wyse share a focus on delivering innovative IP, world class service support, and optimized overall value to our customers and channel members.

Customers and channel members rely on Dell to provide comprehensive end to end IT solutions. Clearly, Dell distribution, reach and brand are well recognized across the industry and it has industry leading capabilities across servers, storage, networking services and end user computing solutions.

Wyse has historically been recognized as a leader in cloud client computing where our skills and capabilities in security, manageability, availability, reliability, lower total cost of ownership both in terms of CAPEX and OPEX, and scalability have been key differentiators in delivering the best value to our customers and channel members.

Through the combination with Dell, we see obviously a tremendous opportunities to grow our core desktop virtualization business, as well as to expand into new and fast growing market segments and on mobility, and cloud computing.

These include infrastructure and content management as a service solution from the cloud for large enterprises, for small and medium businesses, as well as consumers.

We have extended our solutions into the unified communications space lately as well, providing voice, data, and video (what we call triple play) type of content delivery from the cloud for any user, for any content, for any app on any device, anywhere, anytime.  And we would like to say, without compromise, without constraint or conflict.

Our strong alliance ecosystem will be able to benefit from the extensive solutions portfolio they can now provide to their customers in teaming up with Dell.  The Dell PartnerDirect program currently has 100,000 channel members and a proven track record of effectively onboarding and training channel members of acquired companies.

This is exciting for us.  Wyse has a history of innovation across all of our product lines and have recently introduced many new solutions for our customers and channel members with more than 180 patents; to be exact, 182 patents in cloud client computing.

We believe that taking the next step at Dell is a very natural progression for our business and offers our customers and channel members some great advantages that are not available to us today at our scale and size.

It is exciting to think about the potential of integrating Wyse’s technology and R&D capabilities with Dell’s reach, existing solutions, capabilities and reputation.

We believe our customers and channel members worldwide will benefit in a big way from this entire combination.

…

Q: … just some more detail on Wyse’s hardware/software mix and margin structure, and what growth assumptions did you guys make to justify the price and over what time period and did you make any assumptions about cross-selling Dell branded enterprise solutions when coming up with the price?

Today, the majority of the revenue is from the thin client and zero client business with the growing percentage of that revenue now starting to come from some other areas, including some of the things that Tarkan spoke about. … If we look at and project out a few years, clearly a big part of this transaction is the synergy that we would get from our datacenter solutions business, including servers, storage, networking services, and software.

We also would expect, you know, within the services space, maintenance and some ongoing hosting opportunities over time, and there are also opportunities even in software and peripherals (S&P) if you think about the things like monitors and other items that you would sell in conjunction with a thin client solution.

…

… Wyse as an independent entity has really been gaining momentum to grow into a number one market share position.  In fact, they are growth accelerated in their last fiscal year to 45 percent.

Far outstripping the mid-teens industry average growth, both historically and projected in the future for this segment. And that’s driven by the breadth of their portfolio and the differentiation that they bring to their customers.

… the thin client portion of the entire stack is really a small piece.  Our expectation and our experience has been as we engage with our customers on helping them determine how to solve for this workload set of requirements – and it really is a workload that you’re talking about – and your engaging at a much more comprehensive enterprise level about a solution.

And if you move to a thin client solution, and clearly the network, compute and storage moves, whether that’s into a private cloud or a public cloud, it’s in part of the entire solution.

Wyse is an independent entity that didn’t have, of course, access to the broad portfolio that we do. …

So, we believe the combination of our service and enterprise with our capabilities and the added capabilities of Wyse in the client space is a great combination and will be extremely synergistic for us.

…

I think, a key element that much of their software value is captured in the hardware itself.  So, for example, they build on top of the protocols in our industry events features ahead of others, whether that’s multi-monitor support, the integration of voice, data and video, and/or USB redirect.

Their ability to put those features into the platform ahead of the industry has allowed Wyse to extract value for that from its customers.

It also, as we mentioned in our remarks, their thin OS and the IP around the thin OS has allowed them to drive greater performance using less memory and they extract a value for that in the industry.

And then the bigger picture Dave hit on, for every thin client hardware dollar that exists in our industry, there’s $5 of enterprise servers, storage, networking services that go along with that. So, our ability to really move into that $18 billion marketplace with an end to end set of solutions from Dell is certainly how we view the asset a key piece.

Q: Obviously, this is a capability that Dell could have developed probably internally.  Does the fact that you decided to do this acquisition now suggest that you’re – Dell is seeing an inflection in the number of customers that are looking for these types of solutions and maybe if you could just give a little more detail on that and what you’re hearing from customers at this point on thin client?

… what we view is the momentum around alternative computing is a trend that we see many customers continuing to experiment with and in many cases, beginning to deploy.

The adoption rates are still relatively low for desktop virtualization, but there clearly are a lot of customers out kicking the tires, very similar to maybe a decade ago around server virtualization. Not that I’m comparing the two, but more of just the adoption rate.

And we think this is an opportunity particularly in the verticals around financial services, government healthcare, and the financial services sector to really take a leadership position. Wyse Technology does have a leadership position in the thin client itself.

We have very strong presence in the enterprise and each of those verticals and us building – and Dell now being able to build end to end vertical solutions for these set of customers where it makes sense is key.

And again, I would emphasize we don’t see the entire world going to thin clients.  We still think there’s a healthy PC demand in the industry and there’s a balance of alternative computing that allows people to take advantage of securing their information, managing the assets in a very differentiated way.

And as Dave said, which I think is key in our thinking here, this is a different workload.  We look at this workload from the device out on the edge to what we do in the datacenter, providing a set of services and value offerings to our customers.

… This is really specific use cases.  For example, in regulated industries like healthcare and financial services, the value of centralizing your data to better have access and control is a specific use case that this thin client desktop virtualization lends itself to.

And also, lends itself to environments in industries where, again, there’s a desire to simplify the endpoint and manage the application much more centrally. That is often the case in education and ever increasing in some of the emerging geographies.

So, we see this as an opportunity, again, to provide specific solutions to specific customer problems and much more industry-centric approach to our business.

Q: … do you have any specifics around what percentage of your VDI customers for Dell are incorporating a full PC versus a thin client? And then any thoughts as to whether there’s anything on the horizon that would, you know, increase the ratio of thin client penetration versus a full PC in virtualized installations?

We don’t see any real dramatic change.  The IDC forecast continues to project into the future a sort of steady 15 percent growth rate.  So, there’s no apparent broad inflection point.

And as we articulated a moment ago, these are mostly fairly specific situations where the value proposition applies.  And so, today, the total opportunity is, you know, counting the entire stack is about $3 billion.  And so that’s still a relatively de minimis piece of the overall PC industry.

Q: But, just to be clear on that point, you do have customers who are virtualizing their desktop and still purchasing regular Dell PCs rather than thin client?

…  A common deployment today is on a standard PC that’s been virtualized. Yea, I mean, we’ve seen that business grow in demand through last year and expect it to grow in demand this year.

… And again, I don’t think a zero client or a thin client is an answer for all customers.  I think in our mind the bigger message here is we now have a range of devices, an incredibly strong portfolio of thin client devices and zero client devices from Wyse, the standard Dell set of PCs, which do virtualization, and now the ability to manage those in a very differentiated way with the key software assets that we’re bringing on board that expand themselves to tablets, expands itself to mobile phones.

And the fact that in some cases these usage models are moving to the cloud and the ability to do client cloud computing, I think is key, and a key element of this acquisition.

Q: … You mentioned earlier some of the verticals that have been early adopters for this type of technology, can you talk about what you think some of the remaining barriers to broader adoption may be and how, perhaps, Dell is still solving that and what this acquisition does to help you there?

… from a vertical perspective … we see growth both in public sector and private sector, obviously, both in large enterprise and midmarket.

And from a bigger perspective, we see from time to time, some companies do not have the right level of datacenter portfolio and datacenter ecosystem. Sometimes we see certain customers in certain – in vertical industries or geographies complain about the fact they don’t have the right networking systems in the backend.

… these open up an opportunity, obviously.  So, those two are mostly the biggest barriers for deploying desktop virtualization centric cloud client portfolios and platforms.

… I think the key elements – one of the opportunities we have has changed the value proposition to make the total cost of ownership around manageability, securing the data and the devices much more efficient and attractive for our customers.

I think the differentiated technology that we’re getting with the integration of Brad Anderson’s [Dell president, Enterprise Solutions] and Steve Schuckenbrock’s [Dell president of Services] businesses, allow us a unique position to do this for our customers.

Q: … because you had mentioned seeing specific vertical opportunities, do you have any details on the split today of [Wyse] revenue by verticals or by geography?

The geographic mix is roughly 40 percent U.S., 40 percent EMEA and 20 percent APJ. … from a vertical perspective, I would say 50 percent public sector, 50 percent private sector.  When I say public sector, we mean, obviously, you know, state and local governments, healthcare, education, and federal government type of deployments and also private sector, you get the point.

In terms of customer size segmentation, I would say about 50 percent large enterprise, 50 percent midmarket/small business is our business at very high level.

Q: … if you expect to accelerate the growth rate actually from 45 percent, given synergies from Dell, and then, if you do or whatnot, is the revenue incremental or do you expect any substitutional revenue as well?  Like, do you expect that maybe Dell client sales will be hurt by Wyse and then it wouldn’t be completely additive, we’d have to subtract a little from the client side?

… our projection is that we will maybe conservatively grow with the industry relative to thin client.

But, of course, as you’re pointing out, they didn’t have the ability to integrate the comprehensive solution with networking, storage, compute, as well as wrap all the services around it.  So, much of the revenue acceleration is driven by those synergies that you’re pointing out and we expect that to be significant in terms of the growth rates that we’ll be able to achieve through the entire offering that we will provide.

Q: … could you go back and speak to build versus buy because it seems to me that Dell would have had a fairly easy time replicating the thin clients from Wyse.

…

Getting to your point about internal versus external, a comment on this that this is one of the industries when you look at it where Wyse and one other competitor basically had almost 50 percent of the market and then it’s a tremendous drop off to the rest of the players, none greater than 10 percent.

And so, the combination of Dell with Wyse will put us in a very dramatic number one – not dramatic, but clearly a number one market position.  And so, there’s certain value, as you know, of being a significant player in that kind of an industry situation.

… because one of the other elements of the question is Dell versus buy, could we have done this organically?

And our view is, I think, very straightforward.  This [Wyse] is a company that has 31 years of experience.  They have the intellectual property, they have the software and as Dave mentioned earlier, 150 R&D engineers which 140 are in software.

We think the stickiness and the solution in the stack that I showed on one of the earlier slides is the software stack that brings together the edge device, the management software that manages that, that sits into the cloud or sits into the datacenter, and the ability to build that software from essentially ground zero to being able to acquire those capabilities and that experience and the technology with it, puts in a, I think, a leadership position and in a position as we integrate this with Steve [Schuckenbrock’s] and Brad [Anderson]’s organizations and build out workloads and solutions to move quite quickly in the marketplace much quicker than we could have done it on our own.

Q: … specifically, I noticed than one of your newer products is where the T10 is on an ARM based platform, so what type of ARM engineers are you bringing to Dell? … I’m just curious about ARM technology that’s being – will this further Dell’s ARM, I guess, initiatives?

Well, the way that I’d like to answer that question is simply around we’re going to build client devices, both desktops, notebooks, tablets, smart phones, thin clients, zero clients at the appropriate hardware architecture.  That will be a combination of x86 and ARM.

Dell itself has a pretty strong capability around ARM processor architecture.  And as we mentioned, there’s only a dozen or so hardware engineers inside Wyse technology that work on the hardware.  So, us getting hardware competence or assets around the design of ARM from Wyse, that’s not the nature of this acquisition, it’s the 140 software engineers that were key.

The hardware architects on the Dell side that are working on ARM implementation across the plethora of devices that I mentioned earlier would still be the core ARM architects and the knowledge based for our ARM implementations.

The real question maybe lying in the fact, will we continue to support thin clients based on ARM architecture and this thin OS? Absolutely. We believe that’s part of the value proposition that Wyse has had in the marketplace today.  It’s allowed them to move quite quickly in implementing new products to the marketplace, providing a performance advantage or a lower cost option because they’ve done a great job in designing for cost and providing comparable features in the marketplace that others do in a more costly way.

And on top of that, they innovate the platform, as I mentioned earlier, around the management stack, and then the promise around the software engineer being able to take things like Stratus and PocketCloud and being able to build that around those platforms and integrate Dell’s services around that with the rest of our Dell client assets, we think is an opportunity for us to differentiate with this acquisition.

Q: … how this sort of positions yourself with Citrix and the VMware’s of the world, i.e. you know, there’s not going to be any attempts to (inaudible) features and functionality you get with some of those software partners.

… we have strong relationships with the key players in thin client computing and virtualization.  Not only are we going to continue those partnerships, we’re going to grow those and foster even deeper relationships.

… as you all know, we [Wyse] are pretty close partners with Microsoft, we do a lot of work with VMware, with Citrix.  As these providers, you know, provide desktop virtualization methodology and technology between the datacenter and end use computing platforms.

So, we add to that value and the partner heavily with them and obviously that’s going to continue and the opportunity now, obviously as Jeff said earlier, now we’re bringing the datacenter, the network and end user platform all in an integrated way to our customers for more value.  So, we’re going to have more opportunities to partner with Microsoft, with VMware, with Citrix and others in that space.

And also, one other piece to add, we provide some of the software we provide is differentiated in the marketplace, is the leader in this space also from the cloud, both on the infrastructure management side from the cloud, with a product called Wyse Stratus. So, many of you on the phone are using today, Wyse PocketCloud, the market leading product for content management from the cloud on any mobile device and also from your web browser, connecting your apps and content inside the content voice data video from your choice of your cloud, private or public.

So, these are all opportunities for us to do more with Microsoft, with VMware and Citrix as they move forward.  And that’s a big differentiator.

James Whittaker’s Quality Software Crusade from Academia to Microsoft, then Google and now back to Microsoft

March 14, 2012 3:37 pm / 4 Comments on James Whittaker’s Quality Software Crusade from Academia to Microsoft, then Google and now back to Microsoft

Updates: Why I joined Microsoft [published: March 21, 2012; written: March 13, 2012]
– James Whittaker ‏ @docjamesw 7:06 AM – 20 Mar 12 via web · Details

A web futurist is someone who hates the web as it is now and envisions a better future for it.

– Why I hate search [MSDN Blogs > JW on Tech , March 15, 2012]

…

We start from scratch each time. We search for things we’ve already found.

The problem with Internet search is that being stupid about it is profitable. The more ugly blue links you serve up, the more time users have to click on ads. Serve up bad results and the user must search again and this doubles the number of sponsored links you get paid for. Why be part of the solution when being part of the problem pays so damn well? It’s 2012 and we are still typing search queries into a text box. Now you know why, a ‘find engine’ swims in the shallow end of the profit pool. Is it any surprise that technology such as Siri came from a company that doesn’t specialize in search? (Where do you place an ad in a Siri use case?)

There’s no more reason to expect search breakthroughs from Google than there is to expect electric car batteries to be made by Exxon.

We can do better. We’ve been searching for over a decade. We know every place possible where the online equivalent of car keys are found. We know where our online pet is, always. We know so many things about the world that no longer need to be served up as search “results.” (Results indeed! If users ever wake up and divorce their search engine, the “results” page is likely to be exhibit A in the separation hearing.)

Search, my friends, is broken. Finding things has become secondary to monetizing the search process. Fixing this situation is not in the best interest of the incumbents. Which, actually, is all well and good because the fix will need a more web-wide effort anyway. The companies that own the data sources, the companies that ingest, store and conflate that data, the myriad small development shops that do interesting things with the data, the cleverness of the people who curate the data and the power of crowdsourced know-how need to come together and make search … better? No, not better, irrelevant.

Search is dead. The web doesn’t need it and neither do we.

– Now you see it, in 20 years you won’t [MSDN Blogs > JW on Tech , April 12, 2012]

Google’s Marissa Mayer gave a Flintstonian glimpse at what search might look like in 20 years including “predicting what restaurant you might like in a new city” and “connecting you with strangers based on common interests.” Things that take entire seconds today will take … entire seconds in 2032. Thankfully, for Mayer at least, violating Moore’s Law carries no actual criminal or civil penalties.

In a nutshell, what Mayer (and I assume Google) is proposing is that in twenty years Google and the web will still be standing between knowledge and its consumption. Google has 40 billion reasons to be patient regarding the future.

…

You want a prediction of the future? The trend of disappearing search will continue. The web will melt into the background and humans will progressively be removed from their labor intensive and frustrating present by automation. In five years the web is likely to be completely invisible. You will simply express your intent and the knowledge you seek will be yours. Users will be seamlessly routed to apps capable of fulfilling their intent. Apps won’t need to be installed by a user; they will be able to find opportunities to be useful all by themselves, matching their capabilities with a user’s intent. You need driving directions? Travel reservations? Takeout? Tickets to a show? Groceries? Tell your phone, it will spare you the ugly links. It will spare you the landing page. It will spare you the ads. It will simply give you what you asked for. This is already happening today, expect it to accelerate.

…

End of Updates

James Whittaker ‏ @docjamesw 8:03 PM – 29 Feb 12 via web · Details

I got my team today. Hmm…what shall I do with 300 developers? You won’t have to wait long to find out.

About JW on Tech [MSDN Blogs > JW on Tech > About James Whittaker, March 13, 2012]

James Whittaker is a technology executive with a career that spans academia, start-ups and top tech companies. He is known for being a creative and passionate leader and in technical contributions in testing, security and developer tools. He’s published dozens of peer reviewed papers, five books and has won best speaker awards at a number of international conferences. During his time at Google he led teams working on Chrome, Google Maps and Google+. He is currently at Microsoft reinventing the web [in a Partner Development Manager role as per LinkedIn, and as a web futurist at Microsoft according to his twitter account].

Want to read more? James wrote How to Break Software, How to Break Software Security (with Hugh Thompson), and How to Break Web Software (with Mike Andrews). While at Microsoft, James transformed many of his testing ideas into tools and techniques for developers and testers, and wrote the book Exploratory Software Testing [Sept 4, 2009]. His current book was written when he was a test engineering director at Google and is called How Google Tests Software (with Jason Arbon and Jeff Carollo) [Whittaker’s twitter: getting close to end of printing, otherwise April 8, 2012].

     

How Google Tests Software [Google Testing Blog, May 26, 2011]:
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Interlude  – Part 4 – Part 5 – Part 6 – Q&A – Part 7

Large-scale Exploratory Testing: Let’s Take a Tour [SQEVideo, published on Oct 2, 2011]

STARWEST 2009, October 5-9, 2009: Manual testing is the best way to find the bugs most likely to bite users badly after a product ships. However, manual testing remains a very ad hoc, aimless process. At a number of companies across the globe, groups of test innovators gathered in think tank settings to create a better way to do manual testing–a way that is more prescriptive, repeatable, and capable of finding the highest quality bugs. The result is a new methodology for exploratory testing based on the concept of tours through the application under test. In short, tours represent a more purposeful way to plan and execute exploratory tests. James Whittaker describes the tourist metaphor for this novel approach and demonstrates tours taken by test teams from various companies including Microsoft and Google. He presents results from numerous projects where the tours were used in critical-path production environments. Learn about the collection of test tours, test cases, and bugs from these case studies and recommendations for using tours on your own products.

[James Whittaker’s Google+ post, Feb 13, 2012]

Signing off of Google+
This will be my last post on Google+. Anyone interested in my post-Google career can follow me on Twitter (@docjamesw).

[James Whittaker’s Google+ post, Feb 3, 2012]

There comes a time when all good things must end and my time at Google is one of them. This is not one of those “Google let me down” rants, nor is it a “I love this company, keep up the good work” farewell … just a realization that even as my perf scores and profile within the company has risen my ability to lead has diminished. It’s time to stop being part of a team changing the world and time to go lead one. Unfortunately, the place to do that is elsewhere. Today is my last day.

Keep in touch with me on Twitter @docjamesw. Or not.

James Whittaker interview [TCLGroupLimited, Dec 3, 2011]

James Whittaker, Engineering Director of Google interviews for TCL in November 2011. … [3:26] I think Google has a much more mature testing organization than probably almost anyone. In fact, I think, really at the top of the testing tool chain Microsoft and Google probably stand alone. [3:38] … [6:27] I think both companies still have that kind of aura about that net cool factor. [6:32] … [8:08] Traditional publishing is as dead as testing …

James Whittaker’s testing blog posts while with Google [Google Testing Blog, June 8, 2009 – Nov 15, 2011]

James Whittaker joins Google [Google Testing Blog, June 2, 2009]

By Patrick Copeland

I’m excited to announce that James Whittaker has joined us as our newest Test Director at Google.

James comes to us most recently from Microsoft. He has spent his career focusing on testing, building high quality products, and designing tools and process at the industrial scale. In the not so distant past, he was a professor of computer science at Florida Tech where he taught an entire software testing curriculum and issued computer science degrees with a minor in testing (something we need more schools to do). Following that , he started a consulting practice that spanned 33 countries. Apparently, fashion is not high on his list as he he has collected soccer jerseys from many of these countries and wears those during major tournaments. At Microsoft he wrote a popular blog,and in the near future you can expect him to startcontributing here.

He has trained thousands of testers worldwide. He’s also written set of books in the How to Break Softwareseries. They have won awards and achieved best seller status. His most recent book is on exploratory testing is coming out this summer. It is not a stretch to say that he is one of the most recognizable names in the industry and has had a deep impact on the field of testing. If you have a chance, strike up a conversation with James about the future of testing. His vision for what we’ll be doing and how our profession will change is interesting, compelling and not just a little bit scary.

Join me in welcoming James to Google!

James Whittaker’s testing blog posts while with Microsoft 1st time [posted between July 8, 2008  and May 21, 2009]

tour of the month: the exit-stage-right tour [MSDN Blogs > JW on Test, May 21, 2009]

All tours much eventually come to an end and thus it is with my tour with Microsoft. I have resigned my position and am leaving the company. It was a great ride.

But the tours will continue. My book Exploratory Software Testing: Tips, Tricks, Tours and Techniques to Guide Manual Testers is in press and will appear through Addison-Wesley sometime this summer. I am truly thankful for the many wonderful testers at Microsoft who contributed wisdom, thoughts and even case studies to the effort. Special thanks go to Nicole Haugen, Geoff Staneff, David Gorena Elizondo, Shawn Brown and Bola Agbonile. Microsoft is full of great testers and even here, these guys manage to stand out.

I imagine that I will not be long in setting up a new blog as I have very much enjoyed this experience and being the only tester in Developer Division’s top ten bloggers was quite an honor. For that I thank you.

In case you are interested in my landing place, I can imagine that one or two of the more popular testing blogs around town will be talking about it.

Wish me luck …

before we begin [MSDN Blogs > JW on Test, July 8, 2008]

For those of you familiar with my writing I plan to update some of my more dated work (history of testing, testing’s ten commandments, and so forth) and preview some of the information that I will be publishing in paper and book form in the future. Specifically, I now (finally) have enough notes to revise my tutorial on manual exploratory testing: How to Break Software and will be embarking on that effort soon. This blog is where I’ll solicit feedback and report on my progress.

For now, here’s an update on what’s happening, testing-wise, for me at Microsoft:

  • I am the Architect for Visual Studio Team System – Test Edition. That’s right, Microsoft is upping the ante in the test tools business and I find myself at the center of it. What can you expect? We’ll be shipping more than just modern replacements for tired old testing tools. We’ll be shipping tools to help testers to test: automated assistance for the manual tester; bug reporting that brings developers and testers together instead of driving them apart; and tools that make testers a far more central player in the software development process. I can’t wait!
  • I am the Chair of the Quality and Testing Experts Community at Microsoft. This is an internal community of the most senior testing and quality thought leaders in the company. We kicked off the community with record-breaking attendance (the most of any of Microsoft’s technical network communities) at our inaugural event this past spring where some of our longest-tenured testers shared a retrospective of the history of testing at Microsoft followed by my own predictions for the future of the discipline. It was a lively discussion and underscored the passion for testing that exists at this company. In this quarter’s meeting we’re doing communal deep dives into the testing-related work that is coming out of Microsoft Research. MSR, the division responsible for Virtual Earth and the Worldwide Telescope also builds test tools! I can’t wait to ship some of this stuff!
  • I am representing my division (DevDiv) on a joint project with Windows called aQuality Quest. Our quest is concerned with quality, specifically, what we need to do to ensure that our next generation of platforms and services are so reliable that users take quality for granted. Sounds like I took the blue pill, doesn’t it? Well, you won’t find us dancing around acting like our software is perfect. Anyone who has ever heard me speak (either before or after I joined Microsoft) has seen me break our apps with abandon. In this Quest, we’ll leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of why our systems fail and what processes or technology can serve to correct the situation.

New hire into our group – James Whittaker [MSDN Blogs > Michael Howard’s Web Log, May 5, 2006]

I’m pleased to announce, actually I’m *thrilled* to announce, that James Whittaker has joined our group [SDL – Security Development Lifecycle]. James is a well-known author and speaker on software testing and security. He most recently worked as a professor of computer science at Florida Tech where he ran a huge software security research team. James created the “How to Break…” book series with Addison Wesley. He wrote How to Break Software [May 19, 2002], How to Break Software Security [May 19, 2003] and How to Break Web Software [Feb 12, 2006].

     

He’s also one of the folks behind the Holodeck testing tool.

He’s a cool guy, sharp as a tack, with a very dry sense of humor, so we should get along just fine! He’ll be a peer of mine, reporting to Steve Lipner [Trustworthy Computing Initiative chief], and is initially focused on our internal security and privacy training.ne of the folks behind the Holodecktesting tool.

As I’m sure most of you will agree, hiring good security people takes time, and hiring talent like James is rare indeed.

Welcome, James!
[Michael Howard is now the chief security officer for Microsoft as a so called Principal Cybersecurity Architect working with customers and partners. Before that he was a long-time member of the Security Development Lifecycle team, in fact a co-founder of that in 2001, the SDL being also closely related to the now 12 years old Trustworthy Computing Initiative by Microsoft. ]

GTAC 2008 Keynote Address: The Future of Testing by James Whittaker of Microsoft [GoogleTechTalks, published on Apr 7, 2009]

Presented by James Whittaker, Microsoft Corp. at the 3rd Annual Google Test Automation Conference (GTAC) held in Seattle, WA on October 23-24, 2008.

An Interview with James Whittaker [Dr.Dobb’s Journal, Sept 26, 2006]

Michael Hunter interviews James Whittaker, noted testing guru and author, to shed some light on his testing philosophy.

James Whittakeris, I dare say, one of the celebrities of the testing world. He was long a professor of computer science at the Florida Institute of Technology, where he became well-known for his efforts to find ways to make testing a teachable skill. He and his research group there created innovative testing technologies and tools, including the popular runtime fault injection tool Holodeck, and became highly skilled at breaking software security. James founded Security Innovation to productize his work, but recently he has left both that company and teaching to join Microsoft as a Security Architect, where he is working to integrate testing into the Security Development Lifecycle (SDL).

James wrote How To Break Software – one of my favorite books on testing, co-wrote How To Break Software Security (also very good) with Hugh Thompson, and co-wrote How To Break Web Software(haven’t read it yet) with Mike Andrews. James’ talks at Microsoft are always standing room only; this interview will give you a taste of why.

DDJ: What was your first introduction to testing? What did that leave you thinking about the act and/or concept of testing?

JW: I was in graduate school in a software engineering group studying high assurance software engineering methodologies (cleanroom to be specific) and the bloody dev group met at 7:30 on Saturday mornings! I missed the first three meetings (dude, in grad school the nerd act doesn’t happen that early on a weekend) so the professor put me in charge of the independent test team (which I discovered was just me). So that left me with the idea that testers get more sleep than devs but that we need it because we are woefully outnumbered.

And that perception remains, sans the sleep part.

DDJ: What has most surprised you as you have learned about testing/in your experiences with’ testing?

JW: The sheer number of people *passionate* about testing, particularly at Microsoft. It gives me a great deal of confidence in the future knowing that such skill and talent is being applied to the hardest problem the discipline has to offerwhich is quality.

DDJ: What is the most interesting bug you have seen?

JW: The most interesting bug is always the latest bug. Just today everyone in our group was surprised at an Inbox with thousands of recall status messages. Someone sent a mail from an alias of 1275 members, then recalled it. The recall then sent success/failure notices to EVERYONE on the alias. That’s 1275 x 1275 (about 1.6 million) emails! How’s that for exploiting a design flaw!

DDJ: How would you describe your testing philosophy?

JW: Eyes open, brain on, test! Or the longer explanation covered in How to Break Software. Thanks for the chance to plug one of my books!

DDJ: What do you see as the biggest challenge for testers/the test discipline for the next five years?

JW: There are a number of trends that testers are going to have to grapple with. The first is that software is getting better. The result of this is that bugs are going to become harder and harder to find and the weaker testers will be relegated to Darwinian insignificance. Keeping sharp, building skills and maintaining a cutting edge testing knowledge has never been more important.

The second is that software process is finally taking over. For years processes haven’t much affected the way software is built (which doesn’t say much for legacy processes). But here at Microsoft the SDL is revolutionizing the way software is constructed. Testers have to figure out their role in this process. We have to be there, working, at project initiation and play a key role in every single phase of the lifecycle. Testing is not a task for the latter stages of the ship cycle. Testers who realize this and customize their work accordingly will rise in prominence within their product group and be able to influence the growth of the SDL rather than be steamrolled by it.

[See my Table Of Contents post for more details about this interview series.]

“if Microsoft is so good at testing, why does your software suck?” [MSDN Blogs > JW on Test, Aug 11, 2008]

What a question! I only wish I could convey the waythat question is normally asked. The tone of voice is either partially apologetic (because many people remember that I was a major ask-er of that same question long before I became an ask-ee) or it’s condescending to the point that I find myself smiling as I fantasize about the ask-er’s computer blue-screening right before that crucial save. (Ok, so I took an extra hit of the kool-aid today. It was lime and I like lime.)

After 27 months on the inside I have a few insights. The first few are, I readily concede, downright defensive. But as I’ve come to experience firsthand, true nonetheless. The last one though is really at the heart of the matter: that, talent notwithstanding, testers at Microsoft do have some work to do.

I’m not going down the obvious path: that testing isn’t responsible for quality and to direct the question to a developer/designer/architect instead. (I hatethe phrase ‘you can’t test quality in,’ it’s a deflection of blame and as a tester, I take quality directly as my responsibility.)

But I am getting ahead of myself. I’ll take up that baton at the end of this post. Let’s begin with the defensive points:

  • Microsoft builds applications that are among the world’s most complex. No one is going to argue that Windows, SQL Server, Exchange and so forth aren’t complex and the fact that they are in such widespread use means that our biggest competitors are often our own prior versions. We end up doing what we call “brown field” development (as opposed to ‘green field’ or version 1 development) in that we are building on top of existing functionality. That means that testers have to deal with existing features, formats, protocols along with all the new functionality and integration scenarios that make it very difficult to build a big picture test plan that is actually do-able. Testing real end-to-end scenarios must share the stage with integration and compatibility tests. Legacy sucks and functionality is only part of it…as testers, we all know what is really making that field brown! Be careful where you step. Dealing with yesterday’s bugs keeps part of our attention away from today’s bugs.

(Aside: Have you heard that old CS creationist joke: “why did it take god only seven days to create the universe?” The answer: “No installed base.” There’s nothing to screw up, no existing users to piss off or prior functionality and crappy design decisions to tiptoe around. God got lucky, us…not so much.)

  • Our user-to-tester ratio sucks, leaving us hopelessly outnumbered. How many testers does it take to run the same number of test cases that the user base of, say, Microsoft Word can run in the first hour after it is released? The answer: far more than we have or could hire even if we could find enough qualified applicants. There are enough users to virtually ensure that every feature gets used in every way imaginable within the first hour (day, week, fortnight, month, pick any timescale you want and it’s still scary) after release. This is a lot of stress to put our testers under. It’s one thing to know you are testing software that is important. It’s quite another to know that your failure to do so well will be mercilessly exposed soon after release. Testing our software is hard, only the brave need apply.
  • On a related point, our installed base makes us a target. Our bugs affect so many people that they are newsworthy. There are a lot of people watching for us to fail. If David Beckham wears plaid with stripes to fetch his morning paper, it’s scandalous; if I wore my underpants on the outside of my jeans for a week few people would even notice (in their defense though, my fashion sense is obtuse enough that they could be readily forgiven for overlooking it). Becks is a successful man, but when it comes to the ‘bad with the good’ I’m betting he’s liking the good a whole lot more. You’re in good company David.

But none of that matters. We’ll take our installed base and our market position any day. No trades offered. But still, we always ready to improve. I think testers should step up and do a better job of testing quality in. That’s my fourth point.

  • Our testers don’t play a strong enough role in the design of our apps. We have this “problem” at Microsoft that we have a whole lot of wicked smart people. We have these creatures called Technical Fellows and Distinguished Engineers who have really big brains and use them to dream really big dreams. Then they take these big dreams of theirs and convince General Managers and VPs (in addition to being smart they are also articulate and passionate) that they should build this thing they dreamt about. Then another group of wicked smart people called Program Managers start designing the hell out of these dreams and Developers start developing the hell out of them and a few dozen geniuses later this thing has a life of its own and then someone asks ‘how are we going to test this thing’ and of course it’s A LITTLE LATE TO BE ASKING THAT QUESTION NOW ISN’T IT?

Smart people who dream big inspire me. Smart people who don’t understand testing and dream big scare the hell out of me. We need to do a better job of getting the word out. There’s another group of wicked smart people at Microsoft and we’re getting involved a wee bit late in the process. We’ve got things to say and contributions to make, not to mention posteriors to save. There’s a part of our job we aren’t doing as well as we should: pushing testing forward into the design and development process and educating the rest of the company on what quality means and how it is attained.

We can test quality in; we just have to start testing a lot sooner. That means that everyone from TF/DE through the entire pipeline needs to have test as part of their job. We have to show them how to do that. We have to educate these smart people about what quality means and take what we know about testing and apply it not only to just binaries/assemblies, but to designs, user stories, specs and every other artifact we generate. How can it be the case that what we know about quality doesn’t apply to these early stage artifacts? It does apply. We need to lead the way in applying it.

I think that ask-ers of the good-tester/crappy-software question would be surprised to learn exactly how we are doing this right now. Fortunately, you’ll get a chance because Tara Roth, one of the Directors of Test for Office is speaking at STAR West in November. Office has led the way in pushing testing forward and she’s enjoyed a spot as a leader of that effort. I think you’ll enjoy hearing what she has to say.

Test Talk with James Whittaker [Oct 3, 2011]

Test Talk with James Whittaker

James Whittaker is in software testing as long as he can remember. During his study he wrote his graduation paper about Model Based Testing. He made fame at Microsoft and recently he ´joined the enemy´ by going over to Google. His books “how to break software” are bestsellers and the presentation in which he is hacking websites live in front of the audience are fantastic. His last book about Exploratory Software Testing is released last year. I was in the opportunity to ask him the questions below.

1. Can you introduce yourself and explain how you already became a tester during college at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, judging the name of your dissertation.
My name is James Whittaker and I am a Director of Engineering at Google. I own Test for a bunch of Google products including Chrome browser, Chrome operating system, Google Toolbar as well as some Search and Geo products and a bunch of back-end data center infrastructure applications. I also own Development of engineering tools including both developers and testing tools.

I got into test when I was a grad student. Mostly it was by default as my software engineering research team met on Saturday mornings and I had better things to do early Saturday than spend it with a bunch of coding nerds. My professor gave me two choices: get fired or be a tester. Neither he or I knew what a favor he did for me at the time. I really hit the ground running and did a lot of innovative work in model-based testing. In fact, I got my PhD two years before any of those developers. Testing was a great career move for me even back then.

2. How hard was it to change from a Microsoft employee towards a Google employee, and is testing very different at these two companies?
Not hard at all difficult. Microsoft was great preparation for Google. Culturally they are polar opposites with Microsoft being more top down whereas Google is more engineering driven. At Microsoft the high ratio of testers to developers is a case in point. The numbers of people on a project is made by execs and managers. At Google it is made by engineers and no engineer at Google believes a 1:1 ratio is necessary or even healthy. The fewer testers on a project means more involvement by developers for QA. I had a meeting yesterday with the development director for Chrome OS and the entire subject was what they could do to make our job easier. The director was genuinely concerned that his developers were engaging deeply enough on testing issues. A culture like that makes the 1:1 ratio irrelevant … everyone on the project is a tester.

3. I read somewhere that you are busy at Google with forging a future in which software just works. Is that possible, a world without software bugs?
Not in my lifetime. However we are getting closer. Even a few years ago I had to pull the battery on my smart phone every week or so. I’ve not even turned my current one off for 3 months and it works fine. Quality assurance for software is much like health care for humans. Humans will always get sick but with good prevention, good hygiene and regular maintenance our bodies do ok. We need to make testing like this: continuous and ongoing. One of the things that annoys me is the whole “push quality upstream” movement. Some people seem to believe that we can rig it so we just write perfect code. That’s like taking all your vitamins when you are a baby and then expecting a long healthy life. Obviously upfront debugging is good, but quality is an ongoing endeavor. It starts at the beginning and is a constant activity throughout the life of a product.

4. Patrick Copeland said that your vision on the future of testing is interesting, compelling and not just a little bit scary. Can you shortly tell us your vision, so we don’t get scared?
I am happy that it scares people and honored that it scares smart people like Patrick who thinks deeply on these matters. Too many people are dogmatic about testing. Some say “avoid rigor and do only exploratory testing” and they say it with a fervor that reminds me of religious fundamentalist who see only black and white. Others say the same of automation with the same amount of self righteousness. One thing I do know is that when you think your world view is the only view, there is a problem. People like this have stopped thinking about alternatives. They’ve stopped being open minded. They’ve definitely stopped being right.

I am also not going to stand in the middle and start every answer with ‘it depends.’ It turns out that there are some absolutes. There are some testing problems that can be driven to extinction with automation. There are some problems where exploratory testing is exactly the opposite of a good idea. I think it is smart to be problem-oriented and not solution-oriented. The latter is the proverbial hammer solution where every problem looks like a nail because you sell hammers for a living. I’ve laid out my full vision for software testing in my latest book but let me just say here that the part people find scary is that my vision requires far fewer testers than the world currently employs.

5. Your last book is about Exploratory Testing. Can you explain how taking the supermodel tour will improve our testing skills?
All the tours focus a tester’s attention. The idea is to test on purpose. Exploratory testing does not have to lack rigor and it does not have to encompass endless wandering hoping that you find a bug. It also should be about finding important bugs. I find myself endlessly annoyed by speakers who show bugs that no one would care about. Any exploratory method can find easy bugs; what about the hard ones?

Many of the tours focus on a general class of bug. The Supermodel Tour as a specific case focuses on presentation layer bugs. It asks you to first identify important properties of the UI and then choose paths that force those properties to change and then be displayed on the UI. We called it the Supermodel Tour to get the idea across that we are looking only skin-deep for bugs (only at the UI level). The tour gives both general guidance in terms of focusing on displayable properties and specific guidance about what part of the application should be visited during an exploratory session (the functions that allow you to change and then display those values). So you see that it requires some pre-work and planning but then allows for exploration once that planning is done. For example, in Maps we run the Supermodel Tour on our classification of landmarks. We make a list of all the landmarks (national parks, places of interest and so forth) in advance and explore the UI to find each location. We (actually Brendan Dhein) found a bug where Arlington National Cemetery was classified as a restaurant! It’s a subtle bug if you are just exploring. But if you are running the Supermodel Tour is jumps out at you. The idea is that a good tester can become a great tester with the right focus and by testing on purpose.

6. What will your next book be about?
I’m writing a book called How Google Test Chrome which details our testing process start to finish on Chrome OS. It’s a totally open kimono assessment of everything that we are going. Right, wrong, false starts, great ideas, cool innovation, new tools and every test artifact we generate from plans to test cases to open source automation. I am psyched about this as I don’t believe anyone has every fully documented and published a complete project before, particularly one of the complexity of an operating system.

I plan to include the browser too in this but as I have only written the first chapter on the test plan I do not want to over commit!

7. How is testing managed at Google? From one place or per country or per application or … ?
It’s divided by product lines or what we call “Focus Areas.” In my case I own the Client Focus Area. However since I am in a remote site I also have authority over all the work that goes on in Kirkland and Seattle Washington. I’m a busy boy but I like it that way. A single product would bore me.

It’s funny that on the Dev side each product has a Director in charge of it. Whereas I am the Director over many products. I have Test Managers over each product who have to interact with a Director on the dev side. So if you match us up one to one, you might have a Test Manager matching wits on a daily basis with Development Director three levels above them in rank. You talk about character building, this is the place for that. Google test managers are a breed apart. Cream of the crop.

8. Are you still collecting soccer jerseys? And if so, is there one you really want to add to your collection?
Yes and I cannot wait to wear them during the World Cup. By tradition I never wear anything else during that tournament (sorry for the visual). When people invite me to speak I often get them as gifts and I have dozens. I am hoping I get a Swiss one this trip (hint, hint) and I lost my Australian one (please don’t ask) and am looking for a replacement. But I have a lot of club jerseys too and will relish the chance to wear different colors. Send me a jersey and I’ll send you some signed books!

9. I hear you will giving a keynote at the Swiss Testing Day. Can you give us a sneak preview on what it will be about?
“Testing On Purpose” is the title. I am talking in far more depth about how we are testing Chrome at Google. I hope to see you there.

All that testing is getting in the way of quality by James Whittaker, Part One  [TCLGroupLimited, Dec 8, 2011]

TCL presents Google’s James Whittaker on “All that testing is getting in the way of quality”. PART ONE is starting with the early 2011 changes in the way Google is carrying out engineering work. This made Whittaker to rethink the role of testers fundamentally. … CAN TESTING GET CREDIT FOR SOFTWARE GETTING BETTER (which is definitely the case)? … WHY SOFTWARE IS BETTER? …IMMEDIATE COST OF LOW QUALITY (user is moving away) … POST_SHIP BUG FIXING (could fix in-place now, auto update) … SELF REPAIRING SOFTWARE (crash recovery) … GOODBY SERVER CONFIG (cloud deployment) … REDUCTION OF [platform] VARIATONS AND DEPENDENCIES (standards) … ELEGANT PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES (Java with automatic garbage collection, Python, Ruby, … don’t write big programs) … ERADICATION OF CERTAIN BUG SPECIES (extinction) … BETTER CODE MANAGEMENT (initial code quality by automating workflows … pre-submit checks …) … CONTINUOUS BUILD/INTEGRATION/RELEASE/TEST …

All that testing is getting in the way of quality by James Whittaker, Part Two [TCLGroupLimited, Dec 8, 2011]

TCL presents Google’s James Whittaker on “All that testing is getting in the way of quality”. PART TWO is starting with the observation that USER IS A BETTER TESTER THAN YOU ARE … leading to the conclusion that TESTERS COULD COMPLETELY BE REMOVED (as unnecessary go betweens) FROM THE INSIDES OF THE DEVELOPER-USER RELATIONSHIP.

A Brave New World of Testing? An Interview with Google’s James Whittaker by Forrest Shull [IEEE Software, March/April 2012 pp. 4-7]

… In their introduction, the guest editors have compiled a list of questions related to what our future, cloud-intensive world is going to look like—many of which I’ve heard myself from colleagues in government and commercial positions. The one that I hear most often is this: How should organizations leverage the power of this approach to improve testing and quality assurance of software? To get an answer, I turned to James Whittaker, an engineering director at Google, which has been at the forefront of leveraging the cloud. James is a noted expert and author on software testing, whose team has been managing Google’s cloud computing testing. Some excerpts of our conversation:

What is it like right now, looking across cloud computing testing at Google? It sounds like a pretty major undertaking.

…

In one of your previous interviews, I came across a statement of yours that has become one of my favorite thought-provoking quotes. You said, “Anyone who says that testing is getting harder is doing it wrong.” Could you expand on this a bit?

…

In the cloud, all the machines automatically work together; there’s monitoring software available, and one test case will run anywhere. There’s not even a test lab. There’s just a section of the datacenter that works for you from a testing point of view. You put a test case there and it runs. And all of the different scheduling software that any datacenter uses to schedule tasks can be used to schedule tests. So, a lot of the stuff that we used to have to write and customize for our test labs, we just don’t need anymore.

…

The other thing the cloud has done is brought us closer to our users. Think of Google Maps: it’s really impossible to hire a group of testers to exhaustively test it. It’s literally a piece of software of planetary proportions. If there’s a bug in my address on Google Maps, I’m likely to be the only one who will find it. But the cloud also enables us to reach out to users who are early adopters to get better and richer bug feedback than we were ever able to do back in the client-server days, when once software got to the field it was very difficult to update and instrument. Now, it’s easy to update a datacenter, it’s easy to instrument a datacenter. If a customer finds a bug, it’s easy for them to tell us about it, and it’s easy for us to fix it and push that fix to all our users, by just refreshing a browser.

So the cloud really does change things. It’s a different model of development; it’s a different model of testing; it’s a different model of usage.

Regarding testers and the skill sets that they’ve traditionally been applying on the job, does the same skill set still apply? Or are people being asked to develop new skills to take advantage of all these cloud features?

…

So, if I can paraphrase what you’ve been saying, the cloud is changing the whole underlying economics of software development and software testing. It’s easier and quicker for a company to try something, push it out to users, hear from the users what the problems are, and fix them, than it is to follow the traditional path of getting the requirements right up front, then getting the architecture right and nailed down, then getting the coding done well ….

Absolutely. By the time you do all that stuff, you’re too late. Your competitor’s beaten you to the market. On the cloud, you can really release and iterate—that’s much more the development model of modern times.

But you have to be careful: Google’s not pushing software out to its users saying, “Hey, is this any good? We’re not sure!” There are a lot of intermediate steps. We have an internal process we call dogfooding, as in, if you’re trying to sell dog food, you should eat your own product first to make sure it’s okay. All our software is used internally first by Googlers before we push it out to the world. If you look at something like Google+, which we released last year, we used that internally among Googlers for many months before we released it. In that process of dogfooding Google+, we found far more bugs and far richer bugs than the test team associated with Google+.

The points you’re making, about having representative users from the beginning who are able to use the product and help mature it, represents a much bigger paradigm shift than I had originally realized.

To me, that is just one of the most crucial things that companies absolutely have to get good at. In the past, if you found a bug in, say, your browser, you didn’t know how to report it. You’d have to find some bug-reporting page on the vendor’s site, and it would ask you what operating system you were using and what version of the browser you were using, and what other plug-ins you had installed…. But the machine knows all that stuff! So the idea is that once you crash, or once a user finds a bug, you just grab that machine state and send it back to the vendor so that they can understand the state the user was in exactly.

This seems like a very concrete model to use for functional testing. But does the same paradigm work if I’m worried about things like reliability, performance, or throughput?

Or better yet, security, privacy, and so on. I agree with you completely. I think the idea of paying top dollar for engineers to do functional testing really is an artifact of the 1990s and 2000s, and shouldn’t be something that companies invest in heavily in the future. But things like security, privacy, and performance are very technical in nature. You don’t do security testing without understanding a lot about protocols, machine states, or how the Web works; a lot of a priori knowledge is required. You can’t replace that. So when I give advice to functional testers who say that I’m predicting the end of their job, specialization is one of the things I recommend. Specialization is crucially important.

…

How does the simplistic testing model that we all learned in school—where you go first through unit testing, then integration testing, then system testing—adapt to the new paradigm?

We do integration testing, but we call it something different. People always say that Google just likes to change the names of things, but we did this one on purpose. We don’t have to integrate it from environment to environment, but we do have to integrate it across developers. So developer A writes one module, developer B writes another module; to us, integration testing hits both developer A’s anzsoftware that you simply do not have to run on the cloud: any sort of configuration test, and any sort of load testing, just isn’t necessary in this new modern environment. Load is taken care of for you; if it slows down, new cells in the datacenter are spun off automatically.

When you hire new testers for your teams at Google, is there something in particular that you’re looking for? You mentioned specialization as being important, but is there anything else that makes a good cloud tester versus just a good tester?

…

For folks who are trying to move legacy systems onto the cloud, does their development and testing process look a lot different from what they’d use when trying to do something more greenfield?

…

Where are things going in the future? Will abstractions allow developers and testers to worry about even fewer issues over time, or will there be new things that we do need to worry about as more and more people go on the cloud?

There are definitely some new things that we’ll need to worry about. First and foremost, connecting to customers is going to be really important. As much as we have the server side of it down (instead of having a massively complex server, we just have this cloud that takes care of itself), there’s still a lot of variation on the device/user side. If you look at the number of Android devices that are out there, and the number of operating systems and apps that people have configured onto them, that is still a hard testing problem.

The cloud actually makes that easier, too. Crowdsourcing companies are now connecting certain specific people with specific devices to people who are writing apps on those devices. So the idea of leveraging the crowd through the cloud is definitely something that hasn’t been done before, and is a new phenomenon that we’re watching really carefully here.

One thing is for sure, we’re never going to settle on a single platform. Humankind doesn’t seem to be capable of doing that, and I don’t think it would be a good thing to eliminate competition among platforms. The Linux/Windows competition has always been healthy, and the same thing is happening in the mobile space now. So we’re always going to have to develop for multiple platforms, and those platform owners are going to want to innovate as quickly as they can and they’re not always going to be checking with you or each other on those innovations, so the developers are just going to have to be on their toes.

Learn More

My conversation with James touched on many more issues than I could note here. If you’re interested in hearing more of the conversation we had, which ranged over additional issues such as cloud testing tools and handling privacy and robustness, then check out our half-hour audio interview at http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MS.2012.23.

More than anything else, my conversation with James made me aware again of the significant changes to the way we do business that accompany the cloud, and the new skills that are becoming important. Perhaps the best summary was James’ comments that “People really need to take the cloud seriously and rethink testing from the ground up. There are a lot of sacred cows in testing that just go away with the transition to the cloud. Keeping an open mind and taking advantage of the efficiencies of the cloud are going to be really important.” I certainly hope the remainder of this special issue on cloud computing will help give you useful food for thought in doing so.

Why I left Google [MSDN Blogs > JW on Tech, March 13, 2012]

Ok, I relent. Everyone wants to know why I left and answering individually isn’t scaling so here it is, laid out in its long form. Read a little (I get to the punch line in the 3rdparagraph) or read it all. But a warning in advance: there is no drama here, no tell-all, no former colleagues bashed and nothing more than you couldn’t already surmise from what’s happening in the press these days surrounding Google and its attitudes toward user privacy and software developers. This is simply a more personal telling.

It wasn’t an easy decision to leave Google. During my time there I became fairly passionate about the company. I keynoted four Google Developer Day events, two Google Test Automation Conferences and was a prolific contributor to the Google testing blog. Recruiters often asked me to help sell high priority candidates on the company. No one had to ask me twice to promote Google and no one was more surprised than me when I could no longer do so. In fact, my last three months working for Google was a whirlwind of desperation, trying in vain to get my passion back.

The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus.

Technically I suppose Google has always been an advertising company, but for the better part of the last three years, it didn’t feel like one. Google was an ad company only in the sense that a good TV show is an ad company: having great content attracts advertisers.

Under Eric Schmidt ads were always in the background. Google was run like an innovation factory, empowering employees to be entrepreneurial through founder’s awards, peer bonuses and 20% time. Our advertising revenue gave us the headroom to think, innovate and create. Forums like App Engine, Google Labs and open source served as staging grounds for our inventions. The fact that all this was paid for by a cash machine stuffed full of advertising loot was lost on most of us. Maybe the engineers who actually worked on ads felt it, but the rest of us were convinced that Google was a technology company first and foremost; a company that hired smart people and placed a big bet on their ability to innovate.

From this innovation machine came strategically important products like Gmail and Chrome, products that were the result of entrepreneurship at the lowest levels of the company. Of course, such runaway innovative spirit creates some duds, and Google has had their share of those, but Google has always known how to fail fast and learn from it.

In such an environment you don’t have to be part of some executive’s inner circle to succeed. You don’t have to get lucky and land on a sexy project to have a great career. Anyone with ideas or the skills to contribute could get involved. I had any number of opportunities to leave Google during this period, but it was hard to imagine a better place to work.

But that was then, as the saying goes, and this is now.

It turns out that there was one place where the Google innovation machine faltered and that one place mattered a lot: competing with Facebook. Informal efforts produced a couple of antisocial dogs in Wave and Buzz. Orkut never caught on outside Brazil. Like the proverbial hare confident enough in its lead to risk a brief nap, Google awoke from its social dreaming to find its front runner status in ads threatened.

Google could still put ads in front of more people than Facebook, but Facebook knows so much more about those people. Advertisers and publishers cherish this kind of personal information, so much so that they are willing to put the Facebook brand before their own. Exhibit A: http://www.facebook.com/nike, a company with the power and clout of Nike putting their own brand afterFacebook’s? No company has ever done that for Google and Google took it personally.

Larry Page himself assumed command to right this wrong. Social became state-owned, a corporate mandate called Google+. It was an ominous name invoking the feeling that Google alone wasn’t enough. Search had to be social. Android had to be social. You Tube, once joyous in their independence, had to be … well, you get the point. Even worse was that innovation had to be social. Ideas that failed to put Google+ at the center of the universe were a distraction.

Suddenly, 20% meant half-assed. Google Labs was shut down. App Engine fees were raised. APIs that had been free for years were deprecated or provided for a fee.As the trappings of entrepreneurship were dismantled, derisive talk of the “old Google” and its feeble attempts at competing with Facebook surfaced to justify a “new Google” that promised “more wood behind fewer arrows.”

The days of old Google hiring smart people and empowering them to invent the future was gone. The new Google knew beyond doubt what the future should look like. Employees had gotten it wrong and corporate intervention would set it right again.

Officially, Google declared that “sharing is broken on the web” and nothing but the full force of our collective minds around Google+ could fix it. You have to admire a company willing to sacrifice sacred cows and rally its talent behind a threat to its business. Had Google been right, the effort would have been heroic and clearly many of us wanted to be part of that outcome. I bought into it. I worked on Google+ as a development director and shipped a bunch of code. But the world never changed; sharing never changed. It’s arguable that we made Facebook better, but all I had to show for it was higher review scores.

As it turned out, sharing was not broken. Sharing was working fine and dandy, Google just wasn’t part of it. People were sharing all around us and seemed quite happy. A user exodus from Facebook never materialized. I couldn’t even get my own teenage daughter to look at Google+ twice, “social isn’t a product,” she told me after I gave her a demo, “social is peopleand the people are on Facebook.” Google was the rich kid who, after having discovered he wasn’t invited to the party, built his own party in retaliation. The fact that no one came to Google’s party became the elephant in the room.

Google+ and me, we were simply never meant to be. Truth is I’ve never been much on advertising. I don’t click on ads. When Gmail displays ads based on things I type into my email message it creeps me out. I don’t want my search results to contain the rants of Google+ posters (or Facebook’s or Twitter’s for that matter). When I search for “London pub walks” I want better than the sponsored suggestion to “Buy a London pub walk at Wal-Mart.”

The old Google made a fortune on ads because they had good content. It was like TV used to be: make the best show and you get the most ad revenue from commercials. The new Google seems more focused on the commercials themselves.

Perhaps Google is right. Perhaps the future lies in learning as much about people’s personal lives as possible. Perhaps Google is a better judge of when I should call my mom and that my life would be better if I shopped that Nordstrom sale. Perhaps if they nag me enough about all that open time on my calendar I’ll work out more often. Perhaps if they offer an ad for a divorce lawyer because I am writing an email about my 14 year old son breaking up with his girlfriend I’ll appreciate that ad enough to end my own marriage. Or perhaps I’ll figure all this stuff out on my own.

The old Google was a great place to work. The new one?

VIZIO’s two pronged strategy: Android based V.I.A. Plus device ecosystem + Windows based premium PC entertainment

January 11, 2012 3:54 pm / 3 Comments on VIZIO’s two pronged strategy: Android based V.I.A. Plus device ecosystem + Windows based premium PC entertainment

The VIZIO Internet Apps® Plus (“V.I.A. Plus”) ecosystem of devices was launched on June 28, 2011 with the introduction of VIZIO’s first tablet. Each VIZIO V.I.A. Plus product features a VIZIO-designed user interface that is not only intuitive but also consistent across screens, for superior ease-of-use for the casual, non-technical user. It is built on the Android™ platform. All the information about that innovative ecosystem is available in an earlier “collection post” on this blog: Innovative entertainment class [Android] tablet from VIZIO plus a unified UX for all cloud based CE devices, from TVs to smartphones [Aug 21, 2011].

We will look into the essential expansion of V.I.A. Plus announced at CES 2012 later. Here is sufficient to include just a short piece from the above mentioned collection in order to make the concept of V.I.A. Plus ecosystem absolutely clear (before we will go into the details of the brand new Windows based premium PC entertainment from VIZIO):

VIZIO Tablet [VIZIO video, Aug 1, 2011]: the value proposition video from the vendor which is extremely well demonstrating not only the VIZIO-specific V.I.A. Plus UI but the whole new user experience:

– [0:04] Listen to music – [0:19] Get social – [0:51] Read books – [1:10] View pictures and watch videos – [1:33] VIZIO’s Theater 3D. Leave behind the expensive battery powered glasses, the screen flicker, the darkened picture. – [1:46] Browse the web – [2:28] Control of your entertainment at your fingertips [i.e. the software based remote control] … [Watch at the end how easy is in the V.I.A. Plus user interface to switch over from your tablet to a Theater 3D TV set when viewing a 3D video on YouTube! See also the Theatre 3D related indormation further down in this post.]

This week Vizio has added the alternative, Windows based PC entertainment to its portfolio as well: VIZIO Bursts Into the Computing Realm with Five Innovative and Sleek PCs Set to Redefine Consumer Entertainment [VIZIO press release, Jan 9, 2011]

CES — VIZIO, America’s #1 LCD HDTV Company*, announced today an innovative line of five premium personal computers designed to turn the PC market upside down and accommodate the entertainment needs and wants demanded by consumers. Set to launch with Windows 7 in spring 2012, the elegantly designed PCs will provide an entertainment experience only VIZIO can deliver, complete with top notch 2.1 audio and video quality. The personal computing line consists of two all-in-one computers, two thin + light notebooks and one notebook. VIZIO’s line was developed to raise the bar in personal and home entertainment while also keeping powerful performance at the forefront.

Much like its entrance into the HDTV category nearly a decade ago, VIZIO believes it has identified a need in the PC world for a device that addresses a recent change in consumer behavior. Growing popularity in video streaming services has resulted in the need for personal computers that can stream content for a family movie night and put together an important business presentation the following day. The VIZIO PCs address this change by meeting both the entertainment and productivity demands.

VIZIO PCs will be a continued progression of the VIZIO Internet Apps (V.I.A.) Ecosystem, which provides a seamless, cohesive entertainment experience across multiple screens. As the V.I.A. experience spans across the brand’s HDTVs, Blu-Ray players, tablets and more, today’s announcement represents a natural extension of the experience over to the PC as well. Together with Windows, VIZIO’s PCs will deliver power, mobility and familiar ease of use, ensuring a fast, fluid and immersive user experience that distinguishes them from devices that function and those that are truly entertaining.

“PCs are often associated with productivity and the workplace, routinely lacking the excitement that would be expected with what and how consumers want to use their PCs today – as an extension of their entertainment experience,” said Matt McRae, Chief Technology Officer. “VIZIO wanted to change that. Our new line of VIZIO PCs are truly high quality and consumer focused, delivering enhanced multimedia capabilities while upholding our high standards of performance, style and design.”

Complete with high-performance hardware, the VIZIO PCs boast a clean system image optimized by Microsoft and an elegant industrial design incorporating authentic, high-quality materials that is sure to turn heads both on-the-go and in the living room. Known for HDTVs that boast stunning high-definition pictures, VIZIO engineered its new line of PCs to meet the same high-quality standards.

Always committed to pushing the envelope, VIZIO believes their groundbreaking PCs will alter the way consumers view computing. With entertainment at the heart of the VIZIO PCs, users will find that consuming content will be just as desirable as on their HDTV. With an already high demand for devices that are able to multitask between work and play, the consumer’s choices are limited. VIZIO accepted the challenge and has elegantly bridged both worlds to provide a Windows-based PC that offers a rich entertainment experience alongside tools needed for getting work done.

“We’re excited to see VIZIO enter the PC market and the positive impact they will have on the Windows ecosystem,” said Steven Guggenheimer, CVP OEM Division, Microsoft. “With their expertise in providing connected entertainment experiences and an innovative go-to-market approach, we look forward to working with VIZIO to bring premium consumer PCs to market.”

VIZIO anticipates its entry into the PC category will challenge consumers to expect more from their computers ­enabling them to play as hard as they work. Discover more at http://www.vizio.com/CES.

*Source: IHS iSuppli Corporation Research Q4 2011 Market Tracker Report of Q4 2010 – Q3 2011.

About VIZIO
VIZIO, Inc., “Entertainment Freedom For All,” headquartered in Irvine, California, is America’s #1 LCD HDTV Company. In Q2 2007, VIZIO skyrocketed to the top by becoming the #1 shipping brand of flat panel HDTVs in North America and in Q3 2007 became the first American brand in over a decade to lead in U.S. LCD HDTV shipments. Since 2007 VIZIO LCD HDTV shipments remain in the top ranks in the U.S. and were #1 for the total year in 2009 and 2010. VIZIO is committed to bringing feature-rich consumer electronics to market at a value through practical innovation. VIZIO offers a broad range of award winning consumer electronics. VIZIO’s products are found at Costco Wholesale, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Target, BJ’s Wholesale, and other retailers nationwide along with authorized online partners. VIZIO has won numerous awards including a #1 ranking in the Inc. 500 for Top Companies in Computers and Electronics, Fast Company’s 6th Most Innovative CE Company of 2009, and made the lists of Ad Age’s Hottest Brands, CNET’s Editor’s Choice, CNET Best of CES 2011 – Television, IGN Best of CES – Television, Bluetooth.org Best of CES, Good Housekeeping’s Best Big-Screens, PC World’s Best Buy, Popular Mechanics Editor’s Choice and OC Metro’s 10 Most Trustworthy Brands among many other prestigious honors. For more information, please call 888-VIZIOCE or visit on the web at www.VIZIO.com.

The V, VIZIO, VIZIO Internet Apps, Theater 3D, CinemaWide HDTV, Full Array TruLED, Edge Lit Razor LED, 240Hz SPS, 480Hz SPS, Entertainment Freedom and Entertainment Freedom for All names, logos and phrase are registered or unregistered trademarks of VIZIO, Inc. All other trademarks may be the property of their respective holders.

SOURCE VIZIO, Inc.

Brand New Line of Gorgeous Vizio Products from CES 2012! [TEKHD, Jan 10, 2012]

Veronica Belmont talks to the CTO of Vizio, Matt McRae, to get the newest and unreleased info on the latest line of products including the All-In-One, complete with the highest performance processors in the world!

CES 2012: Vizio takes on the iMac [IGNentertainment, Jan 9, 2012]

Get a first look at Vizio’s slick all-in-one computer, recorded from this year’s CES event! While it takes its visual cues from Apple’s iMac line, Vizio’s all-in-one line features not one but two HDMI inputs which will work regardless of whether or not the computer is running. This makes it an intriguing solution for gamers who have limited space to work with. Watch the video then leave us a comment telling us what you think!

Note that there is certainly an outstanding design professional behind these products: Scott McManigal, Senior Director of Global Design who has been with VIZIO since June 2009. Before he had been with OpenPeak,  Herbst LaZar Bell, BMW Group DesignworksUSA (10 years!), Mattel Toys and Patton Design. It is no wonder that the new PCs got immediate recognition from media with headlines like:
– The New Vizio PCs and Notebooks Are Worthy of Apple [Gizmodo, Jan 9, 2012]
– Vizio PCs and Laptops are the closest to Apple when it comes to style [Newlaunches.com, Jan 9, 2012]

A First Look at Vizio’s new line of ultrabooks [CNETTV, Jan 10, 2012]

Sharon Vaknin gets the lowdown on Vizio’s new line of ultrabooks.

CES 2012: Vizio Takes On the MacBook Air [IGNentertainment, Jan 9, 2012]

HDTV manufacturer Vizio is branching out with a line of ultra thin and light notebooks! The sleek line of notebooks have design cues which remind us of the shiny products from Apple, which is definitely a good thing. Details are scarce but IGN Senior Producer Ty Root and Executive Editor of IGN Gear Scott Lowe got an early peek, so take a look and leave us a comment telling us what you think!

So far there are no tablets among these premium PC entertainment offerings. VIZIO will introduce them surely when Windows 8 will be launched late summer as the earliest.

The CES 2012 expansion of the V.I.A. Plus

From the V.I.A. Plus related press release (see later): Among the V.I.A. Plus products to be included in VIZIO’s Las Vegas showcase are the 65-inch, 55-inch and 47-inch V.I.A. Plus HDTVs with Theater 3D™, the VBR430 Blu-ray Player and the VAP430 Stream Player, all of which incorporate the latest Google TV experience. VIZIO will also show two V.I.A. Plus enabled [Android] tablets—the current VTAB1008 and the new 10″ VTAB3010. [The tablets are Android based (as all of the V.I.A. Plus system). Detailed information on that: Innovative entertainment class [Android] tablet from VIZIO plus a unified UX for all cloud based CE devices, from TVs to smartphones [Aug 21, 2011].]

Vizio 10 inch tablet hands on [AndroidCentral, Jan 10, 2012]

Vizio 10-inch tablet preview [TheVerge, Jan 10, 2012]

Vizio’s New 10-inch Tablet to Have Intel Chip, Android [IDG News, Jan 10, 2012]

A new tablet from Vizio will come with Intel’s upcoming Atom chip, code-named Medfield, and will run Google’s Android operating system, a source with knowledge of the product plans said.

The M-Series tablet with a 10-inch screen was announced by Vizio at the Consumer Electronics Show, and the device will be “coming soon,” according to Vizio’s website. The tablet is being shown at the trade show in Las Vegas this week.

Vizio has not shared further details on the tablet, saying it is “powerful” and has Wi-Fi. The tablet provides “a world of entertainment right at your fingertips,” according to the company’s website.

The Vizio tablet could be the launching pad for Intel’s Medfield chip, which is not yet available in devices. The Medfield chip has been designed for smartphones and tablets, and Intel later this week is also expected to announce its first smartphone customers for the chip.

Intel’s Medfield & Atom Z2460 Arrive for Smartphones: It’s Finally Here [AnandTech, Jan 11, 2012]

It’s here. Intel’s first smartphone SoC that you’ll actually be able to buy in a device before the end of the year. The platform is called Medfield and Paul Otellini just announced its first device partners.

Medfield starts out as a bonafide mobile SoC. Whereas Moorestown was a “two-chip” solution, Medfield is just one – the Penwell SoC:

…

There’s only a single version of Medfield being announced today: the Intel Atom Z2460. The Z2460 features a single Atom core with a 512KB L2 cache, a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU and a dual-channel LPDDR2 memory interface. In a world where talking about four Cortex A9s and PowerVR SGX 544MP2s isn’t uncommon, Medfield starts out almost sounding a bit…tame. But then you see its performance:

SunSpider Javascript Benchmark 0.9.1 - Stock Browser

Although running what appears to be a stock Gingerbread browser, Intel’s Medfield reference platform posts SunSpider performance better than any other smartphone we’ve tested – including the Galaxy Nexus running Ice Cream Sandwich. Intel promises that Medfield’s performance will scale on ICS as well – the gap should be maintained. We’ve seen high results from reference designs in the past, but the Medfield platform is a little different as you’ll soon see – it’s a complete smartphone design that should be representative of handsets that hit the market later this year.

Medfield isn’t a one trick pony either, performance is similarly dominating under BrowserMark:

BrowserMark

These are tablet-like scores. Here the Galaxy Nexus running ICS comes close, but once again Intel expects that on the same OS Medfield should be faster than any of the currently available SoCs.

I asked Intel where its SunSpider and BrowserMark performance advantages came from, especially considering we’ve typically only seen huge gains with new browsers and not new SoCs. Their response pointed to a bunch of factors, but one stand out issue was the A9 has a great execution core but seems to be more limited on the memory interface. Atom can support far more outstanding misses in L2 than the Cortex A9, which chokes bandwidth to the processor for anything not already in the L2 cache. This may be one of the reasons why we’ve never been able to get really high bandwidth numbers out of A9 based SoCs. It’s probably safe to assume that things will be different with the Cortex A15, but for now it’s little things like this that give Medfield a performance advantage.

GPU performance is understandably not as impressive. We couldn’t get offscreen numbers of GLBenchmark 2.1 but we did get results at the device’s native resolution (1024 x 600):

3D performance is better than the OMAP 4460 due to Medfield’s 400MHz GPU clock compared to ~300MHz in most OMAP4 devices.

Performance without power considerations is meaningless, especially in the smartphone world. Luckily for Intel, Medfield seems very competitive there as well. …

…

Medfield, at least in Intel’s reference platform, looks very good.

The actual values are pretty astonishing as well. Sub 20mW idle, sub 750mW during a call on 3G and although not pictured here, Intel’s internal data suggests ~1W power consumption while browsing the web compared to ~1.3W on the iPhone 4S and Galaxy S 2. I’ve done my own measurements on 4S web browsing and came up with a very similar value.

Intel Measured Smartphone Power Consumption
(Identical Display Brightness)

  Standby (3G) Talk (3G) Browsing (3G) Video Playback 720p
Apple iPhone 4S ~38mW ~800mW ~1.3W ~500mW
Intel Medfield Reference ~18mW ~700mW ~1.0W ~850mW
Samsung Galaxy S II ~19mW ~675mW ~1.2W ~650mW

The performance and power data both look great for Medfield. You would think that this data, assuming there’s nothing fundamentally wrong, would be enough to convince a handset maker to actually give Intel a shot. You’d be right.

In addition to disclosing Medfield performance data, Intel is also announcing partnerships with both Motorola and Lenovo. The former is a broad, multi-year agreement stating that Motorola plans on creating many devices based on Intel silicon – the first of which will be a smartphone due out before the end of the year. Tablets will follow at some point as well.

Lenovo on the other hand will actually be taking and tweaking Intel’s own Medfield reference platform, and releasing it in China in Q2.

All of this is exactly what Intel needed: a start.

The CPU
…
The GPU, Process & Roadmap
…
What’s Different This Time Around: Google & A Sweet Reference Platform
…
ARM Compatibility: Binary Translation
…
Final Words
…
Medfield and the Atom Z2460 are a solid starting point. Intel finally has a chip that they can deliver to the market and partners to carry it in. Intel also built a very impressive reference platform that could lead to some very interesting disruptions in the market.
…

VIZIO and Google TV Join Forces to Create a State of the Art Stream Player [VIZIO press release, Jan 10, 2011]

– New stream player turns any HDTV into an enhanced smart TV with access to countless entertainment content and online services as well as powerful search and web browsing capabilities
– Part of the VIZIO Internet Apps Plus ecosystem, the new VIZIO Stream Player incorporates the power of the latest Google TV in combination with premium setup experience and included Bluetooth universal remote with touchpad control
– Integrated app and TV watching experiencelet users multitask seamlessly and access photos, audio and video stored on networked computers, hard drives and smart phones

VIZIO and Google today jointly announced the introduction of the VIZIO VAP430 Stream Player, an innovative stream player that turns any HDTV into an enhanced VIZIO Internet Apps Plus® (V.I.A. Plus) smart TV that incorporates the latest Google TV. The Stream Player allows consumers to access countless entertainment content and online services with web access through a fully capable Chrome browser, and to also enjoy photos, music and video stored on any computer, hard drive or smart phoneconnected to a local network and/or the cloud.*

image

With the VAP430 connected to an HDTV over an HDMI cable, users can quickly and seamlessly access content and services from their favorite apps and websites using the included Bluetooth premium universal remote control with integrated touchpad. In addition to movies, TV shows and music on demand, the VAP430 lets users search the web for even more entertainment options using the Flash-capable Chrome browser.

“We’re excited about what Google TV brings to our new VAP430 Stream Player,” says Matthew McRae, VIZIO’s Chief Technology Officer. “This isn’t just an ordinary streaming box that accesses a few predetermined video services. It’s a true entertainment portal that opens up everything the Web has to offer, as well as all the content consumers already have stored on computers and hard drives. And the incorporation of Google TV and our V.I.A. Plus interfacemakes it all incredibly easy to setup and a joy to use.”

Using the included premium remote with QWERTY keypad and integrated touchpad, viewers can easily search for any program or content they want from their favorite apps or the Internet. Users can also check out new apps from an ever-expanding Android Market, or access personal medialike videos, photos and music that are stored on devices connected to the same home network as the stream player. Images are displayed right on a connected TV set, and sound plays through the TV or a connected audio system.

“We’re thrilled to partner with VIZIO on the launch of their Stream Player,” said Mario Queiroz, head of Google TV. “VIZIO has established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics market. Combining Google TV with VIZIO’s innovative, easy-to-use consumer electronic products will bring more great entertainment and Android apps to the living room.”

Painless Setup, Powerful Capabilities

Part of the V.I.A. Plus ecosystem, the slick yet discreet VAP430 can easily compliment any HDTV using an HDMI cable. Installing the VAP430 and connecting it to the Internet is blazingly fast and simple to do with the built-in setup experience and 802.11n WiFi connection.

The VAP430 also has an HDMI pass-through that lets the user connect a cable or satellite box to the stream player and pass the signal over to the TV for a truly integrated TV watching experience. The smart TV interfaceoverlays the live TV signal so multitaskers can search for the next thing to watch without completely stepping away from what they’re currently watching.

Bluetooth capability also makes it simple to enjoy content from smart phones through the connected TV wirelessly. And with the USB input, connecting any USB drive directly to the VAP430 takes only seconds.

VAP430 is the first V.I.A. Plus device to launch this year, followed by the VBR430 3D Blu-ray player, which combines the features of the VAP430 with Blu-ray’s state-of-the-art high-definition video and audio playback capabilities.

Preorders for the VAP430 will begin this spring 2012. Find out more and sign up to be the first at www.vizio.com/ces

* The VIZIO Internet Apps® (V.I.A.) platform requires Internet access, equipment and subscription services that are not provided.

See also (especially because VAP430 is likely based on Marvell’s platform): Google’s revitalization of its Android-based TV effort via Marvell SoC and reference design[Jan 5, 2012]

VIZIO Expands the Next-Generation VIZIO Internet Apps Plus® (V.I.A. Plus) Ecosystem, Announcing New HDTV, Blu-ray Player, Stream Player and Tablet Products That Share a Unified User Experience Across All Screens [VIZIO press release, Jan 10, 2011]

– V.I.A. Plus provides access to a world of apps on each device with attention to details that optimize the entertainment experience on each and every screen
– V.I.A. Plus offers today’s most advanced and functional smart TV user experience, with an intuitive, app-centric interface optimized for the 10-foot viewing experience
– New V.I.A. partners to include iHeartRadio®, The Wall Street Journal® and M-GO®
– VIZIO’s expanded line-up incorporating the Google TV platform include the 65-inch, 55-inch and 47-inch HDTVs with Theater 3D, the VBR430 Blu-ray player, and the VAP430 Stream Player

image

VIZIO, America’s #1 HDTV Company*, announces the continued expansion of its next generation of the award-winning VIZIO Internet Apps® platform: VIZIO Internet Apps Plus (V.I.A. Plus). V.I.A. Plus brings a unified user experience to a wide range of devices that include HDTVs, Tablets, Blu-ray players, Media Players and more. From the big screen to mobile devices, V.I.A. Plus bridges the worlds of entertainment, content and services with one sophisticated and intuitive interface. V.I.A. Plus accesses a world of apps on each device, with attention to details that optimize the entertainment experience on each screen.

Among the V.I.A. Plus products to be included in VIZIO’s Las Vegas showcase are the 65-inch, 55-inch and 47-inch V.I.A. Plus HDTVs with Theater 3D™, the VBR430 Blu-ray Player and the VAP430 Stream Player, all of which incorporate the latest Google TV experience. VIZIO will also show two V.I.A. Plus enabled tablets—the current VTAB1008 and the new 10″ VTAB3010.

“The way users consume content has changed drastically over recent years. Technology has enabled nearly every device with a screen to connect to some form of delivery platform, each with its own mechanism for searching, browsing and viewing content.” said Matthew McRae, Chief Technology Officer, VIZIO. “V.I.A. Plus focuses entirely on what users care about – their content. By delivering a seamless, intuitive experience that is consistent across multiple screens, V.I.A. Plus products distinguish themselves from devices that function and those that are truly entertaining.”

The V.I.A. Plus experience features an intuitive, app-centric interface on every device, making it easy for consumers to understand and navigate as they move between devices. Users can also access thousands of apps from the Android Market™ for even more entertainment options.

“We’re thrilled to partner with VIZIO on the launch of the Stream Player,” said Mario Queiroz, head of Google TV. “VIZIO has established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics market. Combining Google TV with VIZIO’s innovative, easy-to-use consumer electronic products will bring more great entertainment and Android apps to the living room.”

In addition, VIZIO is announcing new partners who are collaborating to bring their content and services to the V.I.A. Platform, including:

iHeart Radio– iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s industry-leading digital radio service, brings users a best-in-class customizable digital listening experience, one which combines the best of both worlds to deliver everything listeners want in one free, fully-integrated service: More than 800 of the nation’s most popular live broadcast and digital-only radio stations from 150 cities, plus user-created Custom Stations which provide listeners more songs, better music intelligence, more user control and deeper social media integration.

The Wall Street Journal®– WSJ Live from The Wall Street Journal offers up to four total hours of live video programming each business day from across The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, including the Journal, Dow Jones® Newswires, Barron’s™, MarketWatch®, SmartMoney® and AllThingsD.com. Users can access seven half-hour live shows, breaking news updates, exclusive interviews, and special events coverage. The service also offers more than 2,000 videos per month from an extensive library of on-demand content.

M-GO™ video-on-demand– M-GO from Technicolor is a next-generation app that combines all of your media including movies, music, apps, live TV, and more. M-GO will come pre-loaded on VIZIO HDTVs and Blu-ray Players with VIZIO Internet Apps or VIZIO Internet Apps Plus. The app will help consumers find the content they’re looking for through its extensive content library and state-of-the-art discovery engine, while also providing a unique second screen functionality for searching additional content.

“We are extremely excited to be partnering with VIZIO to bring consumers all of their media anywhere, anytime, and anyway they want it,” said John Batter, CEO of M-GO. “As consumers continue to access digital media at home and on the go, it is even more important to provide them with a consistent experience that is easy to navigate and convenient to use. VIZIO’s technology combined with our accessibility to content does just that.”

On V.I.A. Plus enabled HDTVs, Blu-ray players and Media Players, users can multitask between apps and traditional TV content through an interface designed for the 10-foot viewing experience, created specifically for situations where users want to sit back and enjoy the ultimate in channel and web surfing. Users can also complement their entertainment experience with VIZIO tablets for seamless access to their favorite apps and content in any room in the home or on the road.

With a wide range of apps on each device, V.I.A. Plus enables consumers to choose from a new universe of entertainment options, redefining the TV experience with multi-screen access, gaming, full browsing and enhanced search capabilities, and the ability to view live events streamed over the Internet.

Navigating V.I.A. Plus is simple and intuitive, using the QWERTY keypad and integrated touchpadthat’s built into the premium Bluetooth remote control included with every V.I.A. Plus product. Users need no technical know-how to get their new devices online, thanks to the advanced wireless Internet access and simplified onscreen setup.

Smart Blu-ray

The VBR430 Blu-ray player is the most advanced on the market today. Not only does it offer the incomparable entertainment power of V.I.A. Plus with Google TV, the player comes with a touchpad universal remote with QWERTY keypad that makes it easy to control apps, content and other functions. As part of the VIZIO Internet Apps Plus ecosystem, the VBR430 also lets users access video, audio and photos stored on any DLNA-compatible computer, network-connected hard drive or cell phone connected to a home network. Built-in WiFi makes network connection easy, and Bluetooth capability provides yet another conduit for streaming media from cell phones and computers.

Smart TV Plus 3D

VIZIO’s V.I.A. Plus products will also include Theater 3D technology, for crystal clear, brighter and flicker-free 3D, viewable with lightweight, comfortable, battery-free 3D glasses. The TVs feature LED backlighting with smart dimming technology to achieve dynamic contrast ratios of 1,000,000:1 or greater.

The Ultimate Stream Player

The VAP430 Stream Player with Google TV is an innovative media player that turns any HDTV into an enhanced VIZIO Internet Apps Plus (V.I.A. Plus) smart TV. As sales of stream players are poised to pass Blu-ray players in unit volume sales (by 2013, according the CEA U.S. Unit Shipment Forecast of January 2011), the VAP430 is the perfect solution for media multitaskers who consume most of their media over the Internet. The VAP430 is the one of the most advanced Stream Players with built-in HDMI ports that lets users connect existing components like gaming consoles or set-top boxes for unified access to all media sources through the VI.A. Plus touchpad remote. It even supports 3D content and 3D streaming.

Many of the new VIZIO V.I.A. Plus products will be on display at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas during the Consumer Electronics Show, January 10 – 13, 2012. For more information, please visit www.vizio.com/ces

* Source: IHS iSuppli Corporation Research Q4 2011 Market Tracker Report of Q4 2010 – Q3 2011.

Vizio’s Google TV delayed until early fall, now edge-lit [C|net, Jan 10, 2012]
LAS VEGAS–Google TV has a way of disappointing expectations, and one strong case in point is the Vizio’s VIA Plus platform for TVs.

At CES 2011 we named the VIA Plus models as our favorite TV product of CES. They used Google TV to deliver what the company described as interoperability between the TV and Android-equipped phones and tablets. Among other features, Via Plus was also said to support the OnLive gaming service. Those extras, along with the same kind of full-array local-dimming backlightwe know and love, was enough to convince us that the so-equipped TVs were going to be pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, because of what Vizio describes as Google TV-related issues beyond its control, they never came out.

We asked about the VIA Plus sets during a pre-CES briefing with Vizio and were told they were still on the company’s product release roadmap. The new release date is “early fall.” They will have different model numbers and at least one change for the worse: that backlight is now an edge-lit affair. Vizio further specified that the new VIA Plus models would have a 240Hz refresh rate, passive 3D, and three screen sizes: 47-, 55-, and a new 65-inch option.

On the bright side, maybe having all that extra time to perfect VIA Plus will allow Vizio to do something really special with Google TV’s Honeycomb customizations. We’ll see.

Strong business backings from Taiwan that enable such bold strategy expansion for VIZIO 

Vizio sees 2012 with optimism [Nov 2, 2011]

TV brand Vizio has indicated sales of Japan-based brands such as Sony, Panasonic and Sharp have been weak. However, South Korea-based brands such as Samsung and LG have been growing becoming Vizio’s biggest competitors. Vizio estimates 2011 shipments of LCD TVs to reach over six million units.

According to William Wang, CEO and founder of Vizio, the strategy to face the South Korea-based players is to improve products, such as by providing customers with the best 3D TV. If products can be sold with cheaper retail prices, then do it.

Wang indicated Vizio’s biggest partner is still Taiwan-based Amtran Technology, which accounts for 70-80% of Vizio’s OEM orders. Foxconn is responsible for small-size products. Wang complimented Taiwan’s technology, innovation and product quality.

The recent weak demand in the TV market has been causing panel makers to suffer huge losses, Vizio stated. Except for shipments in the first quarter 2011 which were comparable to those of 2010, the rest of the quarters in 2011 have all seen declining shipments.

Wang concluded that panel makers have been suffering due to oversupply and lack of consumer confidence due to weak economic conditions in Europe and the US. However, 2011 should be the year when the industry hits rock bottom, which means firms should face 2012 with optimism.

CES: Value Outweighs Price, AmTran Says [excerpt on the VIZIO site, Jan 6, 2010]

Behind Vizio’s success is a partnership with Taipei-based AmTran Technology, a contract manufacturer that specializes in computer monitors and televisions. The company, which owns a 23% stake [i.e. majority] in Vizio, now makes annual revenue of about $2 billion, more than quadruple the $428 million it reported in 2004.

To read more about this article please click here.

[Hon Hai/Foxconn is said to be the 2nd largest shareholder ov VIZIO as well as having 10% of shares of AmTran]

[click here >> WSJ Blogs, Jan 7, 2010]

In a rare interview, its chief executive and chairman Alpha Wu spoke to The Wall Street Journal about his views on the fast-changing industry at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

The Wall Street Journal: Why have your products been so successful?

Mr. Wu: We think very simply about how we can provide the best value to customers world-wide. I have pretty good relationships with key component makers in Japan, Taiwan, China and now Korea, and I make sure we get high-quality components, so we can provide high-quality displays. We try to have attractive prices, but that can’t be the only reason for customers to buy. Value is more important than anything. We try to provide attractive prices, but that can’t be the only reason for customers to buy.

We also keep very tight production schedules. We learned from our customers that we must meet schedules. As long as we have discipline over our schedule, we can compete against anybodybecause when a rival announces a new technology, we can develop similar products quickly and take the market.

WSJ: Why do you think the traditional television makers in Japan are having such a hard time in the television market, particularly in the U.S.?

Mr. Wu: To be a pure original equipment manufacturer is a tough business. That’s why we teamed up with Vizio. The Japanese engineers work hard and demand perfect products, but they don’t know the market very much. In the U.S., people don’t want very high-end products especially in the current economic situation. Japanese consumers, however, are more willing to invest in expensive products.

Products that are made in Japan with Japanese components by Japanese suppliers are very important to them, but their factories aren’t as advanced as ours because they’re old. An older managementalso makes them less able to accept new technologies and innovation.

WSJ: 3D televisions are expected to be big news at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. How soon do you expect this technology to take off?

Mr. Wu:3D movies are absolutely coming. 3D televisions might take two or three years. One big problem that has to be overcome is glasses. No one wants to wear glasses to watch TV. Plus if you have five people in the family you need five pairs of glasses. The technology is also not mature yet.

WSJ: What is your vision for AmTran’s future?

Mr. Wu: We want to support the best brand with the best technology products. We are trying to do it in different regions, step by step. We’re trying in Taiwan, Japan and China. Maybe someday we’ll try in Europe.

One of our customers, Bang & Olufsen, has a remote control that I use at home every day to control the curtains, lighting, television and audio. That’s our dream too, but to provide it to the mass market.

WSJ: What kind of opportunity do you see in the Chinese market?

Mr. Wu: By 2011, China’s market for televisions will be bigger than the U.S. From our point of view, we have some advantages — we know China better than people in other countries. Whoever can become No. 1 in China and in the U.S. will be No. 1 in the world.

Amtran Technology Co Ltd (2489.TW) – Overview – Full Description [Reuters, excerpted on Jan 10, 2012]

AMTRAN TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. is principally engaged in the manufacture and distribution of monitors and digital televisions. The Company provides liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors, which are applied in personal computers (PCs), workstations, automobile instruments, point of sale (POS) equipment and automatic teller machines (ATMs), among others, as well as LCD televisions. During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company obtained approximately 94.89% of its total revenue from digital televisions. The Company distributes its products primarily in Japan, Europe and the Americas.
» Full Overview of 2489.TW

Amtran sees increased 4Q11 revenues [Jan 10, 2012]

Taiwan-based TV OEM firm Amtran reported December revenues of NT$6.44 billion (US$214 million). Fourth quarter revenues reached NT$19.66 billion, the highest quarterly revenues in 2011, accounting for 35% of 2011 total revenues.

Due to sales during the year-end holiday season in the North America market, total shipments in December reached 660,000 units while total shipments in fourth quarter reached 1.94 million units, outperforming the previous three quarters in 2011. According to Amtran, total shipments in 2011 reached 5.35 million units. Shipments of products in the range of 32-37 inch accounted for 54% of the firm’s total flat TV shipments. Amtran noted that sales of large-size products (42-, 47-, 55-, and 65-inch) LCD TVs accounted for 46% of total revenues.

Amtran expects LCD TV shipments to increase as the firm develops products such as internet TV, smart TV and 3D TV.

Amtran faces challenge to attain 2011 LCD TV goal [Aug 17, 2011]

Taiwan-based Amtran Technology’s LCD TV shipments reached nearly two million units in the first half of 2011, according to industry sources. But the maker may have difficulties achieving its shipment goal of five million units for the entire 2011 given that its major market, North America, has been weak.

Amtran, the chief manufacturer for Vizio, shipped a total 4.2 million units of LCD TVs worldwide in 2010.

Windows 8 gaining smartphone like “connected standby” capability

November 23, 2011 10:56 pm / 5 Comments on Windows 8 gaining smartphone like “connected standby” capability

New power state called “Connected Standby”

  • Windows coalesces all the timer and network requests, turns the radio on periodically to satisfy them, then goes back to very low power consumption.
  • But because app requests are getting satisfied they are up to date as soon as you press “ON”

8 ways Windows 8 benefits the retail industry [MSDN Blogs, Oct 5, 2011]

…

7. Energy friendly – The tradeoff between instant-on for customer service and the constant consumption of power has been minimized.  Now retail environments with any number of client machines can use the Windows 8 “Connected Standby” mode to ensure that devices are available for use instantly while using the least amount of power possible.  This feature will even allow enterprise software updates to machines that are in a low power state.

…

Dr. Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm on the Wireless Future [Global Technology Leadership Conference  at the University of California Berkeley’s College of Engineering, Nov 18, 2011]

[24:10] Up to this point – I would say – tablets predominantly have been an iPad story. The Android tablets are out there. They haven’t been quite as successfull. But I think that will change, not just with the Android but also with Microsoft working on having Windows. So they are porting big Windows onto mobile phone chips.

And the interesting thing about that is now your Windows computer will act much more like a smartphone. So Microsoft spent a lot of effort implementing a feature that’s called ‘Connected Standby’ which means that when your PC goes to sleep it will go to sleep like a smartphone – meaning that power consumption goes down to very low and every so often it will blip up, collect your e-mail and your Facebook notifications, and whatever else it is that needs to update, and it goes back to sleep at very, very low power. And when you touch the screen, boom it comes on right away.

And that is going to be interesting because now you have a tablet with a full computing environment, on a full web, all the stuff that you would expect. So I think that’s going to be a very, very interesting thing. I’ve seen the form factors. There are extremely, extremely aggressive form factors that are going to be coming out when these Windows 8 launches happen. [25:30]

Steven Sinofsky, Julie Larson-Green, Antoine Leblond, Michael Angiulo, and Chris Jones: BUILD Keynote – Day 1 [Microsoft transcript for the press, Sept 13, 2011]

…

MIKE ANGIULO: ARM and SOC hardware combined. This is a Qualcomm ARM reference design, this is the one we showed at Computex, this is an 8660 Snapdragon. It’s hooked up to this debugging system here that’s measuring power really accurately. And what’s going on on this monitor is you can actually see the amount of power being used. It’s very low. The system is not off, it’s in a new power state called “connected standby” which is a really low-power idle state. You can see these little spikes that show up here. What’s going on is Windows is coalescing all of the timer requests and all of the network requests, turning the radio on briefly, updating the apps, and then shutting the radio back down. So, when I turn the system on, it turns on with one click — or two depending on if you have demo gremlins.

The system is on. You can see the power jumps right up. It’s an instant-on type scenariobecause it was never off. I can interact with the system here and you can see the power kind of changes as we’re rendering and we’re drawing on the screen. And then when I go to turn it off, I click it, immediately the power drops down. What’s going on right there is the apps get a chance to pack up their data and then it’s shutting down and it immediately drops back to idle. That’s the kind of system — yeah. (Applause.)

STEVEN SINOFSKY: I mean, when we talk about fundamental performance, that’s what we’re talking about. We’re actually taking the things that you’d experience like in phones, and we’re bringing that to the PC architecture at the base kernel level.

MIKE ANGIULO: And it’s one of the things that all of these SOC systems will be able to do. If you’re good to the understanding connected standby session, you’ll see the same power demo running on the Nvidia Tegra 3, we showed — it was nine months ago at CES was the first time we showed ARM booting at all. And all it could do is just boot Windows 8 up to the desktop in one touch.

…

Understanding Connected Standby [Microsoft Channel 9 video, Sept 14, 2011]

Your PC in a year: how Windows 8 will change hardware [TechRadar, Nov 16, 2011]

…

Connected Standby

Microsoft uses words like ‘fresh’ and ‘alive’ to describe the future of the PC, especially when it’s talking about the Connected Standby mode that PCs using both ARM and low-power System On Chip (SoC) x86 processors will have. “It’s about the application experience,” says principal program manager Pat Stemen; “You want an app that’s fresh, that has connected content.

I don’t want to wait for it to download and I want it to show that fresh information when I turn on.” In fact the official name of PCs that support this is Always On Always Connected.

It’s also about consistent, consistently long battery life, he says; no more guessing how long the battery will last – you’ll know how much power the PC uses when it’s on and when it’s in Connected Standby, so you can accurately predict battery life.

Connected Standby is an “ultra-low power idle mode” implemented as a new level 5 ACPI modein the processor and it needs new hardware throughout the PC as well.

You need low-power memory (the kind of DRAM that’s been going into servers to save money because it doesn’t generate as much heat), low-power buses and devices and flash storagerather than a hard drive; that’s for speed as well as power saving, because the system can’t predict when the drive will be in use.

What will your pc be like in a year?
LIKE A PHONE:
Connected Standby stops using power much faster than today’s PCs

The Wi-Fi in Connected Standby PCs has to be much smarterbecause it’s on all the time, checking whether any of the network traffic matches the patterns of notifications that can wake the PC up – incoming VOIP calls or SMS and instant messages, for example.

That turns the whole PC back on so you can answer the call. Otherwise, the Wi-Fi connection periodically wakes itself up and collects data for the Metro apps that are on the Start screen.

That means putting a small processor in the Wi-Fi chipset and supporting NDIS 6.3, which lets the chipset do in hardware some of the network processing the PC would usually do in software; it also makes networking faster when the PC is on as well.

With Wi-Fi so important for Connected Standbyit has to get connected quickly; expect to get onto a hotspot or access point in about a second rather than the 12 seconds common now, even if you turn a PC off at work and turn it back on at home.

Tablets and a lot of notebooks will have built-in 3G next year. That’s going to use less power because new 3G connections will let Windows tell them when to turn off the transmitting radio because the PC is idle and just listen for incoming traffic, so the 3G card can go into ‘fast dormancy’ rather than keeping the radio on just in case (because turning the radio off saves power but turning it off and on again can use more power than leaving it on).

What will your pc be like in a year?
LOW-POWER 3G:
Knowing when to turn the radio off will stop 3G eating your battery

USB 3 will be on all these PCs too, not just for the faster speeds but because “it works better at low power,” according to Dennis Flanagan, who runs the team implementing Connected Standby for Windows 8. “It uses much less steady-state power when there’s nothing being used on the bus.”

But the two main ways of connecting peripherals will be peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, using the Wi-Fi Direct standard which lets your notebook get online and connect to a Wi-Fi-enabled device at the same time, and the lower-power Bluetooth LE.

Flanagan calls that “low-power wireless connectivity for longer battery life and for a new class of low power devices that can last two or four years on a couple of batteries”. Having NFC that’s cheap enough to put into all PCs helps here as well, because you’ll be able to tap Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices against your PC to pair them instead of following on-screen prompts.

Smarter than Smart Connect

Intel’s Smart Connect mode, coming in second-generation ultrabooks and netbooks with Cedar Trail Atom CPUs next year, also aims to keep new PCs up to date when they’re in standby but it’s not as sophisticated as Connected Standby– and doesn’t need as much new hardware to work. “It keeps your PC always updated,” Intel’s John Wallace told us.

“When the device is in a sleep state it wakes up and pings network so it can download email and update content. Windows 8 is push, this is pull; we’re waking up periodically and pulling content.” The problem with that is the PC will wake up and connect even if there’s no new content to download.

“We’ll have true connected standby on next generation hardware that gets push notifications and wakes up,” Wallace predicted; that could be the Haswell chip that will be used in third-generation ultrabooks, if it’s delivered as a SoC.

With ACPI 5 and Connected Standby, Wallace says Windows 8 PCs will have “weeks of battery life” in standby. In 16 hours in Connected Standby a Windows 8 PC will use up no more than 5% of battery life; if that sounds an odd amount of time to measure, it’s what you get if you put your PC into Connected Standby at 5pm and pick it up again at 9am next morning.

Initially Connected Standby and Smart Connection are only aimed at tablets and notebooks. “Over time, Connected Standby may also scale to all-in-on systems and desktop PCs as well, although we’re not really focused on that right now,” Stemen explained.

Rapid Start and fast boot

The improvements we’ll see in all PCs next year are include faster boot and better security. Again, the Microsoft approach to starting up faster is more aggressive than Intel’s Rapid Start, which aims at taking less than seven seconds to resume from hibernation; PCs with Connected Standby will wake in less than 300ms and all PCs with UEFI BIOS will boot in six seconds(and Windows 8 will actively warn you of any software you install that slows that down).

That includes checking that no malware has tampered with Windows and turning on your anti-virus software before you bootto avoid malware lurking on any USB sticks you have plugged in.

What will your pc be like in a year?
AV SOONER:
UEFI means PCs can start checking for viruses before they start Windows

Building a power-smart general-purpose Windows [Pat Stemen, program manager, Windows 8 Kernel team, MSDN Blogs: Building Windows 8, Nov 8, 2011]

…

Our goals

We have 3 goals in mind when engineering Windows 8 power management:

  • Let the hardware shine. We built Windows 8 such that the power efficiency of the hardware platform shines through, regardless of whether the system is a SoC-based Windows tablet or an SLI-equipped gaming PC. We designed our power management interfaces in a consistent, standardized way across all platforms. This allows our hardware partners and application developers to focus on their unique innovations and experiences instead of the differences in platform hardware and power management.
  • Continue to deliver great battery life. Windows 7 delivered a significant reduction in power consumption and increase in energy efficiency, particularly mobile PC battery life. (In fact, you can read how we thought about it in this e7 blog post.) In Windows 8, we want to maintain that same level of efficiency on existing PCs even as we re-imagine the rest of Windows.
  • Enable the smartphone power model. One of the coolest things about the System-on-Chip (SoC) platforms you’ve seen us talk about at CES and //BUILD/ is their capability to quickly enter very low-power idle states. We want to leverage that ultra-low idle power to bring the constant connectivity and instant-on features of the smartphone power model to capable Windows 8 PCs.

…

How software influences power consumption

Software can influence power consumption by consuming resources—CPU, disk, memory, etc.–as each of those resources has a power cost associated. Software also influences power consumption through the OS and driver software responsible for managing hardware power states.

Windows 8 features 3 key innovationsto improve how software influences power consumption—the Metro style app model, idle hygiene, and a new runtime device power management framework. We will give you a brief overview of how these innovations improve power consumption in this blog post.

The Metro style application model

Most of us have experienced the influence of software on power consumption first-hand. It might be that you have an app on your phone that goes through battery quickly or you’ve heard the fan turn on in your laptop when playing a game or computing a spreadsheet. These are all examples of applications directly consuming CPU, GPU, network time, disk and/or memory.

One of the new power management innovations in Windows 8 isn’t a power management infrastructure feature; it is the Metro style application model itself. The Metro style application model is designed from the beginning to be power-friendly. The power management benefit is that the model makes it easy for developers to ensure their application is running only at the right time—applications in the background are suspended such that they do not consume resources and power when not in use.

Of course, we recognize that background activity is a critical component of apps that are always connected and responsive. The Metro style application model and the underlying WinRT support background activity through a new set of capabilities called background tasks. (See this Introduction to Background Tasks for more details.) Background tasks make it easy to perform background activity in a power-friendly fashion. They also enable developers to continue to deliver responsiveness and “freshness” in their applications, but the mechanisms are different than the existing Win32 model because of the desire for a fast-and-fluid interface and the other key attributes of Metro style apps (see 8 traits of great Metro style apps).

We’ve engineered background tasks and the overall Metro style application model to enable a new level of app responsiveness, while at the same time considering overall system attributes including power and memory consumption.

Processes tab (more details view) shows several Metro style apps in suspended mode, all at 0% CPU, and using between 17 and 85.1 MB of memory.
Task Manager showing suspended Metro style apps

Idle hygiene

Software can have dramatic influence on power consumption even without consuming a lot of resources through intermittent idle activity. We refer to improvements to idle activity as idle hygiene.

Most PC platforms feature processor and chipset idle states that allow the hardware platform to stop the clock or completely turn off power to parts of the silicon when they are unused. These idle states are absolutely critical to enabling long battery life, but they require a minimal residency duration—that is, you have to be idle for long enough to make the transition in and out of the idle state worthwhile in terms of power used. This is because some power is consumed on the way into and out of the idle state. Software most effectively uses these idle states when there are as few exits from the idle state as possible, and the duration of the idle state is as long as possible.

We track the idle efficiency of Windows 8 using built-in ETW Tracing, some additions to the Windows Performance Analyzer, and a basic histogram. Below, you can see the difference in idle durations between Windows 7 and Windows 8. When the screen is on, we’ve already moved the bar significantly from a maximum idle duration of 15.6ms in Windows 7 to 35% of our durations longer than 100ms in Windows 8! With the screen off and during Connected Standby, our idle durations are even longer, currently in the tens of seconds.

Chart comparing Win7 and Win8 idle period duration with screen on. In Win7, about 95% are 10ms - 16 ms. In Windows 8, this is approx. 35%.

Runtime device power management

PCs attain their longest battery life when all devices, including the processor, storage, and peripheral devices enter low-power modes. Almost every device in the modern PC has some kind of power management technology, and runtime device power managementdetermines how we use those technologies seamlessly without impact to the user experience. A really good example of runtime device power management is dimming the automatic display after a timeout in Windows 7.

Just to underscore how important device power management is, we have seen many systems where not enabling a single device’s power management features can easily reduce total battery life by up to 25%! (It’s worth noting here that disabling a device in Device Manager is almost equally bad—most devices are initialized by firmware at their highest power modes and require a device driver to get them to a more nominal power consumption.) You can diagnose some device power management problems using the built-in powercfg.exeutility in Windows 7 with the /ENERGY parameter. The output of /ENERGY is an HTML file that gives you a view of which devices and software are potentially running in a power-consuming state. Of course, using the factory image for your PC that came loaded with OEM and vendor-supplied drivers is almost always the best way to ensure the devices in your PC are well-behaved for power management.

Efficient power management of devices is performed by the driver for the device, in conjunction with the Windows kernel power manager and platform firmware. The power manager makes it easy for the drivers of these devices to implement their power management routines and coordinate any power state transitions with other devices on the platform.

For Windows 8, we’ve built a new device power framework that allows all devices to advertise their power management capabilities and integrate them with a special driver called the Power Engine Plug-in or PEP, designed for SoC systems. The PEP is provided by the silicon manufacturer and knows all of the SoC-specific power management requirements. This allows device drivers like our USB host controller or a keyboard driver to be built once, and still deliver optimal power management on all platforms from SoC-based PCs to datacenter servers.

We are hard at work with all of our ecosystem partners to deliver the low-power and long battery life technologies we all want in our Windows 8 PCs.

Application Craft: a multiplatform rapid development system and SaaS for HTML5 et al

November 16, 2011 11:24 pm / Leave a comment

Application Craft – our one minute overview [Oct 29, 2011]

Check out our fantastic one minute video. It shows you just some of the great development features available.

Related information: Microsoft and jQuery Mobile, PhoneGap [Oct 13, 2011]

More information:
– New website [Nov 4, 2011]
– Technology
– Features
– How our system works [Nov 9, 2011]
– Example SmartSites (=websites for smartphones, their core value proposition) in the Content ideas: Location Specific Web Sites, Retail, Publishing and Other
– Use cases in App Dev – Build Web, Mobile and Tablet Apps: Mobile, Workflow, Forms, Reporting, Mashups and Features for that
[this is called by them AppOps – their developer value proposition – meaning: “a substantial set of developer oriented functionality that allows you to build pretty well any sort of business or data-centric App (so not great for games) ”]
– Application Craft – Learning Center [from Oct 22, 2011 on, only half done yet]
(including an API Cheat Sheet, the other resources are very concise videos and links to the reference manual )
– Application Craft – User Guide
– Professional Services [Oct 20, 2011] offerings:

Developer Resources

Fork Application Craft on GitHub

As of today (November 3rd, 2011) we are preparing our code for public availability on GitHub. Current estimations are that it will be available in the last week of November. As soon as it is available, we will be letting everyone know and you will find a large link here.

…

Freddy May, Founder CEO:

I founded Application Craft in September 2009. We started writing code a month or two later and we released our first really proper version in June 2011.

I do the product design and have an extraordinary team of guys and one gal in Russia [in Yoshkar-Ola the capital city of the Mari El Republic]who are a full part of the company. They do all the really hard work and have most of the brains.

Investors [April 8, 2011]

Application Craft is a UK company, founded by Freddy May and backed by 3 Angel Investors.

Urs Wietlisbach – Angel

Urs is the co-founder and Vice Chairman of Partners Group, one of the world’s largest independent private markets asset management companies, with over US$ 23 billion in assets under management [and over 500 employees and 15 offices].

Application Craft IDE [Fredy May, Application Craft, Oct 13, 2011]
[Release: 1.12.1, October 24, 2011 with jQuery Mobile RC1 and Alpha release of Workflow.Detail; Release: 1.10.7, October 3, 2011]

We are just launching our new IDE for building Apps and Content that can be deployed to Mobile, Tablet and Desktop. It is all browser based and uses just HTML5/Javascript/CSS.</p> <p>It is now released and available on our cloud platform (for not a lot of money) as well as on Amazon AWS from November (for free).</p> <p>We are looking for advanced content designers as well as javascript developers of all levels to give us their feedback and help guide the product. We are still offering free support at this stage so there really is $0 cost.</p> <p>It has full support for Responsive Design as well as Client and Server Side Javascripting. </p> <p>Anyway, take a look and please feel free to contact me directly fmay@applicationcraft.com or on skype 'freddymay'.</p> <p>

We are just launching our new IDE for building Apps and Content that can be deployed to Mobile, Tablet and Desktop. It is all browser based and uses just HTML5/Javascript/CSS.

It is now released and available on our cloud platform (for not a lot of money) as well as on Amazon AWS from November (for free).

We are looking for advanced content designers as well as javascript developers of all levels to give us their feedback and help guide the product. We are still offering free support at this stage so there really is $0 cost.

It has full support for Responsive Design as well as Client and Server Side Javascripting.

Anyway, take a look and please feel free to contact me directly fmay@applicationcraft.com or on skype ‘freddymay’.

Responsive Design and Javascript Coding in a 100% browser based IDE. [Fredy May, Application Craft, Oct 30, 2011]

Responsive Design and Javascript Coding in a 100% browser based IDE. The first of its kind.</p> <p>There is lots of chatter and twitter about Responsive Design for Web content right now. What about Apps (both Web Apps and Native ones)? This is my blog post on this topic </p> <p>http://www.applicationcraft.com/blog/495-responsive-design-adaptive-layouts-application-craft </p> <p>One of the key things that developers should be focusing on is how to build an App once that works on various screen sizes and, more importantly, on different devices such as Smartphones and Tablets. </p> <p>This blog post looks at an extremely cool, 100% browser based IDE that enables mobile and desktop apps to be built while meeting all of these requirements for Responsive Design.</p> <p>It highlights an App that works on everything from a large screen to an iPhone and looks great on all of them. This IDE (from Application Craft) also allows mobile content Apps to be built that also follow the Responsive Design principles.

Responsive Design and Javascript Coding in a 100% browser based IDE. The first of its kind.

There is lots of chatter and twitter about Responsive Design for Web content right now. What about Apps (both Web Apps and Native ones)? This is my blog post on this topic

applicationcraft.com/blog/…

One of the key things that developers should be focusing on is how to build an App once that works on various screen sizes and, more importantly, on different devices such as Smartphones and Tablets.

This blog post looks at an extremely cool, 100% browser based IDE that enables mobile and desktop apps to be built while meeting all of these requirements for Responsive Design.

It highlights an App that works on everything from a large screen to an iPhone and looks great on all of them. This IDE (from Application Craft) also allows mobile content Apps to be built that also follow the Responsive Design principles.

URL: http://www.applicationcraft.com/blog/495-responsive-design-adaptive-layouts-application-craft

PhoneGap + Application Craft = Pain-Free Mobile App Development [a PhoneGap case study, Nov 7, 2011]
Remark: while among jQuery related tools it is one of 13, it is the only other development system case-study by PhoneGap next to the earlier mobileFX!

Just as the PhoneGap mantra is fast and easy cross-platform mobile app deployment, Application Craftcreators are committed to making the mobile app and content development process pain-free. No wonder these two technologies get on so well!

Application Craft is a cloud-based, desktop and mobile app development environment for building enterprise apps and mobile and tablet content. On top of its advanced browser-based IDE, Application Craft offers a sophisticated back end that supports database integration, data storage and more. Examples of apps built with Application Craft include the Tate Modern Museum mobile app and the JamieOliver.comapp.

So, why is Application Craft and PhoneGap a match made in heaven?

Application Craft generates 100% JavaScript apps. When combined with PhoneGap and PhoneGap Build, apps built using Application Craft can access native device features and can be automatically deployed to app stores.

PhoneGap Build–a cloud-based services that compiles PhoneGap apps for various platforms–provides a “huge bonus” because it seamlessly manages the complexities of native compilers, says Freddy May, Founder and CEO of Application Craft. “The PhoneGap Build API is icing on the cake because it meant we were able to achieve the tightest possible integration with Application Craft.”

May adds that integrating the PhoneGap API into Application Craft was easy. Despite PhoneGap Build being in beta, Application Craft developers completed the integration without a single email or call to PhoneGap. The result is an app deployment feature that Application Craft is proud of–a build of five platform binaries takes about a minute. “This is more than acceptable especially when you consider it’s an asynchronous process and we allow our users to work on other things as the apps compile. Once a user can specify a single platform build via the build API, it should be even faster,” he says.

By adding cross-platform app compilation to Application Craft, PhoneGap Build saves developers many tedious testing hours, which translates into a major competitive advantage for the Application Craft development environment and, ultimately, makes for happier app developers.

Watch this video to get a closer look at how Application Craft and PhoneGap work together:

AC Phonegap Short.mov [Sept 6, 2011]

Application Craft Phonegap Build Ripple Emulator Short

In the last couple of weeks, Application Craft has launched a major update with a comprehensive implementation of jQueryMobile and added a new feaure allowing UI designers to build responsive design type page using the IDE. You can read more about this news on their blog.

World’s best and true cross platform to develop mobile application [dineshkamath1982, Nov 14, 2011]

Application Craft (AC) is the best true cross platform for developing mobile apps. AC allows you to develop apps and generate native files for major platforms (symbian, apple – ios, android, webos, blackberry).

They have excellent support (response within minutes) and they also direct you to the necessary documentation for your requirement. They have very good example videos.

The cloud based IDE for developing the apps is excellent. They provide you also preview and live mode to see how would your application behave on your mobile (even before trying out on your mobile).

I decided to go to AC after going through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_a…. Its mentioned as it is the true cross platform (this is mentioned only for AC). But now i really know why is it.

I am neither an employee or marketing guy of AC. I am just a normal user trying out AC for my personal interest. Please try it out and see if what i quoted make sense 🙂
Application Craft ROCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roadmap [Nov 9, 2011]

…

To be Released (target release date 21st Nov)

ServerSide Javascript Support

This will enable an AC User to build scripts that run and execute server side. This will allow secure execution of rules etc. It will also tie in with the Data Storage Access and associated permissions so that only server side scripts can read from and write to connections and queries.

Other Plans not yet prioritised

…

Improved WYSIWYG editor features

The Editor currently does an imperfect job of pasting in HTML from the clipboard. It also does not allow perfect support for AC’s own Styles. This is being rectified along with other user-friendliness aspects of the editor.

CRUD for Regular Databases

CRUD (database Create Read Update and Delete) operations only work on other Apps currently. We have just completed support for CRUD operations on regular databases such as MySQL, Postgres, Oracle etc.

Offline Instance Storage for Mobile Apps

Currently, a Native App cannot store instances to an offline mobile device. We are adding extensive capabilities to allow offline data collection that can be uploaded later.

…

JQuerymobile Themeroller [Freddy May, Nov 7, 2011]

Just been looking at the new JQuerymobile Themeroller and it  is a beauty. My plan is to annoy the hell out of Tolstoy (that is by new nickname for Max Kraev [Head of Engineering] by the way) and get this shoehorned in by the end of the year.

http://jquerymobile.com/themeroller/

I think it will make a beautiful addition to the product and give great control over the way that Mobile interfaces are created.

I think that we may then look at the regular Themeroller in a later stage as I think that our theme implementation is in need of improvement.

Anyone who wants to contribute thoughts and ideas on this before we get started, please do so here.

My thoughts are that it will fit into the Themes section of the console and pressing ‘edit’ will bring up the Themeroller Editor. Obviously, it will tie in nicely with the system and not require any manual messing around with the resultant CSS.

Why we love the ACE Cloud 9 Editor (and how we’ve integrated it) [Nov 8, 2011]

There are some parts of the Application Craft system where we need to give credit to other people or products where it is due. One of these is the ACE Cloud 9 Editor from ajax.org.

Code Editing is often an integral part of building an App and so having a really superb code editor is essential. We have successfully incorporated the ACE Editor into our IDE and we are extremely pleased with the result.

Click here to see a video in our Learning Center. Look at the first video (from 1:15) or the second one.

Where we use it

The most important part of our system is the Application Craft IDE. This does 2 main things

  • build UI screens with the WYSIWYG, drag-and-drop UI Layout Editor
  • edit javascript code (currently client-side code and, very soon, also server-side)

…

Mobile Widgets (from the AC User Guide)

We have gone to a lot of effort to make developing for Mobile devices a really positive experience. There are three main components that we are working with which we have integrated very tightly into the product.

JQueryMobile

Application Craft has embedded JQueryMobileinto the Application Craft widget framework. We comment on this only because we would like to thank the JQuery team for their very high quality work. If you find that there are some things on the jquerymobile.com site that you would like to see included in Application Craft then please let us know.

Phonegap [currently pointing to PhoneGap 1.1.0 not the latest 1.2.0 released by Nitobi on Nov 7, 2011]

Phonegapis the magic that transforms the Web Apps that come out of Application Craft into Native Apps. This lets your Apps be deployed through App Stores and it lets them access device features and hardware such as GPS, Camera, Audio, Contacts and so on.

Ripple

Rippleis a superb emulator plugin for Google Chrome that lets you test out device features without needing to deploy to an actual device.

Thanks to all of the above for majorly improving both our own and our users’ lives (well the development part of their lives at least).

Big Update – Application Craft & jQueryMobile [Fredy May, Application Craft blog, Sept 23, 2011] [Release: 1.10.6, September 20, 2011 with PhoneGap and jQuery Mobile Beta 3 and heavily extended Mobile Widgets support]

We have just launched a major update. It contains a comprehensive implementation of jQueryMobile within Application Craft. We think that this combination of JQM and AC has to be the easiest and fastest way to build Web Apps for mobile and tablet devices (and they pretty good on the desktop, too). And thanks to our Phonegap:Build integration, Native Apps are also extremely easy.

In this post, I am covering

  • A bit about the jQueryMobile implementation
  • The range of jQueryMobile widgets we currently support
  • A typical JQM widget inside the Application Craft IDE
  • Requests for widgets and jQueryMobile related features we don’t yet support
  • The next major announcement – Responsive Design and Adaptive Layouts



jQueryMobile implementation

The latest jQueryMobile (Beta 3) is a leap forward in terms of stability, functionality and speed. There were quite a few architectural changes, too. We have added these into a special ‘mobile’ toolbox section in the AC IDE. We find the stability to be really excellent and any bugs we found we have patched up, but they were few and far between. All jQueryMobile components have a comprehensive range of properties rendered in the IDE’s property bar and there is full javascript event support. Appropriate widgets also support the AC Data Storage Framework.

JQM comes with 5 standard themes. These have been well designed by the JQM team but we will soon be adding the ability for designers to upload their own custom CSS themes. These Themes are actually very simple and easy to add and everything is done in CSS. We’ll announce it on this blog when it’s ready.

The Mobile widgets we currently support

The table below shows the mobile specific widgets we support (we have a load more desktop ones, most of which can also be used in mobile Apps).  Each of these widgets is highly configurable via the property bar in the IDE as well as from AC Scripting (Javascript).

  • Checkbox
  • Checkbox Group
  • Select Button Group
  • Single Line Text Input
  • Multi Line Text Input
  • Mobile Toolbar (dockable)
  • Buttons (multi-size)
  • Search Input Field
  • Slider
  • Flip Switch
  • Navbar (button bar)
  • Popup Dropdown (selection wheel)
  • Popup Multi Select List
  • List (for navigation and content)
  • Collapsible Container
  • Accordion

A typical JQM widget in AC

You either set properties or use javascript to control all the finer points of a widget’s behavior. Below are a few variations of the Mobile List widget

You can add Items to the list in two ways. You can use the Item dialog for navigation type stuff where you know your items in advance. Or, you can add data to the list programmatically.

1. You have an array of the following object, one element for each list entry

{ “value”:”1″, // Data value that gets stored in AC (if required)

“label”:”United Kingdom”, // appears as list content

“image”: imgUrl,   // image url if required

“divider”: “false”,  // true if divider should be shown

“count”: “25”,   // the number to show in the count bubble

“aside”: “Short Text”,  // appears on the right in smaller font

“action”: id    // page jump action id

}

2. And this is how you update your list widget with the list item array
app.setData(‘myMobileList’, lstItems);

Populating a Mobile List manually
Populating a Mobile List with Javascript

Over in the property bar, we can now start to make all sorts of adjustments relating to cosmetic and functional behavior. Here are the two more interesting proeprty sections for the Mobile List widget

Documentation

We have documented the new Mobile features. Your can find them here.

Requests for widgets and jQueryMobile related features we don’t yet support

If anyone is aware of a mobile feature that we aren’t supporting but should be, then please let us know. We are also interested in any cool widgets that are already mobile compliant or with a little work, could be.

Responsive Design / Adaptive Layouts

This is a really exciting topic and one which one of the next blog posts will go into in detail. Initiatives like “Mobile First” state that modern web designers and app builders should think about putting the mobile device at the top of the list when thinking about platform support.

Responsive Design allows you to build a single app design that looks and works great on Desktop, Tablet and Mobile devices.

Inaugural Blog Post as Application Craft and SmartSites enters Private Beta [Fredy May, Application Craft blog, June 23, 2011] [Beta 1.0, June 22, 2011, first full Private Beta Release, pre-launch announcement: “Full mobile support and lots of ‘Visual Basic in the Cloud’ features.”]

After some long, hard development and a little bit of pivoting from the original concept, Application Craft is now ready for prime time. We are extremely proud of the platform we have built and we think it does a totally unique job of delivering beautiful, rich mobile and desktop sites (SmartSites) all the way up to full-blown applications.

If you are a Web Designer or Marketer, SmartSites lets you build device independent sites incredibly quickly. If you are a Javascript developer(or about to become one) then Application Craft lets you build anything from great front-ends to forms apps, workflow apps or full-blown relational applications.

SmartSites

[The essence of the new value proposition, i.e. the evolution from the original one: “Democratizing the Building of Data-driven Apps … for Citizen Developers as well – i.e. application stakeholders who have historically been peripheral to, or shut out of, the development process” see the below September 27, 2010 announcement]

A SmartSite is really a Mobile Web Site built on the Application Craft platform. There are several things that make SmartSites very different from other sites.

  • It is properly platform independent
  • The layout options are really exceptional, supporting many mobile specific widgets
  • Device orientation changes are fully supported
  • You can deploy your SmartSite app as a Web Site OR as a Native App
  • Thanks to the full development capabilities of Application Craft, you can turn a simple, static site into a full blown App with some Javascript knowledge.

Example SmartSites

Rather than explain what they are, take a look at the SmartSites section of our website, where you will find some really good examples.
See some examples on the various tabs on the SmartSites page

Application Development

Javascript is the lingua franca of the web and everything about Application Craft is Javascript. It is written 100% in it(a lot of thanks to JQuery and JQueryMobile by the way), SmartSites and Apps are pure Javascript and you can add business logic to your Sites and Apps using it.

More about Application Craft AppOps

Private Beta

We are starting off with a Private Beta phase which I anticipate will last 3 to 4 weeks before it goes into Public Beta. We are delighted with the stability and the feature set of the product but we want to make sure that our provisioning systems and platform operations are functioning smoothly before we switch on the automated provisioning.

Support & Feedback

Our main goal in the next months is to work very, very closely with our users. We brought the product to where it now is by working with real users with real issues. We started working with these users in the early days after Robert Scoble did a pre-release video interview late last year. We are immensely grateful to their input and we now are ready to do the same with the next wave of users.

If you contact us for help or suggestions, you will hear back from us. We don’t just want your feedback and input, we need it. We are available on Skype, Twitter etc. You can find full support and contact information here (click on the Support button).

Version 1.0 Release

Application Craft has had a lot of very hard testing before Private Beta from ourselves as well as a handful of early adopters who have built substantial Apps and Sites using Application Craft. The first Commercial Offering is not yet certain but it will not be later than Fall 2011.

Pricing

We will be announcing proper pricing plans in July. There will be versions for all types of users. including a Free version for basic, single-user SmartSites usage all the way up to high end versions including special releases, features, unlimited users (SmartSite/App builders not consumers) and support options.

Future Blog Entries & Requests

Initially, I plan to write a series of blogs on the many usages of Application Craft and SmartSites. I will be showing real examples that focus in on a particular use of the product. If you would like to see me blog on a specific topic, please tweet either @appcrafty or me (Freddy May) personally @3bfred.

SmartPhones need SmartSites [Fredy May, Application Craft blog, June 24, 2011]

The main thrust of this article is to discuss a major problem (and a corresponding solution) with almost all web sites when they are visited by a SmartPhone. They appear so small as to be pretty well unreadable and clicking links is a lottery.

We all know that SmartPhone usage is growing rapidly, so many companies should prepare for lots more people to visit their web site using a SmartPhone. The proliferation of Gelocation Apps and Services (Google Search/Places/Maps, SimpleGeo, Factual etc.) cater explicity to the Mobile user and increase SmartPhone traffic even further.

If you take a look at the image on the left, it will probably be a familiar sight. Given the size of the opportunity, it is pretty amazing how poorly this situation has been addressed.

As you can see from the infographic excerpts above (full Infographic from Microsoft Tag available here), there is already a lot of mobile based internet usage and by 2014 it will exceed desktop usage. And already one half of all searches are performed on mobile devices. This all leads to a lot of people visiting web sites using their SmartPhones.
You should view SmartPhone web site visitors as exciting opportunities, because

  • they are probably nearby
  • they probably have a very specific and immediate interest in your product or place
  • they need information, a local service or a product

One big problem

The big problem is that almost every web site looks terrible in a SmartPhone browser. And site navigation is even worse due to tiny links colliding with fat fingers (my good friend Dobs would appreciate this). Get your phone out and visit some random sites.

There are some notable exceptions (Twitter, Facebook) but take a look at these well known names below. Click on these to see them at their original size or go to the website on your phone or scan the QR-Code if you’ve got an App.

FYI: The QR-codes shown here can be read with QR-Reader Apps (iPhone try ‘ConnectMe’, Android try ‘Google Goggles’)


Starbucks


Apple


DHL

… with a SmartSite solution

Take a look at the following example, which is a typical local business you might want to get information on. Click on the thumbnail or scan the QR-Code to see the website rendered on a phone, then read on.

Now, take a look at the SmartSite below, which is an Application Craft SmartSite. It is actually live, so you can interact with it. Be sure to check out the Location pages and both tabs on the Contact page.

  • imageThis SmartSite took about 1 hour to build
  • It includes a simple but cool ‘contact’ form
  • It required absolutely no programming skills
  • It is a really easy job for a Web Designer, Marketer or Product Manager
  • If you want to add really advanced App capabilities and you have some Javascript knowledge then our AppOps features are genuinely superb (more on this in another post)

also reachable at
ac.applicationcraft.com/kallkwik

SmartPhone Visitors will probably want different (and simpler) content

Clearly, this is a good thing, because they will usually want access to

  • only the most relevant information
  • information that relates to the fact they are on the move and probably nearby
  • complex and rich layout is not required due to the limited form factor

Location Specific Content

There is another set of very relevant uses of SmartSites that are described on our SmartSites page. Location Specific Content is where you build a SmrtSite that is tied to an object, place or business and targets the SmartPhone user who is actually standing at the location. For instance, information boards at Airport, Tourist Office, Hotel or Shopping Centre. Or providing information to in-store shoppers. Printing QR-Codes/tiny URLs onto products as a better way of accessing manuals and assembly guides. The list is pretty well endless. Go to the SmartSites page to take a look at the example uses.

What are the alternatives?

There are alternative, but very expensive and non-trivial, ways of achieving an effective mobile-ready site

  • Hand code it using developer tools such as Sencha or JQueryMobile. This requires proper web development skills and will take many times longer than using Application Craft
  • Design your main web site to reformat for SmartPhones but this is really not for the faint-hearted

What if I want to add App like capabilities to my SmartSite

Well, this is where you really are in luck. Application Craft was initially conceived as a cloud based App development platform. Alongside SmartSites, we have AppOps, which is a substantial set of developer oriented functionality that allows you to build pretty well any sort of business or data-centric App (so not great for games) that you are likely to need.

I plan to do another blog post on AppOps soon, but feel free to explore AppOps now.

Application Craft: Sam Schillace to Advise Application Craft [Oct 7, 2010]

Google Docs Creator to Advise Cloud-based Rapid App Development Platform Innovator

London, UK October 7, 2010 – Application Craft today announced that Sam Schillace, creator of Google Docs and co-founder of new venture Restartle, is joining Application Craft as an Advisor. Launched at Tech Crunch Disrupt 2010 and currently in Public Beta, Application Craft radically shortens development cycles for even complex data-driven desktop and mobile applications. Importantly, Application Craft’s drag and drop Data Graphs and built-in collaboration tools allow an unparalleled level of involvement by Citizen Developers in the application development process. By eliminating the user/developer gulf, Application Craft reduces strain on development teams, promotes on-time and on-budget projects and blurs the boundary between content and applications.

Schillace led the Google Docs team after Google acquired Upstartle, the company he co-founded to bring the collaborative word processor Writely to market. Before leaving Google in June 2010 to found Restartle, he led the Internet giant’s Gmail and Apps team as Senior Engineering Director.

“I have seen how fast the Application Craft team has built a really superb product over the last year,” said Mr. Schillace. “It is a genuine enabler for a new class of application developer and I think it will result in some major changes to the desktop and mobile application development landscape. I am excited to be involved with Application Craft during these early, formative days.”

“You would be hard pressed to find a software entrepreneur with as much SaaS and PaaS expertise as Sam Schillace,” said Freddy May, Application Craft Founder and CEO. “I have benefited greatly from Sam’s counsel over the past year and I am delighted that Application Craft will continue to do so now that he has joined as a formal company Advisor.”

About Application Craft

Launched at Tech Crunch Disrupt 2010 and currently in Public Beta, Application Craft’s rapid application development platform allows professional and ‘Citizen’ developers to quickly and collaboratively build amazing data-driven desktop and mobile apps. By eliminating the user/developer gulf, Application Craft reduces strain on development teams, promotes on-time and on-budget projects and blurs the boundary between content and applications. To learn more, please visit: http://www.applicationcraft.com

Application Craft Invites Citizen and Pro Developers to Get Crafty Rapid Development [TechCrunch Disrupt, London, UK and San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) September 27, 2010]

Platform Democratizes the Building of Data-driven Apps

Application Craft today opened the public beta for their rapid development platform that allows both professional and ‘Citizen’ developers to quickly and collaboratively build amazing data-driven desktop and mobile apps. Citizen Developers are application stakeholders who have historically been peripheral to, or shut out of, the development process, such as web designers, analysts, knowledge workers and IT staff. Getting Crafty means unprecedented ease of collaboration between hard core coders and Citizen Developers.

“Throughout my IT career, I have witnessed countless development projects fail due to lack of alignment between users and developers and overloaded development teams. Application Craft aims to eliminate the user/developer gulf by fostering active collaboration, which reduces strain on dev teams and promotes on-time and on-budget projects,” said Freddy May, Application Craft Founder and CEO.

You’re Getting Crafty When…

  • Your apps can instantly pull data from virtually any source
  • You can rapid prototype in minutes and build a production app in hours
  • Web designers become Web developers in a day
  • Agile is easy!
  • Apps run everywhere out of the box
  • Usability takes center stage
  • Your projects are consistently on time and on budget

Watch this video to see it in action: http://tinyurl.com/GetCrafty

_C_ollaborative app development that welcomes pros and amateurs
_R_ich apps, extreme mash ups
_A_gile
_F_lexible deployment
_T_otal customization
_Y_our projects on time every time

About Application Craft
Application Craft is the quickest way to build apps. The company opened the Public Beta for their revolutionary Rapid Application Development Platform for Professional and ‘Citizen’ developers at TechCrunch Disrupt, where the company is also exhibiting on Tuesday, September 28. Application Craft is seeking Public Beta participants. To learn more and apply for the Beta, go to: http://tinyurl.com/GetCrafty

About TechCrunch Disrupt
TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco (http://disrupt.techcrunch.com), is being held Sept 27-29 2010, at the San Francisco Design Center Concourse. TechCrunch Disrupt attracts over 1,500 leading technology innovators and investors and over 150 new startups. The format combines top thought-leader discussions with new product and company launches. Morning executive discussions debate the most timely disruptions in media, advertising and technology. Afternoons host the Startup Battlefield where 25 new companies will launch for the first time on stage, selected to present from more than 500 applications received from around the world. Another 100 early-stage startups will exhibit in Startup Alley. TechCrunch will award a $50,000 grand prize along with other award recognitions at the conclusion of the conference.

Corporate developers: exclusive first look at Application Craft, a new tool for corporate web apps [Robert Scoble, Sept 26, 2010]

http://www.applicationcraft.com/ has what they say is the quickest way to build apps. This is generally aimed at corporate developers, and looks like a modern Visual Studio — everything is in the web browser. Here I spend a bit of time with founder Freddy May who gives me a good look at what it does and why it’s an important new entrant into the web programming field.

In the 1990s we had Visual Basic, Delphi, and then Visual Studio come along. All great tools for corporate developers who needed to build apps for their workgroups.

But since then developer tools have stagnated. Yeah, we’ve had Ruby on Rails, but that’s really aimed at web developers (Twitter was originally built in it, for instance) and the kinds of database and UI tools that corporate developers needed weren’t there.

Today Application Craft (CrunchBase info on Application Craft) is releasing a new system that looks somewhat like Visual Studio, but is completely web based. Here CEO Freddy May spends a lot of time with me showing how it works and giving me some idea of the power underneath.

Oh, and you can build a LOT without knowing any code. May says it’s not just aimed at developers, but can be used by “citizen developers.” IE, those who don’t know how to code very well. That is exactly the audience that Visual Basic was aimed at back in 1992, and it went on to be the tool for corporate developers. Will Application Craft take over that mantle? We’ll see, but this is a very interesting start. What do you think?

Windows 8 Metro style Apps + initial dev reactions

September 15, 2011 11:28 pm / 8 Comments on Windows 8 Metro style Apps + initial dev reactions

With this style of apps there is a clear platform diagram:windows-8-platform-tools
but there is no similar kind of diagram for the structure of the applications themselves, although that structure is absolutely different from the ones we are familiar with in the existing Windows applications of different kind.

First I will present the current confusion in that regard and then SOME answers to that from current MSDN documentation. Some because an equally important part, the contract mechanism is not described in the “answer excerpts” that will follow after the “introductory confusion part”. For the contract mechanism I will include here just this simple paragraph from the Fact Sheet:

Apps are part of a web of apps, not a silo of unrelated apps. Apps can communicate with one another in Windows 8. Rather than switching apps to share information, you stay immersed in your app and share the information to another app right in that context, never losing your place. So if you want to share a photo from a social network app, you just swipe the share charm and share to the app. No burdensome and baroque cut and paste.

Other missing information in brief from the published short guide:

Adding Metro style to your apps
Your apps get a predictable, Metro style UI that’s tailored to the device by using Windows 8 controls. The controls are designed for both touch devices and for mouse and keyboard. By default, your apps convey the Windows personality, which is a familiar user experience that customers understand. Here are the three kinds of controls that you can use.

Standard controls: these include everything you need to display, enter, and manipulate data and content. Control families include view, text, pattern, overlay, media (audio and video), content, collection, and basic.

Collection controls: These help designers to create rich content experiences in consistent, touch-friendly ways. They include built-in support for drag-and-drop operations, and they let you customize display modes by using styling and templates. Examples are the simple list, grid view, grouped grid view, flip view, and semantic zoom.

Intrinsic controls: These are available in the Windows Library for JavaScript (WinJS), and they go beyond the limitations of CSS3 box-type controls, if you need more flexibility in your interface design or you want to integrate your own brand into your customers’ experience.

Creating immersive user interfaces with adaptive layout

Windows 8 gives you creative options for adapting an app experience dynamically to the size of the screen area, changes in orientation, and different display capabilities using CSS3. These features enable you to give your customers a fluid, natural-feeling experience in your Metro style apps. Here are some examples.

Animation: Create smooth, animated experiences and elements with HTML5 and CSS3 that embody the Metro style. Take advantage of a comprehensive set of pre-defined animations that are lively and unique, yet familiar to users.

3-D transformations: Add smooth, fluid visual experiences, such as perspective transforms and flipping elements on and off the screen. In the past, you’d have to create these effects using native code, but now you can create them with HTML5 and CSS3.

Flexible box layout: Create flexible containers that expand proportionally to fill any remaining space in an HTML5 layout. This is great for designers to use to create key components of apps, such as toolbars or navigational elements.

Grid layout: Position and size content elements into cells on a grid structure that you define with fixed, fractional, or automatic units.

Multi-column layout: Mimic newspaper and magazine layouts by creating a single column of HTML5 content in multiple parallel columns with equal width and height.

A typical confusion about Windows 8 Metro style apps:

Re: Windows 8 apps going html5, wtf – part 2 [Sept 15, 2011]

I just watched this BUILD speech by Jensen Harris: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/BPS-1004 [although it is the most detailed video “answer”, [1:33:05] long, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BTW]

I must admit that all those concepts regarding the metro touch UI appear to be really thought through. They actually looked at how people hold und use tablets, and the optimization to the “two hands, use thumbs”-method seems quite sensible (the split up touch keyboard was a little odd though … c’mon! … typing with your thumbs?).

Next I browsed the Windows Runtime Reference, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/br211377(v=VS.85).aspx(thx to jackbond for the link), and I was relieved to find lots of familiar stuff in there like XAML of course, Dependency Properties, Control Templates etc.

So I’d be willing to change my former “do not want!” attitude to a more excited “Lots of work coming up, but it’ll pay off” one if … well, if all of this was covered by “BUILD – the conference solely for handheld device developers”. As I said before: I might be too stubborn to grasp all this visionary stuff (I guess there’s a reason it’s not me working at the top of win dev ;-), but I simply cannot seeANYof this apply to the desktop environment.

I absolutly disagree for example with Harris’ statement that in the near future we will all unbelievingly remember that there once were screens without touch. I still don’t see me working (yes, Mr Harris, I actuallyWORKwith my Computer rather than spend my whole time looking at beautiful RSS-Feeds, weather forecasts, tweet@rama and stuff like that) here at my desk by pawing my monitor.

And when he showed how to operate Metro UI with a mouse I ultimately thought “Hey, you cannot be serious about that”. So instead of having a context specific pop up menu at the very position of my mouse pointer when I righclick I now get the ususal app bars at the top and bottom of the screen which forces me to move my mouse pointer a much greater distance to achieve the wanted result. This is not “fast and fluid”, but its sheer opposite.

So I’ll try a new evaluation of where this leaves me as a developer. We now have a new UI that (in my opinion) is awesome for handhelds, but doesn’t make any sense on the desktop. We finally(!) have a true replacement for the WIN32-API (“YES!!”) that unfortunatly only works with Metro UI (“D’oh!”). We still have the traditional desktop, but it is clearly labeled as “NOT modern, NOT immersive, NO WinRT” (I still don’t understand why). We have Silverlight that doesn’t run in the Metro UI Browser because its own creator(!) thinks that this plugin only disturbs the indeedily-doodily HTML5 experience.

I stand here scratching my head in disbelief, and I cannot resist the impression that this whole show is about “Heeeyyyy, we developed an AWESOME solution! Wait, it gets better: for a problem that didn’t even exist!”. I think it’s hilarious to read posts like this http://dougseven.com/2011/09/14/i-know-what-youre-thinking-and-youre-wrong/ (thx to jrboddie for the link). So while Mr Sinofsky is still on stage at BUILD trying to sell Metro to the crowd as the next big thing, developers are wiping the sweat off their foreheads in relief to hear people like Doug Seven say “My advice…keep doing what you are doing [with WPF and Silverlight], and invest 20% of your time in learning about Windows 8 and the Metro style app models“. There’s something going very wrong here, and I wonder if anyone at the top of Microsoft does take notice.

Short Answers:

Windows 8 Previewed Today at BUILD [Sept 13, 2011]

Build: More Details On Building Windows 8 Metro Apps [Sept 14, 2011]

Jensen Harris Walks Us Through the Windows 8 UI [only 10 minutes long Channel 9 video, Sept 14, 2011]

A great example: Metro style browsing: one engine, two experiences, no compromises[Sept 14, 2011]

A great number of Metro style app samples

Answers from Metro style app development:

[Roadmap for creating Metro style apps using C#, C++, or Visual Basic]

Touch is an important part of many Metro style app [they are touch first!] using C++, C#, or Visual Basic apps. But the mouse remains a primary means of interacting with these apps on some devices. Learn how to make your apps work with both means of input.
>> Quickstart: Touch input

[Primer for current Windows developers]

With the Windows desktop, the shell is static. Icons can be colorful and pretty, sure, but they really just sit there. A running app is also often surrounded by visual noise that has little to do with the app itself—noise that comes from other apps and from Windows itself. Even an app’s own menus, ribbons, and other command structures often consume a noticeable portion of screen space and can distract the user.

In contrast, Windows Developer Preview is designed to help Metro style apps engage and re-engage the user much more deeply:

  • Apps typically run full-screen and the Start screen disappears after an app is launched. System UI also appears only as needed in response to specific user interactions. As a result, users are completely immersed in the foreground app by default, and you don’t need to implement a special full-screen mode.
    • The exception to this is that two apps (and only two) can run side-by-side. One occupies the majority of the screen and the other, a smaller portion to the side. This keeps multi-tasking focused on the user’s most important apps.

     

  • For all but its most essential UI, apps can use the app bar and flyouts to reveal secondary operations when needed, in response to specific interactions.
  • Live tileshelp apps dynamically display their most important content on the Start page, providing users with essential info at a glance. This way, users don’t have to open the full app to engage with it.
  • Users can create content tiles [secondary tiles] that link directly into specific parts of an app. This makes the interaction with an app both highly efficient and meaningful, in contrast to the user wasting their time simply navigating the app structure.
  • Apps can use notifications to surface events to the Start page in a way that feels natural to Windows. Such consistency increases the likelihood that a user will take notice of the event and re-engage with the app.

In addition to having two side-by-side apps, Windows Developer Preview introduces a new means of multitasking— apps can now work together to perform common tasks such as searching, sharing, and managing contacts:

  • Instead of having the user switch between apps, as in the classic Windows shell, portions of other apps that help fulfill a task, like sharing, appear directly in the foreground app.
  • In the classic shell users often must switch between apps because the data they want is accessible only within a particular app. In Windows Developer Preview, such apps can act as sources for searchable data, sharing services, contacts, and files. This means that selecting and sharing a picture that’s managed in an online service like Flickr is as easy as picking a file that’s on the local hard drive.

With all this aliveness and active integration, it is also important to optimize battery life and maximize the responsiveness of the foreground app. Here is what’s new:

  • Windows Developer Preview automatically suspends background apps once those apps have an opportunity to save their state and finish long-running tasks.
  • Suspended apps remain in memory and can be quickly resumed if the user switches back to them, they’re needed to fulfill a task (like providing search results or a sharing service), or they’ve asked to be awakened in response certain events like a timer or network activity.
  • If the system needs to free memory, it can unload suspended apps, knowing that the app can reload its saved state when it starts up again to bring the user right back to where they left off.
  • Selective app features, such as music, voice-over-IP, and data transfer, can continue running in background mode (subject to user approval).

Finally, because many users spend the majority of their computing time in a web browser, with Windows Developer Preview an app can specify itself as the primary handler for certain internet domains. This means that navigating to those domains takes the user to a typically richer app experience rather than a generic browser experience. Developers can also use header markup in web pages to identify a handler app, which improves app discovery both through the browser and through Bing search.

[What are Metro style apps?]

Your Metro style apps engage users with the info they are interested in and the people they care about. Live tilesupdate users at a glance and draw them into your app.

The Start screen is about showing off what apps are great at. App tiles are alive with status and activity updates, encouraging your users to dive into your app. When designing your tile, you need to:

  • Highlight your brand. Your app tileis a chance to visually define your brand for your users. It should be attractive and distinct.
  • Showcase the info and activities your users are most interested in. You want your users to keep returning to your tile, looking for updates, checking in. You want those updates to pull your users back into the app itself. The more thoughtful you are about the kinds of info and activities you showcase, the more likely users are to engage.

For more info on designing and creating an app tile, see Guidelines and checklist for tiles and Guidelines and checklist for notifications.

[Creating and managing tiles, toast, and Windows push notifications]

In the new Windows Developer Preview Start screen, tiles are the primary representation of an app. Users launch their apps through those tiles and tiles can display new, relevant, and tailored content to the user through [tile] notifications. This makes the Start screen feel vibrant and allows the user to see at a glance what’s new in their world.

An app can also communicate time-critical events to the user through toast notificationswhether the user is in another app, in the Start screen, or on the desktop. The methodology to design and deliver toast closely parallels that of tiles, lowering the learning curve.

Tile notifications, toast notifications, and badge updates [or notification badge] can all originate either from a local API call or from the cloud.

Tiles and tile notifications

Tiles represent your app in the Start screen. They are the primary method for the user to launch your app, but can also surface information and notifications directly through tile itself, making it a dynamic representation of your app even when your app is not running. This contributes to making Windows feel alive and connected. An interesting and useful tile can give a user incentive to launch your app and this aspect of your app development should not be slighted.

Tiles are available in two sizes. Which of the two sizes is displayed is entirely controlled by the user.

  • Square: This tile size can contain application branding—either an application icon or name—as well as potential notification badges. Because a square tile contains only basic information, only one template is available to create them.
  • Wide: This tile size can contain any of the content of a square tile plus richer, more detailed, and more visually compelling content as well. A broad choice of layout templates is available at this size to allow the additional content. Any app that uses a wide tile must also provide a corresponding square tile because the user can choose to shrink the tile at any time as they personalize their Start screen.

The content of a tile is defined in XML, based on a set of templates provided by Windows. To define a tile’s contents, the developer simply retrieves one of the templates and provides their own text and images.

A tile can contain text and images, depending on the template selected, and can also display a badge and either a logo or short name. The badge is displayed in the lower right cornerand the logo or short name in the lower left. The choice of whether to show the logo or the short name is declared in the app manifest.

Cycling

Up to five update notifications can cycle repeatedly through the tile if the developer declares the tile to have the cycling capability. Notifications can be given a tag to use as a replacement ID. Windows examines the tag on a new notification and replaces any saved notification with the same tag. Notifications cycle until they expire, are pushed out of the queue by newer updates, or are replaced in the queue with an updated version of themselves.

Default tiles

When your app is first installed, it is represented by a default tile. This is a simple, static tile defined in your app manifest; generally just a representation of your logo or brand. This tile is replaced only when you send your first tile notification. It’s a significant concept to grasp that the only time you technically “create” a tile is when you define it in your app manifest. All further changes are tile notifications.

Your tile can revert to the default when there are no notifications to be displayed on the tile; for example, when the user is offline or all tile notifications have expired.

As with any tile, if you supply a wide tile, you must also supply a square tile.

Default tiles are rendered on top of the app color, so if there is any transparency in the default tile image, the app background shows through.

…

Secondary tiles

Secondary tiles provide the ability to create tiles pinned to the Start screen that launch directly to a specific location or subexperience in a parent app. The app decides which content to offer as a pin option, but the user has the final say in whether the secondary tile will be created or deleted. This allows users to personalize their Start screen with the experiences they use the most.

This tile is independent of the main app tile and can receive tile notifications independently. When the secondary tile is activated, an activation context is presented to the parent app so that it can launch in the context of the secondary tile.

…

Toast notifications

A toast notification is a transient message to the user that contains relevant, time-sensitive information and provides quick access the subject of that content in an app. It can appear whether you are in another app, the Start screen, or on the desktop. Toasts are an optional part of the app experience and are intended to be used only when your app is not the active foreground app.

For your app to be able to receive a toast notification, you must declare that it can do so in your app’s manifest file.

A toast notification can contain text and images but secondary actions such as buttons are not supported. Think of toast as similar to a Windows balloon notification arising from the taskbar’s notification area. Like those notifications, a toast appears in the lower-right corner of the screen. When a user taps or clicks on the toast, the associated app is launched in a view related to the notification. It is the only mechanism by which one app can interrupt a user in another app. Toasts can be activated, dismissed, or ignored by the user. The user can also choose to disable all toasts for an app.

A toast notification should only be used for information considered of high interest to the user, typically involving some form of user opt-in, therefore it is a good choice for incoming e-mail alerts, IM chat requests, and breaking news. However, it is extremely important that when you consider using a toast notification, you realize that, due to its transient nature, the user might never see it.

Raising a toast notification is very similar to sending a tile notifications: a developer creates an XML payload based on a provided template and passes that payload to a manager object to display. Toast is visually distinct from a tile but the markup structure is nearly identical.

There are two types of toast notification:

  • Standard toast: Most developers will use the standard toast. This toast remains on the screen for 7 seconds, playing a brief sound to alert the user when it appears. This toast is best for notifications such as a new e-mail, an IM contact sign-in, or a new social media update.
  • Long-duration toast: This toast looks the same as a standard toast but stays on the screen for 30 seconds and can play longer, looping audio. This is used in situations where developers want to grab the user’s attention because there is a human waiting on the other end of the connection. This type of toast is appropriate for person-to-person communication like instant messages and VOIP calls.

Scheduled and recurring toast

A toast notification can also be scheduled to appear at a specific time. Use this feature for alarms, calendar reminders and notifications that depend on precise timing. These notifications do not depend on the app’s state or the computer’s network connection.

A scheduled toast notification can also display multiple times within a short period to increase the user’s chance of seeing it. For instance, you might want to show important meeting reminders three times, five minutes apart.

Scheduled toast notifications specify the date and time when Windows should raise that toast notification. In the case of a recurring scheduled toast it is the first time that the OS will display the notification.

…

Badges

A tile can display a notification badgewhich conveys summary or status information concerning and specific to the app. Badges can be displayed on either the square or wide tile. They can be numeric (0-99) or one of a set of Windows-provided glyphs. Examples of information best conveyed through a badge include network connectivity in an online game, user status in a messaging app, number of unread mails in a mail app, or number of new posts in a social media app.

The system provides a set of glyphs for use with a badge. These glyph values are available:

  • none
  • activity
  • alert
  • available
  • away
  • busy
  • newMessage
  • paused
  • playing
  • unavailable
  • error

…

[Guidelines and checklist for notifications]
  • Use what you know about the user to send personalized, tailored notifications to them through the tile. Tile notifications should be relevant to the user. The available information about a user on which this relevance is based is largely internal to the individual appand may be limited by a user’s privacy choices.For example, a television streaming service can show the user updates about their most-watched show or a traffic condition app can use the user’s current location to show the most relevant map.

     

  • Send updates to the tile frequently so the user feels that the app is connected and receiving fresh, live content. The cadence of tile notifications will depend on the specific app scenario. For instance, a busy social media app could update every 15 minutes, weather every two hours, news a few times a day, daily offers once a day, and a magazine app monthly. If your app would update less than once a week, consider simply using a square tile with a badge.
  • Provide fun and engaging tile notifications to help users make an informed decision about when to launch your app. For instance, if you provide a shopping app, tell the user when a sale is going on.
  • If your app is not connected to cloud updates, use the tile to display local content or recent activity, updated each time the user launches or exits the app. For instance, a photo viewer tile could display photos from a recently added album. A video streaming service could show a static image to represent a video the user recently watched but didn’t finish.
  • Don’t use relative time stamps or dates (for instance, “two hours ago”) on tile notifications because those can become out of date. Use an absolute date and time (for instance, “11:00 A.M.”).

…

[How to Create the Best User Experience for Your Application [April, 2006]]

Aa468595.humanux_10(en-us,MSDN.10).gif

Figure 10. Custom toast window with graphics and multiple controls

“Toast” windows (see Figure 10), made famous by instant messaging clients like MSN Messenger, are a great solution for informing the user of something without annoying or disrupting his or her work flow. There is a great article by Bill Wagner on creating Toast windows. It is good policy (and manners) to not disturb any other application’s toasts. Obstruction of such windows can be annoying and unproductive. One solution is to use the ToastSemaphore Mutex provided by the OS to avoid toast collision.

Sometimes you may need to show multiple items by the toast. Popping up 3 or more toasts would not really be advisable. Instead, cycling through each by popping/fading one toast after the other would be better. Microsoft Outlook implements a similar solution when notifying the user of incoming e-mails.

[Guidelines and checklist for notifications]

Toast notifications

  • Consider that the user might not see the toast. If the information is important, you may want to retain related information on your tile or within your app views.
  • Notify the user of something personally relevant and time sensitive. Examples include:
    • new e-mails in a mail app
    • an incoming VOIP call
    • a new instant message
    • a new text message
    • a calendar appointment or other reminder
    • notifications that the user has explicitly opted-in for
  • A running app can hide a toast notification if it is no longer valid, such as an incoming call where the other party has hung up or the user has already answered on another device.
  • Do not include text telling the user to “click here to…” It is assumed that all toasts have a click/tap action with a result made clear in the context of the notification.
  • Combine multiple related updates that occur within a short period of time into a single toast. For instance, if you have 3 new e-mails that arrive at the same time, the app or app server should raise a coalesced notification.
  • Don’tuse toast to notify the user of something that must be seen, such as a critical alert. To ensure the user has seen your message, notify them in the context of your app with a flyout, dialog, app bar or other inline element.
  • Don’t use toast to notify the user of transient failures or network events, such as a dropped connection.
  • Don’t notify the user of something they didn’t ask to be notified about. For instance, don’t assume that all users want to be notified each time one of their contacts appears online.
  • Don’t use toast for anything with a high volume of notifications, such as stock price information.
  • Don’t notify the user of something that is not user-initiated, peer-to-peer, or explicitly enabled by the user.
  • Don’t use toast notifications for non-real time information, such as a picture of the day.
  • Don’t use toast to notify the user of routine maintenance happenings, such as the completion of an anti-virus scan.
  • Don’t raise a toast when your application is in the foreground. Use PushNotificationReceivedEventHandler to intercept push notifications when your application is running.
[Working with templates]

…

A badge is used to provide status on a tile, such as the number of new e-mails received or the status of a network connection. There are two variations: a number and a glyph. Badges are also defined as an XML document and its elements are defined in the badge schema.

[Guidelines and checklist for tiles]
  • Tile designers should attempt to create an appealing tile for their app that presents new, tailored, and engaging content that the user will want to check in the Start screen and that invites them to launch the app.
  • For a suite of apps, create one tile for each unique app in the suite.
  • Don’t create multiple tiles that open subexperiences in the same app. There should only be one tile for each unique app. Instead, consider whether secondary tiles [content tiles] would be a better option for those scenarios.
  • Don’t clutter the user’s Start screen with tiles for extras or accessories along with the app’s main tile. Only create multiple tiles when the product is truly a suite and each tile represents a separate core app in that suite.
  • Don’t create a tile for a configuration or troubleshooting experience within the app. That functionality should be provided to the user through the app’s Setting charm.

…

  • Don’t use tiles for advertisements.
  • Avoid the overuse of loud colors in tiles; simple, clean, elegantly designed tiles will be more successful than those that scream for attention.
  • Don’t use images with text on them; use a template with text fields for any text content needs.
  • Don’t rely on tiles to send urgent real-time information to the user. For instance, a tile is not the right medium for a news app to communicate an immediate earthquake evacuation message. Toast is a better medium for messages of an urgent nature.
  • Avoid image content that looks like a hyperlink, button, or other control. Tiles do not support those elements and the entire tile is a single click target.
[Creating and managing secondary tiles]

Secondary tiles [content tiles] enable users to promote interesting content and deep links—a reference to a specific location inside of the pinning app—from Metro style apps onto the Start screen. Secondary tiles enable users to personalize their Start screen experience with playlists, photo albums, friends, and other items important to them.

The option to create a secondary tile is seen most often in UI as the Pin to startoption. To pin content is to create a secondary tile for it. This option is often presented as a glyph on the app bar.

Selecting the secondary tile through a touch or a click launches into the parent app to reveal a focused experience centered on the pinned content or contact.

Only users can create a secondary tile; apps cannot create secondary tiles programmatically.Users also have explicit control over secondary tile removal, either through the Start screen or through the parent app.

Secondary tilesare associated with a single parent app. They are pinned to the Start screen to provide a user with a consistent and efficient way to launch directly into a frequently used area of the parent app. This can be either a general subsection of the parent app that contains frequently updated content or a deep link to a specific area in the app.

Examples of secondary tile scenarios include:

  • Weather updates for a specific city in a weather app
  • A summary of upcoming events in a calendar app
  • Status and updates from an important contact in a social app
  • Specific feeds in an RSS reader

Any frequently changing content that a user wants to monitor is a good candidate for a secondary tile. Once the secondary tile is pinned, users can receive at-a-glance updates through the tile and use it to launch directly into the parent app to reveal a focused experience centered on the pinned content or contact.

…

[Adding a splash screen]

A splash screen is requiredfor all Metro style apps.

.Hh465332.ux_splash_intro(en-us,VS.85).png

Your default splash screen displays when users launch your app, providing immediate feedback to users while your app initialized its resources. When your app’s first view is ready for interaction, the splash screen is dismissed. Good use of a splash screen can improve how the user perceives the performance of your application.

You can customize your application’s loading display by specifying the splash screen image and background color, and by using the Splash Screen API to display your splash screen for longer, and/or to notify your app when your splash screen is dismissed.

Extending the length of time that your splash screen is displayed enables your application to complete additional startup tasks and display additional loading information. For example, your app might need to load resources from the network. You would extend your splash screen by retrieving the coordinates of the splash image in order to construct your own splash screen (which is the first view in your app) that mimics the default splash screen, but can also provide the user with additional loading information. Mimicking the default splash screen in this way ensures that your app is in full control of its loading process while also maintaining a clean, consistent, loading experience for users.

If you have entrance animations, detecting when the splash screen is dismissed lets you know when to begin your app’s entrance animations.

[Choosing the right UI surfaces]

You have a number of surfaces you can use in your Metro style app, like the app window, pop-ups, dialogs, and bars. Choosing the right surface at the right time can mean the difference between an app that is a breeze to use or a burden.

The app window, or canvas

The app window, sometimes called the canvas, is the base of your UI. The canvas holds all of your content and controls. Whenever possible, you should integrate your UI elements into this base surface. For example, instead of using a pop-up to display an error, you can smoothly show, hide, or shift the error message on the window with the built-in animations. Presenting your UI inline lets users fully immerse themselves in your app and stay in context.

The app bar

Outside of the app window, the app bar is the primary command interface for your app. Use the app bar to present navigation, commands, and tools to users. The app bar is hidden by default and appears when users swipe a finger from the top or bottom edge of the screen. It covers the content of the app and can be dismissed by the user with an edge swipe, or by interacting with the app.

Hh465304.app_bar1(en-us,VS.85).png

The charms bar

The charms bar presents a specific and consistent set of buttons to users in every app: search, share, connect, settings, and start. We believe these are core scenarios that every user wants to do in almost every app they use.

  • SearchUsers can search for content located your app or in another app, and they can search your app’s content from another app.
  • ShareUsers can share content from your app with people or services.
  • ConnectUsers can connect to devices and send content, stream media, and print.
  • SettingsUsers can configure your app to their preferences.
  • Start Users can go directly to the Start screen.

Context menus

The context menu, sometimes called a popup menu, shows actions that users can perform on text or UI elements in an app. You can use up to five commands on each content menu, like cut, copy, or open with. This limit keeps the context menu uncluttered, easy-to-read, and directly relevant to the text or object that the commands act on.

Hh465304.ux_contextmenus(en-us,VS.85).png

Don’t use context menus as the primary command interface for an app. That’s what the app bar is for.

Message dialogs

Message dialogs are dialogs that require explicit user interaction. They dim the app window and demand a user response before continuing. Use message dialogs only when you intend to stop the user and to demand response.

Hh465304.message_dialog1(en-us,VS.85).png

In the example above, the app window is dimmed, and the user must tap one of the two buttons to dismiss the dialog. That is, the message in the dialog cannot be ignored.

Flyouts

Flyouts show temporary, dismissable UI related to what the user is currently doing. For example, you can use flyouts to ask the user to confirm an action, to show a drop-down menu from a button the app bar, or to show more details about an item. Flyouts are different from message dialogs in that you should show a flyout only in response to a user tap or click, and you should always dismiss the flyout when the user taps outside of it; you should show a message dialog only when you need to interrupt the user and demand some kind of interaction.

Hh465304.flyout_command(en-us,VS.85).png

In the example above, the app stays active, and the user can tap the button or tap outside the flyout to dismiss it. That is, the message in the flyout can be ignored.

Toasts

Toasts are notifications that you show to users when your app is in the background. Toasts are great at updating users with information they want to know in real-time, but it’s ok if they miss. Users tap on the toast to switch to your app and learn more.

Errors

Errors within an app can be communicated to the user through three main surfaces. The right surface for an error is chosen by the app developer based on the content and consequences of the error. See also Guidelines and checklist for error messaging.

To show: Use this surface:
A non-critical error specific to an element in the app. Your app cannot fix the problem, but users can.User interaction: Users can continue to interact with the app, system components, and other apps without dismissing the error.

Example: The user enters an invalid string in a text box and then retypes it.

 Text inline on the canvas· Text only

· Dismissed by app

· Appears inline near the source of the error
A non-critical error that applies to the whole app. Your app cannot fix the problem, but users can.User interaction: Users can continue to interact with the app, system components, and other apps without dismissing the error.

Example: Mail cannot sync at the moment.

 Text at the top of the page· Text only

· Dismissed by app

· Appears at the top of the page
A significant but non-critical error that applies to the whole app and your app can suggest a solution.User interaction: Users can respond to your prompt or continue to interact with the app, system components, and other apps without dismissing the error. Error and warning bar· Text, two buttons

· Dismissed by user

· Appears near the top of the page
A critical error that applies to the whole app and prevents the user from using the app.User interaction: Users cannot continue interacting with the app unless they dismiss the error. Users can still interact with system components and use other apps. Message dialog· Text, 1 to 3 buttons, title (optional)

· Dismissed by user

· Appears centered across the app

Do not use flyouts, toasts, or custom UI surfacesto display errors.

Errors: Inline text

In general, the inline error is the first choice of surface. An inline text error delivers messages in the context of the user’s current actions or the current app page itself. An inline error does not require an explicit user action to dismiss the message. The message goes away automatically when it no longer applies.

Do
Align the message with the control or element that the message relates to.

Lay out the message with ample surround space to increase its focal strength.

The following example shows an inline error message associated with a specific text box.

Hh465304.error_inline(en-us,VS.85).png

Don’t
Include actions or commands in the message.

In the following example, an Error and Warning bar would be a better choice.

Hh465304.error_inline_incorrect(en-us,VS.85).png

Errors: Error or warning bar

Use a Error or Warning bar to notify users of important errors and warnings and to encourage the user to take action. Error messages inform users that a problem occurred, explain why it happened, and provide a solution so users can fix the problem. Warning messages alert a user of a condition that might cause a problem in the future.

Do
Position the bar at the top of the screen, encouraging the user to notice and take action.

Color the bar with a color from the app’s palette.

Use the same color and layout for all your error and warning bars.

Hh465304.error_bar(en-us,VS.85).png

Don’t
Display bars with different colors or glyphs (such as a shield or exclamation point) based on perceived severity.

Use an ‘X’ glyph to close the bar; instead, use a labeled Close button.

Use an error and warning bar for information-only message.

The message in the example below is purely informational and no action is required. In this case, an inline message at the top of the screen should have been used.

Hh465304.error_bar_incorrect(en-us,VS.85).png

Errors: Message dialogs

Use a message dialog only if a modal message is required, blocking the user from interacting with the app.

Do
Use a message dialog if the user must take action before using the app any further.

The following example is an appropriate use of an error message dialog because users cannot use the app unless they have an active account.

Hh465304.error_dialog(en-us,VS.85).png

Don’t
Use a dialog if the user can ignore the message.

In the following example, there is nothing about the error that would require you to block users until they address it. An error or warning bar would have been a better choice.

Windows 8: the first 12 hours headlines and reports

September 14, 2011 11:37 am / 9 Comments on Windows 8: the first 12 hours headlines and reports

After  A too early assesment of the emerging ‘Windows 8’ dev & UX functionality [June 24, 2011] we came to an as full disclosure as possible by the keynote of the BUILD conference. Here are the very first (12 hours) reactions to that:

Windows 8 debuts at Microsoft Build (live blog) [cnet, with keynote liveblog replay embedded]

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Powering Windows 8 Prototype PCs [PCMag.com]
At the Build conference, in Anaheim, Microsoft demonstrated a number of prototype PCs running its Windows 8 development platform. And if you expected Intel or AMD guts in most of them, you’d be wrong.

Qualcomm Powers Next Generation of Windows 8-Based Prototype PCs Previewed at Microsoft BUILD [Qualcomm press release]

The next generation of Snapdragon processors is a family of all-in-one chipsets with the option for integrated multimode 3G/4G, differing numbers of CPU cores and the ability to support a range of device types.

Shown for the first time, Qualcomm’s Gobi solution provided the 3G/4G LTE connectivity of a Windows 8-based prototype PC. Qualcomm’s Gobi mobile Internet connectivity solution is a pre-certified multi-mode 3G/4G LTE module that makes it easy for OEMs to certify the connectivity of any Windows 8-based PC. By integrating a Gobi-based module into Windows 8-based PCs, Qualcomm will provide a fast, easy-to-use global connectivity solution for an untethered, productive user experience.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon family of mobile processors also delivers dual-band Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth and FM radio connectivity through Qualcomm Atheros’ WCN3660 combo chip. The WCN3660 is an integrated solution optimized to work with a broad range of mobile operating systems and will be the first in a series of 802.11n wireless LAN solutions to fully support Windows 8.
[see also:
– Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs with a new way of easy identification [Aug 4, 2011]
– Next-gen Snapdragon S4 class SoCs — exploiting TSMC’s 28nm process first — coming in December [Aug 9, 2011]
– Mobile Internet (Aug’11) containing a lot of information about Qualcomm’s truly leading edge capabilities in that space]

Hands-on with Windows 8: A PC operating system for the tablet age [ars technica, pre-written with full knowledge already, but published just as the keynote began]

It’s not finished yet, and Microsoft still has plenty of work ahead of it, but one thing is clear: Windows 8 is a genuine, uncompromised tablet operating system.

Liveblog: Microsoft previews Windows Server 8 at BUILD [ars technica, with keynote liveblog replay embedded]

Hands-on with Windows 8: it’s good stuff on the PC, too [ars technica, published (?written?) after the keynote quite probably because the keynote was mostly Metro/tablet oriented]

[summarized opinion in the end of the article:]
Windows 8 is a usable touch-screen tablet operating system, and it certainly has some compelling features when used on that kind of machine. The look of the software is different from what traditional Windows users are used to, but the operating system remains true to its PC roots: you can use it on a tablet, but you won’t need to.

//Build/–Windows 8 Thoughts [the below summarized opininion of a blogger already got 49 votes “for” vs. 1 vote “against” on DZone]

Game on. After going through the Day 1 keynote for the Build event, I should say I’m pretty much convinced that Microsoft has got the equation correct. They corrected the Tablet part of the equation, and got the entire Cloud <-> Tablet stack in place, with proper platforms and a nice set of developer tools. And with out doubt, Windows 8 devices are going to be a definite competitor for iPad/iOS, and Microsoft has officially entered the post PC era.

Windows 8 can run on an Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM [engadget]

We highly doubt it’s enjoyable, but at least you (probably) won’t be forced into an upgrade if you don’t want to be.

Microsoft launches Windows 8 developer preview, downloads are live! [engadget]

… everything from “10-inch tablets to laptops to all-in-ones with 27-inch HD screens” will be able to ingest Win8 with ease. That’s a markedly different take than the folks in Cupertino have expressed, with an (admittedly limiting) mobile OS being chosen to run the tablet side of things. Only time will tell which mantra proves more viable, but we’re guessing the both of ’em will find varying levels of success.

Windows 8 for tablets hands-on preview (video) [engadget]

Wrap-up

With the introduction of OS X Lion, Apple gave us a glimpse at what a post-PC operating system might look like, and now Microsoft’s gone and pushed that idea to the limit. If Cupertino’s latest was a tease, than Windows 8 is full frontal. And we have to admit, we like what we see. Sure this may not be the final build, or anywhere near it, but for whatever flaws it may have, the UI being offered in this developer preview is really something special. Time will tell if the “one ecosystem to rule them all” approach will catch on, but for now it’s time to give props where props are due — at least until we can get our hands on a final build.

Windows 8 Store to sell both Metro-style apps and conventional Win32 programs [engadget]

Oh, sure — you’ve already started digging into the upcoming Windows Store (or, at least what it’ll deliver), but Microsoft just revealed a cute little nugget about its future functionality here at Build 2011. In keeping with its mantra of making Windows 8 a one-size-fits-all affair, the Store will be home to both Metro-style apps (useful for tablets and desktops alike) as well as traditional Win32 programs.
…windows-8-platform-tools

Microsoft demos NFC-based tap-to-share for Windows 8 devices (updated) [engadget]

There’s not a ton of details on this just yet, but Microsoft confirmed during its Build keynote today that Windows 8 devices equipped with an NFC chip will be able to use a tap-to-share feature to either send content from one device to another, or simply receive content from something like an NFC-equipped card.

Update: NXP Semiconductors has now confirmed that it “worked closely” with Microsoft to develop an NFC driver for Windows 8, and that it’s also supplied the NFC solution used in the Windows 8 tablets given out at Build. According to the company, the NFC support in Windows 8 includes things like device pairing (simply tapping to pair a Bluetooth headset, for example), data sharing, and the ability to transfer control from one device to another (such as during a video call). And that’s all to say nothing of the usual fare like interacting with an NFC-enhanced advertisement, not to mention other applications that will surely follow once it’s actually put into practice. The company’s press release is after the break.
[NXP’s NFC Solution Supports Windows 8]

Microsoft shows Windows 8 on existing Ultrabooks, acts like it’s never seen a thin laptop before [engadget]

Microsoft gives Samsung Windows 8 developer PCs to Build attendees, AT&T throws in 3G service [engadget]

… that PC comes complete with a second-gen Intel Core i5 processor, an 11.6-inch 1,366 x 768 Samsung Super PLS display, a 64GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, and a dock with a USB, HDMI and Ethernet ports.
[Super PLS (Plane Line Switching): see A Beautiful Display [Anandtech, June 13, 2011] from which the below photo is copied here to explain the improvement of Super PLS over previous S-IPS and I-IPS: 
]

NVIDIA opens Windows 8 developer program with support for Kal-El tablets [engadget]

… it’ll embrace not just x86-based PCs, but Tegra-powered tablets as well. Specifically, that means support for its forthcoming quad-core Tegra platform, codenamed Kal-El, along with PCs packing GeForce, Quadro and Tesla cards.
[NVIDIA [press release] Helps Transform the PC With Windows 8 Developer Program]

Windows 8 details: new features, UI enhancements and everything in between [engadget]

Staying true to its roots, the new OS implements the familiar keyboard commands users have become accustomed to over the years — you know, like CMD and Ctrl+F. And as for its update to Internet Explorer, MS has imbued its tenth iteration with the ability to switch between the much-hyped Metro-style UI and plain old desktop view — all according to your whimsy. Of course, Redmond’s instituted other sweeping changes across the platform, and you can check some of the highlights after the break.

  • All Windows 7 applications will run natively on Windows 8
  • Security update notifications have been minimized to the lower right of the log-in screen
  • Refreshed Windows Task Manager suspends apps when they’re not running on-screen
  • New “Reset and Refresh PC” functions enable simplified system wipe and restore
  • HyperV virtualization software comes pre-loaded on Windows 8
  • Multi-monitor support now enables a single background across screens, as well as monitor-specific task bars
  • Multi-touch support enabled for Internet Explorer 10
  • Magnifier function enhanced for desktop manipulation
  • Optional thumb-by-thumb input mode
  • SkyDrive storage support integrated into all cloud-based apps
  • Metro-style refresh for Mail, Photos, Calendar and People apps with Windows Live ID
  • Settings roam allows for preferences to sync across a user’s Windows 8 devices
  • Continued update support for Windows 8 Developer Preview Beta
  • Even a Lenovo S10(first-gen Atom + 1GB of RAM) can “run” Windows 8
  • There’s “no overlays” with Windows 8; Metro-style goodness is baked into the core
  • Both Metro-style and conventional Win32 apps will be soldin the Windows Store
  • Windows 8 devices equipped with an NFC chip will be able to use a tap-to-sharefeature to either send content from one device to another, or simply receive content from something like an NFC-equipped card.
  • Logins will use a photo-based system
  • Apps will be able to natively connect and understand one another (if written as such)
  • Built-in antivirus software will ship in Windows 8
  • There will notbe a different edition of Windows 8 for tablets, and presumably, not for Media Centers either
  • It’s unclear how many “editions” (Home, Professional, Ultimate, etc.) of Windows 8 there will be
  • ARM devices will be supported, but not in the developer preview

Windows 8 developer preview: when and where to download (update: right now, here!) [engadget]

… you’ll be able to download a copy of the Windows Developer Preview to your 32- or 64-bit x86 machine (no activation required) from dev.windows.com. Sorry, ARM hopefuls!

Microsoft launches Windows 8 preview [Computerworld, ]
Microsoft will post the first developer preview beta of Windows 8 late on Tuesday, the company announced as it showed off the new OS running on a Samsung tablet.

5,000 Microsoft developers get Samsung preview tablets [Computerworld, ]
Microsoft on Tuesday gave the 5,000 developers attending its BUILD conference preview units of a Samsung tablet running a version of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system.

Windows 8 on ARM to open up for developer scrutiny  [Computerworld, ]
Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 OS running on ARM prototype tablets and other devices will be open for developer scrutiny at the software giant’s Build conference this week.

Microsoft opens Windows 8 preview to all [Computerworld, ]
Taking a different tack than it did three years ago, Microsoft has made a preview of Windows 8 available to anyone who takes the time to download it.

Microsoft leaves Windows 8 questions unanswered [Computerworld, the headline on the homepage of the Computerworld after the day earlier demonstration for journalists and analysts, while the article headline is a more natural one: “Windows 8 steps beyond the desktop”]
On the Windows computer of the future, live tiles will replace icons, touch-based gestures will replace mouse clicks and semantic zooming will replace the arduous traversal through nested menus and folders.

Microsoft leaves Windows 8 questions unanswered, say experts [Computerworld, the same thing reiterated now with quoting analysts to support the Computerworld headline]
Today’s long-awaited look at Windows 8 left analysts almost as perplexed as they were before Microsoft’s top Windows executive walked onto a California stage.

But if Microsoft was hoping to generate excitement about the upgrade, it succeeded, if only because of the fast-paced presentation by Steven Sinofsky, the president of the Windows group.

“It all looks great,” said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland-Wash. research firm that specializes in tracking Microsoft’s moves. “If the goal was to get everyone excited, they did that. I was impressed by what they showed, by what they’ve done, but it’s too much to digest. I think I’ll have to watch the keynote [webcast] two or three more times to get it all.”

During the keynote, Sinofsky and other Microsoft executives spent most of their time showing off what they called the “Metro experience,” a tile-style, full-screen interface borrowed from Windows Phone 7 that’s intended to address the company’s lack of a true touch-based operating system.

“This is interesting for consumers,” added Michael Silver, a Gartner analyst who attended the keynote. “Certainly, Microsoft has to catch up on tablets [with Apple and Google] and get consumers excited about Windows again. I think this was a good effort at trying to do that.”

But for Cherry and Silver, who spend most of their time scrutinizing Windows for corporate clients, not consumers, there were tons of unanswered questions.

“We still don’t know when this will be shipped,” noted Cherry. “And we don’t know how stable Windows 8 is. Remember, these were all demos, and demos are carefully rehearsed.”

Silver echoed Cherry.

“They haven’t made the case yet that enterprises will want this,” said Silver. “I expect that they will have [enterprise-specific features] to show later, but at this point there are still lots of questions that haven’t been answered.”

Tops on his list: Can Microsoft successfully pitch Windows 8 as an upgrade for businessesthat have just recently migrated to its predecessor, Windows 7?

“Microsoft has implied that [Windows 8] would not drive an upgrade cycle,” said Silver, talking about corporations purchasing new computers to replace outdated machines and operating systems. “After all the work on Windows 7 deployment, organizations will think twice before deploying this everywhere,” said Silver. “They’re looking for a little respite, and planning to take a break because of migration fatigue.”

But Cherry was taken with the apparently smooth integration of the two interfaces: Metro and the traditional desktopfamiliar to users for decades.

“It appears that they will coexist well,” said Cherry. “I don’t envision a lot of problems for businesses there, although we’ll have to see how they handle group policies.”

Even so, he was hesitant to applaud Windows 8 until he knows more.

“The story they’re trying to tell — that they’ve re-imagined Windows — is a good story, but when I hear that they’re making major changes, I remember that changes lead to instability.”

Later today, Microsoft will distribute Samsung tabletswith a developer preview of Windows 8 to attendees at the BUILD Windows conference, which Sinofsky kicked off with the two-and-a-half hour presentation.

Microsoft has not said anything about when it will release a Windows 8 beta that will be available to the general public.

Windows 8 BUILD conference – The best reviews

Microsoft is currently previewing Windows 8 at the BUILD conferenceand the web goes crazy. It appears the interest in Windows 8 is even bigger than it was for Window 7. Of course, this is due to the fact that Windows 8 is the biggest overhaul since Windows 95.

I compiled a collection of the best Windows 8 reviews that have been published today. I divided the link list into two sections. The first part covers general reviews, and the second part specific Windows 8 features.

The first blog post is from Steven Sinofsky (President of the Windows Division). Most interesting is that everyone will be able to download the developer’s prelease of Windows 8 later today.

General Windows 8 reviews

Windows 8 feature reviews

On the spot responses

Windows 8 Shines at Build Keynote

Microsoft Build: Windows 8 will scale from tablets to PCs to servers

Top 10 Features of Windows 8: Will Microsoft Outshine Apple?

Build 2011: What Is WinRT, and Is Silverlight Dead?

‎Microsoft BUILD Event: Three Top Priorities for Windows 8

Windows 8 and Office 365: Microsoft’s Killer Cloud Combo?

Windows 8 boots ‘faster than monitor’

‎Microsoft Touts Windows 8, “Reimagines” Computing

Microsoft blows up Windows with Windows 8

‎Microsoft Build conference starts with Windows 8 demo, talks on programming apps and hardware platforms

Microsoft’s BUILD Conference Windows 8 Blowout

Sinofsky Spotlights ‘Fast and Fluid’ Windows 8 in Build Keynote

Microsoft Gives BUILD Attendees Copies Of Windows 8

Build 2011: First Glimpse of the Windows 8 App Store

Microsoft shows off new Windows 8 tablets, notebooks and more

Microsoft Demoes Windows 8 Features At BUILD Conference [SCREENSHOTS]

Developers receive Windows 8 tablets; Windows 8 DP build coming

Microsoft BUILD: Windows 8 developer preview now available

BUILD 2011: Windows 8 keynote highlights

Microsoft Build conference 2011: Windows 8 round up

Microsoft launches Windows 8 and details new features at Build 2011

Microsoft Demoes Windows 8 Features At BUILD Conference [SCREENSHOTS]

Microsoft showcases Windows 8 at BUILD

Microsoft’s Build Windows 2011 [Windows 8 info]
The Build Windows Conference has initiated, I would quickly give you a foreword : The Windows 8 OS Showcase seems outstanding in terms of interface. It seems as if your big computer screen is going to have a interface as competitive as Android or iOS.
Windows 8 Build Windows 2011 [Update 2]
Windows 8 Build Windows 2011 [Update 3]

Samsung Windows 8 tablet revealed at Build 2011

Microsoft Previews Windows 8 at BUILD Conference

Windows 8 Details Emerge at Build Conference Demo

Microsoft unveils Windows 8 – New features and screenshots

Tuesday Keynote @ Build Windows 8 [quite good notes]

Keynote started with a video of developers, designers etc. working on Windows 8 giving their favorite features in Win8.

  • ~450 million copies of Win7 sold (1500 non-security product changes seamlessly delivered)
  • Consumer usage higher than XP
  • 542 million Windows Live sign-ins every month

Lots of change in Windows

  • Form factors/UI models create new opportunities (touch)
    • “People who say touch is only for small or lightweight devices are wrong. As soon as you use touch on a tablet, you’re going to want to touch on your desktop & laptop.”
  • Mobility creates new usage models – e.g. use while reclining on a couch
  • Apps can’t be silos – “customers want a web of applications”
    • Apps to interact easily
    • Services are intrinsic

What is Win8?

  • Makes Windows 7 even better – everything that runs on Win7 will run on Win8
  • Reimagines Windows from the chipset (ARM work) through the UI experience
    • All demos shown today are equally at home on ARM and x86

Performance / Fundamentals

Kernel Memory Usage

Win 7 RTM
540 MB
34 processes

Win 7 SP 1
404 MB
32 processes

Win 8 Dev Preview
281 MB
29 processes

Demos

User Experience (Julie)

  1. Fast and fluid – everything’s animated
  2. Apps are immersive and full screen
  3. Touch first – keyboard/mouse are first-class citizens (“you’re going to want all three”)
  4. Web of apps that work together – “when you get additional apps, the system just gets richer and richer”
  5. Experience this across devices and architectures
  6. Notes from Julie’s demo
  • Picture password – poke at different places on an image (3 strokes) to login
  • Tiles on the home screen – each is an app – easily rearranged. Pinch to zoom in/out
  • On screen keyboard pops up
  • Swipe from right side to bring up Start screen – swipe up from bottom to get app menus (“app bar”) – relevant system settings (e.g. sound volume/mute) also appear
  • Select text in a browser – drag from right side to see “charms” – these are exposed by apps. One is “Share” – shows all apps that support the “Share contract”.
    • Think of sharing as a very semantically rich clipboard.
    • Target app can implement its own panel for information (e.g. login, tags, etc.) for sharing when it’s the target.
  • Search
    • Can search applications, files – apps can also expose a search contract to make it easy for search to find app-specific data.
  • Inserting a picture
    • Shows pix on computer
    • Social networking sites can add content right into picture file picker
  • Showed settings syncing from one machine to another machine she is logged in on that is an ARM machine.

Metro-style Platform/Tools (Antoine)

  • Current platform a mixed bag – silo of HTML/Javascript on top of IE, C#/VB on top of .NET & Silverlight, and
  • Metro apps can be built in any language
  • Reimagined the Windows APIs – “Windows Runtime” (Windows RT).
    • 1800 objects natively built into Windows – not a layer.
    • Reflect those in C#/VB.Net/C++/C/JavaScript
    • Build your UI in XAML or HTML/CSS
  • Launch Visual Studio 11 Express – new app to build Metro apps.
    • Pick the language you want – pick the app template you want.
  • Enable millions of web developers to build these apps for Windows.
  • Code you write can run either locally or in a browser from a web server – just JavaScript and HTML 5.
  • New format – App Package – that encapsulates
  • Use mouse or touch seamlessly – no special code.
  • Modify button to bring up file picker dialog…
    • Also allows connecting to Facebook if the app that connects FB photos to the local pictures is there – every app now gets access to FB photos.
  • Adding support for the “Share” contract is 4 lines of JS
  • Use Expression Blend to edit not just XAML but HTML/CSS.
    • Add an App Bar – just a <div> on the HTML page.
    • Drag button into there to get Metro style where commands are in the app bar
  • Uses new HTML 5 CSS layout as Grid. Allows for rotation, scaling, etc. Center canvass within the grid.
  • Expression lets you look at snapped view, docked view, portrait, landscape.
  • 58 lines of code total
  • Post app to the Windows Store
    • In VS Store / Upload Package…
    • Licensing model built into app package format. Allows trials.
    • Submit to Certification
      • Part of the promise of the store to Windows users is the apps are safe and high quality.
      • Processes can be a bit bureaucratic.
      • Does compliance, security testing, content compliance.
      • Will give Developers all the technical compliance tools to run themselves.
    • The Store is a Windows app. Built using HTML/JavaScript
  • Win32 Apps
    • Not going to require people to rewrite those to be in the store.
    • Don’t have to use Win8 licensing model.
    • Give the Win32 apps a free listing service.
  • XAML / Silverlight
    • Using ScottGu sample SilverLight 2 app.
    • Not a Metro app – input stack doesn’t give touch access.
    • How to make it a Metro app?
      • Runtime environments between SL and Win8 are different.
      • Had to change some using statements, networkin layer.
      • Reused all the XAML and data binding code – it just came across.
      • Declare it supports “Search” and add a couple of lines of code.
    • Also can use same code on the Windows Phone.
    • “All of your knowledge around Silverlight, XAML just carries across.”
  • If you write your app in HTML5/CSS/XAML, it will run on x86/x64/ARM. If you want to write native code, we’ll help make it cross-compile to these platforms.
  • IE 10 is the same rendering engine as for the Metro apps.
  • Can roam all settings across your Win8 machines – including you app settings if you want.

Hardware Platform (MikeAng)

  • 8 second boot time – win7 pc.
  • UEFI
  • New power state called “Connected Standby”
    • Windows coalesces all the timer and network requests, turns the radio on periodically to satisfy them, then goes back to very low power consumption.
    • But because app requests are getting satisfied they are up to date as soon as you press “ON”
  • USB 3 ~4x faster at copying a 1 GB file than USB 2
  • Can boot Win8 from up to 256 TB drive.
  • Direct Compute API – can offload compute loads to GPU
  • Every Metro app has hardware acceleration UI baked in.
  • Doing work with OEMs on testing sensitivity of touch hardware
    • Windows reserves only one pixel on each side for the Windows UI, so sensitivity important.
  • Down to 1024 x 768 for Metro apps. If 1366 x 768, get full Windows UI (side-by-side snap in). Any form factor – about resolution.
  • Have a sensor fusion API – accelerameter, touch.
  • NFC – near field communication – business card can have a little antenna built in to send data to Win8.
  • Integrating device settings (web cam, HP printer, etc.) into Metro UI rather than as a third-party app.
  • Ultra Books
    • Full core powered processor in a super-thin and light package.
    • Some are thinner than legacy connectors – RJ45 and VGA – they are bumps.
    • These things are mostly battery.
  • Samsung PC giveaway – to all BUILD attendees
    • 64 GB SSD
    • 4 GB RAM (Steven: “so you can run Visual Studio”)
    • AT&T 3G included for one year (2GB/mo)
    • Windows tablet + development platform.
    • 2nd generation core i5
    • 1366×768 display from Samsung – amazing
  • Refresh your PC without affecting your files
    • Files and personalization don’t change.
    • PC settings are restored to default
    • All Metro apps are kept – others are removed.
    • Command-line tool to establish base image for this for pros.
  • Hyper-V in the Windows 8 client
  • ISOs get mounted as DVD drives.
  • Multi Mon –
    • Screen background extends
    • Task bar customizes to multi-mon – can have identical across two mons or have per-monitor task bar (show only apps running on that monitor)
    • Ctrl/PgDn to switch Metro start screen between the two monitors – develop on one, test on another.
  • Keyboard works the same – type “cmd” from Metro Start screen and are in search for CMD.

Cloud Services (ChrisJo)

  • Windows Live mail Metro client connects both Exchange and Hotmail.
    • Full power delivered by ActiveSync.
  • Windows Live Metro calendar app.
  • Bring together all the Friends through Linked In, Facebook, Windows Live.
  • Photos
    • Connected to Facebook, Flickr, local photos.
    • Written as a Metro app.
  • SkyDrive – 100 million people.
    • Every Win8 user, every Win Phone has a SkyDrive.
    • Also accessible to developers – access the same way as you would use local store.

Wrap

  • Used college interns to develop sample apps included in dev preview build.
  • 17 teams (2-3 devs per team).
  • 10 weeks.

Developer Preview (not Beta).

Learn more:

MSFT will let everyone download the Developer preview starting tonight.

http://dev.windows.com

  • X86 (32- and 64-bit)
  • With Tools + Apps or just Apps
  • No activation, self-support.

Pre-written with full knowledge already:

Microsoft BUILD: Windows 8, A Pre-Beta Preview [AnandTech single multi-part article]

ZDNet’s whole series (mostly pre-written with full knowledge already):

Windows 8 unveiled
This morning, Microsoft officially took the wraps off of Windows 8, unveiling its radically revised new operating system in front af an audience of software developers. I had a chance to get my hands on the new system (literally) last night. Here’s what you can look forward to.
September 13, 2011 | 9:05am PDT

Microsoft to developers: Metro is your future
Silverlight and .Net are not dead (yet). But Metro is really the future for Windows 8, Microsoft is telling developers on the opening day of Build.
September 13, 2011 | 9:13am PDT

Windows 8 will ship with built-in antivirus protection
In a move that is likely to anger the antivirus industry, Microsoft is adding security features from its Security Essentials program to Windows 8.
September 13, 2011 | 2:36 PM PDT

Nvidia launches Windows 8 developer program
Under Nvidia’s Windows 8 developer program, its quad-core Tegra processor, GeForce GPUs, Quadro and Tesla processors will be included.
September 13, 2011 | 12:00 PM PDT

Windows 8 will run on old Atom CPUs and 1GB RAM
Seems like Microsoft’s taken those bloatware claims to heart and has actually been working hard to minimize the system requirements footprint of the OS.
September 13, 2011 | 10:58 AM PDT

Get the Windows 8 Developer Preview – Today!
Want to check out Windows 8? You’ll be able to tonight!
September 13, 2011 | 10:32 AM PDT

Microsoft’s Windows 8: Here’s what we now know (and don’t)
Microsoft’s Windows 8 developer conference kicks off on September 13. Here’s a cheat sheet of what we now know and don’t going into the four-day confab.
September 13, 2011 | 9:05 AM PDT

Microsoft’s big task: Juggle PC, post-PC eras
Windows 8 is one mammoth hedge on the possibility that PCs won’t be able to evolve well in a land of Android and Apple smartphones and tablets.
September 13, 2011 | 2:35 AM PDT

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 ‘Apollo’ OS convergence, Tango1 and Tango2, and more
Is Windows and Windows Phone OS going to converge to form one all-encompassing OS? With Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, code name “Apollo,” it may just happen.
September 12, 2011 | 2:21 PM PDT

Five unanswered Windows 8 questions
By the end of the day tomorrow, we’ll know much more about Windows 8. But some questions will remain unanswered, even after a thorough demo. Here are the top five on my list.
September 12, 2011 | 10:00 AM PDT

winrumors whole series (some pre-written with some knowledge already):

[the indicated hours are relative to September 13, 2011 | 12:00pm PDT]

Windows 8 really does change everything, it’s mind-blowing
Microsoft is welcoming around 5,000 developers to its BUILD conference today to unveil the most significant change in the PC space since Windows 95. “It’s a launch,” explains Windows chief Steven Sinofsky. 15 hours ago

Hands on with Windows 8′s new Metro experience
Microsoft unveils Windows 8 to the world today, a reimagined Windows for the next-generation of devices and hardware. The new Start Screen and immersive Metro experience are designed to make experiences in Windows 8 “totally … 15 hours ago

Windows 8 Metro apps and Windows Store
Microsoft’s new application model for Windows 8 comes coupled with a Windows Store for developers and end users. The Windows Store will play a big role in Windows 8 applications going forward. 15 hours ago

Windows 8: classic desktop features
Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system sees a fresh start for the interface as a whole, but what about classic desktop? Don’t fear if you’re a die hard Windows power user. Microsoft has kept the fundamentals … 14 hours ago

Hands on: Windows 8 input options and pen computing
Microsoft has nurtured pen based computing inside Windows for a number of years, but what’s it like in Windows 8? The Windows 8 developer preview build includes the ability to use pen based devices. Microsoft …  14 hours ago

Hands on: Windows 8 File History backup
Microsoft’s backup options are changing in Windows 8. The developer preview of Windows 8 includes a File History feature that was previously known as “History Vault” during the early Milestone builds of Windows 8. File …    14 hours ago

Microsoft to release Windows 8 developer preview ISO bits later today
Microsoft is planning to release an early developer preview copy of Windows 8 today. The Windows 8 Developer Preview will be made available alongside guides, tools, samples, forums, docs and other resources to build on Windows. …   12 hours ago

How fast does Windows 8 really boot? Really fast
Microsoft unveiled its incredible fast boot feature of Windows 8 earlier this month, but how fast does Windows 8 really boot? The answer is super fast. The Samsung Windows 8 developer preview tablet restarts in …   12 hours ago

Microsoft to outline Xbox LIVE Windows 8 support at BUILD
Microsoft’s BUILD session is now live and it reveals an interesting look at Xbox LIVE integration in Windows 8. The software giant currently ships Games for Windows LIVE for Windows 7 PCs which offers a …   11 hours ago

Windows 8 beta and RC on the horizon, updates to developer build
Microsoft’s Windows 8 develop schedule will include one beta and one RC before the RTM and general availability points. Windows chief Steven Sinofsky revealed the schedule in a keynote address on Tuesday.    10 hours ago

Windows To Go: Run Windows 8 from a USB device
Microsoft’s Portable Workspace feature has been renamed to Windows To Go inside Windows 8. The feature allows Windows 8 to boot from a USB device. First discovered in leaked builds, Microsoft looks set to detail …   9 hours ago

Windows 8 Xbox LIVE UI is identical to the new Xbox dashboard [pic]
Microsoft’s new Xbox LIVE integration in Windows 8 is identical to the company’s Xbox dashboard. Larry Hryb (Major Nelson) revealed the interface in a blog post on Tuesday. Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE support in Windows 8 …    8 hours ago

Microsoft captured users fingerprints for Windows 8 touch work
Microsoft’s early research work with Windows 8 saw the company capture a number of consumers fingerprints. The software giant captured fingerprints and handprints to figure out the best interface to suit people’s varied hand size.    7 hours ago

Windows 8 Developer Preview now available to download Microsoft’s Windows 8 Developer Preview is now available to download. The Windows developer center is now live and Windows 8 available to download in the following flavours: Windows Developer Preview English, 64-bit (x64) DOWNLOAD (3.6 GB) …   6 hours ago

WinBeta whole series

Download the Windows 8 Developer Preview
The moment we have all been waiting for has come to fruition. Microsoft has just uploaded the Developer Preview build of Windows 8. Check out the download links at the bottom of this post to grab the 32bit or 64bit versions.

Microsoft to be streaming the BUILD conference live
There has been speculation on whether Microsoft will be streaming the BUILD conference live. Fortunately, Microsoft have confirmed the legitimacy of a LIVE stream starting from September 13th at 9AM PDT time.

Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Screenshots
Windows 8 Developer Preview has only been out for a few hours now but we have some screenshots for you that will give you an idea of what to expect, in case you are not planning on trying it out for yourself or your download is taking ages. Either way, we got you covered with some lovely screenshot action!

Microsoft’s Highlights Windows 8’s New Features
During the Build Developer’s Conference today in California, Microsoft showcased Windows 8 and detailed its new features. “We re-imagined Windows. From the chipset to the user experience, Windows 8 brings a new range of capabilities without compromise,” explains Steven Sinofsky. So what are the new features?

Windows 8 Screenshots: Start Screen, Keyboard, and more
We’ve got a few new Windows 8 screenshots for you, directly from the Windows 8 demonstration at the Build developer’s conference. In these screenshots, we get to see the new start screen, the classic desktop, the new onscreen keyboard, and the new Metro-styled applications (mail, calendar, and photo).

Microsoft Reveals the Path to Windows 8 RTM
Microsoft revealed its plans for Windows 8’s release during the Build developer’s conference. We learned that Windows 8 will have only a few more milestones before going final. First we will have a beta, a release candidate, release to manufacturing, and finally, general availability.

Windows 8: Reset PC and Sync Settings
Microsoft is revealing a ton of new information regarding Windows 8. This time, we learn about a feature that will allow you to reset your PC settings and another feature that allows you to sync your settings across all PCs that run Windows 8.

Windows 8: Screenshots of new Task Manager
During the Build Developer’s conference, Microsoft showcased the new task manager in Windows 8. At the demonstration, Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky stated that this new task manager was years in the making.

Silverlight and .Net are not dead, but Metro is the future
During the Build Developer Conference in California, Microsoft revealed that both Silverlight and .Net are not dead. Instead, those two platforms will be utilized to write classic and desktop apps for Windows 8, rather than the new Metro styled apps, which is Windows 8’s primary focus.

Windows 8 Developer Preview available tonight at 8PM PDT
BUILD is live and Microsoft are talking about their new operating system, Windows 8. They have announced many new features and the best bit yet, it will be available today!

Microsoft Reveals the Path to Windows 8 RTM
Microsoft revealed its plans for Windows 8’s release during the Build developer’s conference. We learned that Windows 8 will have only a few more milestones before going final. First we will have a beta, a release candidate, release to manufacturing, and finally, general availability.‎

Innovative entertainment class [Android] tablet from VIZIO plus a unified UX for all cloud based CE devices, from TVs to smartphones

August 21, 2011 6:10 pm / 5 Comments on Innovative entertainment class [Android] tablet from VIZIO plus a unified UX for all cloud based CE devices, from TVs to smartphones

Update: Vizio Jumps Into PC Fray [The Wall Street Journal, Jan 7, 2012]

Vizio Inc., which shook up the market with inexpensive high-definition televisions, now wants to become a computer manufacturer.

The Irvine, Calif., company, which ranks as one of the top sellers of televisions in the U.S., plans to show a line of thin laptop computers and all-in-one desktop PCs running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Vizio, which also produces Blu-ray players and a tablet, says it worked on its computer designs for two years in attempts to offer an aesthetic that competes with Apple Inc.’s popular products but at a lower price.

Vizio says it spent months, for example, shaving millimeters from its desktop computer so the central processing chip could hide in a sleek base while the screen stands attached to its thin aluminum neck.

“It doesn’t look mechanical or industrial,” said Matthew McRae, Vizio’s technology chief. “The industrial design is something we sweat.”

The closely held company said it is well aware it is entering an already crowded market. Hewlett-Packard Co., Lenovo Group Ltd., Dell Inc., Acer Inc., Toshiba Corp. and Asustek Computer Inc. are among the competitors that have staked out nearly all of the computer market. Most compete for attention from either price-conscious consumers or value-focused corporate customers.

One result has been continually falling prices and ever-tight profit margins. But Vizio said it believes its brand will entice consumers looking for distinctive designs at attractive pricing.

It is not yet specifying price points for its computers, which aren’t expected to go on sale until May. But Mr. McRae said they will cost “substantially less” than comparable products from Apple. He said the company isn’t shooting for the price range of low-end laptops, many of which sell for around $499.

The announcement comes as many other companies are trying to emulate Apple’s ultra-thin MacBook Air—which starts at $999 for an 11-inch screen—with models called ultrabooks that mainly range in price from $899 to $1,400. Vizio isn’t using the ultrabook moniker, but its laptops are also thin and offer screens ranging from 14 inches to 15.6 inches.

Vizio has been able to offer its televisions, accessories and tablets at lower prices by keeping a small staff and restricting itself to a smaller number of products. Vizio also standardizes many parts across its product line, allowing it to buy parts in bulk for cheaper prices.

The company expanded its lineup to include an 8-inch tablet, which uses Google Inc.’s Android mobile operating system. Vizio said its supply of the device—priced at $329, compared with the $499 entry price for Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad—quickly sold out after the debut in August, marking unusual demand in a crowded market where few iPad rivals have done well.

“We underestimated demand,” Mr. McRae said. He declined to disclose sales other than to say the company sold out of its initial inventory in four months and that unit sales are “way over six-figures.”

Mr. McRae said his team is working on software that will help Vizio’s televisions to share content, like movies, with its computers and tablets connected to a home network. That software, which Vizio said it plans to offer for competitors’ laptops and tablets as well, will be part of a larger strategy to tie its line of products together.

A planned update of the software will help different devices interact with one another, Mr. McRae said. A customer watching “Two and a Half Men,” for example, could open a program on his Vizio laptop that would tell him details about the episode, offer other information on the series and even connections to social networks.

Such features could help the company distinguish itself in the crowded PC market, said Tom Mainelli, an analyst at IDC.

“If they’re smart about how they bundle these products together, and make it clear your Vizio PC will talk to your Vizio TV and media tablet, it could be pretty interesting,” he said. “Customers want to share content across these devices.”

VIZIO 8” Tablet with WiFi - Aug-2011

VIZIO 8” Tablet with WiFi [Aug 16, 2011]:
VTAB1008 Model Features
– 8″ high resolution 1024 x 768 touch screen
– VIZIO Internet Apps Plus™ [V.I.A. Plus UI]
– 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth®
– Front facing camera
– HDMI® video output – play video and music on your TV		 – Multiple speakers for premium audio in portrait and landscape
– Built-in IR blaster with universal remote control app

… Access hundreds of thousands of apps from the Android Market™ to enjoy movies, TV shows, music and more†. … Master your domain with the Tablet’s built-in IR blaster and universal remote control app. This VIZIO-exclusive app enables the Tablet to communicate with your home theater devices‡ and control them all with the Tablet. You can also set up a profile for each room in your house and then control those devices as you move from room to room. The built-in HDMI® port is fully HDCP compliant so you can output HD video to multiple TVs and monitors, making it a breeze to watch  HD content on your big screen HDTV**. …
†A wireless connection is required to access content over the Internet including apps and video chat. 
‡Applies to most home theater devices which are IR controllable.
**Requires an HDTV with HDMI input.

Vizio Tablet Review [SlashGear, Aug 6, 2011]

The Vizio Tablet is a pleasant surprise. Vizio is known more for affordable TVs and it has entered the tablet market with a similar value-oriented mindset, offering an 8-inch Android slate that delivers a well thought out consumer-centric experience along with unique features that even the most discriminating tablet enthusiasts can appreciate. It has its drawbacks, but if you’re budget-conscious and want to find your first tablet that’s the best bang for the buck, then do read on for our full review.

When it comes to the hardware specs, the Vizio Tablet isn’t going to blow your mind given its cost constraints. But, what’s there has been thoughtfully selected for the least amount of compromise. The 1GHz Marvell Armada 600 Series single-core processor [details about that in Marvell ARMADA beats Qualcomm Snapdragon, NVIDIA Tegra and Samsung/Apple Hummingbird in the SoC market [again] [Sept 23, 2010]], along with 512MB of RAM, offers enough performance power without the battery drain, but we’ll get into the benchmarks and battery life later.
[The latest information on Marvell is in First real chances for Marvell on the tablet and smartphone fronts [Aug 21, 2011]]

…

The VIA Plus interface brings apps to the forefront, with widget windows relegated to its own app called Widget Board. The main interface is split into two sections, one on top of the other. The first section shows all the apps in a particular category. Pressing the arrow button at the top right brings up a dropdown menu for you to select which category to display. You can add/delete categories and add/remove apps from each category. The second section shows all your apps in one place.

And, along the bottom of the screen sits a menu bar that works like a shortcut dock. There’s a total of five shortcuts that can be customized. Below is a quick video demo of the interface.

…

With $2.9 billion revenue last year (see: Kingston, Vizio Drive Minority-Owned Gain [July 24, 2011]) generated by only 196 employees the privately owned VIZIO Inc. is the prime example of a true 21st century consumer electronics company. No wonder why PCs and cloud clients are not parts of Hewlett-Packard’s strategy anymore [Aug 19, 2011].

Now VIZIO is showing an even better example of how to exploit the true commodity character of the recently formed Android ecosystem to expand its current HDTV business into the much wider realm of all cloud based consumer electronics devices. By doing so it is not only passing the big name CE and PC vendors by but also the typical actions of new entrants, what is represented – for example – by Huawei’s IDEOS U8150 smartphone for US$86 in Kenya: 350,000 units sold in 8 months [Aug 17, 2011].

In order to understand that let’s see first a short transcript excerpt from the second video below in order to better focus your attention on the value proposition video coming first:

[0:17] We are Gingerbread right now. We will advance to Honeycomb when we feel that the product is stable enough. [0:22] … [0:47] The other thing we’ve done also [in addition to an attractive price] we’ve done, I mean, Android is not very good at UI stuff. So you notice if you look at the TVs everything here is the same exact UI. We’ve spent a lot of time and effort on customizing the UI to make it really easy for users to navigate through Android. That is another thing when we look at Honeycomb, that they made some UI improvements but it is a lot more cluttered. So we’re doing a lot of work around that on Honeycomb project as well to make the user interface much better. [1:16]

… [4:00] This has a remote controller up on it. A universal remote controller. Not just VIZIO products, all other products … I mean home theater etc. So we have IR blaster here [built into the thin edge of the device], covers like ninety five percent of all CE [consumer electronics] products. … It is an application, a VIZIO application. [4:20] … [4:28] What is great about software based remote control is that when you pair it to your device it will only show you the keys that are for that device. [4:37]

VIZIO Tablet [VIZIO video, Aug 1, 2011]: the value proposition video from the vendor which is extremely well demonstrating not only the VIZIO-specific V.I.A. Plus UI but the whole new user experience

– [0:04] Listen to music – [0:19] Get social – [0:51] Read books – [1:10] View pictures and watch videos – [1:33] VIZIO’s Theater 3D. Leave behind the expensive battery powered glasses, the screen flicker, the darkened picture. – [1:46] Browse the web – [2:28] Control of your entertainment at your fingertips [i.e. the software based remote control] … [Watch at the end how easy is in the V.I.A. Plus user interface to switch over from your tablet to a Theater 3D TV set when viewing a 3D video on YouTube! See also the Theatre 3D related indormation further down in this post.]

Why Android will gain HUGE tablet marketshare later this year [Robert Scoble, June 15, 2011]

[0:17] We are Gingerbread right now. We will advance to Honeycomb when we feel that product is stable enough. [0:22] … [0:47] The other thing we’ve done also [in addition to an attractive price] we’ve done, I mean, Android is not very good at UI stuff. So you notice if you look at the TVs everything here is the same exact UI. We’ve spent a lot of time and effort on customizing the UI to make it really easy for users to navigate through Android. That is another thing when we look at Honeycomb, that they made some UI improvements but it is a lot more cluttered. So we’re doing a lot of work around that on Honeycomb project as well to make the user interface much better. [1:16] … [4:00] This has a remote controller up on it. A universal remote controller. Not just VIZIO products all other products … I mean home theater etc. So we have IR blaster here [built into the thin edge of the device], covers like ninety five percent of all CE [consumer electronics] products. … It is an application, a VIZIO application. [4:20] … [4:28] What is great about software based remote control is that when you pair it to your device it will only show you the keys that are for that device. [4:37]

Why is this huge? Because it doesn’t compete with iPad. At least not head on.

“What is Scoble smoking,” you are probably asking yourself.

Well, see, people who will buy an iPad will buy an iPad and won’t buy anything else. Count me in that group. I don’t care if Larry Page gave me $10,000 I’m not switching off of an iPad. At least not this year.

But, there are a whole range of uses that don’t need an iPad, but need a good tablet.

For instance, let’s say you are outfitting a school with tablets and all you need is a good web browser at a very low cost? Vizio wins here. Apple doesn’t.

Or, say you are a restaurant and need to put a tablet at every table with a menu on it? Vizio wins here. Apple doesn’t.

Or, like we just saw at Oakley’s headquarters, let’s say you are building a custom retail experience where you can order custom sunglasses. Are you going to spend $500 on an iPad when a $350 [$299, see the below press release from VIZIO]one from Vizio will do? No way. Vizio wins. Apple doesn’t.

Get it? This is how Android will take over the marketshare battle in tablets. There are more of these uses than the ones people use iPads for. After all, how many schools need tablets? A whole lot. How many custom retail establishments need tablets? A whole lot. How many manufacturing machines need tablets built into them? A whole lot.

Thanks to this single tablet I can now see how Android is going to get the market share numbers it needs to get developers excited.

But don’t call it an iPad competitor, OK? At least not until there are a ton of great tablet-based apps, which there aren’t today.

VIZIO’s New 8” Tablet Delivers Knock Out Video, Audio and App-based Entertainment at sub-$300 Price Point [VIZIO press release, Aug 8, 2011]

VIZIO’s New 8” Tablet Delivers Knock Out Video, Audio and App-based Entertainment at sub-$300 Price Point

– VIZIO Tablet to shake up the marketplace by offering intuitive tablet experience at a price point that extends availability to the masses

– Unique three-speaker designdelivers stereo audio in both landscape and portrait modes

– Control Your Entire Home Theater with the VIZIO Tablet’s built-in universal remote control app

– Built-in 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth® capabilitiesoffer optimum connectivity with multiple devices

VIZIO, America’s #1 LCD HDTV company, announced today the new VIZIO 8” Tablet with WiFi is arriving at retailers nationwide. As part of VIZIO’s continued commitment to deliver great technology at a superior value, the sleek, feature-filled, Android-powered VIZIO Tablet is now available at Sam’s Club, Walmart, Costco, Amazon, and other VIZIO retailers at a breakthrough price of $299.

The VIZIO Tablet features VIZIO Internet Apps® Plus which combines the latest technologies with a unified, easy-to-use and fun user interface across select future VIZIO HDTV’s, Blu-ray® players and other devices — further differentiating the sleek VIZIO Tablet. In addition, the new Tablet is able to control nearly every element of a user’s home theater with a universal remote app and includes a built-in HDMI port with HDCP support for content protected HD playback on the big screen

…

By offering cutting edge technology and exceptional features at a competitive category price, the VIZIO Tablet is ideal for a wide range of users. With support for Adobe® Flash®, casual gamers, movie, TV and music enthusiastsare able to enjoy rich content and applications on the go. It also comes equipped with a unique three-speaker configuration, strategically placed for stereo sound in landscape or portrait mode.

Additionally, parents looking to entertain their children on-the-gocan quickly access the Android Market™ which gives access to hundreds of thousands of apps, including educational programs, games and eBooks.**

With back-to-school season in full swing, students will also find the sleek VIZIO Tablet an ideal and fun complement to a busy year as it makes checking email, news and social networks as simple as ever. Multiple storage options make saving assignments and downloading music a breeze with a MicroSD™ slotthat allows consumers the freedom to expand memory up to 32GB for optimal organization and entertainment.

“VIZIO set out to build an innovative tablet that breaks new ground and addresses the gaps in current offerings in the market,” said Matt McRae, Chief Technology Officer, VIZIO. “The VIZIO Tablet offers a superior multimedia experience with its three speaker design, home theater integration with IR, and a perfect size for typing, eBooks, gaming and portability. These innovations and our ground breaking price push the category forward and deliver on our brand promise of Entertainment Freedom For All.”

About VIZIO

VIZIO, Inc., “Entertainment Freedom For All™,” headquartered in Irvine, California, is America’s HDTV and Consumer Electronics Company. In 2007, VIZIO skyrocketed to the top by becoming the #1 selling brand of flat panel HDTVs in North America and became the first American brand in over a decade to lead in U.S. TV shipments. Since 2007, VIZIO LCD HDTV shipments remain in the TOP ranks in the U.S. and was #1 for the total year in both 2009 and 2010. VIZIO is committed to bringing feature-rich consumer electronics to market at a value through practical innovation. VIZIO offers a broad range of award winning consumer electronics. VIZIO’s products are found at Costco Wholesale, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Target, BJ’s Wholesale, and other retailers nationwide along with authorized online partners. VIZIO has won numerous awards including a #1 ranking in the Inc. 500 for Top Companies in Computers and Electronics, Fast Company’s 6th Most Innovative CE Company of 2009, and made the lists of Ad Age’s Hottest Brands, Good Housekeeping’s Best Big-Screens, CNET’s Editor’s Choice, PC World’s Best Buy and OC Metro’s 10 Most Trustworthy Brands among many other prestigious honors. For more information, please call 888-VIZIOCE or visit on the web at www.VIZIO.com.

VIZIO’s First Tablet Launches the VIZIO Internet Apps Plus Ecosystem, Maximizing Your Entertainment Experience with Great Picture and Sound for the Ultimate in Gaming, Video, Chat, and Value [VIZIO press release, June 28, 2011]

– VIZIO Internet Apps® Plus (“V.I.A. Plus”) ecosystem delivers a unified and intuitive user experience across multiple devices, including HDTVs, Blu-ray players, tablets and more

– VIZIO Tablet features an 8 inch high-resolution capacitive touch screen, HD video playback with HDMI video output, front-facing camera for video chat, and unique 3 speaker configuration for stereo audio playback in both portrait and landscape modes

– With access to the world of Android apps, VIZIO Tablet brings a complete entertainment experience, whether playing games, watching videos, listening to music, having a video chat and much more

– 47 inch and 55 inch XVT 6 Series Theater 3D HDTVs with VIZIO Internet Apps Plus use Full Array TruLED technology for significant performance advantages over edge LED backlit sets, with superior uniformity, better off-angle viewing and deeper blacks

Irvine, CA and NY, NY (CEA Line Shows) – June 22, 2011 –- VIZIO, America’s #1 LCD HDTV Company*, announced today the upcoming release of its VIZIO Tablet, the first in the VIZIO Internet Apps® Plus (“V.I.A. Plus”) ecosystem. This next generation of VIZIO Internet Apps brings a unified, sophisticated and intuitive user experience across a wide range of CE devices that will include VIZIO HDTVs, Blu-ray players, tablets, smartphones and more. The first product to ship will be the VIZIO VTAB1008 VIZIO 8” Tablet with WiFi, arriving this summer to retail stores nationwide. Each VIZIO V.I.A. Plus product features a VIZIO-designed user interface that is not only intuitive but also consistent across screens, for superior ease-of-use for the casual, non-technical user. Built on the Android™ platform, users have the ability to access more than 400,000+ apps in the Android Market™.

Other VIZIO V.I.A. Plus products will include the XVT 6 series 47” XVT3D476SV and 55” XVT3D556SV Theater 3D HDTV’s, which deliver exceptional 3D picture quality thanks to VIZIO Theater 3D and Full Array TruLED™ technology, as well as Blu-ray players and the VIZIO Phone, its first smartphone.

The VIZIO V.I.A. Plus ecosystem represents the evolution of VIZIO Internet Apps®. This world-class connected ecosystem combines the latest technologies with a unified user interface to provide the very best HD entertainment experience – anywhere.

VIZIO V.I.A. Plus HDTVs and Blu-ray players will come with a premium Bluetooth touchpad universal remote with keyboard for full web browsing and search capabilities. With built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi, connecting the TV or Blu-ray player to the Internet is a snap. On the VIZIO Tablet, users can also take full control of their home theater with the Tablet’s universal remote control app and built-in IR blaster, which has codes for up to 95% of the remote controllable CE devices in the U.S.

“With the introduction of the VIZIO V.I.A. Plus ecosystem, VIZIO is bringing a new level of cohesiveness to the HD entertainment experience, beyond what conventional CE devices have been able to deliver in the past,” said Matthew McRae, VIZIO Chief Technology Officer. “Understanding that today’s user touches multiple devices in the course of their daily routines, we feel it’s important that the next generation of CE devices office a seamless user experience across all screens, from the living room to their handhelds. VIZIO V.I.A. Plus combines that common interface with today’s best innovative technologies for a connected experience that delivers on our promise of Entertainment Freedom for All.”

Just in time for summer fun, the VIZIO VTAB1008 8” Tablet with WiFi features a 1 GHz processor, an 8” high-resolution 1024×768 capacitive touch screen, built-in GPS and both 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The extended battery lasts up to 10 hoursdepending on usage. Its 2 GB of onboard storage can be easily extended with the addition of a microSD card, up to a maximum of 32 GB, for flexible storage at a fraction of the cost of other popular tablets. HD video playback is also available through its micro HDMI output, and its front-facing camera is ideal for video chats.

A Sound Approach for a Complete Entertainment Experience

A unique three-speaker design ensures users enjoy stereo audio in both portrait and landscape modes. Includes SRS TruMedia™ technology, which optimizes the audio experience on mobile devices, for enhanced audio playback and rich, natural voice communication.

VIZIO 3D Smart TVs with Full Array TruLED Picture Quality

VIZIO Internet Apps Plus also makes its entry in the emerging smart TV category with the new XVT3D476 and XVT3D556 Theater 3D HDTVs, VIZIO’s most advanced connected HDTVs yet. Their universal IR/Bluetooth remote with touchpadallow for easy web browsing, and also includes an integrated QWERTY keypad. With access to Android Market, users can find their favorite app from more than 400,000 apps currently available, and integrated Wi-Fi makes getting connected to the Internet quick and seamless.

VIZIO’s revolutionary Theater 3D technology delivers a crystal-clear, flicker-free 3D that’s up to two times brighter than current active-shutter 3DTVs, with significantly less crosstalk, a wider horizontal viewing angle and much less blurring with fast motion. Each set comes with 4 free pairs of lightweight, battery-free 3D glasses.

With VIZIO’s most advanced display technologies, these sets feature exceptional picture quality that exceeds that of the highly acclaimed XVT3SV series of HDTVs. These technologies include a TruLED display with Full Array LED backlighting and Smart Dimming, as well as 240Hz SPS™ (scenes per second) refresh rate. VIZIO Smart Dimming controls the LED levels in 160 zones, including the ability to completely turn them off to achieve a full 100% black level for an extraordinary contrast ratio. Smooth Motion technology provides sharp, blur free images with less judder, even in fast action scenes.

These new XVT3D 6 series sets will ship later this year.

*Source: IHS iSuppli Corporation Research Q2 2011 Market Tracker Report of Q1 2011 U.S. and North American LCD Market Share Shipments.

Sneak Peek at New VIZIO 3D TV – Full Scoble Interview [Robert Scoble, June 15, 2011]

Tech evangelist, Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) interviews the VP of Product Planning about their new 3D TV.

Discover 3D (a Vizio site about Theater 3D)

Sneak Peek, VIZIO 21:9 aspect ratio TV [Robert Scoble, June 15, 2011]

Tech evangelist, Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) checks out the upcoming Vizio 21:9 aspect ratio TV for cinema lovers.

VIZIO Brings Theater 3D™ Technology to All with a Full Lineup of Bright, Flicker-Free 3D HDTVs Including Three 21:9 Cinemawide HDTV Models [June 28, 2011]

– VIZIO announces Theater 3D HDTVs in all three product groups – E Series, M Series, XVT Series and the new 21:9 Cinemawidemodels, with screen sizes ranging from 32” to 65”

– Theater 3D™ revolutionizes 3D for the home – up to 2 times brighter, virtually flicker-free picture and significantly reduced crosstalk in comparison to current Active Shutter [3D] LCD TVs

Irvine, CA and New York (CEA Line Shows) – June 22, 2011 — VIZIO, America’s #1 LCD HDTV Company*, revealed today their full line up of Theater 3D™ LCD HDTVs, including the ultra-sleek M Series models. All of VIZIO’s new 3D HDTV models use Theater 3D passive 3D technologyto achieve superior performance with a bright, crystal clear, virtually flicker-free 3D picture. Available in each of VIZIO’s product series, E, M and XVT, in screen sizes ranging from 32 to 65 inches, Theater 3D technology will be available in 11 models at a wide range of performance and price levels, making the entertainment freedom of VIZIO’s 3D technology available for all.

“We are highly encouraged by the positive response our circular polarized 3D technology has received from industry experts, the press, and Hollywood leaders like James Cameron,” said Randy Waynick, VIZIO’s Chief Sales Officer. “VIZIO’s early commitment to this direction, with its superior viewer experience, has enabled us to develop the industry’s most comprehensive range of 3D HDTVs, ranging from introductory price levels to the most advanced cinematic displays available today.”

VIZIO Theater 3D HDTVs use a revolutionary new technology to deliver crystal-clear, flicker-free 3D that’s up to 2 times brighter than current active shutter LCD TVs, with significantly less crosstalk, a wider horizontal viewing angle, and much less blurring with fast motion. Theater 3D eyewear produces far less eyestrain and headaches than active glasses, and is battery-free, lightweight and comfortable. Up to four pairs of Theater 3D glasses are provided with each set, and they are also available in a rapidly growing range of styles and colors from brand name designers. They even work in most 3D movie theaters!

“Passive polarized 3D ¬TVs will appeal to many consumers for a variety of reasons, and products at a variety of price points are possible too,” noted Insight Media President, Chris Chinnock. “By 2014, sales of passive sets will outpace shutter glasses sets, according to our forecast.”

VIZIO’s passive Theater 3D technology utilizes circular polarization, producing superior performance that results in a better viewing experience. This technology uses Polarizer Filters built into the TV, enabling viewers to use lighter and more stylish glasses instead of the bulky, heavy and uncomfortable active shutter glasses used for other 3DTVs. VIZIO’s technology team was an early champion of this approach for 3DTV, which has led to VIZIO taking a market-leading positionin the adaptation of Passive 3D technology for the home.

“DisplaySearch is forecasting that North America 3D TV shipments will increase by more than 300% in 2011 to 7M units**, driven by a range of new 3D TV types, including circular polarizer filter systems like VIZIO’s Theater 3D,” stated Paul Gagnon, Director of North America TV Market Research, DisplaySearch.

Each Theater 3D™ model supports the widest range of 3D encoding formats, ensuring compatibility with Blu-ray, broadcast, cable, satellite, and gaming sources. These formats include Frame Packing, Side-by-Side, Top and Bottom, as well as those with SENSIO® HiFi 3D and by RealD.

VIZIO Smart Dimming for Leading Picture Performance

VIZIO’s Edge-Lit Razor LED™ technology with Smart Dimming™ is featured on the M Series models and the Cinemawide 50” and 58” HDTVs. VIZIO Smart Dimming™ intelligently controls each set’s array of LEDs, which is organized in zones. Working frame by frame, based on the content being displayed, Smart Dimming adjusts brightness in precise steps down to pure black (where the LED is completely off). This cutting-edge technology minimizes light leakage and enables a Dynamic Contrast Ratio of 5 Million to 1, for blacker blacks and whiter whites.

The XVT Series models at 47” and 55” will utilize VIZIO’s Full Array TruLED™ backlighting with Smart Dimming™ technology. With over 160 zones across the entire display, TruLED backlighting is able to control specific areas of the image to a much finer degree than edge-lit sets, resulting in even better blacks and higher contrast with life-like images that “pop” off the screen.

VIZIO Internet AppsDeliver More Entertainment Freedom

All of VIZIO’s new Theater 3D models feature the VIZIO Internet Apps® (V.I.A.) Connected HDTV platform. VIZIO Internet Apps deliver unprecedented choice and control of web-based content directly to VIZIO televisions or Blu-ray players without the need for a PC or set-top box.

VIZIO’s new XVT Series models will include the next generation VIZIO V.I.A. Plus platform, which delivers a unified and intuitive user experience across multiple devices, including HDTVs, Blu-ray players, tablets and more.

Navigating VIZIO Internet Apps is simple, using the QWERTY keypad built into the included remote control (most models). State of the art wireless Internet access is available through built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi (many models with Dual Band Wi-Fi), allowing viewers to enjoy the convenience of on-demand movies, TV shows, social networking, music, photos and more with just the push of a button.

Audio for a Home Theater Experience

The stunning 3D video of the Theater 3D™ sets is matched by the latest high performance audio technologies from SRS Labs. SRS technologies help deliver an immersive, virtual, high definition surround sound through

StudioSound™ HD – the ultimate all-in-one audio suite designed specifically for flat panel TVs. Years of excellence in audio, practical experience, and patented technologies allow StudioSound HD to deliver the most immersive and natural surround sound ever using built-in TV speakers. The suite also delivers remarkably crisp and clear dialog, rich bass, an elevated soundstage and consistent, spike-free volume levels. StudioSound HD features optimized audio presets for movies, news, sports and music while also providing a built-in EQ toolset for peak audio performance.

Experience M Series Theater 3D™ at Home

VIZIO’s newest Theater 3D™ set to hit the shelves this summer is the sleek and stunning M Series. At only 1.2” thin*** (42” and 47” models. 55” model is just 1.6” thin***), this HDTV makes the most incredible technology on the market available at the best value. Not only will you have beautiful LED 2D picture quality at 42”, 46” and 55” sizes, but the latest addition of VIZIO’s Theater 3D technology to this series will make this the perfect centerpiece to any family room. Pair that with four pairs of stylish Theater 3D™ glasses and built in VIZIO Internet Apps, and make your family room the number one summer destination.

Cinemawide HDTV Ultra-Widescreen

VIZIO’s Cinemawide HDTV™, 21:9 aspect ratio TVs are the ultimate display for cinema enthusiasts. Its unique ability to display films created in the CinemaScope 2.35:1 aspect ratio on its full screen, without any black bars, means viewers will see each frame of the movie as the director intended, providing an immersive movie experience at home. On traditional HDTV models, prime screen real estate is taken up by these black bars, forcing home theater enthusiasts to stretch and zoom in. Now instead of a stretched and distorted picture, VIZIO’s Cinemawide sets ensure movie buffswill never have to miss an inch of the action.

Most HDTVs have an aspect ratio of 16:9 (sometimes called 1.78:1), with a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 (Full HD). This aspect ratio was selected as the ATSC HDTV standard as a compromise between television’s original aspect ratio (4:3 or 1.33:1) and the wider 1.85:1 aspect ratio selected for the many Hollywood movies. Big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, though, are usually filmed in the much wider 2.35:1 or 2.39:1 aspect ratios. VIZIO’s new Cinemawide HDTVs accommodate these “CinemaScope” or “anamorphic” aspect ratios well with a 2.37:1 (21:9) aspect ratio. So you’ll be able to watch classics and today’s best movies in the film’s original aspect ratio and without black bars.

Cinemawide HDTV also takes VIZIO Internet Apps to the next level, making its use more seamless than ever. While watching a pixel-perfect 16:9 full HD image, full size and in the correct aspect ratio on the right side of the screen, users can simultaneously browse and use VIZIO Internet Apps on the left side of the screen– with both images presented with no compromise in resolution or size.

“Connected TVs are expected to account for 20% of Global TV Shipments in 2011, rising to 122 million units globally by 2014**, representing one of the most exciting areas of growth in the TV industry and ultra-wide aspect ratio TVs, such as 21:9, and will enable consumers to view their TV content and Internet content simultaneously without overlap,” stated Gagnon.

*Sources: Q3 2010 iSuppli and DisplaySearch Reports

**Report source: DisplaySearch Quarterly TV Design and Feature Report

***Depth without stand

VIZIO Continues to Expand the Beyond TV Product Portfolio, with Introduction of New Blu-ray Players, Sound Bars, Headphones, Wireless HD Kit, Advanced Media-Centric Wireless Internet Router and More [VIZIO press release, June 28, 2011]

– High-performance Home Theater Sound Bars, from the #1 manufacturer of Sound Bars, deliver exceptional sound quality with designs that complement a wide range of HDTV sizes and premium features that include wireless subwoofers

– Headphone models offer listening solutions for consumers from audiophiles to style-conscious listeners, with Active Noise-Cancelling Wireless Home Theater Headphones, Bluetooth headphones with microphone, and high-resolution earbuds for on-the-go mobility

– Wireless HD Kit provides freedom from unsightly cords by eliminating the need for any signal cables attached to the HDTV, delivering flawless performance with uncompressed audio and Full HD picture quality

– Universal Wireless HD Gigabit Internet Router connects any Wifi device to the Internet with optimization for streaming media, for a superior HD connected entertainment experience

– 3D Blu-ray playerswith VIZIO Internet Apps® bring the 3D experience home, with high-resolution audio and streaming access to content

-Fashionable new Theater 3D eyewear line features style and comfort, with brighter, flicker-free performance compared to Active Shutter glasses

Irvine, CA and New York, NY (CEA Line Shows) – June 23, 2011 — VIZIO, America’s #1 LCD HDTV Company*, announced today a wide range of products that provide audio, home theater and Internet streaming solutions, all part of VIZIO’s growing Beyond TV lineup. These new additional to VIZIO’s Beyond TV product portfolio represent an expansion in categories that complement VIZIO’s industry-leading LCD HDTV lineup. As the #1 manufacturer of Home Theater Sound Bars**, VIZIO will have six models available in the market with various performance levels and options to maximize your HDTV audio experience no matter the size of your home theater room. VIZIO also offers a family of headphones that should please the public, from the audiophile to the MP3 listener on-the-go, with Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Home Theater headphones, Bluetooth Stereo headphones and Sound Isolating High Performance Ear Buds. VIZIO’s Wireless HD Kit provides freedom from cords while still delivering seamless HDMI video and audio performance. The Universal Wireless HD Gigabit Internet Router prioritizes streaming media over data transmission for fewer interruptions and better performance. For those who want a comfortable, stylish alternative to bulky Active-Shutter 3D Eyewear, VIZIO offers a fashionable lineup that can be worn for Theater 3D viewing in the home and even at most movie theaters.

“Our Beyond TV products have been enthusiastically accepted by consumers, who have recognized that the high-performance value of VIZIO technology is not just limited to HDTVs,” said John Schindler, VP of Product Development at VIZIO. “Our audio products have been particularly well received, and our overall success in these new categories has helped drive our development of an ever-increasing range of accessories and even more innovative products, such as our high-performance Wireless HD Kit and Wireless HD Internet routers.”

Upgraded Audio For the Ultimate HD Experience

VHT215 Home Theater Sound Bar

Turn your room into the ultimate home theater with VIZIO’s VHT215 Home Theater Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer. The exceptionally thin and stylish design is the perfect compliment to match ultra-thin LED LCDs that are 40 inches or larger. Experience unsurpassed in class audio performance and connectivity options for multiple devices including two HDMI 1.4a inputs, one HDMI 1.4a output with Audio Return Channel support, and one each digital optical audio, coaxial digital audio and analog stereo inputs.

Featuring integrated wall-mount and table-stand options for easy installation in any home theater environment, the VHT215 delivers simplicity of use with VIZIO’s acclaimed ergonomic home theater remote control and new front panel display that can easily communicate volume and input status with the press of a button. The VHT215’s wireless capability enables freedom to place the powerful subwoofer conveniently in the room, as well as the ability to connect with any of VIZIO’s Wireless HD Audio products, including Home Theater Headphones. With no physical connection, uncompressed high definition audio is transmitted between devices at distance up to 60 feet. Available in August 2011, SRP is $329.

VSB205 Home Theater Sound Bar

Perfect for HDTVs sized 32 inches and larger, the VSB205 Home Theater Sound Bar is an excellent upgrade. Featuring SRS WOW HD audio processing, which produces rich, natural bass, with incredible high-frequency definition and clarity, the Sound Bar brings powerful sound to any home theater with dual 2¾ inch drivers for each channel.

Dual analog audio inputs (both RCA and mini 3.5mm) allow for easy one-cable connection from any TV. The Sound Bar can be either table or wall mounted with included hardware, making for a compact fit. The VSB205 is currently available at an SRP of $119.

VHT510 5.1 Channel Surround Sound Home Theater with Wireless Subwoofer

A complete 5.1 channel surround sound solution, the acclaimed VHT510 Surround Sound Home Theater Speaker System creates the ultimate in class home theater experience. This powerful yet compact Sound Bar is ideal for HDTVs 40 inches or larger. Achieve high-definition sound from the left, center and right speakers that reside in this Sound Bar, with surround channel playback from two satellite speakers and impactful low bass produced by its wireless 6.5 inch long-throw subwoofer. This VIZIO premium surround sound system supports Dolby Digital®, DTS, SRS StudioSound HD™ and SRS TruVolume™, providing listeners a truly immersive audio experience, whether listening to music, watching television or viewing movies on Blu-ray disc.

Reducing the need for unsightly wires, the subwoofer uses Wireless HD Audio™ 2.4 GHz technology to allow convenient placement of the speaker in the home theater. The Sound Bar can send High Definition quality audio to other Wireless HD Audio compatible devices like VIZIO Home Theater Wireless Headphones. With a built-in amplifier and audio receiver, this 5.1 channel system completes any home theater with all-in-one convenience. The VHT510 has a SRP of $389 and is in stores now.

XVTHP200 Home Theater Headphones with Wireless Dock for iPod

Experience unparallel sound with VIZIO’s Active Noise Cancellation High Definition Home Theater Headphones. The audiophile’s choice, these headphones provide true lossless audio for maximum quality from a convenient wireless or wired connection. Professionally-tuned 40mm Neodymium drivers with integrated Dolby Digital, SRS TruSurround™ and SRS TruVolume™, enhance both stereo and surround audio sources ensuring that even the most demanding listeners will be pleased.

The base station with dock for iPod lets users enjoy the freedom of listening to music on their iPod. Part of VIZIO’s Wireless HD Audio Ecosystem, the Home Theater Headphones work together with your VIZIO Sound Bar (VHT models) to automatically re-direct sound to the activated headphones. For folks on-the-go, VIZIO’s Active Noise Cancellation reduces background noises, helping listeners to relax and lose themselves in rich, natural sound. With a standard 3.5mm audio cable option, a built-in long-life rechargeable Lithium polymer battery, and a sleek fold and go design, the headphones are perfect for travel. For convenience, the headphones can be charged from the base station or through the provided mini-USB cable. Available now, SRP for the headphones is $309.99.

XVTHB100 Bluetooth Headphones

With VIZIO’s XVTHB100 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones, superb audio quality for wireless music listening is just the beginning. Using Bluetooth and a built-in microphone, the headphones can connect to a laptop, mobile phone and even a VIZIO Internet Apps-enabled HDTV for telephone and video calling. Answering calls, even while listening to music, is handled with a single pushbutton click.

High-performance 30mm Neodymium drivers take full advantage of advanced SRS sound processing to produce a rich, immersive audio listening environment. A lightweight, adjustable over-the-ear headband design makes the headphones comfortable even for extended listening sessions and telephone conversations. Rechargeable with up to 9 hours of talk time, these headphones are the perfect all-in-one source for work, play, and travel. Currently available, SRP is $99.99.

VHE211K and VHE211W Sound Isolating High Performance Earbuds with built-in Microphone

VIZIO’s Sound Isolating High Performance earbuds with built-in microphone are perfect for on-the-go entertainment and hands-free calls. Use them with the new VIZIO Tablet, your mobile phone, or use them for video calls for superior sound quality and sound isolation to keep out distracting ambient noise. While ordinary earbuds use ceramic magnet drives, VIZIO utilizes 9mm rare-earth Neodymium dynamic drivers that are professionally tuned to produce crisp, accurate audio with powerful bass. Listeners will find themselves rediscovering their music collections, hearing notes as they were meant to be heard.

Further improving on conventional earbuds, the VIZIO Sound Isolating High Performance earbuds are designed to insert easily and comfortably into the ear canal. Ergonomic silicone ear cushions create a tight seal within the ear, minimizing background noises and ensuring that every sonic nuance can be heard. Three pairs of in-ear cushions are provided for an optimum fit to any ear, making for a comfortable, personalized fit and exceptional low-frequency performance. Listeners that have used other earbuds will also appreciate VIZIO’s high-quality flat, tangle-resistant design that keeps the earbuds tangle to a minimum, especially important for active listeners. VIZIO’s Sound Isolating High Performance Earbuds will be available in Summer 2011 in both white and black, at an SRP of $29.99. The model number for the White version is VHE211W, and the Black version designation is VHE211K.

Stay Connected with Wireless HD Options

XWH200 Universal Wireless HD Video and Audio Kit

The XWH200 Universal Wireless HD Video and Audio Kit fulfills the longstanding dream of many HDTV owners – the elimination of signal cables connected to the set. The XWH200 transmits uncompressed full HD video and audio wirelessly to the HDTV. With no software required, up to four HDMI source components, whether they be set-top boxes, Blu-ray players or game consoles, can be connected to the remote controllable transmitter, which then sends the desired HD source wirelessly to the TV.

Compliant with the WirelessHD™ 1.0 standard, the XWH200 operates at the 60 GHz frequency and is able to handle up to 4 Gbps of data, more than enough for 1080p Full HD and 3D. Unlike other products on the market, it does not interfere with existing wireless networks, and it’s compatible with any HDMI source including game consoles, cable/satellite boxes, Blu-ray disc players, digital media receivers and more.

Users can now hide their A/V equipment away in a cabinet or other discrete location in the room, separate from the HDTV, which can now be the visual centerpiece of the home theater, floating clean on the wall as the customer has always envisioned. The XWH200 has an SRP of $229.99 and is available now.

XWR200 High Performance Universal Wireless HD Gigabit Internet Router

Following the rapid success and press acclaim for the XWR100 Router, VIZIO introduces an even higher level of Internet router performance with the XWR200. This Dual-Band Internet router operates in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands to allow data transmission in the lower band while streaming media in its higher frequency band.

With higher wireless transmission speeds up to 450 + 300 Mbps, media streaming is faster than ever, and its Gigabit Ethernet capability lets media intense apps or large files function at full capacity without being limited by the network bandwidth. For use in larger homes where wireless signals may be difficult to receive away from the router, the XWR200 features additional wireless power amplifiers, and adds a third antenna for the 5 GHz band. The XWR200 is expected to hit stores in first half 2012.

Experience Unparallel Video Playback with VIZIO Blu-ray Players and Theater 3D

VBR133 3D Blu-ray Player With VIZIO Internet Apps

The VBR133 3D Blu-ray Player brings the same stunning 3D and 2D picture quality and exceptional lossless surround sound and a powerful suite of streaming entertainment services. 1080p Full HD picture quality in 2D and 3D quality and both Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD audio technologies ensure the ultimate in audio and video performance. With access to VIZIO Internet Apps through a wired Ethernet connection, content from top online services like VUDU™, Netflix, HuluPlus™, Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Pandora and more is at the user’s fingertips, with instant access to an almost unlimited library of online movies, music and more. This player brings entertainment freedom and a premium home theater experience to any room. The VBR133 has an SRP of $109.99 and is in stores now.

VBR122 Blu-ray Player With Wireless VIZIO Internet Apps

The VBR122 Blu-ray Player brings stunning picture quality, exceptional lossless surround sound and a powerful suite of wireless streaming entertainment services. With access to VIZIO Internet Apps through an integrated WiFi connection, content from top online services like VUDU™, Netflix, HuluPlus™, Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Pandora and more is at the user’s fingertips, with instant access to an almost unlimited library of online movies, music and more. What’s more, the VBR122 delivers an industry-leading ergonomic remote control with an integrated full QWERTY keyboard to allow fast and easy searching for favorite movies, shows, actors, songs and more on the many available entertainment services. 1080p Full HD picture quality and both Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD audio technologies ensure the ultimate in audio and video performance. This player brings entertainment freedom and a premium home theater experience to any room. The VBR122 has an SRP of $119.99 and is in stores now.

Theater 3D Eyewear Line

VIZIO’s new line of Theater 3D eyewear is the stylish and comfortable complement to Theater 3D HDTVs. By utilizing a circular polarized 3D filter, Theater 3D moves the burden of 3D processing into the TV, allowing the Theater 3D eyewear to be free of the batteries and shutter mechanisms inherent in Active Shutter 3D TVs. In fact, Theater 3D eyewear can be used to view 3D movies in a majority of movie theaters.

Besides using more comfortable eyewear, Theater 3D offers several performance advantages over conventional Active 3D systems. Theater 3D is up to 2X brighter, has significantly less crosstalk in comparison to current Active Shutter LCD TVs, handles fast motion with less blurring, has a wider horizontal viewing angle, and eliminates the annoying flicker of Active Shutter 3D systems that often causes eye strain.

The XPG201/202 glasses feature an attractive design with curved lenses for more comfortable viewing, premium quality optical lenses for best in class 3D experience and a high quality, durable frame. Both the XPG201 single pack and the XPG202 2-pack are available this month.

*Source: IHS iSuppli Corporation Research Q2 2011 Market Tracker Report of Q1 2011.
**Source: CEA’s Q1 2011 MarketMetrics Data
# # #

Source: VIZIO, Inc.

VIZIO Unveils New Smartphone and Tablet Featuring VIA Plus for Even More Entertainment Freedom [VIZIO press release, Jan 3, 2011]

Irvine, CA—January 3, 2011 — VIZIO, America’s #1 LCD HDTV Company*, announced today it is expanding into the mobility category with the VIZIO smartphone and tablet (referred to as the “VIA Phone” and “VIA Tablet” below) — both part of the VIA Plus ecosystem, the next generation of VIZIO Internet Apps™, that features a unified, sophisticated and intuitive user experience across multiple CE devices including VIZIO HDTVs, Blu-ray players, smartphones and tablets.

“Both the VIA phone and tablet feature the highest performance coupled with innovative features that tie them into the media consumption experience,” said Matthew McRae, Chief Technology Officer at VIZIO. “And by integrating the VIA Plus user experience also found on our next generation TVs and Blu-ray devices, VIZIO is delivering the multi-screen, unified ecosystem others have talked about for years and never delivered.”

The VIZIO VIA Phone features a 1 GHz processor, 4” high-resolution capacitive touch screen, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, GPS, a MicroSD card slot for memory expansion and HDMI output with HD video playback. It also features a front-facing camera for video chats and a 5 megapixel rear camera for photos and HD video capture.

The VIZIO VIA Tablet also features a 1 GHz processor, with an 8” high-resolution capacitive touch screen, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, GPS, a MicroSD card slot for additional memory expansion, HDMI output with HD video playback, and a front-facing camera for video chats. It also boasts a unique three-speaker design for stereo audio in both portrait and landscape modes.

Both devices include a built-in IR blaster with universal remote control appfor quick access to the entire home theater or nearly any other CE device in the home. Both run on the Android™ Platform, which will also allow users to access thousands of apps through Android Market™.

“As part of the VIA Plus ecosystem, the VIA phone and tablet are natural extensions of the HD entertainment experience that historically has centered around the TV,” added Mr. McRae. “Whether consumers are looking to enjoy content on the big screen, on their tablet or on a mobile phone, VIA Plus delivers on the promise of Entertainment Freedom for All by creating a rich and consistent user experience across all devices that’s accessible to everyone, from the power user to the casual browser.”

VIZIO will be demonstrating the VIA Phone and VIA Tablet in their private CES showcase at the Wynn Hotel from January 6 to 9, 2011.

*Sources: Q3 2010 iSuppli and DisplaySearch Reports

Important details from ABOUT VIZIO [page on vizio.com]:

VIZIO, Inc. was founded in 2002 by William Wang with the idea that everyone deserves to own the latest technology. Mr. Wang’s first two employees, Laynie Newsome and Ken Lowe, were honored as co-founders and eight years later are still hard at work taking entertainment freedom by storm! By providing a myriad of high definition entertainment options and unmatchable value, VIZIO has grown to over 160 employees and remains the first American brand in over a decade to lead in U.S. LCD HDTV sales.

VIZIO’s uncompromised technology and incredible value has continued to make us America’s Best Selling LED LCD HDTV and the industry leader in sales growth through the 2nd quarter of 2010,* as well as the Highest Rated LCD HDTV of 2010.** VIZIO’s lineup can provide an even greater value with our efficient LED backlit TVs that exceed current ENERGY STAR® 4.1 Guidelines by at least 15%***. So whether you are looking for entertainment essentials with our E Series, sleek design with the M Series, or ultimate performance with the XVT Series, VIZIO has the perfect solution to exceed all of your entertainment needs. Combined with 3D, VIZIO Internet Apps™, Wireless HD Audio, full array TruLED™ and edge lit Razor LED™ displays, we truly give you the freedom to fearlessly expand your entertainment world.

VIZIO Timeline:

2002
* Founded in October of 2002 under the name V, Inc.
* With a total of 3 employees, they provided consulting services to Gateway, Inc.

2003
* Launched the VIZIO brand
* Launched Plasma monitor and DVD up-convert line at CES
* VIZIO signed on with Costco Wholesale to sell VIZIO products
* Total of 5 employees

2004
* VIZIO expanded their product offerings to include LCDs, Plasmas, DVD and DLP
* Total of 25 employees

2005
* VIZIO’s 50” Plasma was ranked CNETs Top Holiday Tech gift
* VIZIO signed on with Sam’s Club to sell VIZIO products
* Grew to 41 employees

2006
…
* Total of 62 employees
* Shipped a total of 750,000 HDTVs

2007
…
* Grew to 85 employees
* Shipped a total of 2,900,000 HDTVs

2008
…
* Total of 100 employees
* Shipped a total of 3,500,000 HDTVs
* Total revenue exceeds 2 Billion Dollars

2009
* VIZIO continues to add new innovative products to their portfolio such as Blu-ray® players, Home Theater Sound Bars with Wireless Sub, Motorized Wall Mounts and more.
* VIZIO launches 40 new HDTV models with sizes ranging from 19” to 55” and including the top technologies such as VIZIO Internet Apps their version of the internet connected TV, 240Hz LCD models and the latest TruLED technology which delivers the ultimate HD experience with less impact on our planet.
…
* VIZIO HDTVs can be found on more store shelves than SONY in July 2009
* Over 160 employees

2010
*As CEA member, VIZIO¹s first CES booth promoted their VIZIO Internet Apps™ connected HDTVs and key platform partners Yahoo!, Twitter, vudu, & Facebook
*2010 CES announcements included eleven categories in addition to TVs including High Definition Blu-ray DVD Players™, wireless HD Internet routers and VIZIO Internet Apps™ enabled entertainment systems, HD home theater sound, HD Personal Home Theater headphones, and portable razor thin LED LCD HDTVs.
…
*196 employees total (includes 76 South Dakota and 3 international)

Beyond 2010 and well into the future:
VIZIO has made great strides in providing Entertainment Freedom For All™ and will continue to build this principle through 2011. With the explosion of 3D TV, we currently have many exciting new developments to reveal at the Consumer Electronics Show and throughout the upcoming year. While staying true to our roots in vision and value, VIZIO is excited to continue and grow our brand within the U.S. and beyond. VIZIO: Taking entertainment freedom by storm!

* Based on iSuppli US LCD-TV Unit Shipments Market Share Q2, 2010
**HDTV Magazine and CNET Reviews
***While TV is on

Consumers Make VIZIO the #1 LCD HDTV in North America [VIZIO press release, Feb 23, 2011]

Consumers Make VIZIO the #1 LCD HDTV in North America

  • VIZIO #1 in US LCD HDTV for the full 2010 year with over 21% market share
  • VIZIO’s share for Q4 US LCD HDTVs was 28%– the highest share any brand in the industry has achieved since 2004
  • VIZIO led the top brands in the industry with 55% Y/Y LCD HDTV sales growth, continuing to increase their leadership role over the competition based upon consumer preference and choice
  • VIZIO secures 3 spots in the top 5 Best Sellers including a popular big screen 42” model

IRVINE, CA – FEBRUARY 24, 2011— VIZIO, Inc. America’s #1 LCD HDTV Company, announced today that it outperformed the industry as the number one shipper of all flat panel HDTVs in Q4 2010 for both North America and the U.S. With an LCD HDTV share of more than 28%* VIZIO has captured the important essence of consumer desires in flat panel HDTV performance features, design form and value.

VIZIO saw significant sales increases with its 7-time award winning XVT Series lineup with VIZIO Internet Apps®, as well as in the Beyond TV category, headlined by Blu-ray players with wireless Internet apps and the nation’s bestselling Soundbars. VIZIO was also the leading shipper of LED backlit HDTVs in North America in Q4** behind the strength of its TruLED and Razor LED products shipping over 50% more backlit LED LCD TVs than its nearest competitor.

“VIZIO continues to defy conventional wisdom in the consumer electronics space with strong growth and innovation. Our team’s success has proven that consumers recognize great technology at a great price by unseating the industry’s traditional leaders in the LCD market,” stated Randy Waynick, Chief Sales Officer, of VIZIO. “Customers have embraced our higher performance product lineup and efficient retail partners in TVs and have now carried over their brand loyalty to our Beyond TV products, making VIZIO’s soundbars and Blu-ray players best sellers as well. Stay tuned in 2011 as we extend our “Entertainment Freedom for All” brand vision to Theater 3D HDTVs, tablets and smartphones.”

Adding to the meteoric growth of the brand, VIZIO’s Beyond TV Category, which includes soundbars, Blu-ray players, Headphones, Wall mounts, Cables, Wireless Routers, and other accessories, saw tremendous increases in Q4. Market-leading Soundbars saw sales growth of 200% Q/Q while sales of VIZIO’s popular Blu-ray players grew 163% representing 10% of the market***. Offering a wide range of Soundbar solutions with innovative wireless subwoofers in 5.1 and 2.1 channel configurations and sizes for small to large size televisions has allowed VIZIO to dominate this market — capturing 54% of the growing market in Q4 based on CEA’s MarketMetrics data.

VIZIO has also become a leader in some key advanced TV categories, rising to #1 in LED LCD TV unit shipments in North America and was #2 in high frame rate LCD and 40”+ screen size,” stated Paul Gagnon, Director of North American TV Research at DisplaySearch.

DisplaySearch: Top 10 LCD TV Brands in North America for the Year of 2010 (Ranking by Unit Shipments in Thousands)

Rank Vendor 2010 Market Share 2009 Y/Y% Change
1 VIZIO 6,962 18.2% 5,941 17%
2 Samsung 6,715 17.5% 6,418 5%
3 Funai 4,613 12.0% 4,758 -3%
4 Sony 3,998 10.4% 4,338 -8%
5 LG 3,711 9.7% 2,704 37%
6 Toshiba 2,274 5.9% 2,635 -14%
7 Sanyo 2,250 5.9% 2,106 7%
8 Sharp 1,243 3.2% 1,770 -30%
9 Panasonic 1,035 2.7% 889 16%
10 Westinghouse 476 1.2% 386 -1%

Source: DisplaySearch February 2011

The fourth quarter’s results showed that consumers are looking for innovation as well as value for their HDTV purchases. Outpacing the industry, VIZIO LED HDTV shipments grew 993% Y/Y, Full HD LCD TVs grew 44% Y/Y, 46” and above TVs grew 92% Y/Y and 120Hz+ TVs grew 119% Y/Y***.

“U.S. consumers are demanding full-featured LCD TVs at the lowest possible prices,” said Riddhi Patel, Director, Television Systems, for IHS. “Television brands that successfully offer a combination of low pricing and advanced features, such as LED backlighting, Internet connectivity are gaining market share. Because of VIZIO’s ability to provide latest features at attractive prices, the brand has reached number 1 position in the US flat panel TV market in Q4 2010.”

iSuppli: Top 8 LCD-TV Brands in the United States for the Year of 2010
(Ranking by Unit Shipments in Thousands)

Rank Vendor 2010 Market Share 2009 Y/Y% Change
1 VIZIO 6,929 21.3% 5,920 17%
2 Samsung 6,123 18.9% 5,608 9%
3 Sony 3,373 10.4% 3,681 -8%
4 LG 2,865 8.8% 2,533 13%
5 Toshiba 2,092 6.4% 2,394 -13%
6 Sanyo 1,978 6.1% 1,934 2%
7 Sharp 1,082 3.3% 1,592 -32%
8 Panasonic 963 3.0% 1,183 -19%
Total 32,459 32,324 0%

Source: iSuppli Corp. February 2011

iSuppli: Top 8 All Flat Panel Brands in the United States for Q4 2010
(Ranking by Unit Shipments in Thousands)

Rank Vendor Q4 2010 Q4 2009 Y/Y% Change Q3 2010 Q/Q % Change
1 VIZIO 2,867 1,844 55% 1,602 79%
2 Samsung 2,572 2,095 23% 1,817 42%
3 LG 1,247 1,048 19% 1,025 22%
4 Sony 1,049 1,318 -20% 796 32%
5 Panasonic 793 657 21% 812 -2%
6 Toshiba 708 708 0% 533 33%
7 Sanyo 522 443 18% 651 -20%
8 Sharp 264 317 -17% 380 -31%
Total 11,978 11,299 6% 9,699 23%

Source: iSuppli Corp. February 2011

Further displaying VIZIO’s growing popularity for the family’s main living room TV is Quixel Research’s Q4 list of the Top 5 Best Selling models in the US LCD TV market. One of VIZIO’s 40”+ LCD TV models was both the largest and the highest priced among those ranked in the top five best sellers for the quarter.

Quixel Research Market Update – Q4 2010
Top 5 Best Sellers by Units

Manu-
facturer		 Product Size Resolution Tech List Price
Samsung LN32C350 32″ HD 720 LCD $499.00
VIZIO E320VL 32″ HD 720 LCD $469.99
VIZIO M260VA 26″ HD 720 LCD $399.99
VIZIO E420VO 42″ HD 1080 LCD $663.99
Samsung LN40C500
F3FXZA		 40″ HD 720 LCD $559.00

“VIZIO has become the brand to purchase for newest technology such as LED and Internet connected HDTV as well as their larger main living room TVs where they get the latest features at prices that allow them to step up to the next generation of entertainment,” stated Tamaryn Pratt, Analyst at Quixel Research.

*Source: iSuppli Research Q1 2011 Report of Q4 2010 US LCD Market Share
** Source: DisplaySearch Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report
***Source: VIZIO, Inc.

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