Home » Uncategorized (Page 4)
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Justin Rosenstein’s (Asana) evangelism about the spirituality, technology and the wonderful prospects of “The One Human Project for Global Thriving”
OR from ME to WE (see also: Justin Rosenstein of Asana: Be happy in a project-oriented teamwork environment made free of e-mail based communication hassle [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, May 8, 2014])
The Why and How of Work [Chicago Ideas Week – Work: Fueling Performance, Oct 16, 2013]
The best advice I have for leaders and teams [asana blog, Jan 14, 2014] Recently I spoke at Chicago Ideas Week, where I distilled some of the best advice I have after ten years of studying and leading teams. We’re excited to share the video.The first half of the talk is about the purpose of work, and how I’ve found a deep sense of personal satisfaction from doing work in service of helping humanity thrive. The second half (starting at 7:10) provides three concrete strategies, which I’ve found make teams wildly more effective in accomplishing their goals – all by achieving clarity. I hope you enjoy it.
Justin Rosenstein has worked at some of the most successful start ups the world has every seen (Facebook, anyone?), and now he is putting his experiences to work with his new company Asana. He analyzes the “why” and “how” of work to offer tips on productivity, clarity in the workplace and success.
Shifting from ME to WE. Voice your commitment to dedicate your work to global thriving. [One Project – Help Humanity Thrive, March 1, 2013 –> May 4, 2014] http://twitter.com/oneproject
Join us.
Sign up to learn about how we can work together.
…
Justin Rosenstein’s keynote at the Wisdom 2.0 conference on shifting from Me to We, the philosophy behind One Project.
Do Great Things – Your Role in the Human Project: Justin Rosenstein [Wisdom2conf YouTube channel, March 30, 2013]
From Wisdom 2.0 [at wellfesto by Brynn Harrington, Feb 25, 2013]
…
- Moving from me –> we. This was the main theme of a presentation by Justin Rosenstein, co-founder of Asana, but it came out in lots of different ways throughout the conference. It’s the simple idea that mindfulness combined with compassion may be much more powerful than mindfulness alone. It’s about looking inward for grounding and energy…and then directing that power outward to help our neighbors, our society, and our world. The most powerful way I heard this message was in a lunchtime conversation I had with a young designer who shared her (extraordinarily evolved) point-of-view that “if you live a life of service, everything just falls into place.”
…
Justin Rosenstein, Asana, in conversation with Enrique Allen, Designer Fund [Bloomberg Businessweek Design Conference 2014, March 10, 2014]
From “Me” to “We”: Are You Ready to Shift? [by Keith Powers CEO, Zaya.org on The Huffington Post, March 6, 2013]
In 2011 Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein launched Asana, a collaborative task management application that they said would improve “the way teams communicate and collaborate.” They generated a lot of buzz at the time because of their rock-star engineer status and track records at Facebook, and it turns out the buzz was justified. Asana is now the first tool I hear mentioned when someone asks, “What application should we use to manage all this work?” Now, together with the team he and Dustin have built at Asana, Justin has once again captured my attention.
Last week, I stumbled upon a live feed from the Wisdom 2.0 Conference. Justin was on stage giving a talk called, “Do Great Things: Understanding and Compassion.” While watching Justin’s talk, it became crystal clear to me that Asana’s mission, vision, and culture were driven by a much greater calling than just making our work easier. I realized that in all likelihood, I was watching someone who could be one of the greatest leaders and messengers of my generation. Here’s a bit of what he had to say:
“I believe world problems stem from a confusion of who we are. What is required is a radical shift in consciousness: the shift from Me to We, a recognition at least by the world’s influencers, technologist, and leaders that we are one team. Today we will look at two big ideas that motivate this shift: Interconnectedness and Universal Love.
These are often relegated to the realm of spirituality or seen as abstract platitudes, but today we will look at how they can be applied to a pragmatic understanding and repurposing of business, technology, and other global human systems. This shift is not only essential for our species to survive and thrive, but also rather conveniently for individual human happiness. And, we can achieve it. Each of us in isolation is powerless, but together we are powerful.”
Skeptics and pessimists might dismiss this as yet another lofty, woo-woo talk from a well-intentioned but naïve “guru.” But let me assure you — it’s much deeper than that. The technological leverage that we now have changes everything. It’s real. It’s moving at an exponential rate. And Justin is anything but naïve. (Though he may in fact be a guru!)
Take the time to watch his entire talk. It’s worth it.
The shift from the “Me to We” is a real shift that is starting to take place all around us. It is the core ethos that drives great organizations, from large companies to scrappy start-ups, from religious and educational institutions to individuals. When the focus is on the “We,” humanity as a whole, our fellow citizens, our family, our customers, our students, etc., magic happens. Few have articulated this shift better than Justin. He explains the issues, our interconnectedness, the tools at our disposal or how we can create new ones, and provides examples of how to apply the “Me to We” shift to ecology, nations, business and technology in a thoughtful and purposeful way. It’s what drives us at Zaya.org to help bring world-class education to every neighborhood on the planet. When we focus on the greater good, we all move ahead together.
As inspired as I was by Justin’s talk, it wasn’t until later this week that I really understood the power of his message. I forwarded a link to the talk to our team at Zaya.org and to a variety of friends who run different types of companies. I was in Los Angeles meeting with one of those friends on Wednesday. He is the CEO of a $100M consumer products company that has been in business for over 15 years. He asked me to join a meeting he was having with his President and Chief Marketing Officer. I wasn’t sure why he wanted me to sit in, but when we started the meeting, it became very clear. My CEO friend had not only watched Justin’s talk several times, he had forwarded the email I sent him to his core team and asked them to think deeply about the culture and ethos of the company.
We spent the next several hours discussing how he wanted to redefine the ethos of his company. There wasn’t one mention of the “Me” (i.e. “How can we make more money? How can we market better? What do we have to do for an exit?”). The entire conversation focused on the “We” — how the company could leverage its assets to do more good in the world and how to ensure that everything they did and sold represented the interest of all stakeholders, including employees, customers, distributors, vendors, and the planet. It was an incredibly inspiring meeting; I can’t wait to see the results.
Shouldn’t we all be engaged with designing a world where we lift each other up rather than tearing each other down? Justin provides some great examples of companies that are engaged in the “We” economy: Nation Builder, Lyft, KickStarter, Quora, Tesla, Coursera, Method, Sungevity, Solar City, Google, and Facebook. There are a slew of other social enterprises I would add to this list: Kiva.org, Uber, Change.org, Rally.org, GetAround.com, Matter.net, Patagonia, and thousands of other B-Corporations and Benefit Corporations. There are even several new academic institutions like Singularity University that have been establish to specifically address the grand challenges – and interest in these programs is exploding.
I am not currently a customer of Asana, but when I listen to the founder of a company talk so passionately about the greater good, it certainly makes it more likely to become a customer of that company in the future.
At the end of his talk, Justin closes with a call to action: asking people who are interested in participating in this shift to “conscious evolution” to join him and others at OneProject.org — “The Human Project for Global Thriving.” There aren’t a lot of details on the site yet, but I’m sure it will be powerful and I have a hunch that it will help us all communicate and collaborate, perhaps even solving our grand challenges.
Asana Guide · What is the work graph? [Asana, Feb 21, 2014]
- Asana embraces the notion that companies should be organized around the work graph, not the social graph–around the work that needs to be done, not the people. The nodes in a companies network should be important tasks, not employees.
- Marcus Wohlsen, Wired, The Next Big Thing You Missed: Email’s About to Die [Argues Facebook Co-Founder Dustin Moskovitz [Jan 21, 2014]]
You’ve likely heard of the social graph from Facebook, and potentially the interest graph from Twitter. Together, the social and interest graphs map your personal life: your relationships, tastes, likes, and favorite topics. Social networks harness these graphs, making it easier to keep up with your friends, family, and topics of interest.
But Asana isn’t a social network. The social and interest graphs don’t orient teams around their goals and work that needs to get done. To work together effectively, teams need to get organized around a work graph, not a social graph — around the work that needs to be done, not the people.
In a work graph, the unit of organization is a task, not a teammate. The work graph maps everything you are working on with your team: tasks, goals, conversations, documents and files, status updates, and then the teammates involved.
- It seems crazy that 99% of companies lack a single place to track [their work], a definitive source of “truth” about everything they’re working on. Crazier still given that $304 billion will be spent on enterprise software this year, much of it — like enterprise social networks — purporting to solve these problems. The problem with many of these approaches is that they’re just ports of earlier technologies designed for connecting people, not for coordinating work.
- Justin, Asana co-founder, Wired, The Way We Work is Soul-Sucking, But Social Networks are Not the Fix [by Justin Rosenstein, Oct 13, 2013]]
Why do we need the work graph?
WE SPEND A MAJORITY OF OUR TIME AT WORK NOT DOING OUR ACTUAL JOBS
We spend nearly half of our waking hours at work. Unfortunately, we spend a majority of that time not doing our actual jobs. Instead, we’re sitting in meetings, reading email, getting status updates, tracking down information, and doing other “work about work.” Technology that is centered on the work graph (like Asana) makes these coordination tasks simple, giving every person on your team more time to do real work and what they are passionate about, like writing, designing, building, creating, or selling.
The evolution of the work graph
For the last 20 years, we’ve used email to keep track of our work and coordinate with our teammates. But with email, the information you need to get work done is dispersed across different threads, in different inboxes. Given the speed and complexity of modern work, we need new technology that can keep up!
Enterprise Social Networks (ESNs) have tried to resolve the pains of email, but ESNs are centered on people, not on work. We shouldn’t assume that social networks, like those we use to keep up with our personal lives, will help us stay on top of our professional lives. While human connection is certainly valuable within an organization, work should be in the center of the graph when it comes to getting things done.
How can the work graph help your team?
Technology designed with the work graph in mind, like Asana, puts the work that needs to get done at the heart of the product. The work graph includes the units of work (tasks, ideas, clients, goals, agenda items), information about that work (relevant conversations, files, status, metadata), and the people involved with the work. All of this information is easily discoverable when you need it.
The work graph gives you answers to these questions, so you can focus on the work that needs to get done:
- What are all the steps left between now and the next milestone?
- Who’s responsible for this step?
- Which tasks are high priority and which can wait?
- Where are all the files and conversations needed to do this task?
- Why did we decide that six months ago?
- What should I be working on right now?
This article was inspired by The Next Big Thing You Missed: Email’s About to Die [Argues Facebook Co-Founder Dustin Moskovitz [Jan 21, 2014]] and The Way We Work is Soul-Sucking, But Social Networks are Not the Fix [by Justin Rosenstein, Oct 13, 2013]], both in Wired.
Facebook’s radical change of strategy: diversify into mobile apps for specific use cases and targeted at particular audience rather than sharing to all friends through the News Feed
… as the company is celebrating its 10 years anniversary
Facebook launches mobile news app Paper for iPhone [ComputerWorld, Jan 30, 2014]
The app reimagines Facebook on mobile devices with a mix of news stories and content from the user’s personal feed
…
Facebook’s Paper app coming to iPhones only, Feb. 3 [Computerworld YouTube channel, Jan 30, 2014]
The basic user interface consists of a top half of the screen, which displays one post or story with an image, and a second section below, where a number of smaller thumbnails are displayed. Users can then swipe to view more content and tap to see it in detail. Images and videos can be showed in full-screen mode.
The interface has been built from the ground up for touch devices. Users can, for example, tilt their phone to show different parts of a high-resolution panoramic photo from corner to corner, and see faces and other important details up close, according to Facebook.
Paper is the first product from Facebook Creative Labs, which is working on “new apps to support the diverse ways people want to connect and share,” Facebook said.
Whether Paper becomes available for other mobile OSes, including Android, remains to be seen. For now, Facebook is only saying that it will “consider other devices down the line based on feedback.” It also doesn’t have any immediate plans for a tablet version of the app, a spokeswoman said via email.
Mobile is an area where Facebook hasn’t always been successful. Last year, the company introduced Home for Android, which added a new interface layer on top of Google’s mobile OS. It is still available, but hasn’t been a hit among users. With Paper, Facebook is trying to offer a new way to use the social network on smartphones that is much less disruptive than Home.
Since Facebook is a free service it has to add functionality to continue to grow, but it has to be careful and not become too invasive, according to Nick Spencer, senior practice director at ABI Research.
Mobile has become a much more important source of revenue for Facebook. Of the company’s total ad sales during the fourth quarter last year, over half came from ads placed on mobile devices. During the same period in 2012, only 23 percent of the company’s advertising revenue was derived from mobile, it said on Wednesday.
The app will compete with the likes of Flipboard. For an early look, users can visit the app’s website.
Introducing Paper [theofficialfacebook YouTube channel, Jan 30, 2014]
Facebook’s Plot To Conquer Mobile: Shatter Itself Into Pieces [TechCrunch, Jan 29, 2014]
…
Facebook has made a big deal about reorganizing talent to make it so every team builds its own mobile products. On today’s earnings call, it announced that it surpassed the halfway mark for the first time and now 53% of its ad revenue comes from mobile. But it’s the shift to standalone apps that Zuckerberg reveals in the quote above that truly makes Facebook a “mobile-first company”.
Over the next year we might see Facebook giving small teams more freedom to build apps that nail a specific use case and delight a particular audience. That matches The Verge’s Ellis Hamburger‘s sources who say Facebook is planning a suite of standalone apps in 2014. And today on Facebook’s Q4 2014 earnings call, Zuckerberg confirmed the company is focused on building separate apps that let people share different types of content with different size audiences, rather than sharing to all friends through the News Feed.
As Zuckerberg suggested, Groups and Events could be two features unbundled. Facebook launched Groups as a web-first product back in October 2010 and it hasn’t changed much since Facebook got serious about mobile. But today, Zuckerberg said there are now more than 500 million people using Facebook Groups, hinting Facebook might try to capitalize on that interest with a standalone Groups app.
Meanwhile, Events have become one of Facebook’s most unique features. It’s a popular place for organizing and promoting birthday parties, cultural events, club nights, and more. While Eventbrite is often used by organizers trying to throw ticketed events, for gathering people for free events Facebook is far and away the most popular choice. A standalone Events app that offered users a calendar of the upcoming events, discovery of nearby events they haven’t been invited to, and their friends birthdays could gain serious traction with Facebook’s most outgoing users.
And soon, Facebook is expected to launch a reimagined news reading experience we first caught wind of a year ago. More recently, Re/code’s Mike Isaac reports the product is called Paper and will let people share news stories from a variety of publishers and their friends, some of which are curated by human editors working for Facebook.
[Update 1/30/2014 5am PST: Facebook made good on this standalone app strategy by today announcing the upcoming launch of Paper, a curated visual news reader app. The iOS app was built by Facebook Creative Labs, a new initiative born to let small teams within the company build new experiences without worry about screwing up the core Facebook app.]
All of these center around a new insight Zuckerberg outlined on today’s earnings call: People don’t just want to share with all their friends at once. They want to share different types of content with audiences of a variety of sizes. That means sharing status updates and photos, but also links, games, parties, and more with a loved one, a small cluster of friends, a big group of acquaintances, or the general public.
That flexibility lets Facebook host content you might have been scared to share before for fear of annoying people with different interests. The term “Facebook Friend” has evolved a lot in the nearly 10 years since Facebook launched. While once it was just people from the same college, it now encompasses, family, co-workers, and distant acquaintances. There’s only so much that’s appropriate to share with everyone.
Facebook has tried and failed to get us to build friend lists that could stimulate “microsharing”, but the catalyst may be offering whole different apps for different sharing communities. If the strategy works, it could defend Facebook from single-purpose mobile competitors trying to bring it down with a ’death by a thousand cuts’.
“We want to build a handful of great experiences that are separate from what you think of as Facebook today” Zuckerberg said at the end of the earnings call. The path to making the world more connected starts with disconnecting Facebook from itself.
Facebook Turns 10 With New App Strategy [Bloomberg YouTube channel, Jan 30, 2014]
Introducing Paper – Stories from Facebook [news release, Jan 30, 2014]
Today, we’re introducing Paper, a new app that helps you explore and share stories from friends and the world around you.
Paper makes storytelling more beautiful with an immersive design and fullscreen, distraction-free layouts. We’ve also made it easier to craft and share beautiful stories of your own.
Your Paper is made of stories and themed sections, so you can follow your favorite interests. The first section in Paper is your Facebook News Feed, where you’ll enjoy inspiring new designs for photos, videos, and longer written posts. You can customize Paper with a choice of more than a dozen other sections about various themes and topics—from photography and sports to food, science and design. Each section includes a rich mix of content from emerging voices and well-known publications.
Storytelling and sharing have been reimagined in Paper to show stories at their best.
- Everything responds to your touch so you can pick up or thumb through stories with simple, natural movements
- You can tilt your phone to explore high-resolution panoramic photos from corner to corner, and see faces and other important details up close
- Fullscreen autoplay videos come to life and bring you deep into the action
- Beautifully detailed covers make it easy to spot articles from trusted publishers and decide what to read or watch.· Articles unfold in the app and appear fullscreen for a focused reading experience
- When you’re ready to tell your own story, you know exactly what your post or photo will look like because you see a live preview before you share it
Paper is the first product from Facebook Creative Labs, where we’re crafting new apps to support the diverse ways people want to connect and share. The app will be available for the iPhone in the US on February 3rd. For an early look, you can take a tour of Paper.
Disaggregation in the next-generation datacenter and HP’s Moonshot approach for the upcoming HP CloudSystem “private cloud in-a-box” with the promised HP Cloud OS based on the 4 years old OpenStack effort with others
My Software defined server without Microsoft: HP Moonshot [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 10, 2013 – updated Dec 6, 2013] post already introduced the HP Moonshot System. This post is discussing Moonshot in a much wider context, as well as providing the information which came after Dec 6, 2013, particularly at the HP Discover Barcelona 2013 event:
1. The essence of IT industry’s state-of-the-art regarding the datacenter and the cloud
2. Recent academic research: the disaggregated datacenter phenomenon
3. Details about HP’s converged systems and next-gen cloud technology
4. Latest details about HP’s Moonshot technology
-
The essence of IT industry’s state-of-the-art regarding the datacenter and the cloud
There is a new way of thinking in the IT industry which is best represented by No silo left behind: Convergence in the age of virtualization, cloud, and Big Data [HP Discover YouTube channel, recorded on Dec 10, 11:20 AM – 12:20 PM; published on Dec 11, 2013] presentation by HP on its HP Discover Barcelona 2013 event:
As far as the cloud is concerned today’s issue is Making hybrid real for IT and business success [HP Discover YouTube channel, recorded on Dec 10, 12:40 PM – 1:40 PM; published on Dec 11, 2013]
Then one should at least briefly understand HP Cloud strategy and benefit of leveraging a portfolio of solutions [HP Discover YouTube channel, Dec 12, 2013]
And HP is just about half year from the point (in time) when it will have its final answer to the question: How open source will reinvent cloud computing – again [HP Discover YouTube channel, Dec 12, 2013], the presentation which was originally announced under the title “The Rise of Open Source Clouds” and finally delivered with the following slides (to wet your apetite for watching the record of the presentation following next):
“Different delivery models being private, manage and public. … On the top you can the see six workload areas. These areas are basicaly we’ll build our product portfolio against. So we’ll be moving away from just sort of a catalogue of SKUs and piece parts into building offers in a workload base, things like dev test, business continuity, technical computing or HPC, and of course things like analytics and infrastructure.”
Now we can take a brief Tour of the Cloud Booth at HP Discover Barcelona [hpcloud YouTube channel, Dec 11, 2013] in order to understand the cloud-related announcements made by HP (some of these will be detailed in this post later as related to the title of post)
And Moonshot-specific announcements are briefly summarized in HP Moonshot latest innovations allow your business can embrace the new style of IT [HP Discover YouTube channel, Dec 12, 2013]
Finally The future according to HP Labs [HP Discover YouTube channel, Dec 12, 2013]
This is the essence of IT industry’s state-of-the-art regarding the datacenter and the cloud.
2. On the other hand recent academic research has just been awakening to, what they are calling, the disaggregated datacenter phenomenon
already happening as the “next big thing” in the industry, as evidenced by the following excerpts from the Network Support for Resource Disaggregation in Next-Generation Datacenters [research paper* on HotNets-XII**, Nov 21-22, 2013]
Datacenters have traditionally been architected as a collection of servers wherein each server aggregates a fixed amount of computing, memory, storage, and communication resources. In this paper, we advocate an alternative construction in which the resources within a server are disaggregated and the datacenter is instead architected as a collection of standalone resources.
Disaggregation brings greater modularity to datacenter infrastructure, allowing operators to optimize their deployments for improved efficiency and performance. However, the key enabling or blocking factor for disaggregation will be the network since communication that was previously contained within a single server now traverses the datacenter fabric. This paper thus explores the question of whether we can build networks that enable disaggregation at datacenter scales.
…
Figure 2: Architectural differences
between server-centric and resource-centric datacenters***
As illustrated in Figure 2, the high-level idea behind diaggregation is to develop standalone hardware “blades”for each resource type including CPUs, memory, storage, and network interfaces as well as specialized components (GPUs, various ASIC accelerators, etc.). Those resource
blades are interconnected by a datacenter-wide network fabric. Understanding the specifications and nature of this network fabric is our focus in this paper.
Abbreviations used above for Figure 2. (in addition to “C” for CPU and “M” for Memory):
|
Martin Fink, CTO and Director of HP Labs, speaks at NTH Generation’s 13th Annual Symposium.
* Sangjin Han (U.C.Berkeley), Norbert Egi (Huawei Corp.), Aurojit Panda, Sylvia Ratnasamy (U.C.Berkeley), Guangyu Shi (Huawei Corp.), Scott Shenker (U.C.Berkeley and ICSI)
** Twelfth ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks
*** I should emphasize here that a disaggregated datacenter with shared disaggregated memory (as on the (b) part of the Figure 2. above) is NOT a kind of academic exageration but a relatively “near term reality” of the future. It became somewhat obvious from the recent The future according to HP Labs video included in the end of the first section above, especially when Moonshot was mentioned. To provide more evidence watch the Tectonic shifts: Where the future of convergence is taking us [NTH Generation Computing, Inc. YuTube channel, recorded on Aug 1; published on Aug 20, 2013] keynote presentation above. In this HP’s CTO Martin Fink said that a new type of device HP has been working on for years, called memristor, could be made into a non-volatile and non-hierarchical, i.e. universal memory system, replacing both DRAM and flash, as well as magnetic storage in perspective. He also hinted at specialised Moonshot cartridges, possibly using memristor memory instead of DRAM, linked by terabit-class photonic connects to memristor storage arrays. He was already showing a prototype memristor wafer as well. There is no wonder therefore that according to HP’s own Six IT technologies to watch [Enterprise 20/20 Blog, Sept 5, 2013] article:
Such a device could store up to 1 petabit of information per square centimeter and could replace both memory and storage, speeding up access to data and allowing order of magnitude increase in the amount of data stored. Since HP has been busy preparing production of these devices. First production units should be available towards the end of 2013 or early in 2014. It will transform our storage approaches completely.
The Future of Big Data – an interview with John Sontag, VP and director of HP Labs’ Systems Research [HP Enterprise Business Community, Nov 14, 2013] is providing even bigger prospects as:
If Moonshot is helping us make computers smaller and less energy-hungry, then our work on memristors will allow us to collapse the old processor/memory/storage hierarchy, and put processing right next to the data.
Next, our work on photonics will help collapse the communication fabric and bring these very large scales into closer proximity. That lets us combine systems in new and interesting ways.
On top of all that, we need to reduce costs – if we tried to process all the data that we’re predicting we’ll want to at today’s prices, we’d collapse the world economy – and we need to think about how we secure and manage that data, and how we deliver algorithms that let us transform it fast enough so that you can conduct experiments on this data literally as fast as we can think them up.
The combination of non-volatile, memristor-powered memory and very large scales is causing the people who think about storage and algorithms to realize that the tradeoff has changed. For the last 50 years, we’ve had to think of every bit of data that we process as something that eventually has to get put on a disk drive if you intend to keep it. That means you have to think about the time to fetch it, to re-sort it into whatever way you want it to rest in memory, and to put it back when you’re done as one of your costs of doing business.
If you don’t have those issues to worry about, you can leave things in memory – graphs, for example, which are powerful expressions of complex data – that at present you have to spend a lot of compute time and effort pulling apart for storage. The same goes for processing. Right now we have to worry about how we break data up, what questions we ask it and how many of us are asking it at the same time. It makes experimentation hard because you don’t know whether the answer’s going to come immediately or an hour later.
Our vision is that you can sit at your desk and know you’ll get your answer instantly. Today we can do that for small scale problems, but we want to make that happen for all of the problems that you care about. What’s great is that we can begin to do this with some questions that we have right now. We don’t have to wait for this to change all at once. We can go at it in an incremental way and have pieces at multiple stages of evolution concurrently – which is exactly what we’re doing.
There are people who have given up on thinking about certain problems because there’s no way to compactly express them with the systems we have today. They’re going to be able to look at those problems again – it’s already happening with Moonshot and HAVEn [HP’s Big Data platform], and at each stage of this evolution we’re going to allow another set of people to realize that the problem they thought was impossible is now within reach.
One example of where this already happened is aircraft design. When we moved to 64-bit processors that fit on your desktop and that could hold more than four gigabytes of memory, the people who built software that modeled the mechanical stresses on aircraft realized that they could write completely different algorithms. Instead of having to have a supercomputer to run just a part of their query, they could do it on their desktop. They could hold an entire problem in memory, and then they could look at it differently. From that we got the Airbus A380, the Boing 777 and 787, and, jumping industries, most new cars.
Now back to the academic research for Network Support for Resource Disaggregation in Next-Generation Datacenters [presentation slides on HotNets-XII*, Nov 21-22, 2013] to illustrate their understandin of the trends
The Trends: Disaggregation
HP MoonShot
– Shared cooling/casing/power/mgmt for server blades
[Note that Moonshot is much more than that, as it was already presented in all detail in my Software defined server without Microsoft: HP Moonshot [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 10, 2013 – updated Dec 6, 2013] post.]
AMD SeaMicro
– Virtualized I/O
[from the research paper:]
SeaMicro’s server architecture [6] uses a looser coupling of components within a single server … the network in SeaMicro’s architecture implements a 3D torus interconnect, which only disaggregate I/O and does not scale beyond the rack … [6] SeaMicro Technology Overview.
Intel Rack Scale Architecture
[from the research paper: SeaMicro’s server architecture [6] uses a looser coupling of components within a single server,] while Intel’s Rack Scale
Architecture (RSA) [15] extends this approach to rack scales. …
[15] Intel Newsroom. Intel, Facebook Collaborate on Future Data Center Rack Technologies.
Open Compute Project
Closing Remarks
- Disaggregated datacenter will be “the next big thing”
– Already happening. We [i.e. the academic research] need to catch up!
3. And next continue with the details about HP’s converged systems and next-gen cloud technology
:
Why HP uses its own Converged Infrastructure solutions [Enterprise CIO Forum YouTube channel, Nov 11, 2013]
From “Sharks” in the press at HP Discover, Barcelona – Day One coverage [HP Converged Infrastructure blog, Dec 10, 2013]
… we were hosting a large press announcement that went out over the wire on Monday at 3 pm local time (CET).
Here’s a brief summary of the announcement that was presented by Tom Joyce, Senior Vice President and General Manager, HP Converged Systems. The HP ConvergedSystem is a new product line completely reengineered up based on 21st-century assets and architectures for the New Style of IT. This is an important point as Tom emphasized – this is not a collection of piece parts, this is a completely new engineered solution, built on core building that are workload-optimized systems which are easy to buy, manage, and support – order to operations in as few as 20 days, with ONE tool to manage and most importantly having ONE point of accountability.
Built using HP Converged Infrastructure’s best-in-class servers, storage, networking, software and services, the new HP ConvergedSystem family of products deliver a total systems experience “out of the box.”
- HP ConvergedSystem for Virtualization helps clients easily scale computing resources to meet business needs with preconfigured, modular virtualization systems supporting 50 to 1,000 virtual machines at twice the performance, and at an entry price 25 percent lower than competitive offerings.
- HP ConvergedSystem 300 for Vertica speeds big data analytics, helping organizations turn data into actionable insights at 50 to 1,000 times faster performance and 70 percent lower cost per terabyte than legacy data warehouses.
- HP ConvergedSystem 100 for Hosted Desktops, based on the award-winning HP Moonshot server, delivers a superior desktop experience compared to traditional virtual desktop infrastructure. This first PC on a chip for the data center delivers six times faster graphics performance and 44 percent lower total cost of ownership
The physical press release in my opinion was pretty cool, and one of the better ones I have attended. The new HP ConvergedSystem for Virtualization 300 and 700 debuted on stage with the theme from Jaws, with much snapping of camera flashes. Tom explained why the sharks theme was so integral to this particular system with core attributes of most “efficient”, ”best in class”, extremely “fast”, very “agile” and that it “never sleeps”!!
The best one liner from Tom Joyce during the session was “If I were VCE [VMware/Cisco/EMC combination] I would be getting out of the water!!” which was capture on the HP live streaming video s found here. Check it out as it is worth watching. I have also included the full “HP Shark” press release HP Introduces Innovations Built for the Data Center of the Future.
Here is a detailed press report on that: HP Targets VCE With Converged System Lineup [Dec 10, 2013].
HP ConvergedSystem: Innovation to reduce the complexity of technology integration [HP Discover YouTube channel, Dec 11, 2013]
The HP “Sharks” are in the Water [HP Converged Infrastructure blog, Dec 9, 2013]
Written by guest blogger Tom Joyce, Senior Vice President and General Manager, HP Converged Systems
Seven months ago HP announced the formation of our new Converged Systems business unit. I was excited to be asked to lead this new team because so many of our customers had told us they needed truly converged platforms for their datacenters. Over the last five years HP had developed Converged Infrastructure technologies for storage, networking and servers that enabled better and more cost effective solutions, but it was time to take it to the next level. We needed to bring all those technologies together in a way that collapsed the cost of IT infrastructure and made everything faster and easier.
Starting last summer, we built our team. We hired the best of the best from within HP and from elsewhere. We put in place an operating model and set of processes that allow us to do agile product development and deliver products to market rapidly and with high quality. And we got really creative in our thinking. We were also fortunate to get a lot of time with Meg [Whitman, HP CEO] and other top people throughout HP. This was critical because to deliver a game changing set of new products, we had to break down or change a lot of established processes in development, manufacturing, support and go-to-market. We had to break some glass, and Meg helped us do that by making this a high priority.
Based on the customer input, there were some critical things I knew we needed to do.
- Move fast. The IT market is changing quickly, and I wanted to get our first set of products out by the end of the calendar year.
- Do more than just combine existing server, storage, networking and software components. We needed to engineer these new products to deliver more with less infrastructure, and to handle the most important customer workloads exceptionally well.
- Everything had to be simple – the ordering process, the system design, management, support, easy upgrades – everything.
- Think about the “whole offer” and experience for the customer, not just the product itself. This meant providing a better process from end to end.
- Deliver exceptional economics. The new product had to be priced to market with a clear return on investment for the customer.
- Most importantly, we needed to make sure that our channel partners could make money selling this product, and could provide specialize services around it.
After developing our plan, we started “Project Sharks”. We called it this because if you think about it, a shark is perfectly engineered to accomplish its mission – it is the ideal hunting machine. When I was a kid I was fascinated by sharks. People tend to think of sharks as primitive creatures, but they are actually extremely sophisticated. Everything is designed with a purpose, and there is no waste. Sharks have a unique hydroskeleton, musculature, and skin. All these parts are connected to maximize thrust so that the animal can move fast, like a torpedo. Sharks are noted for being able to sense blood in the water, but beyond that they have an amazingly complete set of sensors – perhaps the most sophisticated set of “sensors in the sea.” 🙂
Our goal with “project sharks” was to build a perfectly designed virtual infrastructure machine. This week at HP Discover, Barcelona, we announced the new HP ConvergedSystem for Virtualization. Click here to find out more information. The two models are designed to be core building blocks for constructing a converged data center. They are very fast and efficient, delivering better raw IOPS for virtualization at a great cost point. They can handle a lot more virtual machines than a traditional configuration. They can also deliver about a 58% lower cost per VM over a 3 year period, as compared to our closest competitor.
Perhaps more important, we redesigned our whole delivery process as part of “project sharks”. The result is that HP or a channel partner can actually produce a configuration and quote for an HP ConvergedSystem in about 20 minutes, and the whole thing will be on one sheet of paper. HP ConvergedSystem 300 and the 700 installed and in production in a customer data center in as few as 20 days. We have also fully integrated the management, to make it simple, and the support. If support is needed, only one call to HP is required; you don’t need to deal with a server vendor, a storage vendor, etc. When it is time for firmware upgrades, the process for the whole system is integrated. And when you need additional capacity, we can ship a module out from our factory in one day, and it will be up and running in about five days.
These new “sharks” are not just for virtualization. We also announced that the HP ConvergedSystem 300 for Vertica as a new platform for big data analytics. The HP ConvergedSystem 100 is based on HP Moonshot servers, and ships as a Citrix XenDesktop system.
In the future the HP ConvergedSystem products will support additional workloads and ISV applications, and will be used as building blocks for HP CloudSystem private clouds, so stay tuned for more.
Our new Converged Systems business unit team is very excited about the opportunity to unleash these new “sharks”, and put them in the water. We are looking forward to hearing from our customers and partners about what they want us to do next, because the spirit of innovation is alive and well at HP.
On the Dec 10 HP Discover Barcelona 2013 keynote HP’s hybrid cloud strategy was presented with the following slides, with comments made by the presenter added only for the HP CloudSystem private clouds part:
Bill Hilf Vice President, Converged Cloud Products and Services, is driving HP’s entire cloud roadmap (who came to HP 6 months ago from Microsoft where he was GM of Windows Azure Product Management): “HP Next Gen CloudSystem … to be released in the 1st half of 2014” with the following major characteristics:
Consistency – Choice – Confidence
More information:
– HP Unveils Innovations in Cloud to help Customers Thrive in a Hybrid World [The HP Blogs Hub, Dec 11, 2013] in which it is stated “As the foundation of a hybrid cloud solution, HP CloudSystem bursts to multiple public cloud platforms, including three new ones: Microsoft® Windows® Azure, and platforms from Arsys, a European-based cloud computing provider, and SFR, a French telecommunications company. “
– A press release of similar title with additional lead and closing “Pricing and availability” parts
– HP CloudSystems stand apart [HP Enterprise Business community blog, Dec 10, 2013]
– How HP CloudSystem stacks up against competitors [Porter Consulting, June 14, 2013] Comparison of offerings from HP, IBM [PureSystems], and VCE [formed as a joint venture by Cisco and EMC, with minor investments from VMware and Intel; resulting in Vblock products based on Cisco UCS servers, Cisco network components, EMC storage arrays, and the VMware virtualization suite]
“We created a killer interface. An easy to use, consumer inspired interface that is consistent across multiple types of experiences (from classic PC, administration, to mobile experiences). We also designed and optimized the interface for the different types of roles in the organization (from architect who might be designing a service, to end user or consumer of that service, as well as for IT operator and adminstrator).”
More information: Empowering users and the new face of cloud [HP Enterprise Business community blog, Dec 11, 2013] written by Ken Spear, Senior Marketing Manager (HP CloudSystem and OneView)
“We spent considerable effort and energy an choice and ability to really give customers the heterogeneous workload support they need. And now we are taking openess to an entirely new level. And so for the first time with CloudSystem we are shipping HP Cloud OS which is our enterprise class, OpenStack**** platform which gives customers the great innovation from OpenStack to build modern cloud workloads. But we are also supporting the power of matrix, so that you can bridge today’s and
tomorrow’s workloads on the same system.”
**** OpenStack APIs are compatible with Amazon EC2 (see Nova/APIFeatureComparison) and Amazon S3 (see Swift/APIFeatureComparison) and thus client applications written for Amazon Web Services can be used with OpenStack with minimal porting effort. Note that HP nixes Amazon EC2 API support — at least in its public cloud [Gigaom, Dec 6, 2013] “based upon significant input from developers and customers” as “customers want to avoid getting locked in to what he called, ‘Amazon’s spider web’ ”. Tier 1 Research analyst Carl Brooks said via email: “HP doesn’t need to support AWS APIs — OpenStack will do that for them to the limited extent it already does”.
“And finally we’re giving customers and partners more confidence
than they’ve ever had before in this type of solution. … And that will be available in both a quick-ship, channel-ready fixed configuration as well as in a highly customizable solution. In addition CloudSystem will ship with cloud service automation (CSA), the industry-leading orchestration and hybrid cloud management software [read NEW! HP’s solution for managing private and hybrid clouds] that gives an easy experience and easy management of next hybrid cloud environment. That could be clouds delivered in any physical infrastructure: public, managed or private. And lastly, when customers use clouds as to build private cloud there is boundless growth, because you can extend CloudSystem with public cloud resources: from the HP public cloud, or Amazon, or Savvis. And this week we are also announcing support for Windows Azure, as well as two very important European partners: SFR and arsys, a service provider right here in Spain.
More information:
– HP Cloud Service Automation – See new, do new at HP Discover! [HP Enterprise Business community blog, Dec 11, 2013]
– HP Unveils Innovations in Cloud to help Customers Thrive in a Hybrid World [The HP Blogs Hub, Dec 11, 2013] in which it is stated “As the foundation of a hybrid cloud solution, HP CloudSystem bursts to multiple public cloud platforms, including three new ones: Microsoft® Windows® Azure, and platforms from Arsys, a European-based cloud computing provider, and SFR, a French telecommunications company. “
– A press release of similar title with additional lead and closing “Pricing and availability” parts
Underlying core technologies:
- HP Converged Cloud brings OpenStack to the Enterprise [HewlettPackardVideos YouTube channel, Nov 6, 2013]
- HP Moonshot Demo with HP Cloud OS [hpcloud YouTube channel, Dec 12, 2013]
- Open source clouds and the enterprise [The HP Blog Hub, Nov 24, 2013]
Open source has long been linked to innovation. With a history tracing back to the origins of the public web, the concept of open source relies on the assumption that shared knowledge produces more and better innovation, which is better for everyone—as well as the business world.
Some pundits believe that it is the combination of cloud and the power of the open source community that has enabled such rapid cloud development, adoption, and innovation.
OpenStack: cloud source code at the ready
OpenStack® provides the building blocks for developing private and public cloud infrastructures. OpenStack comprises a series of interrelated projects, characterized by their powerful capabilities and massive scalability.
Like all open source projects, OpenStack is a group collaboration, consisting of a global community of developers and cloud computing technologists. HP is a top contributor and driving force behind OpenStack, helping it to become a leading software for open cloud platforms.
In other words, there’s a bright future for OpenStack, which is why HP chose it as the foundation for its hybrid cloud solutions.
HP Cloud OS
HP Cloud OS is the world’s first OpenStack-based cloud technology platform for hybrid delivery. HP Cloud OS enables our existing cloud solutions portfolio and new innovative offerings by providing a common architecture that is flexible, scalable, and easy to build on.
“We are in a new phase of cloud computing. Enterprises, government agencies, and industry are all placing demands on cloud computing technologies that exceed a singular, one-size-fits all delivery model,” says Bill Hilf, vice president of product management for HP Cloud. “HP Cloud OS, built on the power of OpenStack, is the foundation for the HP Cloud portfolio and a key part of the HP solutions that enable real customer choice and consistency.”
Watch the HP Cloud OS story at HP Discover
Attendees at HP Discover 2013 in Barcelona, don’t miss this opportunity to hear the inside story of HP’s development of HP Cloud OS. Join the Innovation Theater session:
IT3261 – The rise of open source clouds
In this session, Bill Hilf will walk you through his experiences working with large public cloud systems, the rise of open source clouds in the enterprise, and HP’s strategy and innovation with OpenStack, including a discussion of HP Cloud OS (Wednesday, 12/11/13, 4:30 pm).
Highlights from the presentation include:
- How open source has affected the development of the cloud
- The requirements of enterprises related to cloud computing
- How OpenStack enables HP’s cloud platform
- Top ten lessons learned when building HP’s public cloud
- HP’s overall cloud strategy
- William Franklin on HP Cloud and OpenStack Strategy for HP [hpcloud YouTube channel, Nov 5, 2013]
- OpenStack Technology [HewlettPackardVideos YouTube channel, Oct 29, 2013]
Gartner’s Allessandro Perilli’s latest observations about the OpenStack (he is focusing on private cloud computing in the Gartner for Technical Professionals (GTP) division):
– What I saw at the OpenStack Summit [Nov 12, 2013] in which he is particularly describing how OpenStack vendors are divided into two camps that I called “purists” and “pragmatists”. He notes that purists tend to ignore the fact that many large enterprises are interested in OpenStack for the reason of reducing their dependency from VMware and frightened by rewriting their traditional multi-tier LoB applications into new cloud-aware applications advocated by purists.
– Why vendors can’t sell OpenStack to enterprises [Nov 19, 2013] where he notes that: “In fact, for the largest part, vendors don’t know how to articulate the OpenStack story to win enterprises. They simply don’t know how to sell it.” Then he gives at least four reasons for why vendors can’t tell a resonating story about OpenStack to enterprise prospects:
1. “Lack of clarity about what OpenStack does and does not.”
2. “Lack of transparency about the business model around OpenStack.”
3. “Lack of vision and long term differentiation.”
4. “Lack of pragmatism”, i.e. “purist” approach described in his previous post.
- HP Cloud OS [Technology Preview] Technical Overview [hpcloud YouTube channel, Nov 5, 2013]
- Converged Cloud: HP Cloud OS Whiteboard Demo [hpcloud YouTube channel, June 12, 2013]
-
HP Cloud OS Whiteboard Demo – Hybrid Cloud [hpcloud YouTube channel, Oct 29, 2013]
-
An Open Architecture for Hybrid Cloud Delivery [hpcloud YouTube channel, Dec 10, 2013]
4. Finally latest details about HP’s Moonshot technology:
Moonshot: one of the “INFRA” (see above in the “HP Cloud OS Whiteboard Demo” video) building blocks for the HP CloudOS, actually the most future-oriented one
The Power of Moonshot [HP Discover YouTube channel, Dec 10, 2013]
My Software defined server without Microsoft: HP Moonshot [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 10, 2013 – updated Dec 6, 2013] post introduced the HP Moonshot System as follows:
On the right is the Moonshot System with the very first Moonshot servers (“microservers/server appliances” as called by the industry) based on Intel® Atom S1200 processors and for supporting web-hosting workloads (see also on right part of the image below). Currently there is also a storage cartridge (on the left of the below image) and a multinode for highly dense computing solutions (see in the hands of presenter on the image below). Many more are to come later on.
Also the Dec 6 update to the above post already provided significant roadmap information:
With Martin Fink, CTO and Director of HP Labs, Hewlett-Packard Company [Oct 29, 2013] saying
We’ve actually announced three ARM-based cartridges. These are available in our Discovery Labs now, and they’ll be shipping next year with new processor technology. [When talking about the slide shown above.]
For the details about the ARM SoC technologies behind that go to the Software defined server without Microsoft: HP Moonshot [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 10, 2013 – updated Dec 6, 2013] post!
But the initial Moonshot System launched in April’13 had support just for light workloads, such as such as website front ends and simple content delivery. This meant, nevertheless, a lot in the hosting space as evidenced by serverCONDO Builds its Business on Moonshot [Janet Bartleson YouTube channel, Dec 9, 2013] video:
More information from the same source:
– Why serverCONDO is in the Dedicated Hosting Business
– Old School and New School Cloud Servers (serverCONDO)
OR taking a true large-scale example watch this HP.com Takes 3M Hits on Moonshot [Janet Bartleson YouTube channel, Nov 26, 2013] video:
According to Meg Whitman’s keynote at Discover 2013 on Dec 10 they would be able to go from 6 datacenters to 4 thanks to Moonshot, even considering the future needs and workloads. Something as dramatic as when HP moved previously (3 years ago) from 86 datacenters to 6 datacenters.
So, to appreciate the full potential of Moonshot one should, on the other hand, understand the following system architecture information provided in the HP Moonshot System, the world’s first software defined servers [April 10, 2013] technical whitepaper:
HP Moonshot System
HP Moonshot System is the world’s first software defined server accelerating innovation while delivering breakthrough efficiency and scale with a unique federated environment, and processor-neutral architecture. Traditional servers rely on dedicated components, including management, networking, storage, power cords and cooling fans in a single enclosure. In contrast, the HP Moonshot System shares these enclosure components. The HP Moonshot 1500 Chassis has a maximum capacity of 1800 servers per 47U rack with quad server cartridges. This gives you more compute power in a smaller footprint, while significantly driving down complexity, energy use and costs.
The first server available on HP Moonshot System is HP ProLiant Moonshot Server based on Intel® Atom™ processor S1260, and it provides an ideal solution for web serving, offline analytics and hosting.
HP Moonshot 1500 Chassis design
The HP Moonshot 1500 Chassis incorporates independent component design and hosts 45 cartridges, two network switches, and the infrastructure components within the chassis. The Moonshot 1500 Chassis’ electrically passive design makes this completely hot pluggable design possible. The Moonshot 1500 Chassis uses no active electrical components, other than EEPROMs required for manufacturing and configuration control purposes.
Figure 1 shows the elements of the Moonshot 1500 Chassis. HP controls the design on all elements of the chassis except for the server (initial server contain a single server) and the network switch module which may be designed by the Moonshot server or network switch partners.
Figure 1.
The HP Moonshot 1500 Chassis accommodates up to 45 individually serviceable hot plug cartridges. Two high-density, low-power HP Moonshot 45G Switch Modules, each with a 10g x6 HP Moonshot 6SFP Uplink Module, handle network communication for all cartridges in the chassis. These switches use Layer 2/Layer 3 routing, QoS management (CLI, SFLOW), and require no license keys. The dual network switches and I/O modules provide traffic isolation, or stacking capability for resiliency. Rack level stacking simplifies the management domain.
The Moonshot System uses the HP Moonshot 1500 Chassis Management module (CM) module for complete chassis management, including power management with shared cooling. The server platform is powered by four 1200W Common Slot Power Supplies in an N+1 configuration and cooled by five hot pluggable fans also in an N+1 configuration. The CM uses component-based satellite controllers to communicate with and manage chassis elements. The modular faceplate design allows for future feature development.
…
HP ProLiant Moonshot Server
Each software defined server contains its own dedicated memory, storage, storage controller, and two NICs [Network Interface Controllers] (1Gb). For monitoring and management, each server contains management logic in the form of a Satellite Controller with a dedicated internal network connection (100 Mb). Figure 5 shows HP ProLiant Moonshot Server with a single Intel® Atom™ processor S1260and a single SFF drive.
Figure 5. HP ProLiant Moonshot Server and functional block diagram
These servers provide the base hardware functionality of the system. Future software defined servers can take the following forms:
- One or more discrete server with separate compute, storage, memory and I/O
- One or more complete cartridge designs with integrated compute, storage, memory, and I/O
- One or more forms of storage accessible to adjacent cartridges
Future servers will incorporate these descriptions to provide a wide degree of flexibility for customizing and tuning based on the desired performance, cost, density, and power constraints.
The available ProLiant Moonshot server design includes one processor and a single HDD or SDD. This server is ideal for application workloads such as website front ends and simple content delivery. Table 1 gives you the current server component descriptions.
The Intel Atom is the world’s first 6-watt server-class processor. In addition to lower power requirements, it includes data-center-class features such as 64-bit support, error correcting code (ECC) memory, increased performance, and broad software ecosystem. These features, coupled with the revolutionary HP Moonshot System design are ideal for workloads using many extreme low-energy servers densely packed into a small footprint can be much more efficient than fewer standalone servers.
Intel® Atom™ processor S1260 integrates two CPU cores, single-channel memory controller, and PCI Express 2.0 interface. Each CPU core will has its own dedicated 32KB instruction and 24 KB data L1 caches, and 512 KB L2 cache. The processors incorporate Hyper-Threading, which allows them to run up to 4 threads simultaneously. Additionally, the chips have VT-x virtualization enabled.
Each Moonshot server boots from a local hard drive, or the network using PXE [Preboot eXecution Environment]. The Moonshot System use HP BIOS and “headless” operation (no video or USB). No additional HP software is required to run the cartridge. NIC, storage, and other drivers are included in the compatible Linux distributions (described later in the OS management section).
…
Fabrics and topology
We designed the HP Moonshot System to provide application-specific processing for targeted workloads. Creating a fabric infrastructure capable of accommodating a wide range of application-specific workloads requires highly flexible fabric connectivity. This flexibility allows the Moonshot System fabric architecture to adapt to changing requirements of hyperscale workload interconnectivity.
The Moonshot System design includes three physical production fabrics, the Radial Fabric, the Storage Fabric, and the 2D Torus Mesh Fabric. The fabrics are connected to 45 cartridges slots, two slots for the network switches, and two corresponding I/O modules.
Figure 9 shows the eight 10Gb lanes routed from each of the cartridge slots to the pair of core network fabric slots in the center of the Moonshot 1500 chassis. Four lanes from each cartridge go to one core network fabric slot and four to the other (A and B). From each core fabric slot there are 16 10Gb lanes routed to the back of the chassis to attach to an I/O module.
Figure 9.
Radial Fabric
The Radial Fabric provides a high-speed interface between each cartridge and the two core fabric slots.
The Radial fabric includes these links:
• 2x GbE channels
• One port to each network switchFigure 10 illustrates a torus topology interlinking cartridge to cartridge in combination with the radial topology linking to the network switches.
Figure 10.
The Radial fabric handles all Ethernet-based traffic between the cartridge and external targets. The exception is iLO* management network traffic using the dedicated iLO port.
*[iLO: Integrated Lights-Out]
Storage fabric
A Moonshot System Storage Fabric will use existing Moonshot 1500 Chassis connections to span each 3×3 cartridge slot subsection within the chassis baseboard (Figure 11). The Storage Fabric will be part of future HP Moonshot System releases. This fabric implementation will use the Storage Fabric as a connection between servers and local storage devices.
Figure 11.
In this implementation, SAS/SATA is sent over lanes between each adjacent cartridge for primary storage along with additional lanes to other cartridges in the subsection for redundancy or other storage requirements. Although the figure shows a specific configuration of compute and storage nodes, there is flexibility to configure the subsections in different ways as long it does not violate the rules of the interface or storage technology. While the example in Figure 11 shows the proximal fabric being used for SAS/SATA, any type of communication is possible due to the dynamic nature of the fabric.
2D Torus Mesh Fabric
Like the Storage Fabric, future releases of the HP Moonshot System will use existing Moonshot 1500 Chassis connections to implement the 2D Torus Mesh Fabric, providing a high speed general purpose interface among the cartridges for those applications that benefit from high bandwidth node-to-node communication. The 2D Torus Mesh fabric can be used as Ethernet, PCIe, or any other interface protocol. At chassis power on, the CM [Chassis Management] ensures the compatibility on all interfaces before allowing the cartridges to power on.
The 2D Torus Mesh fabric is routed as torus ring configuration capable of providing four 10Gb bandwidths in each direction to its north, south, east and west neighbors. This allows the HP Moonshot System to meet many unique HPC [High-Performance Computing] applications where efficient localized traffic is needed.
- 16 lanes from each cartridge
- Four up, four down, four left, and four right
- Can support speeds up to 10Gb
Topologies
Topologies utilize the physical fabric infrastructure to achieve a desired configuration. In this case, Radial and 2D Torus Mesh fabrics are the desired Moonshot topologies. The Radial Fabric pathways are optimized for a network topology utilizing two Ethernet switches. The 2DTorus Mesh fabric pathways are passive copper connections negotiated with neighbors and optimized for topology protocols that change over time to accommodate future Moonshot System releases.
Moonshot System network configurations
Moonshot System network switches and uplink modules provide resiliency and efficiency when configured as stand-alone or stackable networks. This feature allows you to connect up to nine Moonshot 1500 Chassis and then to your core network, eliminating the need for a top of rack (TOR) switch.
- Dual switches provide traffic isolation or can be stacked
- Rack level stacking simplifies management domain
- Redundant switch configurations provide a more resilient infrastructure
- Layer 2, Layer 3 Routing & QoS, Management (CLI, SNMP, SFLOW). No license keys
Moonshot 1500 Chassis stacking
Stacking allows you to select a tradeoff between overall performance and cost of TOR switches. Stacking can eliminate the cost of TOR switches for workloads able to tolerate extra latency. The switch firmware architecture elects a master management processor to control all stacked switches. Stacking does not scale in a linear way; stacking size is constrained by the capability of a single management processor. The P2020 [switch management] processor is sized to reliably stack nine network switches (405 ports).
We can create two stacked switches in a single rack with no performance issues. Up to nine modules can be stacked to form a single logical switch. A simple loop consumes two ports per I/O module in this Figure 12 layout.
Figure 12.
Management
The HP Moonshot System relies on a federated iLO system. Federation requires the physical or logical sharing of compute, storage or networking resources within the Moonshot 1500 Chassis. The chassis shares four individual iLO4 ASICs [Application-Specific Integrated Circuits] in the CM module with high-speed connections to the management network through a single management port uplink.
The CM provides a single point of management for up to 45 cartridges, and all other components in the Moonshot 1500 Chassis, using Ethernet connections to the internal private network. Each hot pluggable component includes a resident satellite controller. The CM and satellite controllers use data structures embedded in non-volatile memory for discovery, monitoring, and control of each component.
HP Moonshot 1500 Chassis Management module
The CM includes four iLO processors sharing the management responsibility for 45 cartridges, the power and cooling processor, two networks switches and Moonshot 1500 chassis management. We’ve federated the iLO system functionality by assigning certain iLO processors responsibility for managing certain hardware interfaces. We balanced the workload among the three cartridge zones in the chassis (physically separated by network switches), and dedicated one iLO processor to manage chassis hardware and the switches. Communication between the CM and the Satellite Controllers is an internal private Ethernet network. This eliminates the requirements for a large number of IP addresses being used on the production network.
The iLO subsystem includes an intelligent microprocessor, separate memory, and a dedicated network interface. iLO uses the management logic on each cartridge and module, and up to 1,500 sensors within the Moonshot 1500 Chassis, to monitor component thermal conditions. This design makes iLO independent of the host servers and their operating systems.
iLO monitors all key Moonshot components. The CM user interfaces and API’s include a Command-Line Interface (CLI) and Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) support. These provide the primary gateway for node management, aggregation and inventory. A text-based interface is available for power capping, firmware management and aggregation, asset management and deployment. Alerts are generated directly from iLO, regardless of the host operating system or even if no host operating system is installed. Using iLO, you can do the following:
- Securely and remotely control the power state of the Moonshot cartridges (text-based Remote Console)
- Obtain access to each and all serial ports using a secure Virtual Serial Port (VSP) session
- Obtain asset and hardware specific information (MAC Addresses, SN)
- Control cartridge boot configuration
…
OS deployment and support
The Moonshot System hosts multiple individual systems, and network switches. Unlike other HP ProLiant BladeSystem-class servers, Moonshot cartridges provide OS installation only through network Installation, with console access provided by an integrated Virtual Serial Port to each server. Network Installation is performed in a manner similar to other HP ProLiant, or standard x86 servers, with the only required modifications being the specification of the serial console instead of a standard VGA display (described below.)
Linux Distributions
The initial release of the HP Moonshot System is compatible with these versions of Linux:
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4
• SuSE SLES 11SP2
• Ubuntu 12.04HP Insight Cluster Management Utility
The HP Insight Cluster Management Utility (CMU) is well suited for performing network installations, image capture and deploy, and ongoing management of large numbers of servers such as the density provided by the Moonshot 1500 Chassis. If you are using CMU, the directions included in the following “Setting up an installation server” section are not required, and you should instead refer to the CMU documentation.
The CMU is optional and basic network installation of the OS may be performed using a standard PXE-based installation server.
Conclusion
The HP Moonshot System addresses the needs of data centers deploying servers at a massive scale for the new era of IoT. Industry sources estimate that lightweight web serving and analytics workloads will equal 14% of the x86 server market by 2015. The HP Moonshot System changes the current computing paradigm with an innovative completely hot pluggable architecture that increases the value of your investment and reduces TCO. You get a significant reduction in power usage, hardware costs, and use of space. You’ll see simplification in the areas of network switches, cabling, and management. Moonshot System’s use of shared hot pluggable infrastructure includes power supplies and fans. The HP Moonshot 1500 Chassis Management module, with proven HP iLO management processors, gives you detailed reporting on all platform components while the power and cooling controller manages the N+1 fan and power supply configurations. Dual network switches and I/O modules increase Moonshot’s resiliency and flexibility, allowing you to stack HP Moonshot Switch Modules. The Moonshot System is the first software defined, application-optimized server platform in the industry. Look for a growing library of software defined servers from multiple HP partners targeting specific IoT workloads compatible with emerging web, cloud, and massive scale environments, as well as analytics and telecommunications.
Now we have 2 aditional cartridges: the m300 and the m700
Moonshot ProLiant m300 Server Cartridge Overview [Janet Bartleson YouTube channel, Nov 27, 2013]
A new big little HP Moonshot server cartridge is shipping!! [The HP Blog Hub, Dec 10, 2013]
Guest blog written by Nigel Church, HP Servers
We call it the HP ProLiant m300 Server cartridge for the HP Moonshot System. This is the “big brother” to the current HP ProLiant Moonshot server cartridge sporting the new Intel Atom Avoton—an eight core processor running at 2.4GHz with 32GB memory [with 1 TB disk storage on the cartridge] delivering up to six times the energy efficiency and up to seven times more performance.
Now, in just one Moonshot System with 45 ProLiant m300 Servers you have 360 cores, 1,440GB memory and up to 45TB of storage. For the right workloads, you can accomplish the same work using just 19% of the power of a traditional server!
What workloads can it support? If you have a growing web site serving dynamic content [note that for the first Atom based server cartridge static content was mentioned when describing the type of workload supported] currently running on ageing traditional servers you must take a look at Moonshot to save space, power and prepare yourself for the future.
If you’re attending HP Discover in Barcelona, come to the show floor and see HP Moonshot in action–or visit the HP Discover News & Social Buzz page and get the latest updates! Otherwise, visit the HP ProLiant m300 Server Cartridge web page for more details on the newest Moonshot Cartridge.
HP ProLiant m300 Server Cartridge [HP product page, Dec 11, 2013]
Overview
- Are traditional servers more than you need for your scale-out big data, Web and content delivery network workloads? Are you paying for underutilized servers that use more and more space and energy? Companies running scale-out big data applications, serving web pages, images, videos, or downloads over the Internet often need to carry out simultaneous lightweight computing tasks over and over, at widely distributed locations. The HP ProLiant m300 Server Cartridge based on the Intel® Atom™ System on a Chip (SOC) delivers breakthrough performance and scale with up to 360 processor cores, 1,440 GB of memory and 45 TB of storage in a single Moonshot System.
Features
A Platform for Big Data with NoSQL/NewSQL
- NoSQL/NewSQL on HP ProLiant m300 Server Cartridges gives cost-effective scalable performance for online transactional processing and maintains the ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) of traditional databases.
- NoSQL/NewSQL thrives in a distributed cluster of shared-nothing nodes like the HP ProLiant m300 Server Cartridges. SQL queries are split into query fragments and sent to the node that owns the data. These databases are able to scale linearly as nodes are added, without suffering from bottlenecks.
Scale-out Platform for Your Web Needs
- Companies need the scalability of the HP ProLiant m300 Server Cartridge to serve web pages, including image and video downloads while carrying out simultaneous lightweight computing tasks over and over, at widely distributed locations.
- For Web workloads, a platform based on the HP ProLiant m300 Server Cartridge means you don’t waste energy, space, and money on a high-end server when a low-cost density-optimized server can handle the job.
Content Delivery Anytime from Any Device
- The m300 Server Cartridge provides high-speed efficient transcoding of media streams to match specific user devices. This allows efficient management of content by reducing library size and transcoding on demand, for specific device characteristics.
- Using less energy and space at a lower cost compared to traditional servers, the compact m300 Server Cartridge has Intel Atom-based SOCs to quickly deliver Web content to a variety of mobile devices.
- System Features
Compute: Intel® Atom™ Processor C2750, 2.4 GHz
Memory: DDR3 PC3-12800 SDRAM (1600 MHz); Four (4) SODIMM slots; 32GB (4x8GB)
Storage: (1) SFF 500GB HDD, 1TB HDD, and 240GB SSD
Networking: (Internal) dual port 1GbE per CPU; HP Moonshot 45G Switch Module Kit; HP Moonshot 6SFP Uplink Module Kit
Enclosure: Moonshot 1500 Chassis
Warranty: 1 year
Intel® Atom™ Processor C2750 (4M Cache, 2.40 GHz) [Intel product page, Dec 3, 2013]
SPECIFICATIONS
Essentials
Status
Launched
Launch Date
Q3’13
Processor Number
C2750
# of Cores
8
# of Threads
8
Clock Speed
2.4 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency
2.6 GHz
Cache
4 MB
Instruction Set
64-bit
Embedded Options Available
No
Lithography
22 nm
Max TDP
20 W
Recommended Customer Price
TRAY: $171.00
Memory Specifications
Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type)
64 GB
Memory Types
DDR3, 3L 1600
# of Memory Channels
2
Max Memory Bandwidth
25.6 GB/s
Physical Address Extensions
36-bit
ECC Memory Supported ‡
Yes
Expansion Options
PCI Express Revision
2
PCI Express Configurations ‡
x1,x2,x4,x8,x16
Max # of PCI Express Lanes
16
I/O Specifications
USB Revision
2
# of USB Ports
4
Total # of SATA Ports
6
Integrated LAN
4x 2.5 GbE
UART
2
Max # of SATA 6.0 Gb/s Ports
2
Package Specifications
TCASE
97°C
Package Size
34 mm x 28 mm
Sockets Supported
FCBGA1283
Low Halogen Options Available
See MDDS
Advanced Technologies
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology ‡
2.0
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) ‡
Yes
Intel® Data Protection Technology
AES New Instructions
Yes
HP’s Moonshot and AMD are taking cloud computing to a whole new level [AMD YouTube channel, published on Dec 4, 2013]
ProLiant m700 Server Cartridge in HP Moonshot Overview [Janet Bartleson YouTube channel, Dec 9, 2013]
HP ProLiant m700 Server Cartridge [HP product page, Dec 11, 2013]
Overview
- Looking for a cost-effective solution for hosted desktop infrastructure, mobile gaming or cloud multi-media workloads? The HP ProLiant m700 Server Cartridge in a Moonshot 1500 Chassis offers lower cost (price per seat), simplified systems management and user support, vastly improved system/data security, and efficient systems resource use for your hosted desktop infrastructure (HDI) and cloud multi-media workloads. Each m700 Server Cartridge has four servers, each with an AMD Opteron™ X2150 APU with fully-integrated graphics processing and CPU. The m700 Server Cartridge delivers outstanding compute density and price/performance for cloud multi-media workloads.
- You can power mobile games, or other web content, objects, or applications, live and on-demand streaming media.
Features
Hosted Desktop Infrastructure (HDI) Solution with Power and Scalability
- The centralized nature of hosting desktops on the HP ProLiant m700 Server Cartridge provides lower cost (price per seat), simplified system management and user support, vastly improved system/data security, and efficient system resource use.
- Each cartridge has four AMD-processor-based servers. Each server contains the AMD Opteron™ X2150 APU with graphics processing and CPU.
- The overall density means that you can cost-effectively have 180 servers in less than 5U of rack space.
Mobile Content and Gaming Any Time from Any Device
- The HP ProLiant m700 Server Cartridge excels at powering graphics-intensive content delivery such as hosted videos and mobile games.
- The cartridge provides high-speed, efficient transcoding of source media streams to match specific user devices. This allows efficient management of content by reducing library size and transcoding closer to the customer, on demand, for specific device characteristics.
- Using less energy and space at a lower cost compared to traditional servers, the m700 Server Cartridge has four AMD Opteron x2150-based servers, each with integrated graphics processing capabilities to quickly deliver mobile games to your device, wherever you are.
- System features
Compute: AMD Opteron™ X2150 APU, 1.5 GHz, with AMD Radeon™ HD 8000 graphics
Memory: DDR3 PC3-12800 SDRAM (1600 MHz); Four (4) SODIMM slots; 32GB (8GB per SoC)
Storage: 4 x 32 GB iSSD (1 per SoC)
Networking: (Internal) BCM5720 dual port 1GbE per CPU; HP Moonshot-180G Switch Module; HHP Moonshot-4QSFP+ Uplink Module
Enclosure: Moonshot 1500 Chassis
Warranty: 1 year
AMD Opteron™ X2150 APU [AMD product page, May 29, 2013]
Introducing the World’s First Server-class x86 APU SoC
Specification
Features
Feature
Function
Benefit
4 Energy Efficient X86 Cores, Codenamed “Jaguar”
Optimize x86 performance/watt for microservers.
Helps enable low datacenter TCO
Flexible TDP
Allows user to control their own power profile by adjusting CPU and GPU frequencies in the BIOS to match their application needs (GPU integrated in X2150 only)
Gives users more control over their workload performance and power consumption
Integrated I/O
Integrates legacy Northbridge and Southbridge functionality directly on the processor
Smaller footprint enables dense microserver designs
Core, Northbridge and Memory P-states
Dynamically adjusts performance levels based on application requirements
Helps reduce power consumption
Server Infrastructure support
Feature
Function
Benefit
DDR3 Memory with ECC Support
High-speed, highly reliable server-class memory
Helps reduce server failures due to memory.
Integrated I/O
Integrate PCIe Gen2, SATA 2/3, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 functionality onto the processor.
Enable enterprise-class functionality in a single chip solution.
Server Processor Reliability
Processor undergoes a back-end test flow to ensure proper quality
Ensure product quality is that of other server-class products for greater reliability.
Integrated Graphics
Feature
Function
Benefit
Graphics Core Next Architecture with AMD Radeon™ HD 8000 Series Graphics
Provide high-quality graphics capabilities in a server SoC.
Outstanding performance in media-oriented workloads such as remote DT, online gaming and imaging
Display Controller Engine
Allows for VGA and HDMI display capabilities
Helps reduce cost by eliminating need for add-on display cards
Unified Video Decoder 4.2
Dedicated hardware video decoding block
Help enable a near-native experience in remote DT applications.
Video Compression Engine 2.0
Hardware-assisted encoding of HD video streams
Help enable a near-native experience in remote DT applications
Citrix hosted desktops–powered by HP Moonshot [The HP Blog Hub, Dec 10, 2013]
Written by Citrix Guest Blogger Kevin Strohmeyer, Director Product Marketing, Citrix
Veterans of server-based computing and VDI are all too familiar with the complexities of buying and deploying desktop virtualization. Great strides have been made to simplify the sizing and configuration of desktop virtualization infrastructure, but ultimately, when you build and deliver shared resources, you should carefully consider how those resources will be used; and decide how much excess capacity you need to ensure peak usage can be supported.
The distributed nature of PCs, coupled with management challenges of patching and updates plus the vulnerability of unsecured, sensitive data has left IT looking for a better answer. This brings us right back to centralized desktop virtualization.
The HP ConvergedSystem 100 for Hosted Desktops with Citrix XenDesktop is a new as well as unique type of desktop virtualization. Instead of just leveraging a hypervisor to abstract the OS from hardware, XenDesktop streams an OS right to bare metal to dedicated microsystems with dedicated CPU, memory and graphics all neatly arranged in a rack mount chassis. This eliminates the overhead and complexity of abstracting the hardware and managing VMs. This also eliminates the system overhead required to share those resources leaving more power for the desktop. All in all, the solution presents a very interesting alternative to VDI.
The HP ConvergedSystem 100 for Hosted Desktops is an all-in-one compute, storage and networking system based on HP Moonshot, delivering 180 desktops for Citrix XenDesktop environments. The system provides an independent, remote PC experience with business graphics and multimedia performance essential for mainstream knowledge workers, and all while delivering up to 44% improvement in TCO and 63% lower power requirements. Other benefits include:
- Predictable, fixed cost per user reduces OPEX
- Independent compute and graphics delivers consistent end user performance
- Deploy with Citrix XenDesktop in approximately 2 hours
At the same time, this solution is great example of the power of FlexCast technology from Citrix. And that power is reflected in the way the FlexCast management infrastructure is designed to promote these innovative solutions that leverage common image management, profile management and app virtualization in a common delivery architecture. The unique Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) technology that enables bare metal and just in time OS provisioning provides all the benefits of VDI without hypervisor management.
What makes this solution most interesting is the ease of purchasing and deploying. There is no configuration work required to figure out how much hardware or storage to purchase, you simply buy as many systems as you need and rack and stack as you grow from the first 180 desktop on up. This alone could make this solution very attractive to organizations desiring the security and management of centralized virtual desktops, but who want to avoid the management of virtual infrastructure.
If you are attending HP Discover in Barcelona this week, come by to see the ConvergedSystem 100 for Hosted Desktops in the Discover Zone.
Learn more about the new HP ConvergedSystem 100 for Hosted Desktops.
Offering a no compromise PC experience [The HP Blog Hub, Dec 9, 2013]
By HP guest blogger Dan Nordhues, HP Client Virtualization Worldwide Manager
Poor performance is one of the major reasons users reject VDI or remote desktop implementations. While all your workers may sit at PCs, each user population has unique needs that dictate requirements. For example, task workers need only a couple of applications to do their jobs, but workstation-class users require accelerated graphics capabilities to handle workloads like CAD/CAM and Oil and Gas applications.
Right in the middle of the PC-user continuum sits the mainstream knowledge worker—the largest segment of the PC user population— with unique requirements of their own. Meeting the needs of these users is the goal of HP ConvergedSystem 100 for Hosted Desktops powered by HP Moonshot—a next-generation solution engineered specifically for meeting the needs of today’s knowledge workers, while also meeting your requirements for simplicity, lower deployment cost, and energy efficiency.
HP ConvergedSystem 100 for Hosted Desktops provides an all-in-one compute, storage, and networking system that delivers desktops for Citrix XenDesktop non-persistent users. Provide your mainstream users a dedicated PC experience with the business graphics and multimedia performance they need, while reducing TCO by up to 44 percent and lowering power requirements up to 63 percent.
If you plan to attend HP Discover Barcelona 2013, you can take advantage of great hands-on experience with HP Converged Systems. And check out these sessions for more information on HP’s client virtualization portfolio:
- BB2391 – Architecting client virtualization for task worker to workstation-class users 10 December 10-11am
- DT3108 – Moonshot-hosted desktop infrastructure: an innovative way for hosting end-user desktops 11 December, 11:30-12
- DT3177 – Moonshot-hosted desktop infrastructure: an innovative way for hosting end-user desktops, Part II 12 December, 11:30-12
Learn more about the new HP ConvergedSystem 100 for Hosted Desktops.
Unique Nokia assets (from factories to global device distribution & sales, and the Asha sub $100 smartphone platform etc.) will now empower the One Microsoft devices and services strategy
Microsoft buys Nokia’s handset business [deutschewelleenglish YouTube channel, Sept 3, 2013]
With a market capitalisation of $18.72 billion on NYSE: NOK – Sep 3 12:15pm ET Microsoft is getting Nokia Devices & Services business —about half of the Nokia in terms of revenues (an estimated EUR 14.9 [$19.66] billion)— for only $7.17 billion. But that half of Nokia is still a shrinking + money loosing business + one with an upcoming disruptive threat as per Assesment of the Xiaomi phenomenon before the global storm is starting on Sept 5 [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Aug 30, 2013]. With this Microsoft could be relieved of the necessity of An ARM-focussed Microsoft spin-off could be the only solution to save Microsoft in the crucial next 3-years period [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Aug 24, 2013] advocated earlier on this blog. Additionally with the acquisition comes Nokia’s former CEO (stepping down with the announcement), the extraordinary Stephen Elop. He is also one of the greatest candidates to take over the Microsoft CEO position with Steve Ballmer’s already announced retirement within the next 12 months. This is already widely discussed in the media.
Update: Here are the latest offerings Nokia is bringing to the Microsoft portfolio
Nokia World Abu Dhabi 2013 [Red Robot – Intelligent Distribution (Thomson Reuters)YouTube channel, Oct 23, 2013]
From that the most significant contributions IMHO are the Leading edge Nokia phablets for both entertainment and productivity: Lumia 1320 targeting the masses at $339, and Lumia 1520 the imaging conscious business users and individuals at $749 [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Oct 26, 2013] End of update
Read also:
– Microsoft Nokia Transaction Conference Call with slides from Microsoft Strategic Rationale inserted- ebook – 3-Sept-2013 edited by Sándor Nacsa from those two sources into an ebook format PDF
– Follow-up: Microsoft answers to the questions about Nokia devices and services acquisition: tablets, Windows downscaling, reorg effects, Windows Phone OEMs, cost rationalization, ‘One Microsoft’ empowerment, and supporting developers for an aggressive growth in market share [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Sept 4, 2013]
Nokia Microsoft Webcast Press Conference September 3,2013, Full Video [WorldWideTechScience YouTube channel, Sept 3, 2013]
For factories read: Production facilities & Responsible supply chain [Nokia], and Nokia becoming the next Samsung from its new Vietnamese manufacturing base? [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, June 24, 2013]
For unique sub $100 smartphones read:
– Nokia’s non-Windows crossroad [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, May 2, 2013]
– New Asha platform and ecosystem to deliver a breakthrough category of affordable smartphone from Nokia [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, May 9, 2013]
– New Nokia Asha platform for developers [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, May 9, 2013]
– Mark Zuckerberg’s personality is hyped (again) with a quite worthwhile initiative (otherwise) but with substantial global financial interests behind it as well [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Aug 24, 2013]
For other unique Nokia assets read:
– The Where [i.e. HERE] Platform from Nokia: a company move to taking data as a raw material to build products [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 7, 2012] (as it is licensed on the broadest and most advantegous terms with the acquisition agreement)
– Nokia Lumia 1020: an excellent case of Nokia’s contribution to Microsoft as a key innovation partner [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, July 12, 2013]
– Minutes of a high-octane but also expert evangelist CEO: Stephen Elop, Nokia [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, July 13, 2013]
For ’One Microsoft’ devices and services strategy read:
– Deep technical evangelism and development team inside the DPE (Developer and Platform Evangelism) unit of Microsoft [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, May 17, 2013]
– Windows Azure becoming an unbeatable offering on the cloud computing market [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, June 28, 2013]
– Microsoft partners empowered with ‘cloud first’, high-value and next-gen experiences for big data, enterprise social, and mobility on wide variety of Windows devices and Windows Server + Windows Azure + Visual Studio as the platform [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, July 10, 2013]
– Microsoft reorg for delivering/supporting high-value experiences/activities [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, July 11, 2013]
– How the device play will unfold in the new Microsoft organization? [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, July 14, 2013]
– With Android and forked Android smartphones as the industry standard Nokia relegated to a niche market status while Apple should radically alter its previous premium strategy for long term [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Aug 24, 2013] which as the result of Nokia Devices & Services now joining Microsoft has got a very strong opportunity to join the mainstream of the smartphone revolution instead of the previous prospect of remaining a market niche offering
Nokia Deal Gives Microsoft Shot at No 3: Thompson’s reflection on the deal [Bloomberg via hcswbb YouTube channel, Sept 3, 2013]
The Next Chapter: An open letter from Steve Ballmer and Stephen Elop [The Official Microsoft Blog, Sept 2, 2013] with slide inserts from the Microsoft’s strategic rationale published as part of the announcement, and Nokia Conference Call September 3, 2013 15.00 / Helsinki 08.00 / New York presentation
Microsoft to acquire Nokia Devices & Services, accelerating the Windows ecosystem
Nokia and Microsoft have always dreamed big – we dreamed of putting a computer on every desk, and a mobile phone in every pocket, and we’ve come a long way toward realizing those dreams.
[Note: On the left the first 3 are the Series 40 6th Edition Lite platform devices: Nokia 109, Nokia 110, and Nokia 111. Then (with the stereo headset) is the first Nokia Asha software platform 1.0 device: Nokia Asha 501. The rest are Nokia Lumia devices. What are not shown here: Nokia 105 and Nokia 106, the last two devices from the once quite extensive Series 30 feature phone platform, like Nokia 101/100 of 2011, or Nokia 1280/1616/1800 of 2010. Will Microsoft kill them in the near future? Could be, but for 10 years Microsoft could use the Nokia brand for Series 30 and Series 40 based devices, while “Nokia would be restricted from licensing the Nokia brand for use in connection with mobile device sales for 30 months and from using the Nokia brand on Nokia’s own mobile devices until December 31, 2015“. Nokia’s pre-Windows Phone software strategy of Dec 2009: “Nokia is also continuing to use our Series 30 platform in a limited number of mobile phone devices for highly price sensitive consumer segments.” will come to an end in terms of S30 first, while the rest shown on the illustration above will evolve further on. Also in one of the Nokia press releases it is stated: “Microsoft is acquiring Nokia’s Smart Devices business unit, including the Lumia brand and products”, although in Steve Ballmer’s e-mail to Microsoft employees it is stressed that “It is very important that we pursue a unified brand and advertising strategy as soon as possible”. ]
Today marks a moment of reinvention.
Nokia has an identity spanning 150 years of heritage, innovation, excellence, and change which began and will continue in Finland and around the world. From humble beginnings as a paper mill factory, to manufacturing rubber boots and car tires, and then to mobile phones, reinvention is in Nokia’s blood.
Nokia will now write its next chapter, focused on enabling mobility through its leadership in networking, mapping & location, and advanced technologies.
For Microsoft as well, today is a bold step into the future, a huge leap forward on our journey of creating a family of devices and services that delight people and empower businesses of all sizes.
Our partnership over the past two and a half years, which combined our respective strengths to build a new global mobile ecosystem, has created incredible results: award-winning phones and amazing services that have made Nokia Windows Phones the fastest-growing smartphones in the world.
Building on this successful partnership, we announced some important news today: an agreement for Microsoft to purchase Nokia’s Devices & Services business, to deliver more choices, faster innovation, and even more exciting devices and services to our customers.
Today’s agreement will accelerate the momentum of Nokia’s devices and services, bringing the world’s most innovative smartphones to more people, while continuing to connect the next billion people with Nokia’s mobile phone portfolio.
With the commitment and resources of Microsoft to take Nokia’s devices and services forward, we can now realize the full potential of the Windows ecosystem, providing the most compelling experiences for people at home, at work and everywhere in between.
We will continue to build the mobile phones you’ve come to love, while investing in the future – new phones and services that combine the best of Microsoft and the best of Nokia.
Nokia and Microsoft are committed to the next chapter.
Together, we will redefine the boundaries of mobility.
Steve & Stephen
Thoughts on today’s Nokia announcement [Terry Myerson EVP, Operating Systems
Microsoft; Septr 3, 2013]
With our announcement today regarding Nokia, we’re taking a huge step in fulfilling our stated strategy of transforming Microsoft. For me, it’s been an incredibly rewarding journey. As the engineering leader for the Windows Phone efforts, I was there at the birth of Windows Phone, and a key part of our original partnership with Nokia. I know firsthand how critical it was for me and the team to be a valuable partner to Nokia, in addition to building out a great ecosystem of partners, hardware and software alike.
Today’s announcement doesn’t change that – acquiring Nokia’s Devices group will help make the market for all Windows Phones, from Microsoft or our OEM partners.
This goes to the core of how I think about my new job running the Operating Systems Group here. We have exciting ideas, and so do our OEM partners. Our partners bring innovation, diversity and scale to Windows. I’m always thrilled by the beautiful new device designs our partners are continually bringing to market. There’s a breadth of choice in form factor, finish and materials that deliver unique devices at a variety of price points. These devices feature innovative high resolution displays, audio, cameras, multi-finger touch screens, creative new hinge designs, new sensors, and other hardware enhancements that provide choice in the market and great experiences for users.
Our OS group mission is to enable the innovations of our hardware partners to shine through on the Windows platform. We collaborate with our Microsoft hardware teams in the same way we partner with our external hardware partners: we discreetly discuss technical and business opportunities, make shared bets, empower each other to do great work, and then operate closely together to delight our shared customers. We look forward to building new products together that will provide valuable business opportunity for the ecosystem and enable OEMs to deliver huge value to their customers, from consumers to the largest enterprise.
I was driving to work the other day and heard a song that perfectly sums up the relationship we have with all our partners. It’s a song from a few years ago by The Killers called “Read My Mind”; the lyric is “I don’t shine if you don’t shine.” Together, the light is pretty bright.
Additional messages from Microsoft’s strategic rationale published as part of the announcement:
Transformation: Beyond Software and PCs
A family of devices with integrated services that best empowers people and businesses for the activities they value most
- Greater smartphone success strengthens Microsoft and our OEMs
- High value services including geospatial are key
High Value Services Including Geospatial
- Office, Skype, Xbox, SkyDrive, Bing at Microsoft
- Geospatial and mapping essential to integrate for mobile
- Need an effective alternative to Google; more than one “digital map of the world”
- Nokia can maximize HERE use by others
- Microsoft gets flexibility to integrate HERE with other excperiences
- A new, simpler, and more effective partnership for the future
– Microsoft acquires right equivalent to ownership for the HERE mapping apps
– Nokia will continue to improve these apps for other platforms
– For mapping data and services, under a new four-year agreement
>>> Nokia will provide Microsoft with mapping data services in exchange for annual payments
>>> Microsoft can combine Nokia mapping data with data from other sources
>>> Microsoft can syndicate Nokia’s data to customers using Windows Azure for additional feesDevices and Services: Why Phones?
- Devices help services and services help devices
- With consumerization of IT, users matter at both home and work
– Devices and high volume/value services are always to build a larger user base- Microsoft and phones
– High value experiences light up on great devices
– Device innovation gives Microsoft economic opportunity
– We will continue to support iPhone and Android/Galaxy phones with our services
– But we cannot risk having Google or Apple foreclose app innovation, integration, distribution, or economics
– We need a first-rate Microsoft phone experience for users- Windows: 300M+ devices a year
– Success in phones is important to success in tablets
– Success in tablets will help PCs
– We will take additional steps to promote the app ecosystem for Windows
[The Nokia Windows Phone shipments for the last 4 quarters were 20.3 million units.]
Devices and Services: Why Phone Hardware?
Driving Ongoing OEM Opportunity
- Windows Phone has achieved #3 position in smartphones globally
- Acquisition protects Windows Phone future
– High concentration with Nokia
– First party hardware ensures Windows Phone presence
– OEM model alsone expensive in this market position- Acquisition reduces friction moving forward
– Pace of innovation
– Marketing efficiency- Acquisition grows OEM opportunity
– Address diversity of markets
– Continue existing partnerships
– Microsoft success creates expanded OEM opportunity
[15% of the 1.7B units in 2018 is 255M units. The ~$45 billion estimated revenue at that time means ~$176 ASP. Considering the latest Q2’13 EUR 157 [$207] ASP of Lumia it seems feasible, but in 5 years timeframe it needs a strong premium strategy to achieve that. … NPV – Net Present Value.]
Confident About Regulatory Approval
- We will submit the acquisition for approval in the EU, U.S., China, India, Brazil, Russia, Canada, and other countries
- We are confident about our prospects for approval by early 2014
– The acquired assets are complementary
– The acquisition will promote competition
>>> Integration of hardware and software will help Microsoft offer competitive alternatives to Google and Apple
>>> Microsoft will gain proven capability and talent critical to success in devices and services
>>> Microsoft remains committed to working with partners in the Windows & Windows Phone ecosystems- The acquisition will benefit consumers
– Will drive down Microsoft’s devices and services costs from development through go-to-market and by obtaining cost savings from Nokia’s existing IP licences
– Provides consumers with more choice and innovation
Nokia to sell Devices & Services business to Microsoft in EUR 5.44 [$7.17] billion all-cash transaction [press release, Sept 3, 2013] with slide inserts from Conference Call September 3, 2013 15.00 / Helsinki 08.00 / New York announcement presentation:
- Transaction expected to be significantly accretive to Nokia earnings.
- Nokia continues to develop, and sees significant value in, advanced technologies, its patent portfolio and Nokia brand.
- Nokia focusing on NSN, HERE and Advanced Technologies post-transaction. Each business a leading player in its respective segment.
- Nokia outlines changes to leadership and Board of Directors.
Subject to the closing of the transaction, Microsoft will acquire substantially all of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, including the Mobile Phones and Smart Devices business units as well as an industry-leading design team, operations including all Nokia Devices & Services production facilities, Devices & Services-related sales and marketing activities, and related support functions. At closing, approximately 32,000 people are expected to transfer to Microsoft, including approximately 4,700 people in Finland. Nokia’s CTO (Chief Technology Office) organization and patent portfolio will remain within the Nokia Group. The operations that are planned to be transferred to Microsoft generated an estimated EUR 14.9 [$19.66] billion, or almost 50%, of Nokia’s net sales for the full year 2012.
As part of the transaction, Nokia will grant Microsoft a 10 year non-exclusive license to its patents as of the time of the closing, and Microsoft will grant Nokia reciprocal rights related to HERE services. In addition, Nokia will grant Microsoft an option to extend this mutual patent agreement to perpetuity. Of the total purchase price of EUR 5.44 [$7.18] billion, EUR 3.79 [$5.00] billion relates to the purchase of substantially all of the Devices & Services business, and EUR 1.65 [$2.18] billion relates to the mutual patent agreement and future option.
Additionally, Microsoft will become a strategic licensee of the HERE platform, and will separately pay Nokia for a four year license. This revenue stream is expected to substantially replace the revenue stream HERE is currently receiving from Nokia’s Devices & Services business internally. If the transaction closes Microsoft is expected to become one of the top three customers of HERE.
Microsoft has agreed to make immediately available to Nokia EUR 1.5 [$1.98] billion of financing in the form of three EUR 500 million tranches of convertible bonds to be issued by Nokia maturing in 5, 6 and 7 years respectively. It is at Nokia’s discretion if it chooses to draw down all or some of these tranches. The financing is not conditional on the transaction closing. If the transaction closes, any outstanding bonds will be redeemed and netted against the deal proceeds by the amount of principal and accrued interest.
…
Microsoft has agreed to a 10 year license arrangement with Nokia to use the Nokia brand on current Mobile Phones products. Nokia will continue to own and maintain the Nokia brand. Under the terms of the transaction, Microsoft has agreed to a 10 year license arrangement with Nokia to use the Nokia brand on current and subsequently developed products based on the Series 30 and Series 40 operating systems. Upon the closing of the transaction, Nokia would be restricted from licensing the Nokia brand for use in connection with mobile device sales for 30 months and from using the Nokia brand on Nokia’s own mobile devices until December 31, 2015.
…
The transaction is subject to potential purchase price adjustments, protecting both Nokia and Microsoft, and a USD 750 million termination fee payable by Microsoft to Nokia in the event that the transaction fails to receive necessary regulatory clearances.
…
Following the transaction, Nokia plans to focus on its three established businesses, each of which is a leader in enabling mobility in its respective market segment:
– NSN, a leader in network infrastructure and services;
– HERE, a leader in mapping and location services; and
– Advanced Technologies, a leader in technology development and licensing.Nokia will retain its headquarters in Finland. Excluding the approximately 32,000 people planned to transfer to Microsoft, Nokia would have employed approximately 56,000 people at the end of the second quarter 2013.
“Today is an important moment of change and reinvention for Nokia and its employees,” said Nokia Chairman and interim CEO Mr. Siilasmaa. “With our strong corporate identity, leading assets and talent, and from a position of renewed financial strength, we will build Nokia’s next chapter.”
NSN, a wholly-owned business of Nokia since August 2013, is a leader in mobile broadband, and is focused on operating at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology, including pushing the boundaries of connecting people through LTE and future technologies. Nokia continues to manage NSN as a strong, independent entity. |
HERE will continue to focus on growing its industry-leading position through a broad location offering across mobile devices, connected devices, enterprise solutions and the automotive environment. HERE will continue to execute its strategy to become the leading independent location cloud platform company, offering mapping and location services across different screens and operating systems. |
Our Advanced Technologies business will build on several of Nokia’s current CTO and Intellectual Property Rights activities. Advanced Technologies will explore new business opportunities through advanced research, development and concept products in areas such as connectivity, sensing and material technologies, as well as web and cloud technologies. At the same time, Advanced Technologies plans to continue to build Nokia’s patent portfolio from this innovation and targets to expand its industry-leading technology licensing program, spanning technologies that enable mobility today and tomorrow. |
…
Nokia’s Board of Directors is conducting a strategy evaluation for Nokia Group between signing and closing of the transaction. This evaluation will comprise of evaluations of strategies for each of Nokia’s three businesses and possible synergies between them, as well as an evaluation of the optimal corporate and capital structure for Nokia after the closing of the transaction. After this evaluation is complete, deemed excess capital is planned to be distributed to shareholders.
…
The Nokia Leadership Team will continue to consist of the current members, but with changes in positions and reporting lines as outlined below.
Risto Siilasmaa will assume an interim CEO role for Nokia while continuing to serve in his role as Chairman of the Nokia Board of Directors. As part of his interim CEO role, Mr. Siilasmaa will, among other tasks, oversee strategy and have four direct reports:
– Michael Halbherr, Executive Vice President, HERE;
– Stephen Elop, Executive Vice President, Devices & Services;
– Timo Ihamuotila, Nokia CFO and interim President; and
– Jesper Ovesen, Executive Chairman of the NSN Board of Directors.
…
To avoid the perception of any potential conflict of interest between now and the pending closure of the transaction, Stephen Elop will step aside as President and CEO of Nokia Corporation, resign from the Board of Directors, and will become Executive Vice President, Devices & Services. The following Nokia Leadership Team members will report to Mr. Elop:
– Marko Ahtisaari, Executive Vice President, Design;
– Jo Harlow, Executive Vice President, Smart Devices;
– Juha Putkiranta, Executive Vice President, Operations
[brought in charge of factories, supplies and logistics in July 2012];
– Timo Toikkanen, Executive Vice President, Mobile Phones [since July 2012]; and
– Chris Weber, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing [since July 2012].Timo Ihamuotila becomes President of Nokia for the interim period while also continuing to serve as CFO. Mr. Ihamuotila will assume the responsibility of chairing the Nokia Leadership Team. The following Nokia Leadership Team members will report to Mr. Ihamuotila: Louise Pentland, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer; Henry Tirri, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer; Juha Äkräs, Executive Vice President, Human Resources; and Kai Öistämö, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development.
We expect that Mr. Elop, Ms. Harlow, Mr. Putkiranta, Mr. Toikkanen, and Mr. Weber would transfer to Microsoft at the anticipated closing.
Mr. Ahtisaari has decided to again pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. He will step down from the Nokia Leadership Team and his position as Executive Vice President, Design, effective as from November 1, 2013. He will continue to work on activities related to the transaction through November 30, 2013. Effective November 1, 2013 Stefan Pannenbecker will start leading Design, reporting to Mr. Elop.
This announcement does not change the current leadership for Nokia Solutions and Networks. Rajeev Suri will continue to serve as CEO, NSN, reporting to NSN’s Board which continues to be chaired by Jesper Ovesen who continues to serve as NSN’s Executive Chairman and reports to Mr. Siilasmaa.
Steve Ballmer email to Microsoft employees on Nokia Devices & Services acquisition [Sept 3, 2013] with slide inserts from the attached to it Microsoft’s strategic rationale
…
We have laid out Microsoft’s strategic rationale for this transaction in a presentation that I encourage you to read.
This is a smart acquisition for Microsoft, and a good deal for both companies. We are receiving incredible talent, technology and IP. We’ve all seen the amazing work that Nokia and Microsoft have done together.
Given our long partnership with Nokia and the many key Nokia leaders that are joining Microsoft, we expect a smooth transition and great execution.
As is always the case with an acquisition, the first priority is to keep driving through close, which we expect in the first quarter of 2014, following approval by Nokia’s shareholders, regulatory approvals, and other closing conditions.
But I also know people will have some questions about what happens post-close. While details aren’t final, here is what we know, and how we’re generally approaching integration:
1. Stephen Elop will be coming back to Microsoft, and he will lead an expanded Devices team, which includes all of our current Devices and Studios work and most of the teams coming over from Nokia, reporting to me.
2. Julie Larson-Green will continue to run the Devices and Studios team, and will be focused on the big launches this fall including Xbox One and our Surface enhancements. Julie will be joining Stephen’s team once the acquisition closes, and will work with him to shape the new organization.
3. As part of the acquisition, a number of key engineering leaders will be joining Microsoft from Nokia, reporting to Stephen in his new capacity:
Jo Harlow, who will continue to lead the Smart Devices team
Timo Toikkanen, who will continue to lead the Mobile Phones team
Stefan Pannenbecker, who will lead Design
Juha Putkiranta, who will lead the integration effort on Nokia’s behalf
4. Regarding the sales team, we plan to keep the Nokia field team, led by Chris Weber, intact and as the nexus of the devices sales effort, so that we can continue to build sales momentum. After the deal closes, Chris and his team will be placed under Kevin Turner. We will develop a single integrated team that is selling to operators, and there may be other integration opportunities that we can pursue. Kevin will work with Chris Weber and Chris Capossela to make those plans.
5. Our operating system team under Terry Myerson will continue unchanged, with a mission of supporting both first-party and third-party hardware innovation. We are committed to working with partners, helping them build great products and great businesses on our platform, and we believe this deal will increase our partner value proposition over time. The established rhythms and ways of working between Terry and his team and the incoming Nokia team will serve us well to ensure that we do not disrupt our building momentum.
6. We are planning to integrate all global marketing under Tami Reller and Mark Penn. It is very important that we pursue a unified brand and advertising strategy as soon as possible.
[Except the Series 30 and Series 40 based, so called mobile phones which could continue under the Nokia brand for 10 years. Also in one of the Nokia press releases it is stated: “Microsoft is acquiring Nokia’s Smart Devices business unit, including the Lumia brand and products.”]
7. Finance, Legal, HR, Communications, DX / Evangelism, Customer Care and Business Development will integrate functionally at Microsoft. Sourcing, customer logistics and supply chain will be part of Stephen’s Devices organization. ICM / IT will also integrate functionally for traditional IT roles. We will need to work through the implications for factory systems given the differing manufacturing processes and systems at both Nokia and Microsoft.
8. We plan to pursue a single set of supporting services for our devices, and we will figure out how to combine the great Nokia efforts into our Microsoft services as we go through the integration process.
9. There are no significant plans to shift where work is done in the world as we integrate, so we expect the Nokia teams to stay largely in place, geographically.
10. Tom Gibbons will lead the integration work for Microsoft.
Minutes of a high-octane but also expert evangelist CEO: Stephen Elop, Nokia
To me not only Nokia Lumia 1020: an excellent case of Nokia’s contribution to Microsoft as a key innovation partner [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, July 12, 2013] made a great impression but the extraordinary performance of Stephen Elop (CEO of Nokia) at that event. I found a couple of videos demonstrating my point:
The Engadget Interview: Nokia’s Stephen Elop on the Lumia 1020 [Engadget YouTube channel, July 11, 2013]
Stephen Elop Takes A Very Awkward Question & Aces It [TheHandheldBlog YouTube channel, July 11, 2013]
Nokia Lumia 1020 Press Conference Live Streaming: Nokia’s ‘zoom reinvented event July 11, 2013 [lifechannelable YouTube channel, July 11, 2013]
Compare this to the performance of other Nokia executives at the Nokia Lumia 925 Press Conference May 14, 2013 [lifechannelable YouTube channel, May 14, 2013] which is kind of average coporate executive performance
Windows 8.1: Mind boggling opportunities, finally some appreciation by the media
… this is how I can summarize what I’ve seen on the launch (live streamed, towards the end of the post there is the embedded video record with speech transcript) …
and also how the first media reactions could be summarited.
First The Windows 8.1 Preview is here! [WindowsVideos YouTube channel from Microsoft, June 26, 2013]
Second a video summary of the launch by a mainstream media Microsoft builds new features into Windows 8.1 [CNETTV YouTube channel, June 26, 2013]
Media reactions in the first 15 hours:
Specific reactions:
Windows 8.1 Preview provides a window into the future of Windows [CNETTV YouTube channel, June 26, 2013]
Windows 8.1: The Five Most Exciting New Features [UPROXX, June 26, 2013]
… Native 3D Printer Support (!) … Boot To Desktop … SkyDrive Gets An Overhaul … Apps Get APIs … Universal Search …
Windows 8.1 hidden features [networkworld YouTube channel, June 27, 2013]
26 Awesome Features in the Windows 8.1 Preview [Gotta Be Mobile, June 26, 2013]
… Start Screen Backgrounds … Start Menu … Start Button … Integrated Bing Search … Revamped Windows Store … New Start Menu Settings … Lock Screen Sideshows … More Start Screen Color Options … Boot to Desktop … Internet Explorer 11 … Snapped States … Resizable Live Tiles … Help Tutorials … Xbox Music App … New Apps … Outlook RT … Fingerprint Support … Default Device Encryption … Photo Editing … Synced Apps across Devices … File Explorer … Built-in SkyDrive … Lock screen Alarms & Added Detailed Status … Better Portrait Support for Tablets … Disabling Hot Corners … Automatic App Updates …
10 New Features in Windows 8.1 Preview that saved my Surface RT [Scott Hanselmann (Microsoft), June 27, 2013]
… BEING ABLE TO USE YOUR DESKTOP WALLPAPER AS YOUR START MENU BACKGROUND … SEARCH EVERYWHERE … FREAKING OUTLOOK 2013 … SMARTER WINDOWING … WAY EASIER CUSTOMIZATION … BETTER ALL APPS VIEW … MORE COMPREHENSIVE SETTINGS … REMOVABLE DISKS IN YOUR MUSIC AND VIDEO LIBRARIES … SMARTER NOTIFICATIONS AND QUIET HOURS … THE READING LIST …
3D printing:
3D Printing with Windows 8.1 [Shan Ruk YouTube channel, June 26, 2013]
Read also: 3D printing with Windows [The Official Microsoft Blog, Jun 26, 2013, 11:00 AM]
- Windows 8.1 will feature native support for 3D printing [VentureBeat, June 26, 2013, 9:00 AM] pre-written
- Microsoft’s big 3D printing push: From retail to Windows 8.1 [VentureBeat, June 26, 2013, 10:51 AM]
- Why 3D printing in Windows 8.1 is huge for Microsoft and entrepreneurs [VentureBeat, June 26, 2013, 3:53 PM]
- Windows 8.1 Makes 3D Printers as Easy to Use as Inkjets [Laptopmag.com, Jun 26, 2013 01:26 PM EDT]
- Windows 8.1 to natively support 3D printers [Neowin.net, June 26, 2013]
- Windows 8.1 Cranks Up Support for 3D Printing [Mashable, June 26, 2013]
- Microsoft adds native 3D printing support with Windows 8.1 [TNW, June 26, 2013]
- Windows 8.1 to support 3D printing through native API [Engadget, Jun 26th, 2013 at 12:00 PM]
- Microsoft Adds Native 3D Printer API To Windows 8.1 [WebProNews, June 26, 2013]
Bing as a platform (this is first 24 hours, as otherwise would be less, in order of relevance as per Google search):
Microsoft reveals 3D mapping, Bing voice controls [CNETTV YouTube channel, June 26, 2013]
Read also:
– Bing at Build 2013: Weaving an Intelligent Fabric [on Search Blog by Gurdeep Singh Pall, Corporate Vice President, Bing; June 26, 2013]
– Bing will open up more of its APIs and controls via new developer platform [The Fire Hose news coverage blog by Microsoft, June 26, 2013, 11:00 AM]
– Two new Bing apps will be included in Windows 8.1 preview [The Fire Hose news coverage blog by Microsoft, June 26, 2013, 11:00 AM]
– Introducing The New Bing Developer Center and Services [Bing Dev Center Team Blog, Jun 26, 2013, 11:00 AM]
- Microsoft broadens Bing beyond simple search [InfoWorld, June 27, 2013]
- One Bing to Rule Them All: Microsoft Opens Up Bing for Apps [Mashable, June 26, 2013]
- Bing Translator comes to Twitter‘s official Windows Phone app [Engadget, Jun 27, 2013 at 5:29 AM
- Windows Phone 8 Twitter app gets translation function [Pocket-lint, June 27, 2013]
- Microsoft enlists Bing to enhance Windows 8.1 apps [Computerworld, June 26, 2013 05:14 PM ET]
- Microsoft Releases New Bing Windows 8.1 App: Health & Fitness [WMPoweruser, June 27, 2013]
- Microsoft Details New Windows 8.1 Bing App: Food & Drink [WMPoweruser, June 27, 2013]
- Microsoft Releases Windows 8.1 Preview, Unveils ‘Bing as a Platform’ [Redmond Channel Partner, June 26, 2013]
- The Microsoft Build 2013 Recap: Windows 8.1, Bing and new features [The Slanted, June 26, 2013]
All other:
- Windows 8.1 will finally add Retina-like display support [The Verge, June 26, 2013 12:00 pm]
- Windows 8.1 focuses on small tablets – but they’re not PCs, says Ballmer [PC Pro (UK), June 26 2013 at 18:11]
- Build 2013: 3D imagery coming to Windows 8.1 Maps [Softonic, June 26 2013]
- Microsoft Will Bring 3D Imagery To Bing Maps For Windows 8.1, Will Launch With 100 Cities [TechCrunch, June 26, 2013]
- Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 Preview Introduces A Smarter Virtual Keyboard For Touchscreens [TechCrunch, June 26, 2013]
- Microsoft’s New Camera App For Windows 8.1 Lets You Take Photo Sphere-Like Panoramas [TechCrunch, June 26, 2013]
- Microsoft premieres new panorama feature for Windows 8.1′s updated camera app [Digital Trends, June 26, 2013]
- Windows 8.1: Meet the new and vastly improved Windows Store [Ars Technica, June 26 2013, 7:50pm CEDT]
- Microsoft shows off 3D imagery, architecture trivia for Windows 8.1 Maps [Engadget, Jun 26th, 2013 at 1:38 PM]
- IE 11 on Windows 8.1 preview supports HTML5 Netflix streaming right now [Engadget, Jun 26th, 2013 at 6:01 PM]
- Microsoft announces Visual Studio 2013 preview: now available for download, 5,000 new APIs in Windows 8.1 [Engadget, Jun 26th, 2013 at 1:04 PM]
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 appears with 5,000 Windows 8.1 APIs [SlashGear, June 26, 2013]
- Microsoft teases touch-based Office apps for Windows 8.1 [The Verge, June 26, 2013 12:00 pm]
- Microsoft teases Metro-style Office apps for Windows 8.1 [Pocket-lint, June 26, 2013]
- Redesign headed to Windows 8.1’s Xbox Music app later this year [Polygon, June 26, 2013]
- Windows 8.1 Preview to Get Facebook Metro App [Softpedia, June 27, 2013, 08:12 GMT]
Overall reactions (in order of relevance as per Google search):
- Windows 8.1’s little changes are a huge improvement [CNNMoney blog, June 26, 2013, 4:31 PM ET]
- Hands-on with Windows 8.1 Preview: Windows 8 done right [Ars Technica, June 26 2013, 6:33pm CEDT]
- Windows 8.1′s Start Button Isn’t A Start Button [TechCrunch, June 26, 2013]
- With Windows 8.1, Microsoft Wants To Own The Kitchen, As Well As The Living Room And The Office [TechCrunch, June 26, 2013]
- Microsoft Builds a Friendlier Windows 8.1 at Developer Conference [Wired, June 26, 2013]
- With Windows 8.1, Microsoft Makes Some Asked-For Fixes [All Tings Digital, JUNE 26, 2013 AT 9:00 AM PT] pre-written
- Windows 8.1 Puts Microsoft On Track For A Better Year In 2014 [Forbes, June 26, 2013, 3:47PM]
- Windows 8.1: It’s Getting Better And Stronger — Just Not Fast Enough [ReadWriteWeb, June 26, 2013]
- With Windows 8.1, Microsoft Steps Back Toward Operating System Relevance [ReadWriteWeb, June 26, 2013]
- Windows 8.1 is all improvements, little innovation [Digital Trends, June 26, 2013]
- If You Hated Windows 8, Microsoft’s Attempt To Fix It Won’t Change Your Mind [Business Insider, June 26, 2013, 6:17 PM]
- Windows 8.1 first look: Finally, Windows the way you want it [Computerworld, June 26, 2013, 8:55 PM EDT]
- Windows 8.1 fixes problems, adds new features, but touch screen is still the focus (hands-on) [CNET, June 26, 2013, 9:00 AM PDT] pre-written
- Windows RT 8.1 preview: all the additions you’d expect, but no desktop removal [The Verge, June 26, 2013, 08:30 pm]
- Microsoft reveals Windows 8.1 brings back the Start button [Know Your Mobile, June 26, 2013]
- Microsoft releases Windows 8.1 beta, brings back ‘start’ button [First Post, June 27, 2013]
- Huge enterprise potential for Windows 8.1 seen [IT World Canada, June 26, 2013]
The one which had #1 relevance by Google search:
Review: Windows 8.1 Widens Gap With Older PCs [The Big Story of the Associated Press by Ryan Nakashima, June 27, 2013, 1:47 AM EDT]
probably because also appeared on The Washington Post, ABC News, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Indian Express, CenturyLink, and NPR just in 2 hours after AP published this review (so more news organs will republish it later, for sure)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer says the latest update to Windows is a “refined blend” of its older operating system for PCs and its new touch-enabled interface for more modern, mobile devices.
After some hands-on time with it, the update seems to me like a patch over an ever-widening chasm.
The issue is that there are over a billion personal computers that use some version of Windows as it existed until last October, when Microsoft unveiled Windows 8. All those PCs are responsive to mice and keyboards, not the touch screens and other input methods like voice and gestures that represent the future of computing. Making it easier to cross that bridge is one of the goals of Windows 8.1, a preview version of which Microsoft released Wednesday.
After spending several hours with devices running Windows 8.1, it remains unclear to me whether a touch-based environment is what traditional Windows users want to accomplish the productive tasks for which they’ve come to rely on Windows.
But Microsoft has added to 8.1 a grab bag of fun features that make the free update worthwhile.
One way Microsoft reaches into the past is by reviving the “Start” button in the operating system’s traditional “Desktop” mode. It appears as a little Windows icon at the bottom left corner of the screen.
However, other than the location and its general look, the button doesn’t do what it once did. A single tap brings you back to the “Modern” interface, instead of the traditional Start menu, which used to bring up a whole host of convenient items like recent programs and commonly used folders.
An extended press brings up a list of complex settings functions — the kind that most people would probably rather leave to their tech department if they are fortunate enough to have one.
So, instead of bringing back a familiar environment, the revived “Start” button is mainly just another way of directing you to the new one.
Another way Microsoft attempts to appease its established PC user base is by allowing people to launch their computers directly into the “Desktop” environment. But again, with no way to access programs except through the “Modern” interface, there is little cause for celebration among traditionalists.
The main changes in Windows 8.1 offer an easier way to function inside its “Modern” environment, better more integrated search results, and a hint of what’s possible in the future.
One feature that makes the new environment easier to navigate: Now, a screen called “All Apps” is just a swipe away from the “Modern” tile screen. Swiping up literally displays all the apps on the computer, not just the ones that you have made as favorites on the start screen. In the past, you had to swipe up from the bottom edge and tap another button to get there.
Unfortunately, the “All Apps” page feels like too much. An array of icons easily covers two full screens. Although you can re-organize the apps into categories or alphabetically, there are too many to make it easy to use.
It’s easier to use the search function, which can either be brought up by swiping in from the right edge, or just typing when in the “Modern” tile screen.
Entertainers get terrific new billing in Microsoft’s improved search function. Type in an artist’s name, say Lily Allen, and Windows 8.1 brings up a lively and colorful sideways-scrollable page that shows big photos, her birthdate, and a list of songs and videos followed by decent-sized renditions of websites.
Clicking on a play button alongside a song instantly plays it. You don’t have to own the song, because Microsoft throws in the feature as part of its Xbox Music service — which inserts ads unless you pay a monthly fee. You can queue up all the top songs and even add them to a playlist for listening to later.
Windows 8.1 can also run on smaller devices, including Acer’s Iconia W3, which has an 8.1-inch screen measured diagonally and works with a wireless keyboard that also acts as a stand. In the past, screens had to be about 10 inches or longer diagonally.
Some add-ins didn’t really excite me. The ability to resize the split-screen, which lets you do more than one thing at once, lacked pizazz. On the Acer and even Microsoft’s own Surface Pro, you can only split the screen in two, and only at fixed intervals. With the update, the screens can be half-and-half or roughly cover one-third or two-thirds of the screen, instead of one taking up a sliver as in Windows 8.
Another feature is a predictive text function. Windows 8.1 offers up three predictions for words you are typing on an onscreen keyboard when in certain apps like Mail. To me, the feature seemed to be more annoying than useful, even though you can select the options with sideways swipes on the space bar.
Yet another feature turned the camera into a motion detector. In one demo, Microsoft’s new “Food and Drink” app lets users swipe through a recipe with mid-air hand gestures. In practice, this often failed, sometimes turning pages in the wrong direction or not reacting at all. Still, it’s a way to struggle through a recipe if your hands are coated with sauce.
At Wednesday’s presentation, Microsoft executives previewed future Windows functions that could come in handy, including voice recognition in apps and contextual understanding of spoken questions.
For example, corporate vice president Gurdeep Singh Pall demonstrated a prototype travel planning app that not only showed 3-D overhead views of cities but gave computer-voice tours of various monuments. Speaking the question “Who is the architect?” brought up a webpage showing the answer, simply because the building that the architect designed was in view in the maps app.
“Apps are going to have eyes, they’re going to have ears, they’re going to have a mouth,” said Pall.
As of this month, Microsoft says its new Windows platform will have 100,000 apps, and the company made it clear it hopes developers make even more, incorporating some of the new tools it has made available to them.
Ballmer said in his keynote he hopes that Windows 8.1 also offers a “great path forward” for users of the millions of programs that work on older versions of Windows. By showing off a variety of enticing features of the new interface, however, it’s clear that path leads through the “Modern” world.
Windows 8.1 Preview now available [Microsoft press release, June 26, 2013]
Microsoft Corp. today announced the immediate availability of the Windows 8.1 Preview, the next update of the Windows operating system, at the company’s developer-focused Build conference. As part of the conference’s keynote speech, the company outlined the reach, design and economic opportunities for developers to build differentiated, touch-based apps for the Windows platform, including new developer tools and increased support. Company executives also highlighted new top apps coming to Windows, including Facebook, Flipboard and NFL — clear evidence of the steady app momentum for Windows, which is experiencing the fastest growth across any platform.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was joined on stage by Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president of Windows, and other company executives to demo the Windows 8.1 Preview, focusing on key areas of personalization, search powered by Bing, increased functionality for businesses, new in-the-box apps and more.
“With Windows 8 we built a new Windows, reimagined from the chipset to the experience. It was an ambitious vision, and with Windows 8.1 we refine it,” Larson-Green said. “Windows 8.1 will support the widest range of tablets and PCs and demonstrates how responsive we can be for customers. The preview we are releasing today is an important step for partners around the world that are building the next generation of Windows devices and apps.”
Antoine Leblond, corporate vice president of Windows Program Management, also took the stage to outline how Windows 8.1 provides additional opportunity for developers to design, build and market their Windows Store apps. He reinforced the best-in-class economics — developers keep 80 percent of the revenue for the lifetime of the app once it crosses the $25,000 revenue threshold. He also highlighted new updates, including the following:
Redesigned Windows Store. The Windows Store has been completely redesigned in Windows 8.1 to reach engaged customers and connect them more effectively and quickly to the apps they want. This includes increased merchandising opportunities for apps and better discoverability based on an individual’s preferences, as well as new search controls from Bing in the user interface. App listings have a new layout with refined navigation and more related content.
More monetization opportunities. Windows 8.1 delivers new opportunities for developers to build and monetize apps and engage users. Leblond introduced Windows Store gift cards, an easy way for consumers to purchase apps, books, games and content. Customers will be able to load their Microsoft Account with stored value in their local currency and make purchases online from the Windows Store. For developers in China, the Windows Store will support Alipay, meaning local developers will have new options to generate additional revenue.
Leading experiences. Windows 8.1 offers developers a canvas to present and develop compelling app designs. Windows 8.1 apps can work together to share data, share the screen and deliver richer customer experiences across a range of devices, including new 8-inch-and-below form factors.
Beyond Windows 8.1, Microsoft showcased how developers can take advantage of tools and resources across the company to build differentiated experiences for their customers across Microsoft devices and services, including the following:
Bing as a platform. The new Bing platform builds upon the large investments Microsoft has made in the core technologies behind Bing.com to be embedded as intelligent services into Microsoft devices, Microsoft services and third-party apps that people use every day. In addition to providing the Search experience in Windows 8.1, Windows Phone, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Office, Bing Developer Services are now available that enable third-party developers to leverage Bing technology to create amazing experiences in their own services and Windows and Windows Phone applications. More information is available here.
Releases of Visual Studio 2013 Preview and .NET 4.5.1 Preview. Timed to the next wave of Windows, Visual Studio 2013 offers the ideal toolset for building rich modern applications that run on Windows 8.1. With a range of new features, Visual Studio 2013 makes it easier and faster for developers to create applications and services using modern lifecycle practices that span mobile devices and the cloud. Microsoft also announced a preview of .NET 4.5.1, enabling developers to build next-generation applications for devices and services while innovating their existing core business applications. Visual Studio 2013 and .NET 4.5.1 previews are now available for download here. More on Visual Studio can be found here.
Windows Phone developer opportunity. Microsoft today announced that shipments of Windows Phone grew six times faster than the rest of the smartphone market over the past year. Sprint also announced plans to add Windows Phone 8 to its 4G LTE network this summer with the HTC® 8XT and the Samsung ATIV S Neo™. With the release of Windows Phone 8, customers are now downloading more than 200 million apps per month and generating more than twice the daily app revenue. To help give developers the best return on their investments, the next release of Windows Phone will be designed to run the same apps that developers are building today and support the same familiar tools and skills. For a limited time, developers can register with Windows Phone Dev Center for only $19.
Courtesy of Microsoft and Intel Corp., attendees at Build received the first 8-inch Windows-based tablet, the Intel® AtomTM Z2760 processor-based Acer Iconia W3 and a Microsoft Surface Pro, with all the horsepower of the third-generation Intel® Core™ processor in a sleek tablet form factor. With new levels of performance, battery life and versatile form factors enabled by Windows 8.1 and Intel Architecture, these devices offer developers the chance to quickly get started building Windows 8.1 apps that will scale across form factors of all sizes. Among other giveaways, attendees received 100 GB of extra SkyDrive storage for one year, making it easy to store and access their files from anywhere.
The Windows 8.1 Preview is available for download beginning today. More information is available at http://www.preview.windows.com.
Additional information from Microsoft:
– Windows at Build 2013 [Blogging Windows, June 26, 2013]
– Get started building apps on Windows 8.1 Preview [Windows App Builder, June 26, 2013]
– Windows 8.1 Preview is here [Blogging Windows, June 26, 2013]
– Windows 8.1 Preview Product Guide [June 26, 2013]
– Day one running Windows RT 8.1 Preview on Surface RT [Surface Blog, June 26, 2013]
– Kinect for Windows new generation developer kit program [Kinect for Windows Blog, June 26, 2013]
– Build 2013 and Visual Studio 2013 Preview [Somasegar’s blog, June 26, 2013]
– Announcing the .NET Framework 4.5.1 Preview [.NET Framework Blog, June 26, 2013]
– Introducing IE11: The Best Way to Experience the Web on Modern Touch Devices [IEBlog, June 26, 2013 9:59 PM]
– Designing the Visual Studio 2013 User Experience [Visual Studio Blog, June 27, 2013]
– What’s new in Visual Studio 2013 Preview for authoring Windows Store XAML [Visual Studio Blog, June 27, 2013]
Microsoft’s Build 2013 Dev Conference Day 1 – Windows 8.1 Preview launch [BogenDorpher YouTube channel, June 26, 2013]
Speech transcript: Steve Ballmer, Julie Larson-Green, Antoine Leblond, and Gurdeep Singh Pall: Build 2013 Keynote [June 26, 2013]
Remarks by Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer; Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President, Windows Engineering; Antoine Leblond, Corporate Vice President, Windows Program Management; and Gurdeep Singh Pall, Corporate Vice President, Information Platform & Experience Management; San Francisco, Calif., June 26, 2013
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corporation, Steve Ballmer. (Cheers, applause, music.)
STEVE BALLMER: Well, thanks. It is exciting to have a chance to kick off this Build Conference here in Moscone Center in San Francisco. It’s hard to get a room in San Francisco, let alone a room for 6,000 of your favorite friends. So we really appreciate and welcome all the folks who are joining us here today in person.
We estimate we have about 60,000 people also watching live on webcasts. Frankly, we actually have quite a bit to show you today, and we’re pretty excited about it. The world is so dynamic, and the amount of incredibly interesting and exciting and valuable work that we’ll get a chance to show you today from Microsoft and from our innovation partners, hardware vendors, software developers, it’s really, really amazing.
Probably won’t show you a lot of Office 365 and Xbox and Skype because we’ve been kind of sharing that separately, but we’ve got a whole lot of Windows, a whole lot of Windows Phone to talk to you about, a whole lot of Windows Azure, and I think you’ll really get a sense on some of the amazing and cool stuff that’s coming really, really fits together very, very nicely.
I will say probably the No. 1 thing that I’m excited about, and the No. 1 thing that I’m happy to be able to do, is to welcome you back to a Build Conference so quickly after the last Build Conference. (Applause.)
And that’s not even so much about the conference, but it’s about the rapid pace of innovation. If there’s not one other message that I reach you with in my opening remarks, it’s about the transformation that we are going through as a company to move to an absolutely rapid release cycle — rapid release, rapid release.
I’ve talked externally about the transformation that we’re going through as a company who’s a software company to a company that is building software-powered devices and software-powered services. And the only way in which that transformation can possibly be driven is on a principle of rapid release.
It’s not a one-time thing. We’re certainly going to show you Windows 8.1 today. But you can think of that in a sense as the new norm for everything we do. For Windows releases, in addition to what we’re doing with devices through our partners, what we’re doing with Azure and Office 365, rapid release cadence is absolutely fundamental to what we’re doing, and, frankly, to the way we need to mobilize our ecosystem of hardware and software development partners.
So the first thing I want everybody to do, whether you actually do it physically in this room, we’ll test the Wi-Fi network, but I want everybody to take the opportunity to go download the Windows 8.1 Preview edition and the version of the Visual Studio tools that allow you to do first-class development for Windows 8.1.
Remember, we put Windows 8 systems in market just the end of last year. It was literally November when we started to see Windows 8 systems really coming to the fore. And yet, what you see and what we will show you as we demonstrate Windows 8.1 to you is you see a heck of a lot of movement, a heck of a lot of innovation, a heck of a lot of responsiveness all coming to market in a very, very rapid timeframe, and with a toolset that ought to enable all of our developers to flourish, to do great work, and help continue to fill out the portfolio of applications that are available for Windows 8.
Now, we’ve been moving quickly not just with Windows but also with our Windows Phone software and what we’re doing with our OEM partners. So in addition to the Windows 8.1 Preview, the first thing I want to have a chance to show you is the incredible range of new devices that our partners are bringing to market with Windows Phone. These are incredibly, incredibly beautiful devices.
You see here a range of new devices. These are a couple of new Nokias, the 928 and the 925, polycarbonate and polycarbonate and aluminum body. They have absolutely the finest camera technology in the market available today. They have beautiful screens. They’re thin, they’re light, they’re available on a wide range of networks, and all have come available here within the last month or two.
The software, in my mind’s eye, is beautiful. It’s beautiful, and it looks like the same software that we have on Windows tablets, Windows PCs, Windows notebooks, and even on our Xbox systems.
An additional product that I think is worthy of mention is the Nokia 521. It, too, is a beautiful product. This product will be sold outside of the United States, primarily in countries where the phone operators do not subsidize; that is, they do not reduce the price of the phone, but this phone will be sold for just over $150, which is really quite amazing for a product that’s this beautiful, this gorgeous, and at this time, an inexpensive price.
We’re also pleased to announce today in conjunction with Sprint and with Samsung and HTC that for the first time, Sprint will be making new Windows 8 Phones available on its network. The HTC 8XT and the Samsung ATIV S Neo are coming available on the Sprint network, filling out the range of options that our customers here in the United States have been looking for, a family of beautiful Windows Phones available on every network in this country and around the world. And we’re really proud of the work that our hardware partners are doing on this collection of beautiful new phones.
It’s not just about phones, though. It’s also about transformation and innovation in the fundamental hardware that we think of as the Windows device.
I’m almost not sure whether to talk about Windows devices today, Windows PCs, Windows tablets, Windows notebooks — the PC, the Windows device of today doesn’t look a lot like the PC of five years ago or 10 years ago or 15 years ago. And it’s really been in this short seven months since we launched Windows 8 and we turned on the switch with our hardware partners that we’ve seen an explosion in the range of innovative new devices that are being designed with Windows inside.
For the first time today, we’ll really spend some time showing you small tablets running Windows. You will all receive, those of you here in person, you will all get an Acer Iconia 8.1-inch Windows 8 machine. (Cheers, applause.)
Antoine Leblond will show you one here in a minute, but it’s a very small tablet. It’s a full Windows 8 device. It has full entertainment, full PC capability. It comes with Windows Office preloaded, and literally is flying off the shelves in terms of volume and appreciation. A perfect device for students, a small, very light device, and yet you can add a keyboard, you have Microsoft Office and the full range of PC applications, enabling kids to do homework and have a little entertainment at the same time.
This small tablet form factor is very important. I wouldn’t call them PCs, but there will be Windows small tablets. You’ll see it, you’ll touch it, you’ll feel it, and we’re going to see a proliferation of Windows small tablet devices here over the course of the next several months.
This is innovation that had to be unlocked. We had to do work in Windows, and our partners have had to do work in the semiconductors and in their system design to really bring the small tablet form factor to life.
Second, when we brought out Windows 8, we talked about touch, touch, touch, touch, touch, touch, and more touch. When you went into the stores last Christmas to look for a Windows 8 machine, most of them didn’t have touch.
And yet, what we’ve seen in that timeframe is a real focusing by our industry ecosystem on bringing Windows 8 touch systems to market: Windows 8 notebooks, Windows 8 touch all-in-ones, touch notebooks.
Touch is incredibly valuable in what I might refer to as a traditional PC form factors. The advantages of being able to touch your all-in-one, or even the notebook, the notebook that maybe you use all day, every day with the mouse and the keyboard powered down, writing code, the ability in a more casual moment to reach out and touch is so obvious, and yet it’s really only in the Windows family that we have a range of touch notebooks.
And you will see in what we show you here onstage, and in what you’ll see now in stores, you will see literally an outpouring of new devices that are notebook computers in every respect, and yet have touch fully integrated and accessible.
One of the things we have certainly seen in our user research is customers who have Windows 8 on touch systems are much, much happier than other Windows 8 customers, and in fact, are even much happier than our Windows 7 customers. And so really getting the ecosystem to come forth with a full product line of Windows 8 touch PCs is incredibly important.
The other category of innovation that we’re going to show you some here today, I guess I’ll call a workhorse two-in-one tablet. I don’t know whether to call it a tablet, I don’t know whether to call it a PC, because really this family of devices really does a first-class job at both of those things.
I continuously bring in and try new machines. The newest machine I’ve tried, which Antoine will demonstrate later, is this Helix device from Lenovo. It’s a Core i7 machine. It has all of the security features, PCM, encryption that anybody would ever want.
I find that I get at least a full day of work in terms of battery life. It is light. It’s about two pounds. It has built-in pen. You say, “How can this possibly be a full-day battery life with a Core i7?” Well, it’s touch, it’s pen, but it also has a keyboard with built-in battery that turns it literally into the most — oops, I should put it down more carefully in demo areas — it literally makes it the most powerful PC and the most powerful, capable, lightweight tablet that you could carry.
Should we call that a PC? Should we call that a tablet? What I call it is all Windows, all the time. And I think it really reaches out and touches a need that a lot of people feel.
How many of us have gone to a meeting with somebody who brought a tablet and then when it comes time to actually take notes, writes them down on pencil and paper, or can’t get at the spreadsheet that they really need to do their work, or try to use it terminal emulator mode, or can’t write the document really, or they take half an hour to set up and turn their tablet back into something that approximates a PC?
This new category of two-in-ones is what I think all of our developers at Microsoft will want.
A lot of times, people just want the desktop, they want a powerful PC or notebook, and yet from time to time, you want to be able to kick back with a lightweight, ink-enabled tablet, and we can go both ways with this powerful two-in-one tablet combination.
Third area that I want to highlight where we have a lot of innovation that you will see showcased here during the Build Conference is in the area of applications. It really again has only been seven months since we’ve launched Windows 8, and the number of applications that we see coming into the store is phenomenal.
But it also to me is gratifying to see that developers are doing really great work for Windows 8. Flipboard will be announcing their new applications. They’re known, of course, for very intuitive, visual design. And Mike McCue, who’s the CEO of Flipboard, says, “We aspire to not just create the best Windows application possible, but the best version of Flipboard possible.” This new range and family of Windows devices enables that kind of application innovation.
Facebook will bring an application to the Windows 8 environment. They’re very focused on mobile. That’s good. (Applause.) That’s very good.
Mike Chambers, director of engineering at Facebook, says, “Facebook has always believed in connecting everyone, everywhere, on every device. Given our strong and longstanding partnership with Microsoft, this is an exciting way to advance that vision.”
The NFL, we recently struck a deal with the NFL to bring its content and applications to a broad set of Microsoft devices, including all Windows tablets, PCs, et cetera. And today, the NFL will be announcing that their Fantasy Football experience will be available across the range of Windows 8 devices.
These join applications just announced even in the last week from Vivo, from Viclone, from Time Out, from Tesco Groceries, Disney’s new game Where’s My Mickey, and many, many more.
Within this month, I think we’ll pass the 100,000-application mark in the Windows Store. But of course, as important as those 100,000 applications are, they join a list of literally millions of applications that people use on Windows today. In our instrumented versions of Windows, with your permission, when you feed us back data, we get to see kind of the numbers of applications that we have instrumented versions. And we literally have data that shows us approximately 2 to 3 million applications in production on Windows on a daily basis.
They haven’t all been moved to the modern user interface, they’re not all in the store, but they are essential to the way all of us work and get stuff done every day. And they will move, and they will migrate, and they will continue to be the basis and the evolution for the productivity that drives all of us in our daily lives around the world.
The importance of those desktop applications was never more reinforced to us than in the course of the last six months. Since we announced and shipped Windows 8, suffice it to say we pushed boldly in Windows 8, and yet what we found was that we got a lot of feedback from users of those millions of desktop applications that said, if I was to put it in coffee terms, “Why don’t you go refine the blend here?” Let’s remix the desktop and your modern application experiences. Let’s balance them better. Let’s complete them better. Let’s make it easier to start applications the way we’re used to with the millions of desktop applications that we use to be productive every day.
So what we will show you today is a refined blend of our desktop experience and our modern user interface and application experience.
You will see that we bring back the Start button to the desktop. (Cheers, applause.)
You will see that if you want to boot to the desktop, you can boot to the desktop. (Cheers, applause.)
You will see that we have, nonetheless, enriched the Start screen and Start menu, but we have brought back the flexibility for you to see all of those many, many applications that you use every day at a simple and quick glance.
You will see that we have built into the user experience more multitasking options, so you can have more things up on the screen like you’re used to in desktop mode. You can use more screen real estate with multiple monitors. We said, “Let’s reblend the desktop and the modern experience, and let’s recognize the fact that it’s not just these hundreds of thousands of new applications that are in our store and support the modern touch user interface, but let’s also make sure that we have a great path forward for the people using the millions of desktop applications in the world.” So we have refined the blend of those two things, and we’ll show you that here later today.
The last big thing I want to highlight in terms of what we’re doing in Windows 8.1, we’re doing with Bing. We have put an incredible amount of energy, innovation, brain power into our Bing search engine. And we’ve built absolutely an unbelievable product. We have consistently improved the experience to the point where today in the United States we win blind taste tests if you compare results between Bing and Google.
We have gained market share consistently since the launch of Bing here in the United States.
But the time has come now to also use Bing in new ways, to use Bing to harness it, to help improve the fundamental usability of Windows devices and Windows applications.
So, with Windows 8.1, I would say Bing is inside. Our shell experience is powered by Bing. You’ll see that we’re opening up Bing as an application development platform for all of you as Windows developers so that you can use all of this investment we’ve put into crawling the Web and understanding entities. You can use that, see that, and build that richness into your applications running on top of Windows.
So I would say we have moved from Bing super and outside you’ll see Bing inside the whole family of Windows devices and the cool, new applications that all of you are building.
To show you some of these innovations, to demonstrate them to you, we’re going to have Julie Larson-Green, who runs our Windows group, Antoine Leblond, who runs program management and kind of design conceptualization for Windows, and Gurdeep Singh Pall, from our Bing team, come on out and show you some of the exciting innovation that I got a chance to talk to you about. I’ll rejoin you in a little bit, but welcome, Julie, and enjoy the show. (Applause, music.)
JULIE LARSON-GREEN: OKOK, thanks, Steve. So I’ve got a demo to show you, but the most exciting feature that you’ll see is the fact that we’re here in eight months with an update that shows how much more responsive our engineering has become.
Now, I remember when I was here at the developer conference for Windows 7, and we were really proud of that release. It unlocked a whole new generation of PCs called ultrabooks, and those were the best ones that were ever made at the time. They were really a breakthrough product.
And then I came back exactly three years later to unveil Windows 8. And it was about enabling another generation of PCs, tablets that can do everything.
Windows 8 was the most ambitious vision for Windows ever, one that introduced a new platform, experience, app model, and more.
So today, I’m going to show you Windows 8.1. It’s an update that refines the vision of Windows 8 and is responsive to the latest industry trends, from supporting the newest silicon to the widest range of devices at the same time we’ve been delivering continuous improvements.
We have had over 800 updates to Windows since we launched in November that address everything from performance, efficiency, to the look and feel and new features in the product. We designed 8.1 to feel natural and everything from the new mini small tablets up to large, powerful work stations. And so I’m going to give you a glance at all of those things.
Right here, I have the one that Steve was talking about, the Acer 8-inch. I’m going to go over and show you a little bit about how we’ve designed the system to work really great with these devices.
I’m going to use the one connected to the projector. Here I am with the new Start screen for the small device. Works great in portrait mode. These devices are really easy to carry around in your bag or your purse and great for reading. So we have Nook Reader right here.
But we didn’t really just stop there, we also rethought the way that you can be productive on these small devices and came up with some innovative ways to use an onscreen keyboard.
So I’m going to go to Twitter. No Internet connection; that will make it hard to tweet. And right away, you see an application that was designed or an app designed for this 8-inch portrait form factor.
So here’s the onscreen keyboard, and I’m at the Build keynote, started at 9:00. I’m going to tweet that. So as I start typing, immediately you start to see the suggestions at the top. It has B, Build, Bing as suggestions for me.
Normally, I would take my hands away from the keyboard, go to the top, press one of those, and continue typing.
With Windows 8.1, we’ve added gestures to the onscreen keyboard. So, as I slide my finger on the space bar, it selects across. I see the one that I want, I tap, and it gives me the word. (Applause.)
I can do that again. So I’m just going to slide my finger on the space bar right across and tap and the word. I’m going to type “at.”
Another way that we do gestures is on the keypad itself. So one of the things that’s most annoying about an onscreen keyboard is going to the keypad for numbers and then coming back and typing. So instead, with Windows 8.1, I can use a gesture to slide up and put in a number. So here I go with 9. Slide up — whoops, I slid the whole thing — slide up for the colon, zero, zero — and show you what I’m doing here. I’m going to press and hold on the question mark. Now I can slide in any direction to get my exclamation point or pound sign or anything else I want, and it’s just that easy. (Applause.)
So when we launched Windows 8, it was on these larger tablets, really tablets that can do everything. And it was all about making you productive and helping you get things done that you wanted to go do. Some of the things that we’ve improved in Windows 8.1 are around email, around searching, what Steve talked about before, and also with entertainment. So I’m going to take you through some of those things.
Let’s go to my email. Now, we’ve got a big update that hopefully many of you got in February for the mail client. We added all kinds of new capabilities, and we’ve been improving it ever since. What I’m going to show you here are some of the capabilities that help you really manage your inbox content and the innovations we’re putting in when we release. This isn’t in your preview build, but it will be there in the fall when we come out.
So right away, I have what’s called the power pane here on the left-hand side. It makes it very easy for me to filter and find things that are in my inbox. So I press on social, and it gives me all my social updates all at a glance. I can see everything that’s been coming from my Facebook feed or anything else that I have connected here.
I have my favorite people that I can get to really quickly or get to an individual.
I also have newsletters. If you’re like me, you’re getting many of these newsletters every day; sometimes many times a day and it fills up your inbox. So we’ve added the capability to sweep these away.
So if I go and select one of these, I’ve got LivingSocial, use the sweep command, and I can delete them all at once. I can delete all but the latest. And then as they come in, it automatically will update and set it aside for me so I don’t have to manage all that content all at once. So I’m going to go ahead and delete all of these and sweep them away. (Applause.)
So Steve was talking about Bing and how Bing powers Windows. And we introduced the Search charm in Windows 8. And the Search charm in Windows 8, it can search through a variety of contexts. What we’ve done in 8.1 is make it the one box that just does it all. It’s the place you’re going to go for everything. It’s like the modern command line to your system. It can bring back results from the Web, from your local drive, from the control panel, from apps on your system. It’s the one place you go to get to everything you want to do. And with 20 billion searches that were done in the U.S. alone in one month, we know it’s the way that people like to use their PC.
So here I am with all those results. I have my SkyDrive, Store, everything that starts with “S.” I’m going to continue typing, and we’re going to go get some results for San Francisco.
So this smart search brings back the results from everywhere. So I have the weather, I have maps, I have attractions that are popular and known to be in San Francisco. I have Web results with little pictures of the pages that I would get. And so it’s a one-stop shop to find out everything I might want to do in the relevance of things in San Francisco.
So I’m going to go look at the weather. And part of the search experience is it just takes me right to the weather. I can look at the city, look at the temperature and go right back to search. I can go right to a map of the city. I have little stars of things that I’ve selected here. I’m going to select on a restaurant, Aziza. And built right into the whole search experience is the ability to go look at that restaurant, find the menu, go to OpenTable, make a reservation, making it very easy and seamless. Search is not just a list of links; it’s things you can do.
So I’m going to go over here and search for something else. There’s a band playing this week that I’ve heard of called Fitz & The Tantrums. I’ll show you another one of these. This is like an app that’s been built on the fly for Fitz & The Tantrums. It tells me the genre. I can play songs. I can read about it, look at videos, find things on the Internet, just very quickly and simply get that built right up for me.
And I can play things right from here. So I’m going to play this song, 6:00 a.m. (Music plays.) So I didn’t own that song. That used the Xbox Music app to go find the song and play it for me and stream it for me automatically without me having to do anything, because free music streaming comes with Xbox Music. It’s built into Windows 8.
So the Xbox Music app has been completely redesigned to focus on playing content. We were focusing on discovery before, but really what you want to do with a music app is you want to go and play. And so it starts from your collection. I also have a new radio feature where I can create playlists, create new stations and enter artists.
And I have this one new feature that is so cool, I’ve never seen this before in any kind of music app. I’ll show you how it works.
I’m going to go back here to the browser, and this is just a regular music Web page. It’s just a site on the Internet. You guys can go there now and take a look at it. It has the lineup for the Second Wave Festival, and it just lists all the bands that are going to be playing.
I can share the site using the charms to the music app. It’s going to automatically comb through that website and create a playlist using the streaming music from all those bands. And then when I go back there, I automatically have a playlist all created for me. (Applause.)
Pretty cool. OK, so those touch machines, tablets, you’re using them, you’re touching them all the time. Pretty soon, every screen you have is going to be touch.
Here is this all-in-one. It’s a great 27-inch Dell PC touch machine. And we’re finding these more and more in public areas of the home. They’re in the living room; they’re in your kitchen. They’re sitting here, and we’ve made them much more beautiful in Windows 8.1 with a live slide show of all your pictures.
So these pictures come from SkyDrive where your pictures are stored, or from your local hard drive, and they just go with you. They’re organized by date. So if your birthday was this week, next year at the same time, pictures from that birthday event are going to show up there.
But it’s not just sitting around looking beautiful. It’s also ready to go at a moment’s notice. On the lock screen — (tones). Ah, Jensen, right on cue. OK, did you see what I did there? I opened it right from the lock screen without being logged in.
JENSEN: Hi, Julie. That’s pretty cool.
JULIE LARSON-GREEN: Yeah, you can do that with camera as well. You can just slide down from the top with your tablet and take a picture without logging in.
JENSEN: Yeah, you didn’t have to enter a password or a PIN or anything. You just got instant video chat right from the lock screen on any device.
JULIE LARSON-GREEN: Absolutely. I’ll talk to you soon, thanks.
JENSEN: Bye.
JULIE LARSON-GREEN: Bye. (Cheers, applause.)
OK, Start screen. So Steve talked some about the Start screen and all the capabilities of the Start screen. It is designed for all sizes of screen. It looks great on this big screen. I have all the things that I do every day sitting right here. I have a beautiful background, and we’ve added lots of personalization. I’ll show you a couple of things here.
I’m going to go to this dragon one, this bright, colorful one and show you — see how I’m sliding the tile and the dragon is moving behind there? I’ll do one more. So that’s a robot. Now, watch on the bottom here as I move and the gears are turning. And you can just customize it to look any way you want.
Now, when you install apps from the store, they’re going to go into all programs. And we made all programs much easier to get to. It works just like it does on Windows Phone. So as I scroll up to the top, all programs are just right there. I just swipe up and swipe back down. (Applause.) I’ll do that again.
And when you’re in this view, you can filter and sort by a number of different things. We can sort by date installed, by most used, by category, making it easy for me to find all the things that are on my system.
And when you’re in this view, you can filter and sort by a number of different things. We can start by date installed, by most used, by category, making it easy for me to find all the things that are on my system.
So I’m going to go by date installed. And you see the little “new” that I just recently installed Urbanspoon, and it’s ready there for me to go.
So I’m going to talk a little bit about SkyDrive and the services that are backed up behind Windows 8.
So I talked before about having your photos in the cloud, in SkyDrive, making it easy for you to get your beautiful lock screen. And SkyDrive is where you’re going to store all of your documents, your photos, your music, and everything that you want to keep, all the content that you want to keep on your system.
We also have a number of other services that come with Windows that roam your content across, that roam your apps across your settings, your favorites. We also have Outlook, which powers your email, and the Xbox Music and Video service. And they’re all available from all of your Windows devices, even your Windows Phone.
So I’m going to go here into pictures and show you a couple new things. So we have picture editing built right into Windows 8.1. So there’s a bunch of presets that make it very easy for you to go and customize the look of your photo. We have some detailed ways to go do that. I’m going to play with the saturation and desaturate it here.
These are some of the new controls that you’ll find when you start creating your applications, a bunch of these kinds of cool, new things for your apps. Makes it very easy to go and create a beautiful interface on top of the pictures.
There’s going to be all kinds of new apps coming in Windows 8.1. Every app in the box is either new or updated and refined from 8.0.
I’m going to show you one here. Oops, wanted to keep going a little further. There we go. It’s called Food and Drink, and it’s a new app that has everything you can find about cooking. It has tips and techniques; it has videos of chefs; it has recipes; it has a shopping list, meal planner. It also has another very cool new feature. So when I get in here, you know, this is sitting in your kitchen, you’re using your tablet and you’re cooking. Your hands are sometimes kind of messy. And so we’ve learned by doing and watching people do this that it would be really nice to add something that we call hands-free mode.
So I’m going to press the hands-free mode. It’s going to turn on the camera. And then I’m going to be able to use the camera itself to go ahead and advance through the recipes. So I’m going to sit here and go, without touching the screen, no messy hands. (Applause.) Pretty cool. So you’ll find all kinds of new things.
So this screen is big, but it’s really not the biggest screen that I have in my house. The biggest screen in my house would be my television. And Windows 8.1 makes it really easy for you to stream content from one device to another.
So I’m going to open up the Xbox video, and I have Star Trek playing here. And I’m going to play it to my Xbox One. Swipe out to devices, play, Xbox One. (Video plays.) I never get to finish watching that movie; I only get to see that much.
OK, so you guys out in the audience, you build applications. Steve was talking about the importance and the power of the desktop. So I’m going to show you some things about working on the desktop.
Here we are booted straight into the desktop, which is an option for you in Windows 8.1. We love the desktop, we’re proud of the desktop, and we’ve been making refinements to the desktop to bring the modern world and the desktop world together.
So as I go down to the new Start button down here on the bottom left-hand corner and click it, it brings up the Start screen. I’ll do that for you again. And see how the tiles float right over the background for your desktop. So it’s very seamless and smooth, not at all jarring.
And then from here you can get into your all programs, and you can choose to default to this view. You can default to your desktop applications or all apps and get right here and continue working in a very quick and efficient way. You can see four times more apps on the screen at a time than you ever could with a Start menu, making it really easy to find what you want to go do and go do it.
Another part of being on the desktop is about windowing and multitasking, and we’ve added improvements in 8.1 for that as well.
So I’m going to go ahead and launch Outlook. And I have an email message here with a link in it. I’ll click that link. And we’re going to automatically go ahead and snap those two side by side. I’ve been using this, and it’s a really incredible way to work, especially on large-screen monitors.
So here I am. And you’re no longer constrained by the one-third/two-third split. It can be any size you want. (Applause.) Great.
And it doesn’t stop there. I can also right-click on a link and open in a new window and have more than two things on the screen at a time. (Cheers, applause.) So I can compose my email and view an email at the same time.
So if you’re a developer, you’re probably also using multimon, right? And so we’ve made a ton of improvements there as well. Check this out.
So I have eight windows on two monitors, one PC — powering two monitors; it’s OK to clap. (Applause.) So you can set it up exactly how you want. You can resize those windows, you can move them from one to the other, and they’re blended together in a way that makes it really, really productive for you to go and work.
Speaking of productive, there’s one set of applications that are really synonymous with productivity and have been on the PC forever, and that’s Office. And so I have a preview of an alpha version of PowerPoint that I’m showing for the very first time to show you the power of the Win RT platform and how our applications are moving forward into the modern world.
So I’m going to launch PowerPoint. This is a Win RT version of PowerPoint. I’m going to go ahead and dock it at the top. And right now, what we have working is a viewer. So I’m going to browse the SkyDrive, the default place to go and get files from, open this presentation, and you’re going to see right away the transitions, high-quality graphics, video. PowerPoint is a pretty resource-intensive application. So this really shows the power of what you could do in Windows RT.
And then there are also the benefits of being a modern application for PowerPoint. It can show up in the store; it gets automatic updates to your apps automatically and that’s new in Windows 8.1. You can take advantage of the system and participate in notifications and contracts, and of course, you get touch. And all of this works on both ARM and x86 from the smallest, tiniest tablet to the largest, most powerful work station. So it’s all there ready for you to get going and building great new apps. So 8.1 is Windows 8 refined.
And I’m going to ask Antoine Leblond to come out now and get us started on showing you how to do it. Thank you very much. (Applause, music.)
ANTOINE LEBLOND: All right. That was a great look at the new features and experiences in 8.1
What I want to do now actually is I want us to look below the covers at the great developer improvements we’ve made in 8.1 that power those experiences.
So whether you’re a hardware developer or a software developer, we’ve got some great improvements and amazing advancements for you in 8.1. These will help you create beautiful, powerful, responsive, and delightful touch-friendly apps that are really efficient with system resources and have great performance.
Your existing apps will run better on 8.1. So having people upgrade is a real benefit to you. And that’s why we made the upgrade free.
And then when you migrate your app to 8.1 and update it in the store, it’ll run even better than before for your customers.
Of course Windows continues to offer developers a unique array of choices. You have your choice of programming languages and presentation technologies so that you can use what you know to write native Windows 8.1 apps. You can write first-class, high-performance apps using HTML and JavaScript, C# and XAML or C++ and DirectX. And you have your choice of business model via the Windows Store.
And in 8.1, there are actually literally over 5,000 new APIs for you to take advantage of and unleash your creativity with. Windows 8.1 has a lot of surface area, and BUILD is devoted to sharing that with you. The Windows team has put together over 100 sessions for you to see at the conference or on demand later.
So what I’m going to try and do here is I’m going to try and actually give you a bit of a sampling of some of the great things that you’re going to get to learn about over the next couple of days.
Let’s jump right in. Now, the best place to start talking about developer investment is obviously with tools. So we’re going to start with a preview of the next version of the world’s best development tools, and that’s Visual Studio.
So Visual Studio 2013 makes it incredibly easy to develop next-generation mobile and connected apps and support devices and services across our entire platform.
Just like the Windows team, the Visual Studio team has been operating at a faster release cadence, and that means that the developer preview of 2013 is available today for you to download. So you have to go check that out.
There’s a lot in this version of Visual Studio, and I’m going to show you just a few of my favorite new things here.
Now, this is going to be a test of how many developers we really have in the room. I’m going to start by talking about performance a little bit. Knowing how your app performs is obviously a really important part of delivering a great experience to your customers. With mobile devices, it’s actually more important than ever. So it’s not only about how fast your app is, but if you think of things like mobile broadband, for example, you really want to know how network efficient your app is. Or you want to know, for example, how your app will affect the battery life of the device that it’s working on.
So, in Visual Studio 2013, we’ve built some powerful performance analysis tools directly into the tool.
So we’re going to start here. This app is called Supernova. All it does is actually downloads a bunch of photos of known supernovas from the Web and then displays them in a nice grid.
And what I’m going to do is I’m going to do a little performance analysis on this app.
So I’m going to go to the debug menu, and I’m going to pick performance and diagnostics. And here it lets me pick what kind of report I want to do. And I’m going to pick one that’s really cool, my energy consumption report. I’m going to do that and I’m going to hit start.
So now what it’s going to do is it starts up my app. And in the background, it’s actually profiling its energy consumption.
So we’ll go back to Visual Studio now. I’ll hit stop collection. It’s going to build the report for me.
Now, have a look at how cool this is. What this chart is showing me, it’s actually showing me the power consumption of my app in milliwatts. How would you have done this before? The red bar is actually the total consumption. You can see in yellow is the consumption from the CPU. Gray is the consumption from the display. You get a really, really good sense of how your app is actually using power on the device.
This doughnut chart at the bottom here just sort of shows me the relative consumption from those different parts of the device. And it even tells me here down at the bottom that this app would run on my device for 9.17 hours before the battery runs out. So really, really cool diagnostics and information for me to make my app even better for mobile devices. (Applause.) Good, it gets better, it gets better.
I want to talk about async debugging for a second. Now, this is the test of developers. Another feature we added to Visual Studio 2013 are some great tools around async debugging. So in Windows 8, we did a lot of work to let you write procedural async code, right? So you don’t have the spaghetti code with callbacks all over the place. Really neat stuff, but it’s a little bit tricky to debug.
But I want to have a look at a different app. So I’m going to switch over to this different app here. And this is basically an async version or it’s a different version of my Supernova app. And what it does is — I’m just going to run it here. So what it’s doing here, it’s actually showing me some low-res photos of these supernovas. But when I bring up the app bar, there’s a button down here at the bottom that says “full image.” And what that’s going to do when I tap it is it makes an async call to actually go get the high-res images for these supernovas.
Now, I have a breakpoint set here. So I’m going to go tap on this. And I’ve hit the breakpoint. Now, developers in the room, you know what’s going to happen here. If I try to step over this, what’s going to happen is first that async operation gets triggered and starts, control returns to UI processing, so my app stays responsive, and I can keep processing UI events. And only when that async routine is done does control come back to the next statement in here.
Now, today if you do this, what’s going to happen is when you get back there and you look at the call stack, there’s one function on it and that’s it. We’ve completely lost the async call context. So it makes it kind of tricky to actually debug around these async calls.
Let’s try this in Visual Studio 2013, though. I’m going to step over this. Now, look at the call stack down at the bottom. It’s actually preserved the entire async call context for me. (Applause.)
So that retains my ability to actually effectively trace through my code, and it just makes it much, much easier to debug async code.
Now, I mentioned connected apps earlier. Visual Studio 2013 makes it trivial to connect an Azure mobile service to your app and send a push notification. I want to have a look at that now.
We’re going to go back to my first app. And what I want to do is — let’s close this report here. What I’d like to do is actually set up a live tile for this app and have an Azure service that basically monitors the data source, and when a new supernova shows up, it sends the notification down, and the live tile actually shows a photo and a message about a new supernova showing up.
Now, the way I do this is I’m going to go into the Solution Explorer here, and I’m going to right click, and I’m going to go to “add,” and I will select push notification.
Now, this starts up a wizard. I’m not going to walk through the whole wizard. It has about eight to 10 steps, but I’m just answering a bunch of questions in here.
And what this wizard will do is it actually provisions an Azure mobile service for me, pushes all this template code over to it and connects everything together so that I can actually get these push notifications.
What’s even cooler, and I did this earlier so it’s set up this way, what’s even cooler is I can use this new Server Explorer here to actually go look at the server-side code without ever leaving my client project, which is really neat.
Let’s look at insert.js. So this is the piece of code right here that will actually send the notification. I’ve chosen a tile template that basically cycles between an image and two lines of text. And you can see here that’s all it’s setting up. It’s setting up a source for the image and then the lines of text.
We’ll run this. And we’ll give it a second. Now, it’s fired up the service over on the Azure Mobile Service. And the app is running. And if we switch over to the Start menu, we should see our tile. There’s our tile right there. And if you give it something like five to eight seconds here, you’ll see it cycle between the image and between the text. Just like that. That was super easy, just did it through a wizard. How cool is that? (Applause.)
So let’s switch and talk about something different now. I want to talk about the Web platform. Since Windows 7, Microsoft has been a leader in supporting Web standards. And we continue this in 8.1 by adding support for WebGL and MPEG-DASH. So WebGL is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 3-D graphics without using a plug-in at all. MPEG-DASH is a protocol for high-quality video streaming. It does things like variable bitrate and DRM and things like that. And the Web platform in Windows 8.1 supports both of these.
Because the Web platform powers both IE and the WebView control, it means you have access now to WebGL and MPEG-DASH content, both in the browser and in your native apps. So let’s have a look at that.
I’m going to start in IE here. And what you’re seeing here is a page with WebGL content in it. So this is a beautifully rendered 3-D object. You can see the lighting and the shadows and all that stuff. And using touch pointer events I can actually interact with it.
And it’s super nice. It’s really smooth because it’s hardware accelerated and all the rendering on the Web platform is actually hardware accelerated. So that’s really neat.
Now, let’s do something different here. I’m going to come over here and I have an app that’s running. And we’re going to dock it right next to it.
Now, this on the left is a native app, right? It’s got the same code, the same markup, the same experience in it. And it’s running in WebGL, too. So this shows you how easy it is to take code that I’ve written for a website and bring it over to a native app almost seamlessly and make it work in the native app.
Now, the cool thing about this, because it’s a native app and it’s running in the WebView controller, I can put multiple WebView controls on my canvas.
So let’s get rid of this window. Let’s tap next here. Now, here’s a place where I actually have four WebView controls up in my native app. The two at the top are both WebGL controls. The one on the top left is the one we just saw, this one is a panorama. I can, of course, interact with these. I can actually interact with both of them at the same time. And then at the bottom, what you’re seeing are two 1080p streaming videos that are streaming over MPEG-DASH.
The one on the right, actually, is DRM protected; the one on the left isn’t. But all this stuff is playing at the same time, hardware accelerated, super seamlessly. It’s really, really cool stuff.
And we’ve even done more with the WebView control. So one of the things that many of you have been asking for is to actually be able to compose the WebView controls with other components of the UI.
So we’ve done that. If you see here, when I bring in the app bar, see how it just swipes over? It’s transparent. The content is still playing in the back. It’s super, super cool and lets you create absolutely beautiful apps.
We’ve done more than that even with the WebView control. We’ve added navigation events, we’ve added smart screens so that you stay safe with the content that you bring into those controls. The controls handle offline content. All this makes it easier than ever to build high-performance apps, apps that blend both local and Web content. (Applause.)
OK, now I want to talk about the Windows Store. So the store, of course, continues to offer the best economics of any store out there, period. And we’ve also redesigned it so people can more easily find and buy your apps.
We’ve added support for cash stored value in over 40 markets. We’ve added in-app purchasing for items and consumables. We’ve added app gifting. And we’ve also added significantly better merchandising and promotion powered by Bing. Our goal is to make sure that people know about all the great apps that you write, and then make it easy and flexible for them to buy them.
I want to show you a few highlights. So the first thing, I’m back here at the Start screen, and you can see the store tile up here. And the first thing you’re going to notice is that there’s something missing. There’s not a little update count up in the top-right corner. We are done with those. You will never see those update counts again. We’re done with manual app updating in Windows 8.1. Now apps get updated automatically so that your customers are always running the latest version of your app. (Applause.)
Let’s tap on the tile and go into the store. And you can see here that we’ve actually significantly redesigned how this works.
The first section you see here on the right is a rotating spotlight. So this is a program section where we get to show some great apps.
And then as I pan over to the right, what you’re seeing here are lists. So we know that people love lists as a way to go discover apps. What we’ve done is we’ve brought these lists to the front and exploded them on the front page of the store. So you get to see a lot more apps than you used to, and it makes it much easier to find things and much easier for customers to find your apps.
I want to point out one list in particular here, which is the first one. It’s the picks-for-you list. So this is kind of cool. This is actually a personalized list for you. So it’s built, actually, by the Bing recommendation engine based around signals like apps that you’ve acquired before and ratings, and similar apps that other people have acquired. So it’s a great, great way to actually discover new apps. And of course as a developer it’s a great way to have your apps merchandised to potential customers, so really cool stuff.
Let’s go over here, and I’m going to tap into one of these so we can have a look at the new app description page. So this has been changed a lot also. You see there’s a lot more surface area to show some really high-fidelity screen shots from my app.
As I go across here, you can see some rich ratings and review information. And probably the most important section to talk about here or most interesting section to talk about are related apps and then apps by Microsoft Studios, which in this case is us. So this is a place where you get to cross-merchandise your apps if you have a number of apps in the store. So, again, a great way to have people discover the apps that you’re building and actually sell more and make more money in the store. So great, great, great stuff.
Finally, navigation in the store is much easier. (Scattered applause.) No, you can go ahead. (Cheers, applause.)
Navigation is much easier from anywhere in the store. I can just drop down the app bar, tap on any section, and go right where I want to be. So, again, you can see the list exploded here at the store. All this is designed to make it easier to sell your app and to make more money. (Applause.)
So now what I want to do is I want to talk about the desktop for a minute. So we love the millions of desktop apps that are out there, and we’re absolutely committed to continuing to support them. In fact, we’ve done work in 8.1 to make them work even better on modern PCs.
I’m going to show you an example of that with multimon support. What I have here is a Surface Pro, and it’s connected into this external monitor. Now, the Surface Pro has a really high DPI screen, whereas this 25-inch monitor running at 1080 resolution is actually relatively low DPI.
Now, in the past, Windows has always used one scaling factor for all your monitors regardless of their DPI. It basically picks the scaling factor of the primary monitor, and then that’s what it uses for all your monitors.
And 8.1 now allows each monitor to have its own scaling factor. So you actually get the most use out of the space available to you on your external monitor. (Applause, cheers.)
So watch what happens here. I’m going to start dragging Visual Studio over. And you can see as it peeks into here, it’s scaled really, really highly because it’s got the scaling factor from my primary monitor here on the Surface.
But as I keep going, watch what happens. See how it just scales down? And now look at all the usage I get of the space on this giant monitor. How cool is that? If I’m a Lightroom user, for example, I can just do the same thing here. I bring it over, boom, look at all that space I have.
I’m showing you Lightroom because I just want to show you that these apps didn’t have to be modified at all for this to happen. Windows just takes care of doing the work for you. And these are just nice touches that allow your existing desktop app investments to just keep being great with modern hardware.
Now I want to talk about graphics and games. This is where this gets really fun. We continue to innovate in DirectX to make Windows the best gaming platform out there for both casual and AAA games. And I want to show you something that we’ve been working on with NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. It’s something called “tiled resources.” Now, the best way to explain this is actually with a demo.
So what you’re seeing right now is a model of the planet Mars. Now, this is actually pretty cool. It uses about 3 gigs of data. And this is actually a fairly accurate model. What this does, the data actually comes from the Mars Global Surveyor mission, the satellite that orbited Mars for a couple years and used a laser altimeter to build up a really, really detailed model of the topography of the planet. And that’s the data we’re using here.
Now, the cool thing, if you wanted to build this app, this is just a model of the planet, and I want to be able to zoom in and look around at it, what you would do is you would load all of this data into your graphics card and let the graphics card actually do the hard work of rendering the images. But the problem is it’s 3 gigs of data, and I don’t have that much memory on my graphics card.
So what happens typically is what you would do is you’d sort of down-sample the details so that you can use the memory on the graphics card. And what happens is as I zoom in you’ll see that actually as I get closer you’ll see that it gets a little bit fuzzy. Let’s keep going in here just so you can see it. See as I get closer, it’s kind of fuzzy. There we go.
So now this is where tiled resources help. So tiled resources give you a programmable hardware page table for graphics memory. So what this is going to do is it’s basically dynamically swapping the parts of the data I need into my graphics card to render the scene that I’m actually looking at. So let’s flip that on, and you can see the difference here. Look at that. Now, look at the difference in detail here. And here the cool thing is, we made this demo, and we restricted it to only using 16 megs of memory on that graphics card.
Now, that’s pretty cool, but obviously the motivation for doing something like this is actually to let you make games with really unprecedented amounts of detail. So let’s have a look at another demo here.
What you’re going to see here, so this is a demo that’s built by a company called Graphene. They’re out of Belgium; they’re a games middleware company. And this is running on an NVIDIA GPX 770 card. So this is a good graphics card. It’s one you can go buy today at the store, and it’s easily available. And here, tiled resources are being used to render these two gliders. There’s another one here that’s flying around this one, flying over this absolutely beautiful detailed coastline. It’s way more complex. This one uses about 9 gigs of data, and you can see just how amazing this is.
But watch what happens when I zoom in here. You’re going to get a good sense of the level of detail. Push the button here, and zoom in. And if you look carefully, you can see individual rivets on this thing. You can see smudge marks on the skin. It’s unbelievable the amount of detail that I have here.
And so the best thing about this is this actually will run on tens of millions of DX 11 cards that are out there today. And, of course, that number grows every day. You cannot dream of doing this on iOS or on Android; in fact this is actually only possible on a Windows 8.1 machine or on a next-generation gaming console like the Xbox One. (Applause.)
OK. Now I want to talk about something different. I want to talk about devices a little bit. So, in Windows 8.1, we’ve really invested in giving you great new ways to write apps that interact with this exciting range of devices and peripherals that’s exploding around us right now. One great example of that is 3-D printing. Now 3-D printing is super-hot right now, and Windows 8.1 is the first and only platform to support it natively. And what that means is that we did the work to create the APIs, the formats, and the driver model that makes printing in 3-D just as seamless as printing in 2-D is.
So, with 8.1, you can create an app like this little demo one that I have here that lets you manipulate and create 3-D objects. And then when I’m happy with what I have, printing it is just as seamless and easy as printing to a laser printer. I can just go here to devices, select print. I’m going to select my 3-D printer here. I’m going to hit print. And now, what it’s doing, is it’s sending the data for this face over to the printer. It’s going to take about 20 seconds, because it’s actually fairly rich data. And you’ll see the printer start up here in a few seconds.
Now the printer, this is actually a MakerBot Replicator 2. This thing prints in thicknesses of about 100 microns. So it actually takes quite a while to print something like this face. We’ve got this time-lapse video up here showing me what’s going on. But this stuff is super, super cool.
Here’s the finished result. If you’ve never seen one of these, these are actually really fun to play with. I’m going to toss one down there so folks can play with it. Good catch. And these are really becoming broadly available. This one will be in Microsoft Stores soon. And this other one over here on this side, you can see it go here. There’s this other one over here on this side, it’s made by a company called 3D Systems. It’s called the Cube Printer. And this will be available in Staples soon for under $1,300. It’s really, really broadly available, and these things are particularly fun to play with. (Applause.)
Now, in Windows 8.1, we’ve also added APIs in WinRT that let you interact directly with devices that use their own protocols over either USB or Wi-Fi Direct, or Bluetooth or HIP. I wanted a really cool demo to show you. We’re actually able, we were lucky enough to be able to work with the Lego Education Team to build something using new unreleased Lego MINDSTORMS PV3 platform. Take a look at this little beauty. We’re going to have fun with this.
So those of you who have kids know how popular these are in schools, and if you have kids who have one, I know you’re playing with these also. This is the next generation of that MINDSTORMS platform, and it will allow kids around the world to learn programming skills for the 21st century. So we built this robot. And what we did is, we’ve created a Windows Store app to actually control it. So we’ve got a Surface tablet on this thing; it connects to the robot controller using USB. So it’s pretty cool. It can send it signals and make it do things.
But we actually wanted it to do a little bit more, so what I have here is I actually have a second tablet. And so what I’m going to do is I’m going to use this as a remote control for that. So what it’s doing is it’s actually communicating; this tablet is communicating with that tablet over Wi-Fi, that’s then communicating over USB to the robot controller. And we’re going to see if we can make this thing move. All right. There it goes. How cool is that? (Applause.)
Wait. We actually wanted to do more. So what we’ve done here now is that we’re actually using I’m going to use the real-time streaming APIs that are new in Windows 8.1, and we’re going to have this thing send a live video feed to that guy. Now this is going to be a video feed of me, so who knows what this will look like. But here we go. Here’s me, and you can see it on the front. It’s getting sent over Wi-Fi directly to that tablet. And I’m just going to go sit in the back now and let this thing finish the keynote for you.
How awesome is that? We could keep going and going and going with this thing, actually. We actually did a lot of work on it. It actually has a sentry mode that uses the Lego Distance Sensor and face recognition software. It actually detects when someone comes within range and gives you a notification. There’s all sorts, it knows how to send tweets. There’s all sorts of fun things you can do.
You combine a device like this with Windows 8.1, and you’re really only limited by your imagination. You can just imagine what kids are going to be able to do with something like this.
Before I wrap up, I would like to spend a couple of minutes just showing you some of the exciting new PCs and tablets. Now, Windows 8 has really spurred some incredible innovation in our PC ecosystem. In just a year, we’ve started to see an explosion of new and unique form factors, design concepts like detachable tablets, like all-in-ones, like portable all-in-ones, like high DPI displays. We’ve got this massive selection now of touchscreen devices in every price point. You can be sure that there’s a PC out there that’s exactly right for you.
And I want us just to have a look at a few specific ones here. The first one I want to show you is, this is the Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus. So this thing has a mindboggling 3200-by-1800 13-inch screen, so this is the highest resolution 13-inch laptop in the world. It blows away a MacBook Retina. And it has a touchscreen. (Applause.)
This one actually is really cool. It’s actually also running a fourth-generation Haswell Intel 4 i7 processor. It has 8 gigs of RAM and 256 gig SSD. Samsung says this gets 12 hours on a single charge. How amazing is that? And look at how thin this thing is. (Applause.) Absolutely beautiful device.
Now one of the things I really love is the innovation from OEMs in convertible designs. And I want to show you this one. This is one that Steve was talking about earlier. This is actually the Lenovo Think Pad Helix. So this is a tablet and an ultrabook all-in-one device. And, first of all, it’s a great tablet for work. It has TPM in it. It has BIOS encryption. It has USB 3.0. It has MSC. It’s a great, really powerful machine.
But thanks to this cleverly designed detachable keyboard, once I pop it in here, it’s then just a nice, thin, ultralight ultrabook as well. So it’s just a wonderful, wonderful design. This is a great for you who love Lenovo keyboards, this is just an amazing machine.
Now let’s keep going. The next one I want to show you is this one. This is the Acer Aspire P3. So this is just a beautiful, powerful tablet, and a really compact design. It’s only about .4 inches thick, weight 1.74 pounds, and it has an Intel Core i5 processor on it. So this thing really, really smokes. It’s fast. You can do a lot of work on this thing. And it also has the unique detachable wireless keyboard that doubles as a protective cover for it.
The next thing I want to show you over here is actually another Acer device. Now this one, this is the Acer Aspire V5. Now this is a full featured laptop. It has a 10-point multi-touch screen. You can see. And it has a pretty powerful AMD dual core A4 processor in it. But the thing that I love about this is it’s under $400. It’s great to see high-quality touch coming to all price points in the PC ecosystem. (Applause.)
The next one I want to show you is actually a Windows RT device. This is the Dell XPS 10. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor in it. It has 4G LTE connectivity. Dell claims an incredible 18-1/2 hours of battery life when it’s docked to its detachable keyboard. And the best part of this one, too, is it’s under $400 as well. And it’s an amazingly thin and light and portable device. I love this thing.
The last one I want to show you is this interesting one. So this is such a great example of innovation in all-in-ones. This is called the Dell XPS 18, and it really brings the best of PCs and tablets together. It weighs less than five pounds. And when I undock it, it has up to seven hours of battery life. So I can carry it around and play games and watch movies and all these things. So it’s just a great, super-innovative device. (Applause.)
So what we have onstage there today is just a really small subset of over 3,000 certified Windows 8 PCs to choose from. It’s really cool stuff.
And I think here comes Julie, so I think Julie has one more that she wants to show us.
JULIE LARSON-GREEN: Yes, I have one more here. This is my Surface Pro, and I really love this device. It does everything. It’s a tablet. It’s a full PC. It’s powerful.
ANTOINE LEBLOND: Yes. I mean with Windows 8.1 and Visual Studio 2013 on it, you really have a great tablet for developers, for building mobile and connected apps. I love my Surface Pro.
JULIE LARSON-GREEN: I love mine, too, and these are all developers in the audience. Do you think they would like one? (Cheers, applause.) So great news, we have one for each of you, and we’d really like to thank Intel for co-sponsoring the Surface Pro for you. (Cheers, applause.)
ANTOINE LEBLOND: All right. So that was my overview of Windows 8.1 for you. We’ve doubled down on fundamentals, filled gaps; we’ve addressed feedback; we’ve expanded the platform in really exciting ways. And now it’s time for you to start exploring all the details. You can go to Preview.Windows.com for all the info you need and to actually download the Windows 8.1 Preview release. And whether you’re working with the Windows Store on desktops, on the Web, every one of your apps is going to benefit from Windows 8.1. If you create PCs or tablets or other devices, Windows 8.1 opens many, many new experiences for you to innovate. And we’re really looking forward to seeing what you will do.
Now, here to speak to you about some more developer opportunities around Microsoft Surface is Gurdeep Singh Pall from the Bing team.
Thanks, everyone.
GURDEEP SINGH PALL: Good morning, folks.
So Steve, Julie, and Antoine mentioned Bing in their talks. So I’m here to talk to you a bit more about Bing. Now Bing, as all of you know, is a beautiful, powerful search engine. Bing is on a roll. Let me tell you about momentum for Bing: 17.4 percent share in the U.S., gaining month over month, Facebook Bings, Yahoo Bings, and Apple Siri Bings. Folks, all these people know something. They’re smart people; they know something. They know that Bing is an incredible product. It’s an incredible product that is built by incredible engineers.
Now, these engineers have not only built a great search engine, they’ve also built some amazing capabilities, an Internet scale infrastructure, machine-learning plant, ability to understand user intent, understand, sort of make sense of, a lot of unstructured content on the Web. Now it turns out that all these things can be actually quite valuable even beyond the search box. For a long time, we’ve had this vision that you can take these capabilities and enable a whole bunch of new experiences; and that was the journey that we started down on a couple of years ago.
Now you can see, of course, search is a huge, huge piece of what Bing is about. But, we started to extract some of the capabilities out. So for example, the Web index and relevance is a huge capability, with lots of potential. Entities and knowledge, the ability to extract, conflate, and to organize entities into an ontology so that you can now start reasoning over information, as opposed to just looking at it as pieces of text. NUI capabilities, natural user interfaces are all about understanding user intent. Now, it turns out that the great work that was done in Bing can be divided into a lot of interesting natural user interface technologies.
And then there is about the real world. The Web has become sort of a proxy for the real world that we live in, and we sort of go back and forth between those. It turns out in Bing we had to tackle that problem. So is there a way that we could take all these capabilities out and then start enabling some first-party experiences? Now Antoine talked about some, and Julie talked about some great features in Windows 8.1, the Search charm, the ability to use Bing to really make apps discoverable in the marketplace. Some examples, we’ve had the translator app, which is this brilliant, new, interesting application on Windows 8. So that’s one example.
When you look at Office, Office 2013 has some award-winning Bing Apps for Office, which allow you to think about Office not just as a set of tools, but also to connect it into the Web and information that naturally belongs inside those applications. We’ve seen the GeoFlow application in Office 2013, which lets you render a lot of content on top of this beautiful real-world canvas. In Xbox 360, some great NUI work was done by Bing. You saw that, how you access entertainment and information, with Xbox One that goes to a completely new level. And then there’s other things like the Windows Phone 8, which has lots and lots of Bing functionality, which is built in.
Now folks, I learned a lesson in the ’90s when I was a developer on the Windows operating system. And that is that if we can do something with an API that is good, third parties can do something with it, which is dynamite. So today, what I’m here to announce with you is the availability of Bing as a platform for you, the developers. (Cheers, applause.)
So let me tell you what all you can do with this. With entities and knowledge, now firstly, with Web index and relevance, we already have a bunch of Bing APIs that are used by tens of thousands of developers today, mostly using the search pattern. Now let’s talk about entities and knowledge. Now think of it as being the brain, the knowledge of the Web, the unbounded knowledge of the Web, is now available to your applications. Let’s talk about natural user interfaces, the ears and the mouth and the eyes. These capabilities, which have never been available for developers in a large-scale way, we are providing through the new Bing platform. And then for the real world, we want to bring a whole lot of new mapping and visualization capabilities, and also capabilities with which you can connect the real world with the virtual world, through a set of APIs and controls.
Now I can talk a lot about APIs, but I thought it might be interesting to show you what you can do with these APIs. Now what we did here is that we put ourselves in your shoes and built an interesting application. This is not a shipping application by any stretch, but it’s an application to exemplify the use of these controls. So this application tackles the very simple task, which is trip-planning task for users. So let me come over here, and I’ll start by, I’ll go to my Windows Phone here, and I have sort of a Trip Companion app, which runs on the phone. So let me go ahead and do something with it. Trip Companion, add Spain to my vacation ideas.
VOICE: Added Spain to your vacation ideas.
GURDEEP SINGH PALL: OK. So you can see that this application on the phone added Spain to my vacation ideas. Now I did that when I was standing by the water cooler with the phone in my hand, and my friend was telling me about the great trips that they had to Spain. Now later on, I’m thinking about my long summer. I’m thinking maybe I need to go pick a trip for my family. So I come back to my desk, and I’ve got my Surface sitting there, and I see the Road Trip Companion app is right here. So let me open that up. Now you’ll notice that Spain, it shows a star, which means that this idea just got added to my apps. So you can see how the Bing platform will work across the family of devices for the user.
So let me click on Spain, and here the developer has created an application experience with Spain in there. They’ve used one of our controls. That’s nice. Let me just browse through and now my friend, who was at the water cooler, was telling me about Valencia. So let me click on Valencia, beautiful pictures of Valencia that you put inside your app. I can browse through them. And this is what I call pretty much what an experience is today.
Now let’s see what we can do when we sprinkle this with the magic of some of our new controls. So you integrated one of our controls, and you have this what looks like a street side view. OK. Let’s see if you can make this more interesting. Let’s create a bit of a virtual tour here.
VOICE: This is the city of arts and sciences in Valencia. It is one of the largest cultural centers of Europe. You could easily spend more than a day here. You must see the Oceanographic, the Prince Philip Museum, and the Queen Sophia Arts Palace here. There are quite a few good hotels nearby. You can check out the views that you get from them to see if you should believe their marketing.
GURDEEP SINGH PALL: OK, great. So that was a little gritty thing, I thought developers would like that. So now you said believe, that’s great, you’ve given me a control where you flew a plane over Valencia, and we got to have it. So OK, fine. Let me see if we can do something more interesting with it.
Folks, can you guys keep a secret? I know you’re all developers, so I trust you guys. What we’ve not announced to anybody yet is that Windows 8.1 Maps app will come with 3-D capability, 3-D imagery. OK. Now, we’re going one step further. (Cheers, applause.) We’re going to go one step further, because we’re going to take this 3-D imagery, all the content we are creating, and enable it through a 3-D control that you can embed inside your applications. I guess that’s what I’m showing you here today, OK. So let me play with this a little. (Applause.)
Let’s see, there are some hotels here. Maybe we can go along the hotels, maybe I can go explore a little bit before I go with it. Now, this takes the idea of going and visiting a city to a whole new level. And you can see how beautiful this imagery is. This is built using cameras that we have built ourselves, with some amazing optics. This is very, very high-resolution imagery. You can see all the details, and these details actually become really interesting, when you really think about interacting with the real world.
Here’s the beautiful building here. There’s some basketball courts. So you can see how this beautiful imagery can actually provide a canvas for a whole lot of interesting things. So let’s see what are some interesting things that we can do. Now you know one of the things about the real world, and especially when you look at the real world in this amazing way, is that it really starts begging the questions that I’ve got lots of questions. I’m going to visit Valencia. I’m going to visit some really beautiful architecture, some churches there. And the question that pops to your head is, “Hey, who designed this thing?”
Now, normally a user would have to change from this application, go to a browser, type in Valencia, type in whatever little context they can put in. But, the reality is the user is looking at your app at a particular object. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could just say who is the architect? Folks, what you see here is that we’ve taken a whole lot of steps away from the user. and we’ve allowed you to create an unbounded amount of knowledge right into your applications, because I could have asked a different question, which would have again gone to the Bing platform, and it would have returned with an entity, which best relates to what you’re looking at.
So let’s keep going. So I’ve decided that Valencia is, indeed, a very nice place. So I’m going to visit it. So I’m going to go ahead and add Valencia to my itineraries. Now while I was standing at the water cooler, this friend of mine said that they had some of the best food when they were in Valencia. I said, well, that’s great. And what does he do? He reaches into his wallet, and he gives me a card. Now this is a little analog artifact that he brought from Valencia. Now if I go put this into my if I go ahead and put this into my wallet, I’ll probably lose it a week later. And I definitely will not find it when I’m in Valencia. So let’s see if we can do something better.
Let me use some of the functionality in the Bing platform and scan this card, which I can then use later. So I go to scan it. So using the OCR capability that is available through the Bing controls, you can now scan the information, which is wonderful except that I don’t speak Spanish. So let me see if I can do something a little bit more interesting. Great. So now using the OCR capabilities of the Bing platform, and the translator capability, I’ve combined those two things, and now let me go ahead and save this later, so that when I’m in Valencia I won’t forget it. Add this idea for dinner to my itinerary. Great, so now this information, which existed in an analog artifact, is now saved with my itinerary, available for me when I’m in Valencia.
Now, roll forward, and here I am in Valencia now, and I said, hey, I want to go try out some nice places to eat. And I remember that I’d filed some of these things away. So let me bring back my Windows Phone that is with me. And remember I had a Trip Companion app here. So I could say, Trip Companion, find ideas for dinner.
VOICE: Finding ideas for dinner.
GURDEEP SINGH PALL: Great, so now we had extracted that information, translated it, and now connected it to a speech-based search on that information. And now I’ve got it right here, so I can open it up, and you can see that this is exactly what I had scanned into my little artifact.
So folks, what you’ve seen here is a little sample application that we have put together to show you the power of these controls. I really believe that in this coming decade, apps are going to have eyes, they’re going to have ears, they’re going to have a mouth, and that will enable a really, really seamless experience for you as you are trying to create these seamless experiences for your developers.
Now all this is great. I’m very happy to announce this new platform, which is available to you. There’s a new developer portal that you can go really try it on. Next year, I want to be standing here onstage, showing some really interesting apps that you have built, and that’s why we come in to do the work that we do.
Thank you, folks. (Cheers, applause.)
(Video segment.)
(Cheers, applause.)
STEVE BALLMER: Well, about an hour and a half ago, I promised you we had lots to show today. And I hope at this stage, you’ve got a sense of the sort of diversity of what we’re doing, and the speed with which we are trying to do it. With Windows 8.1 particularly, I think we state clearly a new rapid release cadence. I hope you agree, you saw some beautiful, beautiful new phones, some unbelievable transformation in Windows devices, from the PCs we knew and loved, to these new two-in-ones, touch notebooks and very, very small tablets, all very interesting and very capable, in terms of what they permit, in terms of application-level innovation, certainly new applications coming to market, and all of the tools and technologies that both Antoine and Gurdeep had a chance to talk about that will really allow you to do phenomenal new applications, both in the modern style, as well as enhancements in new applications in the desktop style.
We really have paid some attention to this notion of the desktop and modern applications and how people mix and match and use their environments and have made some pretty transformative changes.
And last, but not least, I think building Bing into Windows, and into Windows Phone, then into Xboxes allows not only us but all developers to be able to very rapidly do some of the exciting new kinds of applications that Gurdeep gave you a sense of in his last talk.
So a lot of new things, a lot of new ground, a lot of innovation, and a lot of excitement, all available in the Windows family of devices, from phones to tablets to notebooks to two-in-ones to desktop, I think all very, very exciting.
Tomorrow, we’ll get a chance to talk about a different set of subjects, but also moving at a very rapid rate with a very rapid release cadence. We’ll anchor tomorrow’s discussion in what’s going on in the cloud backend with Windows Azure. We’ll talk to you about new capabilities in Azure that really make it a cloud on which businesses and enterprise can really operate. We’ll talk about the popularity of Office 365, which is a SaaS application, has taken off like a rocket ship. And things that we’re doing to make it extensible by you with customizations, new applications, integration into Active Directory and the security model. We’ll show how that extends beyond Office 365 and Azure to any SaaS application that you want to create, the ability to integrate securely data and identity with on premise and SaaS applications.
And, of course, tomorrow again we’ll talk about tools, tools, tools, because at the end of the day, particularly as the infrastructures that are available to you get more sophisticated, the importance of giving you tools that let you rapidly and simply build this modern style of application, front-end and cloud infrastructure, is increasingly important.
So enthused about the range of things that we get to talk to you about at Build, but before I wrap up, I wanted to show you just one more demonstration, one more demonstration. We’re going to show you an application that’s also a development environment that uses kind of everything we’ve talked about today to some measure. It uses the graphics capabilities. It uses phones and tablets. It runs on Azure, on the backend. And this is a game we first talked about at the E3 Conference just a few weeks ago. We call it Project Spark, and I think it will, again, spark your imagination in terms of some of the things that you can do in this modern environment.
So this is a game that’s also a development environment for building games, but let’s welcome on stage Rusty McLellan and Dave McCarthy from our Interactive Entertainment Group. They’re going to whet your whistle for one final time this morning.
Dave.
DAVE MCCARTHY: Hi, everyone. Rusty and I are excited to be here today to give you a small glimpse at what Project Spark can do across devices on a variety of inputs. Rusty is going to start off by creating a beautiful world on a Windows 8 desktop with touch controls. In less than five minutes, we’ll build a game from scratch via Smart Glass on the recently announced Xbox One.
Project Spark is an open-world digital canvas. It enables anyone to build, play and share whatever they can imagine. It’s a powerful yet simple way to create your own worlds, stories, and games.
Project Spark will be available on Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Windows 8, and through the power of the cloud, it lets you seamlessly carry over your progress and content from one platform to another. It’s an ongoing service with frequent updates and content additions across all of our platforms. Play the way you want on whichever platform you want.
Now, Rusty is just putting the finishing touches here on our game setting. We’ve chosen desert oasis. He’s using our paintbrush to put in some finite detail, a little greenery around the pond there. Let’s put a couple more finishing touches on this, Rusty. We’ll play with the time of day. And let’s do the position of the sun. That’s cool. And then we’ll finish off with placing an enemy for our gameplay scenario. Your choice. He chose the goblin, nice. Place him in there. Excellent.
All right. So Rusty is going to save what he just made for the cloud, and we’ll pick up over here in our living room without losing a beat. Imagine the possibilities that are unlocked by creating away from your console, and then playing your masterpiece over on the big screen. Seamlessly creating back and forth, devices at your ready, just waiting for your next inspiration. This is digital age nirvana.
All right, Rusty, so we’re loading this up on the Xbox One. We want to see our desert oasis, and our little gameplay moment with the goblin here. Rusty is on controller right now. There we are. It looks good.
Now, being across all devices opens up new methods of input and allows us to innovate with games of all types. Even though we’re now playing on an Xbox One, we can use Smart Glass and remote rendering on any Windows 8 device to keep creating with amazing touch controls.
So Rusty, let’s change this controller based action mechanic into something maybe a little less predictable for console gaming.
In Project Spark, we can add behaviors to anything in the world or alter brains that exist on things. I’m going to play around with this goblin brain and make a quick touch game for everyone. So Rusty started by deleting the default brain, and we’re going to build one from scratch. The brain is broken up into a when and a do side. The visual language is simple yet very powerful.
We’re going to tell the goblin here to jump on the ground after a specified time to a height of what are we going to pick?
RUSTY MCLELLAN: Meters.
DAVE MCCARTHY: That’s good.
Now Rusty is going to change the camera next to a different view. He’s going to start again by deleting our default brain here, and then we’re going to place a sixth camera, and we’ll see how this comes into play in a second. You have to frame it perfectly, Rusty, this is your chance. The scene looks pretty good. Desert Oasis looks nice. All right. Awesome.
Now it’s time to put our controls in. So we’re going to make this a touch-based instead of a controller-based game. So we’ve got our touch mechanic in. And when Rusty touches an object what we want to do is create a visual effect that we’ll pull out of our library here. Let’s let Rusty put this line in. We’ll go into our library and choose an effect. These include things that are both created by our team over in Xbox and some that can be created by the community as well.
Then we want to put one other child rule in, and that will execute after the effect, which will destroy whatever we touch making this our main mechanic. All right. It looks good.
Finally, we’ll use our clone command to make more goblins here. We just can’t have one goblin jumping around. And with more time, Rusty could set up timers, scores, sounds, and so much more.
Rusty, let’s change a couple of those goblins into something different, give it a little visual variety here. The desert, he’s chosen the yeti, interesting choice. So we’ll put a yeti in there, maybe another one. Looking good. Perfect. And then let’s play with the position a little bit, so we get some height variety. There we go.
Now Rusty should be able to swipe or touch these entities and try and defeat them all. There they are. Now in just a few minutes, he was able to create a touch game he started on Windows 8 and completed over on Xbox One with Smart Glass. With Project Spark and Microsoft Services, the power to create across devices, to delight with multiple inputs, and the freedom to do it anywhere has never been easier for developers and players. We’re taking registration for our beta on Windows 8 at JoinProjectSpark.com. And you can also come by and check us out later in the gaming lounge to see the creativity that Project Spark can unlock.
We’d like to finish by showing you a short sample of some of the cross-platform games people just like you have brought to life using Project Spark. Thank you.
(Video segment.)
STEVE BALLMER: Simple point in showing you a little bit of Project Spark, because I think it really helps define what the new world of applications looks like, rich clients, interacting and taking advantage of very rich and sophisticated service infrastructure, and able to be customized and developed upon and enhanced, whether it’s client code or cloud code by literally hundreds and thousands of people around the world.
And whether we’re talking about productivity in the office, enjoyment at home, serious kind of hardcore fun, which I guess Project Spark certainly would be for my 14-year-old, we’re trying to facilitate that kind of deep innovation across everything we do.
Rapid release, an incredible family of devices, with incredible services to back them up, and across the Windows family, we’re really trying to bring together, and allow you as developers to bring together, one innovative experience on every device for everything from work to play to serious fun that’s important in somebody’s life.
As developers, we know you have a lot of choices. When it comes time for choosing the things to choose to build the innovation that people are going to really lean in on, when people really need to get something done, when people really want to plan the trip, when people really need to get some work done, when people want to hard core lean in and have some fun, we think we’ve got absolutely the highest volume platform on the planet. We will sell literally hundreds of millions of Windows devices this year. Windows Phones, Windows tablets, Windows PCs, Windows, Windows, Windows. And while certainly some of the form factors that have been most important traditionally in Windows will see an interesting transition, the rise of new Windows form factors, phones, tablets, two-in-ones, all-in-ones, even in the sense of the future of where we take Xbox and the ability to participate in Windows experiences is unparalleled. And the opportunity as an application developer to use Windows on the device, and Windows Azure in the cloud to build next-generation mobile, connected, experiences has absolutely never been better than it is today.
We appreciate you taking the time and joining us. We appreciate all of the energy you put in to studying and to learning and to innovating on our platform. And I want you to leave with but one thought — the future of Windows is very, very bright.
Thank you. (Applause.)
END
2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 130,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Windows Phone 8: getting much closer to a unified development platform with Windows 8
After a broad but concise overview of the Windows Phone 8 development platform there is just one topic for me worth to consider in detail here:
How close is the Windows Phone 8 development platform to Windows 8?
First here is an illustration of what developers have in general:
I will proceed with that elaboration in the following sections:
- Windows Phone 8 development platform overview
- Native C++ and DirectX brought to the platform
- Partial WinRT support with phone extensions but no WinJS support
- Managed (.NET) code with XAML and a number of enhancements
– Core information
– XAML related information
– Code sharing between Windows platforms
– Code sharing with 3d party frameworks
– Cloud backends made super-easy: Windows Azure Mobile Services - Web based, HTML5/JavaScript et al, client applications
1. Windows Phone 8 development platform overview
Build 2012: Microsoft launches SDK for Windows Phone 8 [networkworld, Oct 30, 2012]
The full transcript of his speech is here, while the full video record of his announcement is in Keynote 1 BUT START AT [01:11:20] ESSENTIALLY AT [01:13:00]. Also read his blog post on Announcing the new Windows Phone 8 Developer Platform [Windows Phone Developer blog, Oct 30, 2012] from which it is especially important to draw the attention of developer oriented people to the referred from there Introducing Windows Phone SDK 8.0 [The Visual Studio Blog, Oct 30, 2012], Touring the Windows Phone 8 Dev Center [The Visual Studio Blog, Nov 2, 2012] and Announcing the release of the .NET Framework for Windows Phone 8 [.NET Framework blog, Oct 30, 2012] posts, and the following excerpts from the related keynote part:
[01:19:38] Back in June I talked about how Windows Phone 8 was a foundational release, because we now share a common core with Windows. On top of this common core we have a common API set. You can now build shared components that are identical to both Windows and Windows Phone and use them inside of those apps. [01:20:00]
Following that: first a picture-sharing app is shown … already paired the phone and tablet using NFC … then it is shown how a photo image-editing app written 10 years ago in C++ can be wrapped as a Windows runtime component, so it could be called from C# in Windows Phone app … next how simple is to reuse the exact same code throughout the project inside of Windows 8 …
[01:24:17] talk about some of the new features coming to the Windows Phone 8 platform. …
See all these other features that we’ve been adding to the platform over the last release. I want to highlight a lot of them there. I want to highlight a few. You asked us to make it easier to build fast and fluid UI. We delivered. We’re writing more controls to the platform and we’ve dramatically improved the performance of the existing controls. Your apps will be noticeably faster when you use them. You asked us to do more with Live Tiles. We delivered. We now support Live Tiles in three sizes. We also allow you to show notifications on the launch screen, and you can create and update the wallpaper of the phone directly from within your application.
You asked for speech support. We now support having full conversations in your app. So, not only can you launch apps, you can control them using speech. We’ve improved you’ve asked for us to improve our dev center and store. We’ve streamlined our store. It’s now more efficient to submit and update your apps, and you have more ways to monetize your apps in our store. You asked for deeper integration with the phone experiences. We delivered. We’ve opened up our camera and now we support a feature called Lenses. We’re actually better multitasking. We support location-based applications running in the background, as well as first-class support for VoIP and video chat.
You asked for us to improve and to give you advanced networking capabilities. We’ve heard your request. For Bluetooth data transfer, peer networking with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, as well as proximity connect with NFC. Our response is done, done and done. In total we’ve delivered on over 90 percent of the top developer requests. And over the next few days you will be able to have over 20 sessions to go into detail about how to use these in your apps. [01:26:40]
Then an AR Drone Quadcopter app is shown which comes with a native code library that allows communication with it and a front end built out in XAML. What follows that is a talk about native games, supporting C++ code, which allows to write high-performance physics engines, as well as audio libraries, and get access to low-level, hardware-accelerated APIs like Direct3D, with fully programmable shader support, both pixel and vertex shaders. … Then Unity is showing the first-ever demo of the Unity gaming engine running on a Windows Phone. …
After that Richard Kerris from Nokia is coming to the stage first making publicity for the Lumia 920 and finishing with the annoumcement that every attendee will get a Lumia 920. Finally Kevin Gallo is closing with the announcement that Microsoft will reduce the individual registration for their dev center from the normal $99 to $8 for the next eight days
For a general overview by the keynoter see: Windows Phone 8 developer platform highlights [Kevin Gallo on Windows Phone Developer Blog, Nov 5, 2012] which is drawing attention to the following capabilities
C++ … Introducing Direct3D app … New and expansive Windows 8 aligned APIs … XAML app improvements … XAML control improvements (LongListSelector control, Map control, WebBrowser control, Control performance) … Windows Runtime Components … C++ code reuse … XAML and Direct3D (<DrawingSurface/>, <DrawingSurfaceBackgroundGrid/>) … Text improvements … New gesture support … Multi-res support … Networking improvements … App performance (Compile in the cloud, Startup splash screen, Binary XAML, Off-thread input) … Camera and Lenses … Wallet … In-app purchasing … App-to-app communication … Lock notifications, wallpaper and new Live Tile support … Speech (Voice commands, APIs for in-app dialog, Text-to-speech) … VoIP platform … Enterprise app support … Contacts and calendar … Fast application resume … Location aware apps
As Kevin Gallo told on the keynote there were detailed sessions about the Windows Phone 8 development platform. Those sessions are the following ones:
When you click on the above image or HERE you will get an expanded PDF version of that which contains the abstracts to the sessions as well links to the Channel 9 video records and the associated PowerPoint slidesets. There is also another PDF document which contains related information excerpts from MSDN and elsewhere for those sessions.
There are certainly other reports on the new platform which are worth to link here:
– All the New Features for Windows Phone 8 Developers [DZone, Nov 4, 2012]
– What’s new in Windows Phone SDK 8.0 [blur blur blur, Nov 5, 2012]
– WP8 Developer Series–Getting to know Common API’s for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 [Nithin Mohan T K’s Blog Space, Nov 4, 2012]
– Windows Phone 8 unveiled: all the new features for developers [qmatteoq.com Diary of a Windows Phone develop, Oct 31, 2012]
– The Windows Phone 8 Features You Didn’t See Yesterday [RYANLOWDERMILK.COM, Oct 31, 2012]
– Nokia’s Marco Argenti on Windows Phone 8 [Nokia Conversations, Nov 1, 2012]
– HIGHLY RECOMMENDED What’s new in Windows Phone 8 [Nokia Developer Wiki, Nov 1, 2012]
– Windows Phone development – useful links [Nokia Developer Wiki, Nov 1, 2012]
– Nokia Developer – Learn [interactive webinars announced – Nov 14,15, 21,22, 28 and 29 – for Lumia Windows Phone 8 app projects, Oct 30, 2012]
– 8 days of Windows Phone 8 [by Geert van der Cruijsen, Oct 30, 31×2, Nov 2, 3×2, 4, ??]
And there are some very general guides from Microsoft and elsewhere as:
– Windows Phone 8 Reviewer’s Guide [Microsoft, Oct 17, 2012]
– What’s new in Windows Phone SDK 8.0 [Windows Phone Dev Center, Oct 26, 2012]
– WindowsPhone magazine Issue #1 [November 2012]
– Getting started with developing for Windows Phone [MSDN Library, 2012, Oct 26]
– Windows Phone 8 How-to [Windows Phone, Oct 29, 2012]
2. Native C++ and DirectX brought to the platform
Choosing the right project template for your game for Windows Phone 8 [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
Windows Phone 8 applications belong to one of two categories. Managed apps are based on managed code, but you can also invoke native code from this application type. The other application type is referred to as a “Direct3D app”. You cannot invoke managed code from within a Direct3D app. In Windows Phone 8, many of the phone features are exposed via Windows Phone Runtime APIs, which are accessible from both native and managed code. Many application scenarios can be achieved with either a managed app or a Direct3D app. But even though you can achieve similar results, there are some big differences in the structure, implementation, and available APIs for each application type. It’s important that you understand these differences and choose the right model for you app before you start coding.
…
Direct3D – Direct3D apps are intended for apps for which the highest-possible performance is required, such as complex 3D games. There are no built-in controls or other user interface primitives. Pure native applications are easier to port to Windows 8 native applications as well as other platforms that support native code.
For more information on creating Direct3D apps, see Direct3D app development for Windows Phone 8.
Building C++ Apps for Windows Phone 8 [Channel 9 discussion video, Oct 30, 2012]
C++ and Windows Phone 8 Development – Ask questions about writing C++ components for Windows Phone 8 apps or writing DirectX apps for WP8 with Window Phone team members Peter Torr and Tim Laverty.
So it is not only for gaming: Speed: in which MSDOS meets Windows Phone 8 [Shawn Hargreaves Blog, Nov 1, 2012]
… One of our goals in supporting native C++ was to make it easier to port existing software and frameworks to the platform …
Porting Existing C++ Code to Windows 8/Windows Phone 8 [InfoQ, Oct 30, 2012]
When moving a C++ application to Windows 8/Windows Phone 8 the first consideration is the user interface. Few, if any, applications have a user interface that is appropriate for the touch-centric UI that Windows 8 showcases. There are four options for the UI layer:
- DirectX with C++
- XAML with C++
- XAML with .NET
- HTML5 over Windows RT
Since the UI needs to be rewritten rather than ported, coverage of these technologies it outside the scope of this report.
…
Tarek Madkour of Microsoft [Bringing existing C++ code to Windows Store apps, BUILD, Oct 30, 2012] recommends that developers porting existing libraries to use the Windows Application Certification Kit instead of the macro. To do this, create a new XAML based application and reference all of the libraries you want to port. You then need to run it once so that it is deployed on the computer. Next you run the Certification Kit against the application to generate a list of API calls that need to be replaced or removed.
Another resource in this area is the Alternatives to Windows APIs in Windows Store apps list.
Threading
…
Async
…
Exposing Libraries
…
How Visual Studio Improves C++ Performance [InfoQ, Oct 30, 2012]
Today at Build Jim Radigan and Don McCrady gave a presentation [It’s all about performance: Using Visual C++ 2012 to make the best use of your hardware, Build, Oct 31, 2012] that discussed how the improved Visual Studio 2012 (VS2012) compiler can benefit developers programming in C++. Radigan began his talk, “Its all about performance: Using Visual C++ 2012 to Maximize Your Hardware”, by giving a brief historical overview of the increases in computer power since the introduction of the original Pentium.
That first Pentium had 3.1 million transistors while the current generation Ivy Bridge CPUs have 1.4 billion transistors. As McCrady would later note, C++ AMP allows developers to utilize everything with one single langauge– both the CPU, and the GPU that is increasingly present on CPU dies (in addition to the GPUs present in discrete expansion cards.)
While using code targeting C++ AMP can frequently provide the best performance versus generic code, Radigan continued by noting that the auto-vectorization and auto-parallelization optimizations present in VS2012 mean that in many cases recompiling existing C++ code can provide immediate benefits. As a result the optimizer present in VS2012 is double the size of previous versions.
…
Apollo has landed [Shawn Hargreaves Blog, Oct 30, 2012]
The developer SDK for Windows Phone 8 (codename Apollo) is now available for download from an internet near you. Which means I can finally talk about what I’ve been working on this past year! I am dev lead for graphics, so I’ll probably have most to say about that area, but knowing me I’m sure I’ll find other topics to write about too.
This first post is basically just a bullet list summarizing the graphics capabilities of the platform:
- Write games in high performance native C++
- Or you can interop between XAML and C++/D3D, similar to the Silverlight/XNA interop feature in Mango
- Graphics APIs are a subset of Windows 8, so it’s easy to move code back and forth between phones, tablets, and desktop PCs
- Direct3D 11.1 API, targeting feature level 9.3 hardware capabilities
- DirectXMath provides high performance SIMD vector math, optimized for SSE and NEON
- XAudio2 provides game focused audio playback, mixing, and effects (ok, you got me, this one isn’t graphics)
- Not all Windows graphics components are supported on phone
- No WIC – use DirectXTex to preconvert textures to .dds format, thenDirectXTK to load them
- No Direct2D or DirectWrite – use DirectXTK instead
- No legacy features such as GDI, D3DX, or fixed function – parts of these can be replaced with DirectXTK
…
So what notable D3D11 features are NOT included in feature level 9.3?
- No geometry shaders
- No hull/domain shaders
- No DirectCompute
- No resource arrays
- No BC4–BC7 compression
- No vertex texture fetch
…
Anything else important you should know?
- Windows Phone 8 uses a tiled GPU architecture, so for best performance you’ll need to understand how to use the D3D11_MAP_WRITE and D3D11_COPY flags to specify DISCARD and NOOVERWRITE behaviors, and when to call ID3D11DeviceContext1::DiscardView (ooh, good topic for future articles)
- Native D3D apps handle their own rotation: this isn’t automatic like in XNA.
- Windows Phone 8 device manufacturers can choose one of three screen resolutions:
- 480×800
- 720×1280
- 768×1280
Windows Phone 8 includes the same hardware scaler feature as WP7. Use this to draw at the same resolution on all devices (simplifying development) or to draw fewer pixels for better performance. Use the new DXGI_SCALING_ASPECT_RATIO_STRETCHED mode.
See also: Differences in game development between the phone and the desktop [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
Starting with Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone apps can be created using native code and Direct3D. This means that a lot of code and programming techniques are the same when creating games for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. However, due to the smaller form factor, the different input mechanisms, and the set of available APIs, there are some significant differences that you need to consider when creating a game for the phone platform. This topic highlights the major areas where the phone platform is different.
This topic contains the following sections.
- Direct3D APIs
- Loading textures
- Drawing 2-D graphics
- Input
- Text input
- Background audio
- The Marble Maze sample for Windows Phone 8
- DirectX Tool Kit
…
New tools for Windows Phone 8 save developers time and money [Windows Phone Developer Blog, Oct 30, 2012]
…
Native gaming
One significant feature of the Windows Phone 8 development platform is support for the native C++ programming model. Native code offers a number of benefits related to code reuse, and it opens up opportunities for game engines, physics, animation, audio libraries, and more. The following organizations are announcing Windows Phone 8 support:
- Unity Technology demonstrated today on stage at //Build for the first time, the Unity tools and engine that they used to create a game for Windows Phone 8. Read the Unity announcement and if you’re at //Build visit Unity Technology on the expo floor.
- Havok, who showed an early preview of Windows Phone support last June, is showing off its Vision Engine at //Build in the Gaming session (which will be live streamed). Read Havok’s announcement. //Build attendees can visit Havok on Windows Phone Booth.
- Marmalade announced support for Windows Phone 8 with the Marmalade SDK. //Build attendees can visit Marmalade and see a demo on Windows Phone Booth.
- Cocos2d gaming framework is coming to Windows Phone 8. See the details.
- SharpDX, an open-source C#/Managed DirectX API for.NET, is now available for Windows Phone 8.
- Ogre, the popular open-source 3-D graphics rendering engine, is coming to Windows Phone Check the preview.
- FMOD Ex, the popular audio library, is coming to Windows Phone 8.
- Autodesk Scaleform is confirmed for Windows Phone 8.
- Audiokinetic Wwise audio pipeline solution is confirmed for Windows Phone 8.
…
3. Partial WinRT support with phone extensions but no WinJS support
Windows Phone API reference [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
…
Windows Phone Runtime API
Windows Phone Runtime is a subset of native API that is built into the operating system. It is implemented in C++ and projected into C#, VB.NET, and C++, making it easy for you to consume naturally in the language of your choice. Developers that are familiar with the Windows Runtime will find the Windows Phone Runtime easy to learn. The frameworks are very similar. The following diagram shows the relationship between Windows Phone Runtime and Windows Runtime in terms of the API surface area it implements.
The diagram has three distinct areas and these are described as follows:
The set of Windows Runtime API not supported on Windows Phone 8. The API surface area of Windows Runtime is very large, with over 11,000 members. We’ve adopted a subset for Windows Phone 8 that allows you to build compelling phone scenarios. Area 1 in the diagram above represents the APIs that are not available on Windows Phone 8.
- The set of Windows Runtime API adopted for Windows Phone 8. This is represented by area 2 in the above diagram and consists of approximately 2,800 members. For some types, we have not implemented certain members. For others we have added additional members to support phone-only features. In both cases, these differences are noted in the API reference documentation.
- We’ve added key APIs needed to build great apps for the phone. These are represented by area 3 in the diagram and total about 600 members. For example, we have brand-new APIs for speech synthesis and recognition, VOIP, and other features. Creating these as Windows Runtime style APIs means you can use them regardless of the programming language you use for your app.
The Windows Phone Runtime API consists of areas 2 and 3 in the above diagram. For more information, see Windows Phone Runtime API.
…
Supported languagesThe following table shows what programming languages are supported in Windows Phone compared to Windows 8. Whether your development background is with native or managed code, you can build great apps for Windows Phone using your language of choice. JavaScript is not supported on Windows Phone 8.
4. Managed (.NET) code with XAML and a number of enhancements
Core information
Choosing the right project template for your game for Windows Phone 8 [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
…
Managed – The UI framework for managed apps, including controls and page navigation, means application development is quicker and easier. Access to the Windows Phone Runtime library, the DrawingSurface control, which allows you to render graphics into a XAML page using Direct3D, and the ability to invoke native assemblies from managed code means that managed apps have comparable functionality and performance to native-only apps. There are several useful features, like Live Tiles, the Background Transfer Service, and several of the built-in Launchers and Choosers that can only be used in managed apps applications. Managed apps apps will also allow you to reuse most code from Windows Phone OS 7.1 applications.
…
XAML and Direct3D apps for Windows Phone 8 [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
This topic describes the structure of a XAML and Direct3D app, and walks through the project template that’s included in Windows Phone SDK 8.0. This type of app uses the DrawingSurface control which allows you to use Direct3D to render graphics that are displayed behind or inline with XAML controls and content. The size and layout of your DrawingSurface are handled just as they are with other XAML controls.
A different app type is the Direct3D with XAML app which uses the DrawingSurfaceBackgroundGrid control. With that control, your graphics are displayed across the entire screen, below any other XAML elements on the page, including any elements in the frame. For info about choosing the control that’s right for your app, see Choosing the right project template for your game for Windows Phone 8.
…
Announcing the release of the .NET Framework for Windows Phone 8 [.NET Framework Blog, Oct 30, 2012]
…
Apps get (much) faster with Windows Phone 8
We’ve made many changes to the .NET Framework libraries and runtime in Windows Phone 8, including the introduction of the new async model. We also made substantial changes to the .NET Framework engine and to our ARM compiler. As a result, we’ve observed major performance improvements both in the lab and with actual Windows Phone Store apps. On average hardware, we have seen apps start up twice as fast as on Windows Phone 7.1 devices. End-users will notice and really appreciate the speed of your apps. We hope your apps see similar gains.
Async
The most important recent advance in the .NET Framework is the new async programming model, introduced by C# 5, Visual Basic 11 in .NET 4.5. We’ve enabled the task-based async model on Windows Phone 8, with changes to both the CoreCLR and the .NET Framework libraries. This change is particularly relevant since Windows Phone 8 will run on multicore hardware. You can take advantage of these improvements by using the new async and await language keywords or by also using the popular Task Parallel Library. As a result, it is now much easier to provide a highly responsive UI experience for your users by leveraging both the async model and the multiple cores on end-user devices.
…
CoreCLR engine and garbage collector
Windows Phone 8 includes the CoreCLR engine instead of the .NET Compact Framework. The CoreCLR includes many of the same features and optimizations as the CLR in the .NET Framework 4.5. As a result, it is a lot faster and more efficient than the .NET Compact Framework. In particular, the CoreCLR includes our world-class auto-tuning garbage collector. These changes result in reduced startup time and higher responsiveness in your apps.
Much faster code with “Compiler in the Cloud”
For Windows Phone 8, we adopted a new code generation approach that is much better suited to the phone, both to deliver higher performance and to save battery life. Windows Phone 8 apps are compiled to high-quality ARM code before they are downloaded and deployed on end-user devices. They are compiled in the Windows Phone Store, with an optimizing compiler that does not have to satisfy the time and power constraints of a just-in-time (JIT) compiler. As a result, end-users will enjoy very fast app launch times on Windows Phone 8.
These changes are specific to Windows Phone 8, but they also improve launch times for Windows Phone 7.x apps. Both Windows Phone 7.x and 8 apps can be pre-compiled to high quality ARM code in the Windows Phone Store, before being downloaded and installed on Windows Phone 8 devices. You and your customers get the benefits of pre-compilation, without requiring you to make changes to your app. You can test out the pre-compiled binaries on your own Windows Phone 8 devices using Visual Studio 2012.
While these changes provide significant performance improvements for end-users, they also help battery life. In Windows Phone 7.x, app code was compiled every time the app was launched, and the CPU was used to compile that code, requiring battery power. With the new code generation approach in Windows Phone 8, apps are compiled in the Windows Phone Store with AC power generated from the Columbia River in Washington. That’s a better battery to use than yours! As you can see, we’ve removed an entire category of battery use on end-user devices.
Windows Phone 7.1 apps run on Windows Phone 8
Windows Phone 8 is designed to run existing Windows Phone apps unchanged. We’ve put in significant effort into maintaining application compatibility to ensure that your Windows Phone 7.1 app continues to run on the new Windows Phone 8 devices. It is recommended that you test your 7.1 app using the Windows Phone 8 device or emulator to ensure that you are getting a compatible experience.
In advance of new Windows Phone 8 devices coming to market, you may want to consider upgrading your existing Windows Phone 7.1 app to Windows Phone 8 to leverage new updates to the platform. The Windows Phone SDK 8.0 makes it easy to upgrade projects in Visual Studio 2012. Keep in mind that when you upgrade your existing Windows Phone 7.xapp to Windows Phone 8, you may see changes in API behavior (serialization and isolated storage are the major categories in .NET to watch for) when the upgraded app is run on the Windows Phone 8 device or emulator. You can read more about compatibility on the Windows Phone app platform compatibility MSDN page.
Writing Windows Phone 8 apps
Windows Phone 8 provides major new improvements for developers. I have already talked about the adoption of C# 5 and Visual Basic 11, particularly around async, which you can use in Windows Phone 8 apps. Another major improvement is Windows Runtime interop. You can call Windows Runtime APIs in your code to get access to new native OS APIs and third-party native APIs.
I expect that many of you are building both Windows Phone 8 apps and Windows Store apps. In many cases, you will be building versions of those apps that differ only slightly between the Windows Phone and the various Windows 8 form factors. You should find that you can share a significant degree of your app logic between these platforms.
Windows Phone Runtime interop
Windows Phone 8 exposes a new type of native API through the Windows Phone Runtime [WinPRT], much like the Windows Runtime [WinRT] in Windows 8, if you are familiar with that new API technology. Many new APIs exposed in Windows Phone 8, like the Windows Phone Runtime Location API, are exposed by the Windows Phone Runtime. The CoreCLR engine has been updated to enable you to call Windows Phone Runtime APIs in your apps. In addition, native code developers can expose Windows Phone Runtime APIs, making their native code functionality available to .NET Framework developers. You will notice that you can call Windows Phone Runtime APIs just as naturally as you would call any managed APIs.
The Windows Phone Runtime enables you to call native APIs in both the Windows Phone SDK and as exposed by third parties. In Windows Phone 8, you cannot expose .NET Framework code via the Windows Phone Runtime.
…
Additionally, you can call native code from within a managed app, as long as the native code is packaged and exposed to callers as a Windows Runtime type. We expect that several third-party native gaming engines will be leveraged this way. Note that we do not enable you to create Windows Runtime APIs using C# or Visual Basic in this release of Windows Phone.
…
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Mani Ramaswamy and Peter Sollich: Inside Compiler in the Cloud and MDIL [Channel 9 video, Nov 6, 2012]
By now you’ve learned that the CLR, Windows Phone Client, and Windows Phone Services teams got together to develop “Compiler in the Cloud”. All Windows Phone 8 apps written in .NET technologies will get the benefit of this collaboration. The end goal? Really fast startup of Windows Phone 8 .NET apps.
“Compiler in the Cloud?”, you ask.
The idea is pretty simple. First, enter MDIL or Machine Dependent Intermediate Language or .NET hybrid assembly language. MDIL is all about compiling to native assembly instructions whenever possible, and compile the rest to pseudo instructions that can quickly be translated to native instructions on the phone. Thus, this assembly containing a mix of pseudo instructions and native instructions can be shipped to the device (and is portable across the same architecture – example, across all the ARM devices), and on the device we perform a light-weight linking step to convert the entire assembly to a native image. Most of the heavy lifting is done when we compile the IL assembly to the intermediate file between an IL assembly and a native image (this is what MDIL is).
“So what?”, you ask. The linking step on the device that converts MDIL assembly to a native image only takes 1/5th the time as traditional NGEN on device. Thus, we get some of the benefits of both pre-compilation (since we are executing off the native image where all instructions are assembly instructions) and JIT-compilation (no heavy compilation on the device during framework updates).
Tune in to meet the program manager for code generation in .NET, Subramanian (Mani) Ramaswamy, and one of the lead developers of “Compiler in the Cloud”, Peter Sollich. Peter is an expert in precompilation. We go quite deep here with plenty of whiteboarding. Peter teaches us exactly what MDIL is and why it’s designed the way it is. We also talk about the higher level meaning in this (apps start fast, at native speed!). All around, it’s a great Going Deep episode. Take the time to watch and learn. Thanks Mani and Peter!!
See Subramanian’s BUILD 2012 session [Deep Dive into the Kernel of .NET on Windows Phone 8] where he goes into detail on MDIL/Compiler in the Cloud and other performance/functionality improvement in .NET for Windows Phone 8.
The NET Perspective: Then and Now [InfoQ, Nov 1, 2012]
With the introduction of WinRT and the dimming of Silverlight, some NET developers are concerned that the platform’s popularity, and therefore support, at Microsoft may be on the decline. The platform’s flagship language is C#, but C# creator Anders Hejlsberg’s latest publicly released project is TypeScript. This turn of events brought a large audience to the presentation “The Evolution of .NET” by Brandon Bray to see what was in store for .NET.
Bray is the Group Program Manager of .NET and began his talk with an overview of the history of the platform: starting with its initial announcement at the 2000 Professional Developers Conference, and concluding with where it is today: marking the year of its 10 year annniversary as the .NET Framework 1.0 shipped in February 2002.
There are three enduring themes of the platform that Bray identified:
- Broadening support for platforms and industry trends
- Time to solution getting better
- Performance improvements: by improving the runtime and libraries
As Bray worked through NET’s history, he did observe that Silverlight has “done a lot of great things for .NET” and said that the lessons learned from Silverlight have been applied to Windows Phone and Windows 8.
Since .NET Framework 4.5 was released 3 months ago, it has recorded over 4 million downloads demonstrating its continued popularity. At this point in time, Bray observed that users want the following main features:
- Business compatible applications: Reflecting the consumerization of IT, the ability to bring your own device (phone/tablet/laptop) to work and in use it the corporate world is a growing trend.
- Fast & Fluid experience: This is not just a requirement that applies to the user interface’s performance, it also includes the necessity that users can easily figure out how to use their apps without requiring outside help.
- Modern connected apps: Getting data to and from their device to the web/cloud, desktop, etc.
From a developer’s perspective, Bray says that they want they ability to target multiple platforms: Windows Phone, web & cloud, and Windows 8. The needs of users and developers define what the .NET Framework is trying to serve.
Performance Improvements
So what are some of these available improvements? Bray highlighted .NET 4.5’s background garbage collection, multi-core JIT (just-in-time) compiler, and a reduced on-disk footprint. The adoption of this new background garbage collector by the Bing team saw them drop from an average 8% pause under the old GC to a 2% average pause with the new. Multi-core JIT is automatically used by ASP.NET, and developers can add it to their application by examining the ProfileOptimization class.
Developers seeing difficulties with DLL Hell as a result of thier upgrade to .NET 4.5 are encouraged by Bray to contact Microsoft as they are aware that there are problems and are actively working to resolve these issues.
.NET on Windows Phone 8: The Advantages of Compile in the Cloud
Moving to Windows Phone 8, Bray noted the following improvements that have been made:
- CoreCLR is now the foundation for NET on WP8
- Key NET4.5 capabilities are now on WP8
- Compile in the Cloud means your apps will launch faster
Using compile in the cloud the average phone app can expect to see a 2x gain in performance on WP8 launch hardware. Previously assemblies were deployed in a situation that in effect treated the phone as a compiler– which isn’t optimal for either performance or battery life. But with compile in the cloud, MDIL (machine dependent instruction language) is used to outsource the compilation. The MDIL compiler produces MDIL assembly which is then deployed to the phone.
The Future
Bray was reserved when discussing the platform’s future, as he clearly did not want to make any public announcements of new features. However he did reiterate that Microsoft cares about .NET and noted that it is an integral part of all MS platforms that are shipped. Bray went on record that “We (Microsoft) want .NET to be successful.”
Looking ahead, Bray observed that assumptions change and as a result so should the .NET platform. The new areas for future focus:
- Improving the device experience (Windows Phone, tablets, etc)
- First class cloud experience
- Heterogeneous development
- Targeting multiple platforms at once
Again, while no specifics were announced, some interesting clues were left. As it was claimed lessons were learned from Silverlight, so it seems that Microsoft’s Singularity project has also found its way into different projects. Looking at MDIL for WP8, Channel 9 user “Felix9” noted in August 2012 that MDIL had previously appeared with Singularity’s Bartok compiler.
XAML related information
Announcing Windows Phone 8 SDK–Design Great Apps with Blend for Visual Studio 2012 [BlendInsider YouTube channel]
Announcing Windows Phone 8 SDK–Design Great Apps with Blend [//blendinsider, Oct 30, 2012]
The Blend team is excited to announce our latest release of Blend and Visual Studio XAML design tools that support Windows Phone 8 development. In this release, our big focus was on unifying the XAML design support across Blend and Visual Studio, similar to the design experience available for other XAML platforms like Windows Store Apps, WPF, and Silverlight.
Blend is included with Visual Studio 2012. This makes it easy for you to create great Windows Phone 8 applications. The free Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Phone 8 comes with Blend as well. For all you Visual Studio 2012 Pro, Premium, and Ultimate customers out there, installing the Windows Phone 8 SDK automatically enables Windows Phone 8 development in your installed version of Blend and Visual Studio.
A lot of the Blend features you have come to love in the previous edition of Windows Phone tools are now available in Visual Studio as well, including the Device Panel, better support for editing controls like the AppBar, and template editing.
In addition to these, we have added support for designing for multiple resolutions in the Device Panel.
All the features of Blend available in the previous edition of the Windows Phone tools are carried over to the Windows Phone 8 tools as well, including Behaviors, visual state editing, and sample data. If you have the Windows Phone 8 SDK installed, you also get full design support for building Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) apps in Blend and Visual Studio.
See also: Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone is a complete development environment for creating Windows Phone apps. Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone includes development features such as Windows Phone project templates, a code editor, a Windows Phone-based visual designer, and a Toolbox that contains Windows Phone controls. It also includes integrated testing features such as simulation, monitoring and profiling, and the Windows Phone Store Test Kit. With Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone, you can debug and deploy your apps on Windows Phone Emulator or a Windows Phone device.
…
Supported features
With the exception of a few debugging features, the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2012 has equivalent functionality to Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone. For detailed information about the supported debugging features, see Debugging apps for Windows Phone.
The projects that you create with either Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone or the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2012 are compatible with Blend for Visual Studio. You can open these projects in Blend without any conversion issues or loss of functionality.
Unsupported features
Some features in Visual Studio 2012 Professional or higher are not supported when you are using the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2012. These unsupported features include the following:
IntelliTrace
Lab Management
Testing
Data (add data source, schema compare)
…
Writing Silverlight and WPF Apps with Windows Runtime XAML in Mind [Pete Brown in MSDN Magazine, Windows 8 Special Issue, Oct 12, 2012]
Windows Runtime (WinRT) XAML for new Windows Store apps is the latest member of the XAML and C#/Visual Basic family many of us have come to love. It all officially started in 2006 with the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 and “Avalon” (later named Windows Presentation Foundation, or WPF). After that came several more revisions of WPF, including the latest, WPF 4.5, and alongside we’ve had seven named versions of Silverlight (including 1.1 and 5.1), several versions of Windows Phone and more. You’ll even find part of the XAML stack available on .NET Micro Framework devices.
You might wonder why there are so many variations on XAML and the .NET Framework. Although many of the implementations have converged on similar uses (Silverlight to write desktop apps, for example), each platform was developed and optimized for different scenarios and target platforms. For example, Silverlight was designed to be cross-platform and Web-hosted. XAML on Windows Phone was designed for phone-specific scenarios and hardware, and WinRT XAML on Windows 8 was designed for high-performance, on the metal (x86/x64 and ARM), touch-first (but not touch-only) Windows Store apps.
Nevertheless, these implementations of XAML have far more in common than not. It’s because of these similarities that the differences seem so pronounced. Of course, tiny differences can cause a lot of development challenges, something I know from personal experience and from talking with other developers. However, the fact that we can even talk about compatibility at a detail level illustrates the similarity between the languages, libraries and markup.
In this article, I’m targeting two important scenarios: sharing code with a companion app and future-proofing your current development.
Companion App This is a simultaneous code-sharing, or cross-compilation, scenario for WPF and Silverlight application developers who want to develop companion Windows Store apps for Windows 8 at the same time.
Future Proofing In this scenario, developers are creating new WPF and Silverlight applications today but are not currently targeting Windows 8. When the organization adopts Windows 8, the developers want to be ready; they want to help ensure that appropriate portions of their apps will be more easily ported to the new Windows UI.
Decades of programming experience have taught us that reuse and portability are never free. However, with the techniques covered here, you’ll find much of the effort a minimal increment over what you would normally do to create well-architected apps.
Thoughtful Architecture Is Essential
Breaking large applications into smaller apps is possible only if you have good architecture to begin with. In fact, if your application has a lot of interdependencies between code modules, a lot of heavy class hierarchies, or otherwise feels like a ball of mud or throwaway code, reusing or porting anything will be extremely difficult. But don’t despair! Code can be refactored, and new code can be written with the new architecture in mind.
When designing new apps, I encourage XAML developers to follow a few key approaches: binding, the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern and service classes.
Binding The more you embrace data binding when developing in XAML, the easier it is to keep your logic separated from the UI. Ideally, you set the DataContext for the UI, and everything else is handled by binding with data or commands. In practice, few apps are able to attain this level of separation, but the closer you get, the easier your life will be.
The MVVM Pattern The MVVM pattern goes hand-in-hand with data binding. The ViewModel is what the UI will bind to. There’s a ton of great information (and toolkits, which I’ll cover later) available for free on the Internet and in books, so I won’t rehash that here.
Service Classes This approach is not to be confused with Web services. Instead, these are classes that provide reusable functionality on the client. In some cases, they might call out to RESTful or other services. In other cases, they might interface with your business logic. In all cases, they encapsulate potentially volatile code and make swapping out implementations easier. For example, in Figure 1, the ViewModel talks to service classes in order to use both platform services and to resolve external dependencies.
Figure 1 Relationship Between the ViewModel and Service ClassesI know. You’re thinking, “Ugh! Another layer diagram.” But you know how important these concepts are. The intent is to decouple yourself from the platform you’re on as much as is reasonable within your budget and time constraints. By factoring out code that, for example, makes COM or p-invoke calls into desktop elements such as Windows Imaging or DirectShow, you can more easily replace that implementation with the WinRT camera API in your Windows Store app. Service classes are also a great place to encapsulate other platform differences, such as contract implementations: sending an e-mail from your Windows Store app would use a contract, but on the desktop it would likely mean automating Outlook or hooking into an SMTP server.
Of course, it’s easy to go overboard with architecture and never actually deliver. Good architecture should make development easier, not harder. If you find your team struggling with the minutiae of a particular architectural pattern, you’re probably wasting time. Instead, understand the patterns and what they bring, and then make intelligent and informed decisions about the trade-offs. In most cases, implementing 85 percent of a great architecture is better than 0 percent of the same. Similarly, the cost involved in getting that last 15 percent implemented is often not worth it.
Once you separate out platform-dependent code, quite a bit of other nontrivial code can be reused.
…
Wrapping Up
WinRT XAML, Silverlight and WPF have been created with different purposes in mind, but they’re more similar than different. Sharing code between them is easy, and sharing XAML is possible. There are lots of additional techniques you can follow to target all three platforms and move from the desktop to the new Windows Store UI. I’d love to continue this conversation on Twitter and on my blog at 10rem.net. If you’ve used other techniques for multi-targeting or porting code to the Windows Runtime, I’d love to hear from you.
Pete Brown is the Windows 8 XAML and gadget guy at Microsoft. He’s also the author of “Silverlight 5 in Action” (Manning Publications, 2012) and “Windows 8 XAML in Action” (Manning Publications, 2012). His blog and Web site are 10rem.net, and you can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/pete_brown.
Thanks to the following technical expert for reviewing this article: Tim Heuer
.jpg "Relationship Between the ViewModel and Service Classes")
XAML TV – Pete Brown: Windows 8 XAML for Silverlight/WPF Developers [xamltv YouTube channel, July 10, 2012]
Code sharing between Windows platforms
Maximize code reuse between Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
In this section, we will help you make the right choices to maximize code reuse in your apps. As a developer, you want to streamline your development and make maintaining your apps as efficient as possible. By working smarter, you give yourself more time to develop more apps and fill the marketplace with your creations. When building an app for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, you should look for opportunities to share code, designs, and assets as much as possible so that you maximize the return on your investment. This section describes the sharing techniques that you can use when building you app for both platforms.
Sharing techniques to maximize code reuse
The following table shows some of the techniques you can use to share code between your Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 apps. Each is described in detail in the topics to which they are linked. The table calls out whether a technique applies to managed code, C# or VB, or native (C++) code. You can choose any of these techniques, or a combination of them.
Sharing technique
When to use
Separate UI and app logic using the Model-View-ViewModel pattern
This guidance is applicable to many app types, but particularly to apps that have a XAML UI. Separation allows you to write the app logic and to concentrate on user experience design separately. An added benefit is that your app logic is more likely to be common for your app on both platforms, and therefore is a great candidate for code sharing using the rest of the techniques described here. Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) is a great way to achieve this separation.
Share functionality using Portable Class Libraries
Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 share the same .NET Framework engine. In a XAML app, most of your app logic will be written in managed code. If you are using the MVVM design pattern, you have the potential to share your viewmodel and potentially your model. Note that Portable Class Libraries are a .NET Framework concept and don’t support C++.
Share code with Add as Link
Use this technique for code that is non-portable and therefore can’t be implemented in a Portable Class Library. For example, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 can use the common Windows Runtime API surface to harness the power of each platform for networking, proximity, in-app purchase, and many other features. Portable Class Libraries don’t support Windows Runtime API. Instead, you can abstract this non-portable code, which is common to both platforms, into a class that can be shared using Add as Link in Visual Studio. In C++ projects files are added to projects as linked files by default.
Share using Windows Runtime Components
In addition to consuming the common Windows Runtime API available on both platforms, you can write your own Windows Runtime Component to make your functionality available in all supported languages. This can be written in C++ and consumed by C# or VB. This is a very useful technique for language interoperability or for when you want to write compute-intensive code in C++ and use it in all languages.
Sharing XAML UI
The UI in Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 is written in XAML. However, the XAML implementations are not portable between the platforms. But you can isolate some of your custom basic UI building blocks into UserControls and share those classes as linked files that will be compiled for each platform. This technique is limited and should be used only for simple, reusable parts of your UI. The core of your UI should be built and tailored separately for each platform.
Conditional compilation with preprocessor directives
If you have functionality that’s implemented differently for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, you can use conditional compilation to compile the code suitably for each platform. You can’t use conditional compilation in a Portable Class Library. How much you adopt this technique will depend on your app complexity, but it can lead to more difficult code maintenance if used extensively.
Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 platform comparison [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
The release of Windows Phone 8 is a significant step toward convergence with Windows 8. Here, we compare the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 development platforms, and discuss how developers can create apps for both platforms and maximize code reuse.
This topic contains the following sections.
Common native API
Windows Phone 8 now includes support for building C++ games using our new Windows 8 aligned Direct3D app model. The set of native APIs that are common to Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 are listed in the following table.
Common native API
- DirectX 11.1
- XAudio2
- MediaEngine
- STL
- CRT
- WinSock
For more info about native API support for Windows Phone 8, see the following:
- Supported Direct3D APIs for Windows Phone 8
- Supported Microsoft Media Foundation APIs for Windows Phone 8
- Audio Capture and Render APIs for native code for Windows Phone
- Games for Windows Phone
Common Windows Runtime API
Windows Runtime is a technology first introduced in Windows 8 and which offers a core infrastructure, a common type system, and a standard programming model. It’s implemented in C++ and projected into C#, VB, C++, and JavaScript, so it’s easy to consume naturally in the language of your choice. A significant subset of Windows Runtime is built natively into Windows Phone 8, with the functionality exposed to all supported languages. This gives you the ability to use the same API for common tasks such as networking, working with sensors, processing location data, and implementing in-app purchase. By using common Windows Runtime API in your app, you increase the potential to share code between your Windows Phone 8 and Windows Store apps to save time and improve the maintainability of your apps over time. The following table lists the Windows Runtime APIs that are common to both platforms.
Common Windows Runtime API
- Networking
- Sensors
- Proximity
- Storage
- DataSaver/Connection Manager
- Location
- Touch
- Online Identity
- Keyboard
- Launchers & Choosers
- In-App Purchase
- Sensors
- Threading
- Base Types/ Windows.Foundation
We’ve also added Windows Runtime APIs for the phone to enable more phone scenarios, including APIs for speech synthesis and recognition, and VoIP. The combination of Windows Runtime APIs adopted from Windows 8 and the additional Windows Runtime APIs we’ve added on the phone is called Windows Phone Runtime API. For more info about the Windows Phone Runtime API set, see Windows Phone Runtime API.
Shared .NET engine
You can leverage the same .NET engine in your XAML apps for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, and use sharing techniques to maximize code reuse for these apps on both platforms. For more info, see .NET API for Windows Phone.
Similar XAML UI controls
Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 have similar but different design guidelines and building blocks used to create your UI. The core guideline for UI development in Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 is to design the user experience for your app tailored for each platform. It’s important to make your app look right and be immersive on each device on which it runs to create the best possible experience for your app users.
On Windows Phone 8 you’ll want to create your UI to target the phone form factor, supported screen resolutions, and unique user experiences such as lock screen integration, live Tiles, and the navigation model. Similarly, on Windows 8, your Windows Store app should adhere to Windows 8 user experience best practices, and take advantage of the platform’s support for different app views and navigation controls, and of integration with the device through contracts and the many other features that will enhance your app and make it a success.
You create your UI on both platforms using XAML. Your app will consist of one or more pages, and each page contains a UI created by and customized by UI controls. The set of controls available on Windows Phone 8 is available in the System.Windows.Controls namespace. The set of controls used on Windows 8 is in the Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls namespace. Although these are different namespaces and the types are different, there’s a lot of similarity in the controls that are supported. Most of the controls are named the same and will be familiar to you coming from either platform. This supports design reuse—you can design your app for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 with the same UI building blocks in mind. For a comparison of the control sets available on both platforms, see XAML controls comparison between Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8.
Cross Platform Development : Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 [Amit Dey MSDN blog, Nov 6, 2012]
Introduction
With the recent launch of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, it is a great opportunity for App Developers to target these platforms. Both of these platforms provide multiple options to App Developers in terms of Programming Language and frameworks. Some of the languages and framework options are common across these platforms and hence facilitate cross platform development. If you are an App developer who would like to develop Apps for both these platforms then you should think about cross platform development. Think about Portable Common API Layer and minimal platform specific Layer. This will reduce development effort and increase consistency and maintainability. Let us analyze what option we have.
Following are the all Language + Framework options provided for both of these platforms
Windows 8
- C# + XAML
- Visual Basic + XAML
- C++ + XAML
- C++ + XAML + Direct2D
- C++ + Direct3D
- JavaScript + HTML5
Windows Phone 8
- C# + XAML
- C# + XAML + Direct3D
- C# + HTML5
- VisualBasic + XAML
- VisualBasic + Direct3D
- VisualBasic + HTML5
- C++ + XAML + Direct3D
- C++ + Direct3D
Cross Platform Development Options
The Options you have depends on the what kind of App you are making
Apps
If you want to make form based Applications with Event Driven User Controls like buttons, textboxes and labels then XAML is your best bet.
- C# + XAML
- Visual Basic + XAML
- C++ + XAML
You can read about this in more detail here Cross Platform Development : Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 : C# + XAML
Games
If on the other hand you are interested in 2D and 3D Graphics Intensive Apps like Games then Direct3D is the way to go.
C++ + Direct3D
Share functionality using Portable Class Libraries [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
This topic explains what a Portable Class Library is and how you can use it to share code between your apps for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8.
This topic contains the following sections.
- What is a Portable Class Library?
- How to use a Portable Class Library in your app for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8
- What to share in a Portable Class Library
- Portable Class Libraries and MVVM
- Related Topics
…
Portable Class Libraries and MVVM
When you create your app for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 using the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern and using .NET APIs, you have the potential to share a lot of code in a Portable Class Library. Your ViewModel and Model can be designed to be portable and you should place these in a Portable Class Library. The views of your app, and the startup code, typically are platform-specific and should be implemented in your Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 app projects. This is illustrated in the following diagram.
If your ViewModel needs to call platform-specific code, you should abstract that functionality into the platform-independent interface and use the interface in the Portable Class Library. The interface can then be implemented in a platform-specific way in each app project. This is a very powerful code-sharing technique and allows binary sharing because the Portable Class Library is compiled once and then used in multiple platforms.
…
Create Cross-platform Apps using Portable Class Libraries [BUILD session, Nov 2, 2012] PPTX
…
[00:37:28]
This architecture is described in MSDN Magazine article by David Kean:
From: Create a Continuous Client Using Portable Class Libraries [MSDN Magazine, March 2012]
I feel lucky to live in the days of continuously connected devices. I love that I’m able to reply to e-mail using my phone while riding the bus home. It’s amazing to be able to Skype with my family on the other side of the world and team up with like-minded gamers across the country on my Xbox. However, in this world of permanent Internet connectivity, there is, as Joshua Topolsky puts it, “a missing link in our computing experience” (engt.co/9GVeKl).
This missing link refers to the lack of what Topolsky calls a continuous client; that is, a solution to the broken workflow that occurs today when you move from one device to another. As I switch among my PC, tablet and phone in a typical day, my current browsing session, documents, windows and application state should naturally flow to all of them. That way, I’d spend less time on context switching and more time on actual work and play.
In this article, I’ll show you how to build a simple continuous client application that spans multiple devices and platforms. I’ll make use of the new Portable Class Libraries (PCLs) to ease the development of a cross-platform application, and the cloud—in particular Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus—to handle the communication between the devices.
…[00:39:40]
With this kind of architecture we can build a Windows and a Windows Phone app and we can connect to the cloud, and sink data between them. … but in a lot of cases you want to target more platforms … you also need an iOS and an Android version of your application. … The pretty good solution to that is to use these tools from a company called Xamarin. … These basically will let you run C# code … platform specific user interface for these platforms …
[00:41:00] We will look at the demo of that: Twitter Search
…
[00:44:38] In review: what we learned
How to create cross-platform apps that take full advantage of platform-specific features while maximizing code reuse for the rest of your app
- Share code across platforms with Portable Class Libraries
- Use the MVVM pattern to write cross-platform apps
- Put models and view models in portable libraries
- Create platform-specific views
- Create portable abstractions for non-portable functionality
- Implement the abstractions for each platform you target
- Consider using a service locator or IoC container to hook up implementations
… How much of a reduction actually is that? … People generally report from 60% at the low end to 95% at the high-end for the code that can be be shared between the platforms. … Using these patterns you can definitely reduce the work …
Code sharing with 3d party frameworks
New tools for Windows Phone 8 save developers time and money [Windows Phone Developer Blog, Oct 30, 2012]
…
Tools, cross-platform frameworks …
On the C#/XAML development side, partners and communities have been getting ready. Here are the early birds who are supporting Windows Phone 8:
- MVVM Light Toolkit gets a fresh new version that supports Windows Phone 8. Read the details on Laurent Bugnion’s blog.
- Telerik today released a new version of its RadControls, with new, unique controls for Windows Phone 8. //Build attendees can visit Telerik on the Expo floor.
- Infragistics now includes Windows Phone 8 support with its NetAdvantage offering. //Build attendees can visit Infragistics on the Expo floor
- XAML Spy, the visual runtime inspector debugging tool from First Floor Software, adds support for Windows Phone 8 today.
- Xamarin releases Xamarin.Mobile, a single API developers can use for common device services like contacts, camera, and geolocation, with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 support. //Build attendees can visit Xamarin on the Expo floor
What is Xamarin.Mobile? [Xamarin, Ot 30, 2012]
Xamarin.Mobile is a library that exposes a single set of APIs for accessing common mobile device functionality across iOS, Android, and Windows platforms. This increases the amount of code developers can share across mobile platforms, making mobile app development easier and faster.
Xamarin.Mobile currently abstracts the contacts, camera, and geo-location APIs across iOS, Android and Windows platforms. Future plans include notifications and accelerometer services.
…
Release Notes
Release v0.6
Features:
- Windows 8 support for Xamarin.Media and Xamarin.Geolocation.
- Windows Phone 8 support.
Fixes:
- Fixed positioning issues with MediaPicker.Pick* on retina iPads and iOS6.
- Fixed MediaPicker presenting under certain view controller hierarchies.
- Fixed incorrect Position.Timestamp on Android.
- Fixed MediaPicker.Take* for Android devices with front facing cameras only.
Further release notes are available in the readme.txt file included in the download.
Real-World Software Development– Interviewing a Programming Guru about Mobile and Cloud [Bruno Terkaly’s MSDN blog, Aug 18, 2012] (this is also highly recommended from the overall best practices point of view)
…
There are numerous notification services that are needed to support all these device types.
…
Building Cross Platform Applications [Xamarin documentation, July 21, 2012]
Best Practices for Developing Mobile Applications with Xamarin
…
Xamarin is not just a “write-once, run everywhere” platform, because one of its strengths is the ability to implement native user interfaces specifically for each platform. However, with thoughtful design it’s still possible to share most of the non-user interface code and get the best of both worlds: write your data storage and business logic code once, and present native UIs on each platform. This document discusses a general architectural approach to achieve this goal.
Here is a summary of the key points for creating Xamarin cross-platform apps:
- Use C# – Write your apps in C#. Existing code written in C# can be ported to iOS and Android using Xamarin very easily, and obviously used on Windows Phone.
- Utilize the MVC design pattern – Develop your application’s User Interface using the Model/View/Controller pattern. Architect your application using a Model/View/Controller approach or a Model/View/ViewModel approach where there is a clear separation between the “Model” and the rest. Determine which parts of your application will be using native user interface elements of each platform (iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Windows 8/RT) and use this as a guideline to split your application into two components: “Core” and “UserInterface”.
- Build native UIs – Each OS-specific application provides a different user-interface layer (implemented in C# with the assistance of native UI design tools):
1. On iOS use the MonoTouch.UIKit APIs to create native-looking applications, optionally utilizing Apple’s Interface Builder.
2. On Android, use Android. Views to create native-looking applications, taking advantage of Xamarin’s UI designer
3. On Windows Phone you will be using the XAML/Silverlight presentation layer, using Visual Studio or Blend’s UI designer
4. On Windows 8, use the Metro APIs to create a native user experience.
The amount of code re-use will depend largely on how much code is kept in the shared core and how much code is user-interface specific. The core code is anything that does not interact directly with the user, but instead provides services for parts of the application that will collect and display this information.
To increase the amount of code re-use, you can adopt cross-platform components that provide common services across all these systems such as:
- SQLite-NET for local SQL storage,
- Xamarin.Mobile for accessing device-specific capabilities including the camera, contacts and geolocation,
- Using framework features for networking, web services, IO and more.
Some of these components are implemented in the Tasky Pro and MWC 2012 case studies.
SEPARATE REUSABLE CODE INTO A CORE LIBRARY
By following the principle of separation of responsibility by layering your application architecture and then moving core functionality that is platform agnostic into a reusable core library, you can maximize code sharing across platforms, as the figure below illustrates:
…
Cloud backends made super-easy: Windows Azure Mobile Services
Getting Started with Windows Azure Mobile Services [windowsazure YouTube channel, Aug 28, 2012]
Announcing Windows Azure Mobile Services [Scott Guthrie’s blog, Aug 28, 2012]
… I’m excited to announce a new capability we are adding to Windows Azure today:Windows Azure Mobile Services
Windows Azure Mobile Services makes it incredibly easy to connect a scalable cloud backend to your client and mobile applications. It allows you to easily store structured data in the cloud that can span both devices and users, integrate it with user authentication, as well as send out updates to clients via push notifications.
Today’s release enables you to add these capabilities to any Windows 8 app in literally minutes, and provides a super productive way for you to quickly build out your app ideas. We’ll also be adding support to enable these same scenarios for Windows Phone, iOS, and Android devices soon.
Read this getting started tutorial to walkthrough how you can build (in less than 5 minutes) a simple Windows 8 “Todo List” app that is cloud enabled using Windows Azure Mobile Services. Or watch this video of me showing how to do it step by step.
…
Storing Data in the Cloud
Storing data in the cloud with Windows Azure Mobile Services is incredibly easy. When you create a Windows Azure Mobile Service, we automatically associate it with a SQL Database inside Windows Azure. The Windows Azure Mobile Service backend then provides built-in support for enabling remote apps to securely store and retrieve data from it (using secure REST end-points utilizing a JSON-based ODATA format) – without you having to write or deploy any custom server code. Built-in management support is provided within the Windows Azure portal for creating new tables, browsing data, setting indexes, and controlling access permissions.
This makes it incredibly easy to connect client applications to the cloud, and enables client developers who don’t have a server-code background to be productive from the very beginning. They can instead focus on building the client app experience, and leverage Windows Azure Mobile Services to provide the cloud backend services they require.
…
User Authentication and Push Notifications
Windows Azure Mobile Services also make it incredibly easy to integrate user authentication/authorization and push notifications within your applications. You can use these capabilities to enable authentication and fine grain access control permissions to the data you store in the cloud, as well as to trigger push notifications to users/devices when the data changes. Windows Azure Mobile Services supports the concept of “server scripts” (small chunks of server-side script that executes in response to actions) that make it really easy to enable these scenarios.
…
Manage and Monitor your Mobile Service
Just like with every other service in Windows Azure, you can monitor usage and metrics of your mobile service backend using the “Dashboard” tab within the Windows Azure Portal.
The dashboard tab provides a built-in monitoring view of the API calls, Bandwidth, and server CPU cycles of your Windows Azure Mobile Service. You can also use the “Logs” tab within the portal to review error messages. This makes it easy to monitor and track how your application is doing.
Scale Up as Your Business Grows
Windows Azure Mobile Services now allows every Windows Azure customer to create and run up to 10 Mobile Services in a free, shared/multi-tenant hosting environment (where your mobile backend will be one of multiple apps running on a shared set of server resources). This provides an easy way to get started on projects at no cost beyond the database you connect your Windows Azure Mobile Service to (note: each Windows Azure free trial account also includes a 1GB SQL Database that you can use with any number of apps or Windows Azure Mobile Services).
…
Summary
I’ve only scratched the surface of what you can do with Windows Azure Mobile Services – there are a lot more features to explore.
With Windows Azure Mobile Services you’ll be able to build mobile app experiences faster than ever, and enable even better user experiences – by connecting your client apps to the cloud.
Visit the Windows Azure Mobile Services development center to learn more, and build your first Windows 8 app connected with Windows Azure today. And read this getting started tutorial to walkthrough how you can build (in less than 5 minutes) a simple Windows 8 “Todo List” app that is cloud enabled using Windows Azure Mobile Services.
Hope this helps,
Scott
…
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 4:14 PM by ScottGu
@Vlad/@Mark,
>>>>>> Do you plan to offer HTTP/REST API as well at some point?
We are going to publish documentation for the HTTP REST APIs shortly – which will make it easy for anyone to consume them from any platform. We’ll then provide pre-built REST helper methods for Win8/iOS/Android/others for those who want to work with language libraries as opposed to raw REST ones.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 4:16 PM by ScottGu
@FDanconia,
>>>>>> When you say “Windows 8 app”, do you mean a Metro app, or a Desktop app, or both?The language libraries we are providing today work with WinRT – so you’d use them within Windows 8 Store Apps. But the underlying features can be accessed by any app using the REST APIs (including desktop ones). [So even web based, HTML5/JavaScript et al, client applications – discussed in the last section – can use the Windows Azure Mobile Services.]
…
@Jeff,
>>>>>> I am confused. Scalability, user management, structured data – all of the features, with the arguable exception of push notifications, are useful for all types of applications. What about this is “mobile”?We support all of those capabilities with other Azure features today as well (web-sites, storage, databases, cloud services, etc). You can also build your own mobile backends today using those existing features/capabilities to power your mobile clients.
The reason we are introducing Windows Azure Mobile Services is because a lot of developers don’t have the time/skillset/inclination to have to build a custom mobile backend themselves. Instead they’d like to be able to leverage an existing solution to get started and then customize/extend further only as needed when their business grows. Azure Mobile Services makes it really easy for them to do this – while preserving the ability to easily extend it with other azure features in the future.
…
More information:
– Introducing Windows Azure Mobile Services AKA – The birth of ZUMO [on “the Joy of Code” blog by Josh Twist, Aug 30, 2012]
– Going deep with Mobile Services data [on “the Joy of Code” blog by Josh Twist, Sept 2, 2012]
– Understanding the pipeline (and sending complex objects into Mobile Services) [on “the Joy of Code” blog by Josh Twist, Sept 10, 2012]
– Windows Azure Mobile Services – doto sample [MSDN Code Sample by Josh Twist, Sept 25, 2012]
– Making HTTP requests from Scripts in Mobile Services [on “the Joy of Code” blog by Josh Twist, Sept 27, 2012]
It’s no secret that my favorite feature of our first release of Mobile Services is the ability to execute scripts on the server. This is useful for all kinds of scenarios from validation and authorization to sending push notifications. We made it very easy to send push notifications via WNS (Windows Notification Services), it’s basically a single code statement:
…
HTTP with request
It’s also no secret that the Mobile Services runtime uses NodeJS to give you the power of JavaScript on the server – with the ability to require some of the best modules in Node, including my favorite: request from Mikeal.
…
Now that we understand push and HTTP wouldn’t it be cool to pull the two together, and use the power of the internet to help us find an image to accompany our push notification. Imagine we want to send all our devices a live tile with an image whenever a new item is added to our list. And what’s more we want the image to be something that portrays the text of item inserted.
Enter Bing Search.
…
BUILD 2012 – the week we discovered ‘kickassium’ [on “the Joy of Code” blog by Josh Twist, Nov 4, 2012]
[tl;dr – the code for my sessions is available further down in this post on my github]
It’s been a very long week, but a very good one. Windows Azure Mobile Services got it’s first large piece of airtime at the BUILD conference and the reaction has been great. Here’s just a couple of my favorite quotes so far from the week:
“Mobile Services is the best thing at BUILD, and there’s been a lot of cool stuff at BUILD” – Attendee in person
“I’m tempted to use Windows Azure #mobileservices for the back end of everything from now on. Super super awesome stuff.#windowsazure” – Andy Cross
“Starting #Azure #MobileServices with @joshtwist. I heard that in order to make it they had to locate the rare mineral Kickassium.#bldwin”- James Chambers
Hackathon
The BUILD team also hosted a hackathon and Mobile Services featured prominently. In fact two of the three winners of the hackathon was built on Mobile Services and you can watch the team talk about their experience in their live interview on Channel 9 (link to come when the content goes live). Again, some favorite quotes from the winning teams (some of which were mentored by the incredible Paul Batum):
“I was watching the Mobile services talk on the live stream, and as I was watching it I started hooking it up. By the time he finished his talk, I got the backend for our app done” – Social Squares, winner
“We got together on Monday and we did a lot of work – he did a service layer, I did a web service layer, we did bunch of stuff that would help [our app] to communicate, and then we went to Josh’s session… and we threw everything away and used Mobile Services. What took us roughly 2000 lines of code, we got for free with Mobile Services” – QBranch, winner
Sessions
I had three presentations at BUILD, including a demo at the beginning of the Windows Azure Keynote – check it out. Mobile Services is 10 minutes in: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/1-002
I also had two breakout sessions and I’m pleased to announce that the code for these is now available (links below each session):
Developing Mobile Solutions on Windows Azure Part I
We take a Windows Phone 8 application that has no connectivity and uses no cloud services, to building out a whole connected scenario in 60 minutes. There’s a lot of live coding, risk and we even get (entirely by coincidence) James Chambers up on stage for some audience interaction that doesn’t quite go to plan! The code for this is up on github here(download zip).
Also, be sure to checkout my colleagues Nick and Chris’ awesome session which follows on from this: Developing Mobile Solutions on Windows Azure Part II.
Windows 8 Connectathon with Windows Azure Mobile Services
In this session, I build a Windows 8 application starting from the Mobile Services quickstart, going into some detail on authentication, scripts and push notifications including managing channels. The code for is up ongithub here (download zip) and – due to popular demand I created a C# version of the Windows 8 client. The Windows Phone client was pretty easy – I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
Paul and I were also interviewed by Scott Hanselman on Channel 9 Live – right after the keynote. We had a blast talking to Scott about Mobile Services and got to answer some questions coming in from the audience.
One of the outcomes of the Channel 9 interview was we promised to setup a Mobile Services UserVoice. We never want to break a promise on Mobile Services so here you go: http://mobileservices.uservoice.com – so please log your requests and get voting! Don’t forget about our forums and always feel free to reach out to me on twitter @joshtwist.
Even more information:
– Introduction to Consuming Azure Mobile Services from iOS (in 5 parts) [Bruno Terkaly’s MSDN blog, Sept 26-27, 2012]
– Introduction to Consuming Azure Mobile Services from Android (in 4 parts) [Bruno Terkaly’s MSDN blog, Oct 3, 2012]
– What Windows 8 Developers Should Know About The Cloud [Bruno Terkaly’s MSDN blog, July 11, 2012]
– Windows Azure Mobile Services videos on Channel 9 (7 so far) [Aug 28-Nov 3, 2012]
– IMPORTANT: Windows Azure Mobile Services: New support for iOS apps, Facebook/Twitter/Google identity, Emails, SMS, Blobs, Service Bus and more [Scott Guthrie’s blog, Oct 16, 2012]
– IMPORTANT: Announcing the Windows Azure Mobile Services October Update [Windows Azure MSDN blog, Oct 17, 2012]
– IMPORTANT: Announcing Open Sourcing of Windows Azure Mobile Services SDK on GitHub, and Partnership with Xamarin [Windows Azure MSDN blog, Sept 20, 2012]
– IMPORTANT: Building out Mobile Services support to Windows Phone 8 [Windows Azure MSDN blog, Nov 1, 2012]
– IMPORTANT: Get started with Mobile Services (Windows Store, Windows Phone 8, and iOS tutorials) [Windows Azure site, Oct 25, 2012]
– IMPORTANT: Xamarin partners with Microsoft to support Windows Azure Mobile Services on Android and iOS [Xamarin blog, Sept 20, 2012]
Our friends at Microsoft recently introduced Windows Azure Mobile Services, a cloud platform that provides a scalable backend for mobile applications. It’s an easy way to add login capabilities and remote data storage to your application without building your own backend.
We are really pleased to announce that we have partnered with Microsoft to bring Mobile Services to iOS and Android developers, enabling them to easily use Microsoft’s cloud service from a common C# code base. While we have long enjoyed a productive relationship with Microsoft, we are excited to collaborating with Microsoft at a new level and to help Windows Azure Mobile Services and Microsoft reach additional platforms.
We are making a preview of our cross-platform Azure Mobile Services client framework available today on GitHub under a permissive open source software license. The framework, which is a port of Microsoft’s own Mobile Services client library, will make it easy for developers to use Microsoft’s hosted backend in their Xamarin-powered Android and iOS applications. You can start using it today in your own projects.
Azure Mobile Services offers elastic scalability, allowing you to get the capacity that you need as the popularity of your application grows. The client framework takes advantage of your favorite C# features to simplify data storage and retrieval. For example, you can access your remote data with LINQ queries instead of crafting your own REST API calls. Instead of dealing with a schema and parsing database output, you use attributes to associate remote data fields with class properties.
…
5. Web based, HTML5/JavaScript et al, client applications
Announcing Windows Phone 8 [Windows Phone blog, June 20, 2012]
… 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. That translates into better performance, more features, and new opportunities for app developers and hardware makers to innovate faster.
This new shared core—along with all the extra work we’ve done on top of it—opens up a new world of capabilities, which you don’t have to be a techie to appreciate. Here’s a taste:
…
Internet Explorer 10: The next version of Windows Phone comes with the same web browsing engine that’s headed for Window 8 PCs and tablets. IE10 is faster and more secure, with advanced anti-phishing features like SmartScreen Filter to block dangerous websites and malware.
…
Creating a custom Tile to link to your website [Windows Phone Developer blog, Oct 19, 2012]
This article guides you through the process of creating a custom pinned Tile that links to your website. This helps you control your brand when users pin your site to their Windows Phone Start screen. This works on phones running Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8.
…
Welcome to Internet Explorer 10 [internetexplorer YouTube channel, Oct 26, 2012]
Internet Explorer 10 Wins (Again) on Performance [Exploring IE blog, Nov 6, 2012]
Internet Explorer 10 is fast and fluid, and built from the ground up for real-world performance. Growing evidence shows Internet Explorer as the fastest web browser on Windows 8.
1. Earlier today, New Relic published additional evidence showing that Internet Explorer 10 is the fastest Windows browser. New Relic monitors page views for thousands of Internet sites, and found that IE10 and IE9 have the “fastest browser response time on Windows, with IE10 showing a notable increase over IE9.”
ew
Relic blog showing Windows browser response times.
(Lower scores are faster.)Find your web browser on the chart above. Are you running the fastest Windows browser—or the slowest?
2. On September 24, 2012, Tom’s Hardware ran a story on RoboHornet, a set of open-sourced micro-benchmarks released with Google participation on Github. Not surprisingly, they found “Internet Explorer 10 smashes the competition, performing 37% better than even the latest version of Google’s Chrome.”
Our team built a demo using RoboHornet to run the micro-benchmark suite in the context of a real-world scenario, releasing the demo as RoboHornet Pro. We believe that this type of real world testing is much more representative of web browser performance than micro-benchmarks.
3. On September 18, 2012, Strangeloop Networks published a report showing performance results from 2,000 of the world’s top retail sites, finding that “Internet Explorer 10 rendered pages faster than other browsers” and that“IE10 served pages 8% faster than Chrome 20.” The tests used Webpagetest.org, an open-source project primarily developed and supported by Google.
These unpaid, independent endorsements are just three votes in favor of IE10’s real-world performance. Since the arrival of Windows 8, millions more are using Internet Explorer 10 and learning first-hand that IE10 is fast, fluid, and perfect for touch.
Roger Capriotti
Director, Internet Explorer Marketing
Internet Explorer 10 Now Available with Windows 8 [Exploring IE blog, Oct 26, 2012]
Today, the Windows team shared that after much anticipation, Windows 8 is available to the world.
Windows 8 represents a tremendous step forward in reimagining what people can expect from the devices in their life – whether PC, tablet, or something that can be both.
The entirely new Internet Explorer 10 is a huge part of the reimagined Windows experience.
IE10 is the Windows 8 browser. Built specifically to make the web a first class citizen on your new Windows 8 device right alongside apps.
It is exceptionally fast and fluid when it comes to performance. Most importantly, IE10 is arguably the first browser that is perfect for touch.
With an entirely new modern touch-first UI, IE10 raises the bar for what we should expect from the web on new modern devices. The underlying platform innovations in IE10 around touch are allowing developers to create new experiences that rival their native app counterparts. Check out this video from the recently released Contre Jour HTML5 game in IE10.
Hauntingly beautiful, pleasantly challenging and strangely addicting – Contre Jour is now on the web! Swing, shoot, drop or fling Petit through 30 free challenging levels right in your browser. Optimized for touch, Contre Jour is at its best using the new Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8 devices. The game also works well in Internet Explorer 9 and other modern browsers. Find out if you have what it takes to help Petit reach his goal. Play now! at http://www.contrejour.ie[See also: Artistry of ‘Contre Jour’ Comes to the Web With Internet Explorer 10 [Microsoft Feature story for the press, Oct 9, 2012]]
There are a plethora of new features in Internet Explorer 10 that we are excited about, but we want to call out some of our favorites:
Full-Screen Browsing: IE10 lets you enjoy the web as it was meant to be – with all of the focus on the sites you love. The browser appears only when you need it, and quietly gets out of the way when you don’t. Once you’ve experienced sites like Pulse with IE10, it’s hard to go back to having any chrome around your sites.
Flip Ahead: With Flip Ahead, IE10 makes clicking “Next” obsolete. A simple “swipe” gesture allows you to advance to the next page, or article, or image on sites with “Flip Ahead” functionality. Try a Bing search on IE10 once you have enabled Flip Ahead and simply swipe forward or backward to navigate your results.
Pinning: IE10 allows you to pin your favorite sites to the Start screen just like apps. Simply tapping the “Pin to Start” button in the navigation bar will create a tile on the Start screen so you can put your favorite sites right alongside your applications in a beautiful display that will truly make “Start” your home. Trying pinning Facebook, Twitter, or CNN with IE10 to see how it works.
Snapping: IE10 makes multi-tasking easy by allowing you to simply “snap” IE10 to one side of the screen, while having another application – such as Mail, Xbox Music or Microsoft Office – open on the other side. It’s small but awesome example of how the web, through IE10, just blends seamlessly into your Windows 8 experience.
Welcome to IE10!
Ryan Gavin
General Manager, Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer 10 for Windows Phone [From: Windows Phone 8 Reviewer’s Guide, Oct 17, 2012]
Your Windows Phone puts what the Web is about in your pocket, making it easy to find, view, and act on Web content. You’ll find Internet Explorer 10 for Windows Phone — the fastest version ever — on the Start screen and in the App list, and can tap a hyperlink from anywhere on your phone to launch the browser and go to that page. We think you’ll find your phone’s built-in browser to be fast, fluid, and perfect for touch.
Your phone’s built-in browser delivers many of the same features as Internet Explorer 10 in Windows 8, including a smart address bar, tabbed browsing, favorites, History, and the ability to delete your browsing history. Of course, we also optimized the browser for your phone, adding features such as multitouch zoom; landscape view; a Web-ready keyboard; and automatic recognition of street addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses on webpages.
Internet Explorer 10 for Windows Phone also includes a new SmartScreen Filter — just like the one in Internet Explorer 10 in Windows 8 — to help protect you from malicious websites. JavaScript performance is up to seven times faster than with Windows Phone 7.5 and twice as many HTML5 features are supported. We also added more ways to share, enabled you to get links via NFC, and re-enabled Find-on-Page.
A Fast, Fluid Browser (Improved)
Rapid Access to the Web
Mobile-Ready Browser
Less Browser, More Web
Smart Address Bar (Improved)
Web-Ready Keyboard
Optimized for Touch (Improved)
Tabbed Browsing
More Ways to Share
Receive and Share Links Via NFC (New)
Find on Page (New)
Help Protect Your Safety and Privacy (Improved)
SmartScreen Filter (New)
Advances in JavaScript Performance in IE10 and Windows 8 [IEBlog, June 14, 2012]
Thursday, May 31, 2012, we delivered the Windows 8 Release Preview and the Sixth IE10 Platform Preview. Windows 8 includes one HTML5 browsing engine that powers both browsing experiences (Metro style and desktop) as well as Metro style applications that use HTML5 and JavaScript. The release preview represents a major revision of the same modern JavaScript engine, Chakra, which first debuted with IE9. With each platform preview we make progress against our goals to create an engine that delivers great performance on the Web while ensuring that it is highly compatible, interoperable, and secure. This post will explore how the JavaScript engine has been enhanced to deliver great performance for emerging Web application scenarios.
Performance for Real Web Applications
Internals of Chakra
Fast Page Load Time (Bytecode Interpreter, Deferred Parsing)
Performance Improvements for JavaScript-Intensive Applications
Just-in-Time Compiler – Reconsidered and Improved
Faster Floating Point Arithmetic
Faster Objects and Property Access
Garbage Collection Enhancements
Summary
IE10 achieves dramatic performance gains for JavaScript-intensive applications, particularly HTML5 games and simulations. These gains were accomplished through a range of important improvements in Chakra: from new fundamental capabilities of the JIT compiler to changes in the garbage collector.
As we wrap up development on IE10 we celebrate the progress we’ve made, but we are keenly aware that performance is a perpetual quest. New applications emerge almost daily that test the limits of modern browsers and their JavaScript engines. Without a doubt there will be plenty to work on in the next release!
If you’re a JavaScript developer, we’d love to hear from you. If the new capabilities and performance advances in IE10 helped you create entirely new experiences for your users, or make existing applications better, please, let us know. If you’ve hit any performance limitations in IE, please, drop us a note as well. We carefully read all the comments on this blog, and we strive to make IE10 and Windows 8 the most comprehensive and performant application platform available.
—Andrew Miadowicz, Program Manager, JavaScript
Adapting Your Site to Different Window Sizes [IEBlog, June 20, 2012]
IE10 in the Windows 8 Release Preview supports the width and height properties of the W3C Working Draft CSS Device Adaptation. This gives Web developers a simple tool to control automatic content scaling across various window dimensions. In particular, it enables Web sites to easily adapt to Windows 8 Metro style browser in the snapped view and portrait orientation.
Auto-Scaling and When It Is Used
…
Working Well In a Narrow Window
…
Using @-ms-viewport
…
Moving the Stable Web Forward in IE10 Release Preview [IEBlog, June 7, 2012]
As part of Windows 8 Release Preview planning, we reviewed all the W3C draft standards supported by IE10. In particular, we looked for those specifications that:
- Are stable, that is, there were no recent additions or changes and no renaming or major changes are expected;
- Are supported by at least two browsers other than IE10;
- Are interoperable across all these browsers for the features’ core use cases;
- Are already used on the Web, including in their unprefixed form; and
- Reached Candidate Recommendation since Windows 8 Consumer Preview or are likely to become Candidate Recommendations in 2012.
The following W3C draft standard features match these criteria and IE10 now supports them in their unprefixed form:
- Gradients (CSS Image Values and Replaced Content)
- CSS Animations
- CSS Transitions
- CSS Transforms
font-feature-settingsproperty (CSS Fonts)- Indexed Database API
- Timing control for script-based animations (requestAnimationFrame)
For compatibility with sites and apps developed using the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, IE10 also supports these standards in their vendor-prefixed form using the Microsoft vendor prefixes (
‑ms‑/ms).IE10 also supports the following W3C draft standards in vendor-prefixed form. We believe these drafts do not yet meet the criteria listed above:
etc. ….
Web development for Windows Phone [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
Internet Explorer for Windows Phone is based on Internet Explorer for the desktop; however, there are differences that web developers should consider. This topic describes some of these differences on a high level for both Windows Phone OS 8.0 as it relates to Internet Explorer 10, and Windows Phone OS 7.1 as it relates to Internet Explorer 9. For general info about designing mobile websites, see Designing Web Sites for Phone Browsers.
This topic contains the following sections.
- Supported standards and technologies
- Controlling the viewport
- Adjusting text size using custom CSS
- Fixed positioning
- Unsupported plug-ins
- Related Topics
…
WebBrowser control for Windows Phone [MSDN Library, Oct 26, 2012]
Windows Phone provides a WebBrowser control that is based on the desktop browser. The WebBrowser control for Windows Phone OS 7.1 is based on Internet Explorer 9, and the WebBrowser control for Windows Phone 8 is based on Internet Explorer 10. Because of this, there are slight differences in the appearance of apps that use the WebBrowser control running on Windows Phone 7.5 compared to phones that run on Windows Phone 8.
The WebBrowser control can be embedded in an app and used for a number of purposes that include, but are not limited to, the following:
Displaying web content from the network. You can build an app that’s composed solely of an embedded WebBrowser control that points to your website, with custom branding around the outside of the control. For more info, see How to display web content from the network using the WebBrowser control for Windows Phone.
Displaying static web content. You can configure an app to save content locally in isolated storage, and then the user can view it later in an embedded WebBrowser control. For more info, see How to display static web content using the WebBrowser control for Windows Phone.
Displaying dynamically generated web content. You can point theWebBrowser control at HTML content that’s constructed dynamically in the app code. For more info, see How to display dynamically generated web content using the WebBrowser control for Windows Phone.
Script is disabled in the WebBrowser control by default. Set the IsScriptEnabled property to true if you want to enable scripting in your control. You can then call scripts using the InvokeScript method. The ScriptNotify event occurs when JavaScript in the WebBrowser control passes a string to managed code.
You can also use the GetCookies(WebBrowser) method of the WebBrowserExtensions class to retrieve a collection of cookies from a website that you can use in future web requests. For more info about working with cookies, see How to get and set cookies for Windows Phone.
Sample app
To view a sample app that uses the WebBrowser control, see How to create your first app for Windows Phone.
New tools for Windows Phone 8 save developers time and money [Windows Phone Developer Blog, Oct 30, 2012]
…
Tools, cross-platform frameworks, HTML5, libraries, and UI
We’re seeing growing support for Windows Phone 8 among cross-platform tools, frameworks, and libraries vendors. Many of them take advantage of extensive support for HTML5 in Internet Explorer 10. Here’s what’s new:
- Adobe PhoneGap framework (aka Apache Cordova) is coming to Windows Phone 8. //Build attendees can visit Adobe on the Expo floor.
- appMobi added support today for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8.
- Appcelerator announced its plans to deliver Titanium, its app development solution for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, in the first half of 2013.
- Scrirra Construct 2, an HTML5 game engine that lets you build games without writing code, now targetsWindows Phone 8.
- Trigger.io’s HTML5 development framework called Forge, now targets Windows Phone 8.
- YoYo GameMaker: Studio, an HTML5-based game development tool, is opening its Beta program for Windows Phone 8 soon. See the details.
- SQLite, cross-platform, open-source database engine is now available on Windows Phone 8.
- Sencha is announcing its Sencha Touch UI HTML5 framework, now supporting Windows Phone 8.
- A new jQuery Mobile theme for Windows Phone 8 is available.
- Trigger.io’s HTML5 development framework, Forge, now targetsWindows Phone 8.
…
jqMobi Becomes First High Performance Mobile HTML5 Framework To Support Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 [jqMobi press release, Nov 5, 2012]
jqMobi (www.jqmobi.com) today released the developer preview of jqMobi version 1.2, which adds support for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. jqMobi was the first JavaScript framework specifically designed for speed and continuity of user experience across mobile devices from different manufacturers. Since its introduction and open sourcing in January, jqMobi has been adopted by thousands of developers and powers millions of user sessions per day.
In this release jqMobi adds support for Internet Explorer, making it the first time an additional mobile browser has been supported outside of WebKit based browsers. All of jqMobi’s core and base plugins have been extended to support the IE10 browser in Windows Phone 8, including fixed headers and footers, CSS3 transitions and JS-based scrolling. jqMobi 1.2 also adds commands to allow the developer to detect which OS it is running on and adds the $.os.ie prefix to support IE specific commands.
“For HTML5 frameworks like jqMobi, the quality of the browser determines what we can deliver” said Ian Maffett, jqMobi lead developer. “Microsoft’s IE10 browser delivers really good performance that is competitive with the best browsers we’ve seen on Android and iOS. So that means that developers who want to take advantage of jqMobi to deliver iOS, Android, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps can give their users an identically fantastic experience across all four device platforms.”
The preview version of jqMobi 1.2 is available free as an open source project at https://github.com/appmobi/jq.mobi. A demonstration video showing how to use jqMobi to create high performance Windows Phone 8 apps in Visual Studio is available at http://youtu.be/L_tz3juWzTk.
About jqMobi
jqMobi is the first JavaScript framework developed solely for use on mobile devices, and it is optimized for touch based interface and smaller screen sizes. It is significantly smaller and faster than other frameworks such as Sencha Touch and jQuery that were originally developed for desktop web. jqMobi was originally created by appMobi and open sourced in February 2012, and is being used in tens of thousands of mobile web apps and hybrid apps around the world. While most JavaScript app frameworks deliver a good user experience on iOS devices, many have difficulties with the highly fragmented Android platform. jqMobi offers developers a solid framework that delivers equivalent user experiences on iOS, Android, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platforms. More information is available at http://www.jqmobi.com
Announcing Windows Phone 8 support [The Typekit blog, Nov 1, 2012]
On Monday, Microsoft officially announced their new Windows Phone 8 operating system for mobile devices. It comes with a long list of new features, but we’re most excited about the new web browser: a new mobile version of Internet Explorer 10 that finally brings support for web fonts and the standard WOFF font format to Windows Phone. Today, we’re announcing official Typekit support for Windows Phone 8 and up.
…
Microsoft Surface: First media reflections after the New-York press launch
Preliminary reading: Core post: Giving up the total OEM reliance strategy: the Microsoft Surface tablet [this same blog, June 19, 2012]
Follow-up: Microsoft Surface: its premium quality/price vs. even iPad3 [this same blog, Oct 26, 2012]
Highly suggested Understanding the Microsoft Surface (a sort of Review) [Hal’s (Im)Perfect Vision blog, Oct 28, 2012] with the following excerpts to wet your appetite:
… The Surface is a great tablet. It is amazingly well-built and well thought out. As a pure piece of engineering it stands as an equal to the best Apple or anyone else has to offer. When you add Windows RT to the mix you get something that is, in the context of use as a “pure” tablet, a strong competitor to the iPad. There are definite differences, some strongly in the iPad’s favor (e.g., number of applications currently available), and some in Surface’s favor. In most cases the significance of those differences comes down to personal preference. …
… an important point I think is missed in most reviews. Everyone wants to compare the thickness and weight of devices as they come from the factory. They don’t do comparisons of thickness and weight in terms of how they are actually used by customers! … while the Surface is competitive in raw weight and size it may be outstanding in real world usage configuration. …
… The UI is inviting. The live tiles are awesome. … Six months from now everyone will think that swiping in from the edge of the screen is a completely intuitive way to bring up menus.
Windows RT, and thus the Surface, currently has a relatively small library of applications available. But it is growing fast. Twice last week I tweeted or blogged [the blog case: Living with a Windows “RT” Tablet [Oct 22, 2012] is worth to read as well] about how I missed some application that I’d been using on the iPad. Within a couple of days, once within hours, the missing app appeared in the Windows Store! … Don’t let the size of the Metro app library keep you from getting a Surface if you otherwise find it a compelling offering. …
Now we’re going to get to the core of the matter. What really makes the Surface difference. In your hands it is, at worst, yet another tablet. Prop it up on a table or other flat surface and something magical happens. The weaknesses of typing on a virtual keyboard or positioning on a capacitive touch screen fade away and you get all the benefits of a real keyboard and pointing device. Sure that shows up in simple ways, like being able to easily and accurately type in a password. For real magic though take a look back at that first graphic I posted. While walking around with the Surface in hand it would land in the same place on the Consumption/Creation scale with the iPad. But put it down, even on your lap, and it takes a giant leap in Creation capability.
… if the keyboard is just a “nice to have” feature for entering text while you are sitting down, or you can’t stand virtual keyboards, or you like having it on the odd chance you’ll need to write a long email or make a Powerpoint slide, then the Touch Cover is for you, However if you know you are going to be using the Surface as a notebook substitute much of the time, then you may just want to pay the price (both in thickness and a little more money) for the Type Cover.
…
The magic of the Surface is that you can use it all day purely as a tablet without paying a penalty for its ability to do Content Creation. That magic is enabled by Windows RT, but it is really brought to life by the Surface hardware. For any given user the choice of a Surface, another Windows RT or Windows 8 device, or indeed an iPad (or Android tablet) is going to come down to a lot of personal preferences. Sweeping attempts to position one or another as best don’t actually mean much. Where Surface, and Microsoft’s overall approach with Windows RT and Windows 8, shines is when you have a need to do Content Creation. Whether that is replacing some (or all) of your current use for a notebook or desktop computer, or just a desire to be more productive than is possible with a virtual keyboard, it is the place where the Surface shines.
The reality shown #1: Surface Tablet Press Event Part 2 October 25, 2012 [TechLifeNews, Oct 25, 2012]
The reality shown #2: Surface Tablet Press Event Part 3 October 25, 2012 [TechLifeNews, Oct 25, 2012]
The reality shown #3: Surface Tablet Press Event Part 4 October 25, 2012 [TechLifeNews, Oct 25, 2012]
You can also read the transcript of the above as published by Microsoft:
Steven Sinofsky: Surface Launch [Microsoft News Center, Oct 25, 2012]
(note that the video records of intro and closing remarks by Sinofsky are at the end of this post)
See also: Microsoft Surface Now Available at Microsoft Retail Stores [Microsoft press release, Oct 26, 2012]
Overall reflections: What journalists are saying about Panos Panay
The Good reflection: #1 Microsoft Surface Event Recap [TGameNTech, Oct 25, 2012]
The Good reflection: #2 Microsoft Surface review: first look [PC Pro blog, Oct 25, 2012]
After the disappointment of the Windows 8 keynote, where very little was said that was either key or of note, Microsoft has struck back with a vengeance by delivering the Surface. And it is a staggeringly good device.
To explain this without making me sound like a Microsoft fanboi, I’ll dive into the kind of minutiae that PC Pro readers should appreciate.
Because I want to start with, yes, wireless reception. This boring topic is something that’s difficult to get people excited by, until they need to get internet access in an area of poor coverage. Then, suddenly, it’s all-important.
Microsoft has put a good deal of effort into wireless, including two MIMO aerials where most tablet makers opt for one. It was certainly a match for my Asus Ultrabook in the theatre, but to be sure I’d have to take it home with me (something the bulky security guard looking over my shoulder seemed less positive about than I did) and use it in the wireless-free areas that litter my lounge.
Then there’s the magnetic mechanism that clamps the Touch Cover to the tablet. Unlike the iPad, you can hold the Surface by the cover and let it drop without fear the tablet will break off and smash to the ground. We also saw Panos Panay, the general manager of the Surface team at Microsoft, bravely drop it on stage during his demo and the machine carried on working (see the video below).
Panos Panay, the General Manager of the Surface team at Microsoft, bravely dropped the Surface on stage during his demo and the machine carried on working
At this point I’m unapologetically going to get more geeky and talk about how that mechanism works. The answer came quite unexpectedly when I started chatting to Ralf Groene, creative director of Surface, later on at the event.
The key point to understand is that magnets work extremely well when they’re directly aligned, but if they move out of position then the connection becomes weak. So, if you swing the cover around and the angle shifts, the connection will break and your tablet will fly off into the distance.
This was a problem that afflicted an early version of the Surface, until one of Groene’s team came up with the solution: two protrusions on the cover that would ensure it stayed perfectly aligned unless enough lateral force was applied. How much force? Roughly what you’d expect from a five-year-old.
Now Microsoft claims that you can still touch-type on the Touch Cover and reach similar speeds to before, although Panos added the caveat that it takes 3-4 days to get used to it. In my experience, that could be a little optimistic: there’s a reason that keyboards with decent level of travel are people’s preferred choice.
What I can say with confidence is that within a few minutes I was typing far more quickly than I’ve ever managed with an on-screen keyboard (according to Microsoft’s internal tests, you should be able to reach around 80% of your natural speed). And, if typing is important to you, then there’s always the Type Cover.
This adds a little more girth and weight to the Surface, but not by much. And for anyone who does a lot of typing, the result is well worth it. It’s not the simple ability to be able to touch type, but the fact that, with a Type Cover, this machine can genuinely replace your laptop.
The 1.2mm of travel each key offers, while not generous, is just enough to make you feel like you haven’t made a sacrifice. You’ll look at your laptop, particularly if it’s more than 2kg, and start thinking of all the reasons why you can leave it behind on your desk.
Because, as with all Windows RT tablets, the Surface includes Word 2013, Excel 2013, PowerPoint 2013 and OneNote 2013. They are full applications, although note that you can’t run macros due to the RT’s lack of support for Visual Basic for Applications.
The other omission to note is Outlook 2013. Yes, there are Mail and Calendar apps built in to Windows RT, but I’m reserving judgement on exactly how I might replace Outlook if I do decide to replace my work laptop with the Surface (some third-party apps are already available, for example).
The only times that using Surface jars a little is when you slip into the old style of Windows interface; for example, when you click Personalize in the Settings menu. This is jarring and horrible, because you have to peck at a tiny X with your finger in a way that’s all too reminiscent of Windows Mobile before it became Windows Phone.
But – and it’s a big but – there’s something about the Surface that makes you forgive these foibles. There’s the kickstand, shown in action above, which folds perfectly flat against the back of the Surface when not in use.
All the gestures seem to work so well that you’ll soon be flicking between applications (swipe in from the left) and jumping to the app’s hidden features (swipe in from the bottom).
It helps that it’s pretty light too: around 680g, or 1.5lbs. It feels well balanced, although just like the iPad you wouldn’t want to hold it one-handed for long.
There’s much more that could be said about the bright 10.6in screen, the clever webcam that films at exactly the right angle when you use the kick-out stand, the way it integrates with an Xbox so you can display films on your TV screen, the fact it includes a microSD card so you can expand storage – but if I carry on in that vein even I’ll start to believe I’ve drank the Microsoft Kool-Aid.
In short, we’ve seen very few Windows 8 tablets that would give Apple any cause for concern, but the Surface really should. It’s been designed with the same from-the-ground-up ethos that marks the iPad, and the end result will be hugely compelling to both home and business users.
And now I’m going to save this file to a USB thumbdrive because I’m being kicked out of the theatre – how handy that a USB slot is built in.
The Bad reflection: First look at real Microsoft Surface [Razma ToloYouTube channel, Oct 25, 2012]
The good: Microsoft Surface’s Metro interface is innovative, elegant, powerful, and versatile. The tablet feels strong and well-built, includes Office 2013, and rich video and music services. Its keyboard cover accessories are the best ways to type on a tablet, period.
The bad: The tablet has sluggish performance, its Windows Store is a ghost town, Metro has a steep learning curve, and the Desktop interface feels clunky and useless.
The bottom line: If you’re an early adopter willing to forget everything you know about navigating a computer, the Surface tablet could replace your laptop. Everyone else: wait for more apps.
Microsoft Surface is the best productivity tablet yet, and it had better be. As the only Microsoft-branded Windows RT hardware to launch with the new operating system (Windows 8 launches this week as well), the tablet serves as ambassador and flagship for the touch-focused, wildly risky Windows grand experiment. The Surface excels thanks to its thoughtful design, sensible implementation of its keyboard accessory, and the innovations brought about by the interface formerly known as “Metro”– chief among them: the gesture-driven menu system, powerful search tool, and incredibly cool and versatile split-screen feature.
Unfortunately, there’s a price to pay for doing things differently. I’ve spent a week with this soldier for the Windows cause, and I predict that some of you will find Metro’s steep learning curve discouraging. Additionally, apps support is dismal, performance (especially when using IE 10) is slow at times, and like the old guy in the club still hanging around after last call, the traditional Windows interface lingers on, feeling embarrassingly out of place.
The Surface isn’t for everyone. Those looking for tons (or even several pounds) of apps should look elsewhere; however, it takes a legitimate swing at replacing your computer and gets closer than any tablet before it at hitting the mark.
On the Surface
So what keeps the Surface from looking like just another generic black tablet? Honestly, not that much, but the features and aesthetic details that do set it apart are significant, if not immediately apparent. For one, the Surface sports a 10.6-inch screen, which is about 0.5 inch larger than most full-size mainstream tablets and 0.9 inch larger than the iPad’s screen. However, this larger screen affords it a true 16:9 aspect ratio at a screen resolution of 1,366×768 pixels. This aspect ratio matches most movies and TV shows, eliminating the need for black bars to appear at the top and bottom of the screen. While movies shot in Scope (2.35:1) will still display with black bars, they’re not nearly as all-encompassing as when watching the same movies on an iPad with its 4:3 aspect ratio screen.
Then there’s the Surface’s beveled backside that contributes to its sleek, somewhat industrial-looking metallic aesthetic. It looks practical without being cold, and just feels like a high-quality device that Microsoft cut few corners to make. Speaking of which, the corners are somewhat rounded, but do tend to dig into the palms a bit when holding the tablet in both hands. The entire chassis is surrounded by a full magnesium (VaporMg, pronounced “Vapor Mag”) outer casing that’s supposedly both scratch- and wear-resistant; however, scratches are already beginning to appear on my unit.
Microsoft Surface Asus Transformer Tab Infinity TF700 Apple iPad (third generation) Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
Weight in pounds 1.5 1.32 1.44 1.32
Width in inches (landscape) 10.8 10.4 7.3 10.3
Height in inches 6.8 7.1 9.5 7.1
Depth in inches 0.37 0.33 0.37 0.35
Side bezel width in inches (landscape) 0.81 0.8 0.87 0.9
In the top middle of the front bezel, sitting right next to an ambient light sensor, is the front-facing 720p-capable camera. Several inches below that on the bottom of the bezel sits the Windows home touch sensor, which takes you back to the Start screen or to the last app you had open if you’re already at the Start screen.
Along the right edge, from the top is a speaker grille, a Micro-HDMI port, a full USB 2.0 port, and the power port, which magnetically attaches the power cable. At the far right of the top edge is a lone power/sleep button. The left edge features an additional speaker grille, a headphone jack, and a satisfyingly tactile and clicky volume rocker. Seated toward the bottom of the left edge sits an inch-long groove that allows you to easily pull out the built-in kickstand and prop the tablet up.
The Ugly reflection: Apple’s CEO Discusses F4Q12 Results – Earnings Call Transcript, Question-and-Answer Session [Seeking Alpha, Oct 25, 2012]
Shannon S. Cross– Cross Research LLC
Great, and then I just had a follow-up question on the Tablet market, now with the launch of Surface today and obviously Window 8 Tablet in that could you talk a little bit about what are you seeing, from a competitive standpoint and how you think about it? Thank you.
Timothy D. Cook– Chief Executive Officer
I haven’t firstly play for the Surface yet, but the, what we are reading about it is that it’s a fairly compromised confusing product, and so I think one of the toughest things you do with deciding which product is to make hard trade off and decide what a product should be and we really done that with the iPad and so, the user experience is absolutely incredible, I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don’t think it would do all of those things very well, and so I think people when they look at the iPad versus competitive offerings are going to conclude, they really want an iPad and I think people have done that to-date and I think they will continue to do that.
reported by TechCruch and commented on as:
Windows 8, of course, features both the standard desktop interface and the new Windows 8 UI (formerly known as “Metro”). The surface, runs Windows RT, doesn’t offer the full desktop experience, but it does run Microsoft’s Office suite in the old-school desktop mode.
Cook was clearly taken back a bit by this question and he clearly had to think about his answer. He still didn’t hold back and, to be fair, his opinion is fairly similar to that of many reviewers.
Microsoft’s own CEO Steve Ballmer, of course, channeled some of Apple’s language today and called the Surface “truly magical” during today’s official launch.
reported by Apple Insider and commented on as:
Cook may have had in mind the Wired reviewby Mathew Honan, who described the Surface as “a tablet of both compromises and confusion.”
CNN’s Harry McCracken also wrote that working with the Surface’s Office apps “feels like an exercise in compromise,” while Josh Topolsky of the The Verge wrote “Instead of being a no-compromise device, it often feels like a more-compromise one.”
reported by The Next Web and commented on as:
A common refrain from founder Steve Jobs was that he was as proud of the things that Apple has said no to making as he was the things that they had made. This has been echoed by Cook during his tenure. This is apparently the reasoning that Cook is following when saying that they’ve heard it is a ‘compromised and confusing’ product.
Microsoft has actually used the term ‘no compromises’ when referring to the Surface, a hybrid tablet that runs desktop and touch-friendly Windows environments and has an optional keyboard accessory that features heavily in its advertising.
reported by abc NEWS and commented on as:
Apple and Microsoft are taking different routes when it comes to tablet software. While Apple offers its iOS mobile software on its family of iPads, Microsoft has decided to revamp Windows by bringing in elements from its smartphone operating system. Previously, Cook had compared what Microsoft was doing to combining a refrigerator and a microwave.
Microsoft, on the other hand, claims Windows 8 doesn’t have any of the compromises that the iPad has.
“We have a different perspective, a different reason why we would want to make a tablet computer and that is really rooted in PCs being a general-purpose device that works within a broad ecosystem, that connects to a lot of peripherals, and represents an open platform,” Steve Sinofsky, head of the Windows division, told ABC News in an interview.
The reality shown #4: Microsoft Surface vs Apple iPad 3 – NYC Launch Event [Portaltic YouTube channel, Oct 25, 2012]
A glimpse into the Windows 8 reality shown before the Surface launch (after the break): Full report [in just 2 and a half minutes]: Microsoft Windows 8 aimed at tablet, mobile users [networkworld YouTube channel, Oct 25, 2012]
See also:
– Windows 8 Arrives [Microsoft press release, Oct 25, 2012]
– Windows reimagined. #Windows8 [Tami Reller on the Windows Experience Blog, Oct 25, 2012]
– Steven Sinofsky, Steve Ballmer, Julie Larson-Green, and Michael Angiulo: Windows 8 Launch [full transcript on Microsoft Nerws Center, Oct 25, 2012]
A straight to the point media observation about that first, “Windows 8 in general” part from Microsoft’s mid-life cris [Business Insider, Oct 26, 2012]
It’s the kind of OS that should get Microsoft to scream loudly from every rooftops: “We have reimagined the PC and moved the dialogue about the next generation of computing interfaces forward; We have forced our partners to evolve the computer for the next generation of challenges.”
Instead Microsoft launched Windows almost timidly, speaking not of Microsoft launching Windows but of the industry launching Windows. At no time during either Steven Sinofsky’s speech nor Steve Ballmer’s one did the company mention its own name and presented the image of a giant reborn. Both seemed worried, concerned that they might offend, and with many partners in the room, the whole affair felt uneasy as they presented something that just didn’t seem terribly exciting to them.
The performance of Microsoft’s management was not too far from the performance of president Obama during the first presidential debate: somnolent, and somewhat withdrawn.
The reality shown and told before the proper Surface launch: Surface Tablet Press Event Part 1 October 25, 2012 [TechLifeNews, Oct 25, 2012]
The reality shown and told after the proper Surface launch: Surface Tablet Press Event Part 5 October 25, 2012 [TechLifeNews, Oct 25, 2012]
A straight to the point media observation about that second, “Microsoft Surface” part from Microsoft’s mid-life cris [Business Insider, Oct 26, 2012]
Steve Sinofsky, who earlier that morning had robotically run through the Windows 8 scripts seemed to go off script, talking about passion and truly excited about this new device. Panos Panay, the man behind the Surface tablet, seemed to have had a double dose of expresso, presenting the Surface in a way that channeled the presentation genius of Steve Jobs and combined it with a little Oprah Winfrey thrown in. Whether it was when talking about the hardware, the software, the way this helped him be a better dad, the going into the crowd and handing out devices to be tested, or throwing a tablet on the ground to show how sturdy it was, we were presented with a man who knows what showmanship is about.
While Panay played the lead role, Sinofsky was dropping in, with amusing quips and a sense that this, the first computer built by the company (if you assume that Xbox is not a computer) was the truly exciting thing. But at the same time, there was some tension in the air: it was almost as if Microsoft had a hard time containing its excitement but also wanted to keep it all secret in order to not annoy its OEM partners.
Surface is a tight-rope act for Microsoft, as it tries to compete with its business partners while saying it doesn’t compete with its business partners. The company’s level of care in attempting to create a unique device clearly points to how much it believes that this is the future of the company but at the same time, the company is wary of telling PC manufacturers that it wants to eat their lunch. And so there’s this weird uneasiness where the company appears to want to promote Surface but at the same time is wary of over-promoting Surface.
And the right conclusion after all that is:
Microsoft is hiding its new mistress (Surface) from the rich wife (the OEM partners) all the while claiming that it loves both but, in its heart, truly more enthused by the new girlfriend. Microsoft marriage of convenience is something that sustains it today but it yearns to elope with the new thing in town and build a new life with it.
And at the source of it all, that may be why the company is under-hyping Surface and Windows 8. Microsoft is having a mid-life crisis and after a 30+ year marriage with its OEMs, the company is plotting a future that looks radically different, one where it is single and gets to choose what its product/mate looks like. It’s the future it really wants but it’s also a future the company is not willing to admit to. All its insecurities are tied into its relationship with the OEMs and the company fears that if it makes the jump, it will have a chance to fail and that’s truly scary.
So the company is doing everything to undermine its own hopes. Looking at the Surface is facing a true tragedy due to poor pricing: The Surface retails at $499 without the keyboard (you’ll have to pay $100 extra for that) and thus finds itself in a space where it is too expensive to compete in the tablet space and not feature-rich enough to compete in the PC space. It’s the kind of device that would have been perfect at a $399 price point with the keyboard included, the kind of device that could have stolen millions of hearts away from the iPad; It’s the kind of device that could still have been a successful contender at $329 without its keyboard; It’s the kind of device that seems to exist to prove Apple’s superiority in squeezing every dollar out of its production line to deliver products that are relatively inexpensive while getting decent enough margins for the company.
And the truly sad part is that Microsoft will look at this failure in selling more of those devices as confirmation that it should have stuck with its partners in the first place (no matter what I, or any other pundit, say, there will be hundreds of millions of copies of Windows 8 sold, as the industry as a whole loads it up on new machines that will get upgraded to eventually).
But maybe there’s hope. I was recently talking to a longtime Apple user (the kind of person that was there with the early macs, the kind of person who stuck by Apple’s side through the lean years; the kind of person who’s never own anything but a mac) and she told me that Surface was the first time she thought of a Microsoft product as a decent alternatives. The live tiles, in particular, were part of the attraction.
The future of consumer legacy of immersive technologies
Why is such a subject on the “Experiencing the Cloud” blog? One reason is the news relayed in Lockheed’s “retail” flight-sim software causes buzz in industry [Orlando Sentinel, April 10, 2012] article. Please read!
The other, and an even more important reason is that the future of immersive technologies is already getting to be known. Last week I’ve investigated one of the leadership initiatives under way, The Where Platform from Nokia: a company move to taking data as a raw material to build products [April 7, 2012]. Its current state-of-the-art from immersion point of view could best be assessed from the following video:
Nokia Maps 3D: The World As You See It [nokia YouTube channel, Dec 7, 2011]
And here is the approach used in the creation of such a mirror world: Nokia Maps 3D: Making Of [nokia YouTube channel, Oct 24, 2011]
While such mirror world creation is “just” laying the foundation for the application of a much wider and broader set of immersive technologies, the people engaged in the legacy immersive technologies have almost no idea of what is going on in terms of superseding their own stuff with these new, indeed revolutionary offerings.
The most advanced and the most mature community for consumer legacy of immersive technologies is the one of the flight simulation by enthusiasts. The technologies from there are even used in high-value commercial set-ups as well demonstrated by such current news that IDSI demonstrates high-resolution Immersive Desktop at I/ITSEC conference [IDSI press release, April 9, 2012]: “Software content included a PC version of Battlefield Bad Company 2 as well as Lockheed Martin’s PREPAR3D flight simulator [based on the earlier Microsoft Flight Simulator product we should add].”
Watch these two videos in order to get a little experience of the current state-of-the-art for flight simulation by enthusiasts:
PAKT Ketchikan International Airport (ORBX) – FSX HD [TheAviatorFSX YouTube channel, Feb 8, 2012]
FSX: Orbx 1S2 Darrington Muni!!! [HD] [B767rules YouTube channel, Jan 8, 2012]
Next read the following wikipedia articles about the technology used by flight simulation enthusiasts:
- Immersive technology: “refers to technology that blurs the line between the physical world and digital or simulated world, thereby creating a sense of immersion.” (It has already been referenced before the above videos.)
- Amateur flight simulation: A general overview article. (It has already been referenced as “flight simulation by enthusiasts” because the “amateur” attribute is rather incorrect – as we will see below – as well as misleading).
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (FS or MSFS, the last version FSX): Microsoft released the first version (for IBM PC) in 1982 which was licensed from an already available product base from Bruce Artwick /subLOGIC Corporatiom and reached commercial maturity with version 3.1 coming from The Bruce Artwick Organization. …
- X-Plane (simulator): The first version was released in 1993 for the Macintosh. Its author, Austin Meyer had been a long time MSFS user but had become frustrated with the Microsoft product and decided to build his own one. Later it become multiplatform as the one man effort became the Laminar Research company. … Only the latest X-Plane v10 version, released just in December 2011 has real chances to overcome the overwhelming dominance of MSFS (more precisely the latest FSX).
- Lockheed Martin Prepar3D: Microsoft ceased the further development of MSFS in the beginning of 2009 but an earlier, “software technology platform” version of it, the so called ESP was licensed in November 2009 to Lockheed Martin which released it later under the name of Prepar3D®. The latest 1.3 version was released on March 23, 2012 as well as a much more widely accessible and affordable ($49.95) academic licensing for it on March 26. At the same time the price for the Professional License version (released in September 2011) was decreased to an affordable $199. The Academic License means “Undergraduate and K12 student instruction”, “K-12 after school programs”, and “Individual student use, K-12 and undergraduate” eligibility but it “is not to be used, offered, sold or distributed through markets or channels for use as a personal/consumer entertainment product”. The latter restriction also applies to the Professional License with having eligibility in “Civil or law enforcement training”, “Private pilot use”, “Military training”, “Flight school instruction”, “Professional instruction”, “Air traffic control instruction”, and “Graduate student instruction”. With such restrictions Prepar3D is a legally constrained albeit technologically fully compatible follow-up to the MSFS. (Note that a Developers version had been available for quite a while with a subscription fee of $9.95 per month, see the Prepar3D® License Comparison).
- Microsoft Flight (Update: In July 2012, Microsoft ceased development of the game permanently to re-align its “long-term goals and development plans.” The game is still available for download and play. See on Kotaku or much below.):
Prepar3D license restricitions are definitely coming from legal agreements between Microsoft and Lockheed Martin (although none of the companies are speaking about that). The writing – however – is on the wall since February 29, 2012 when Microsoft released an absolutely new product for “personal/consumer entertainment” use, called “Microsoft Flight”. Moreover, unlike the enthusiast-centric MSFS, the new product focuses much more on the universal appeal of flight and aims to engage a much wider audience. Below I will include further comparison details between MSFS and Flight. - Precision Manuals Development Group (PMDG): It is a commercial add-on aircraft developer for the MSFS series and a leading representative of the thriving ecosystem existing around MSFS. It was founded as early as 1997 and it is “a global business with employees and contractors working in Canada, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Russia, South Africa and the United States” and “currently has employees and contractors located in the following US States: Utah, California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, and Washington.” Unfortunately in dealing with Microsoft PMDG “was surprised and disappointed to see that the developers of FLIGHT elected to bring in a bunch of people to see FLIGHT, while very noticeably keeping out many of the same folks who have supported MS and the genre for years. The message was made loudly and clearly that our input was not desired and that the strategic objectives of FLIGHT do not involve the community that companies like PMDG, Aerosoft and the like represent.” – as described in Some thoughts on Flight… [Jan 6, 2012].
This made PMDG think about where could they go from there? Here is the statement from their founder/owner Captain Robert S. Randazzo:- “Well-first- I’m not overly concerned. As hardware advances- FSX is really just coming into its own on the average consumer’s hardware– so we intend to continue FSX development for the foreseeable future! There are a number of directions in which we can go- and PMDG has already been taking steps to sort out what platform our future products will feature.
- There has been some loose talk about PMDG and Xplane10– but I must tell you that while we are evaluating that product, and while we do have someone on staff helping to map out the process by which our products wind up in Xplane10- we are still some way out on that project line… From a developers standpoint Xplane10 certainly seems to be a good solid platform that will help our products to shine- but, like FSX it has some weaknesses and we need to evaluate whether it makes sense to allow XPlan10 at this time.”
- Next to the PDMG we should mention the fast expanding (globally), and (unsually) headquartered in Germany, Aerosoft (company information as not in wikipedia) as an even bigger force forming the future of MSFS legacy as being 20 years in the business of add-ons for that. Mathijs Kok who is responsible for the project portfolio there made the following statement recently: “For 2012 all our efforts are on FS2004, FSX and X-Plane 10. Next year could be different.” [Aerosoft Forums, March 1, 2012].
In an earlier interview he said: “2012 is very much a transition year. We got loads of new simulators, X-Plane 10, MS FLIGHT, AeroflyFS and we are seriously looking at all of them. We have also just completed a re-organization of Aerosoft so we can handle the changing market better. Note this is not a bad sign, in fact it means hiring more staff! We are now more a ‘content’ producer. All we make should be usable in as many projects as possible.
Soon you will see the first products that will have FS2004/FSX/Prepar3D/X-Plane installers. One thing that’s important this year is that many or our big projects are being overhauled and moved to X-Plane. Many Mega Airports will get new version as the airports have changed (new runways etc). At the same time we will spend more time on the trains and bus simulators, As long as they are ‘serious’ we know they will sell very well. ” [airdailyX, Jan 15, 2012]
Note: In addition to Flight Simulation, Aerosoft has train simulation offerings (from some others as well), a whole range of other simulations (mostly from others), and a department called AVIATECH for High-End graphic solutions for the professional simulaton. No wonder that on “Who works where” page of airdailyX not less than 38 people are listed as working for them (while only 10 for PMDG).
See also Life after FS2004 for the serious simmer [Aerosoft Sim News, March 28, 2012] as a very good evaluation of the possibilities choices available – FS9, FSX, XPX, Flight or P3D. - OrBX (company information as not in wikipedia) is the biggest of such ecosystem companies as on the same list not less than 51 people are listed for them. The company roots are just going back to 2005, and was only formally incorporated in 2007. Their success could be attibuted to a unique, FTX terrain regions technology “which combines the use of aerial photography to create custom landclass textures implemented using some key differentiators from the default FSX terrain system”. They have also “new ‘Flow’ technologies that add even more realism” (VehicleFlow, NatureFlow, ObjectFlow, PeopleFlow, TextureFlow, Audio, Aero, SnowFlow and StaticFlow). They are also the most focused one strategically as “Orbx continues to extend the capabilities of FSX and Prepar3D with technologies that add realism and immersion”.
Fall City Airport with Nature Flow (ORBX 1WA6) – FSX HD / i7 2600 @ 3.47ghz with GTX 580 [TheAviatorFSX YouTube channel, Sept 1, 2011]
FSX – ORBX PEOPLE FLOW – AS REAL AS IT GETS! [FLIGHTANIMATION YouTube channel, Oct 2, 2011]
Fall City with Vehicle Flow (ORBX 1WA6) – FSX HD [TheAviatorFSX YouTube channel, Nov 23, 2011]
Then here is the some information about the most visited domains by the community of flight simulation enthusiasts. It is obvious from that:
- The community is at least 1/2 million people strong and steady.
- They are hobbyists and/or private pilots and/or semi- or retired aviation professionals.
DETAILED INFORMATION FOUND IN MY INVESTIGATION
Prepar3D Trailer [LockheedMartinVideos YouTube channel, Sept 21, 2011]
Lockheed Martin Launches Academic Prepar3D® Simulation Software as a Learning Tool for Students [Lockheed Martin press release, March 26, 2012]
ORLANDO, Fla., March 26, 2012 – Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] released academic licensing of its Prepar3D® simulation software to immerse students in learning and problem solving. The special pricing of $49.95 makes simulation accessible to the academic community for engaging the next generations in science, math and social studies curricula.
Currently used for professional training, Prepar3D harnesses gaming technology for experiential learning. The software presents a realistic virtual world to support educational scenarios anywhere from underwater to suborbital space.
“Simulation makes learning tangible,” said Chester Kennedy, vice president of engineering in Lockheed Martin’s Global Training and Logistics business. “It is ideal for concepts that have complex relationships or to reinforce rote learning. Simulation immerses the learner in an experience to make the lesson more memorable and reduce the time it takes to master a new skill.”
In Prepar3D, students can see the effects of their decisions and experiment with challenges at different levels. It also allows students from around the world to collaborate to solve real-life problems. With a free software development kit that accompanies the program, instructors can create customized academic lessons incorporating features such as people, wildlife, buildings, vehicles and weather.
Prepar3D is now used by the Experimental Aircraft Association and National Flight Academy to engage students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines. Lockheed Martin donated copies of Prepar3D to these organizations in 2011 to integrate learning objectives with inspirational stories of flight to interest youth in technological careers.
The new academic software can be purchased for educational efforts at or below the undergraduate level at www.prepar3d.com.
Prepar3d test with 30cm ground textures (4096×4096) Part 1 [ALeclercqCreations YouTube Channel, Nov 14, 2011]
Prepar3d test with 30cm ground textures (4096×4096) part 2 [ALeclercqCreations YouTube Channel, Nov 15, 2011]
Lockheed Martin Receives Industry Innovation Award From Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission [Lockheed Martin press release, Sept 16, 2011]
ORLANDO, Fla., September 16, 2011 —
Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] Central Florida operations have been named among the 2011 recipients of the William C. Schwartz Industry Innovation Award by the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission.
The award honors companies for creating, developing and successfully implementing products, ideas and processes. The award cited two Lockheed Martin programs that are meeting urgent customer needs through affordability and innovation initiatives: Prepar3D simulation software and the HULC hydraulic-powered exoskeleton.
…
Out of the Screen – Prepar3D [LockheedMartinVideos YouTube channel, Sept 19, 2011]
Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D® Software to Soar at National Flight Academy [Lockheed Martin press release, June 13, 2011]
ORLANDO, Fla., 06/13/2011 —
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) will provide its Prepar3D ® visual simulation software to power the National Flight Academy’s (NFA) immersiveaviation experience as part of the academy’s hands-on approach to teaching the principles of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to students.
“We believe in the mission of the National Flight Academy, which couples STEM curriculum with aviation to inspire youth about technological careers,” said Dale Bennett, president of Lockheed Martin’s Global Training and Logistics business. “With the call from our nation’s leadership – and that of our own corporation– to reinvigorate America’s innovative spirit, we feel it is a great opportunity to support an organization with such a vital cause.”
The NFA is designed to address the concerns of declining STEM skills and standards in our country by providing immersivehigh-tech adventures that combine classroom math and science fundamentals with hands-on aviation experiences. Prepar3D ® is visual simulation software that brings immersive game-based technology to training, experiential learning and decision and performance support for non-government, government and commercial organizations.
For NFA, Lockheed Martin will donate copies of Prepar3D ®, upgradable as new product versions are launched. In addition to providing immersivesoftware to facilitate the students’ learning, Lockheed Martin has donated more than $2 million to the NFA.
“The National Flight Academy’s mission is to educate youth on the fundamentals of STEM, and to do that it is critical we provide valuable learning experiences,” said Vice Admiral Gerald Hoewing, president of the National Flight Academy. “This project can’t happen without companies like Lockheed Martin.”
Prepar3D ® is based on the Microsoft ESP ™ Flight Simulator product line and is compatible with add-on software created for ESP ™. On the web site, http://www.prepar3d.com, users can get the software as well as download a software development kit to create add-ons such as aircraft, instruments, boats, buildings and other environmental features.
Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D™ Launches Nov. 1 [Lockheed Martin press release, Oct 20, 2010]
ORLANDO, Fla., 10/20/2010 —
Prepar3D ™, Lockheed Martin’s professional training and simulation software, will be available for purchase starting Nov. 1 on www.prepar3D.com for $499per licensed copy.
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] created Prepar3D ™ (pronounced “prepared”), based on Microsoft® ESP™ technology, as a training application for military, educational, civil and aviation professionals. The Prepar3D ™ software lets individuals and organizations conduct realistic training by engaging users in immersiveenvironments. It can also be used for evaluating and preparing people for real world assignments and tasks.
“We believe this enhanced training capability will be a great asset not only for aviation professionals, but also for emergency responders, maritime forces and others,” said Chester Kennedy, vice president of engineering at Lockheed Martin Global Training and Logistics. “Delivering Prepar3D™ direct to users over the Web provides a real-time, low-cost response between identifying a mission need and implementing a solution.”
At www.prepar3D.com, users can buy the software and download a software development kit to create add-ons such as aircraft, instruments, boats, buildings and other environmental features. Additionally, Lockheed Martin is launching a Prepar3D™ Development Networkto which software and hardware developers can subscribe for a monthly fee. The developer subscription includes two development license copies of Prepar3D™, software tools, add-ons and support forum access to grow Prepar3D ™ capabilities.
Lockheed Martin began furthering development of the Microsoft® ESP™ COTS program in late 2009 and since then has added features including the Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocol, sensors, global underwater capabilities, multi-channel support for dome displays, and a rapid cockpit design capability. Future plans call for expanding training capabilities for military and civil applications for ground forces, seaport load crews and heavy equipment operators.
Visitors to the Interservice, Industry, Training, Education and Simulation Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando this November can see Prepar3D ™ on display in the Lockheed Martin booth.
Lockheed Martin Launches Prepar3d ™ to Provide Richer Training Experience for Warfighters [Lockheed Martin press release, May 17, 2010]
ORLANDO, Fla., 05/17/2010 —
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has released its new Prepar3D ™ software that enables rapid creation of medium-fidelity simulations for training exercises.
The Prepar3D ™ (pronounced “prepared”) software interface gives organizations the ability to conduct more realistic and robust training exercises by adding platforms such as air and ground vehicles to training systems that run on Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS). DIS is an open standard for conducting real-time platform-level wargaming and is widely used by military organizations.
“The Prepar3D™ interface will enhance the ability of military services to provide realistic and integrated training experiences for warfighters before they deploy, so they can fight exactly as they’ve trained,” said Chester Kennedy, vice president of Engineering at Lockheed Martin’s Simulation, Training & Support business unit. “One example would be an aircraft flying in the Prepar3D ™ environment which can now be joined to a system such as Warfighter’s Simulation, which simulates large-scale training exercises, for a richer training experience. We can quickly create custom training solutions based on a customer’s needs.”
In late 2009, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft entered into an agreement that allows Lockheed Martin to further develop Microsoft® ESP™, which was originally designed for flight applications. Lockheed Martin will also modify Microsoft ESP™ to enable its use for ground environments to better train military forces and civil agency missions such as disaster preparedness. Changes under way include military scenarios and features to create custom training solutions, such as a weapons capability.
Visitors to the Interservice Training & Education Conference (ITEC) in London this week can see Prepar3D ™ on display in the Lockheed Martin booth.
Lockheed Martin-Microsoft Agreement to Bring Better Training to Warfighters [Lockheed Martin press release, Nov 11, 2009]
ORLANDO, Fla, 11/30/2009 —
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Microsoft Corp. entered into an intellectual property licensing agreement that allows Lockheed Martin to further develop the Microsoft® ESP™ PC-based visual simulation software platform to better train warfighters for battle.
Microsoft ESP technology allows users to operate realistic vehicle models that incorporate real-world physics to enhance realism, such as in the interior and instrumentation of a Boeing 747-400 shown here.
The agreement provides Lockheed Martin with access to the ESP technology portfolio, enabling the company to build cost-effective simulation solutions for customized training for its worldwide customers. Lockheed Martin’s software development teams will extend the current capabilities of ESP to enable a whole new suite of innovative ESP-based solutions that will evolve beyond flight training to include ground and civil agency applications.
“The training needs of our military and civil government customers continue to expand,” said Chester Kennedy, vice president of Engineering at Lockheed Martin’s Simulation, Training & Support business unit. “Seeking out and developing new innovative solutions such as this one based on the proven Microsoft ESP technology allows Lockheed Martin to provide our customers with new and tailored training systems more quickly and cost efficiently.”
“Solutions built on Microsoft ESP can engage users in immersive experiences with very realistic environments—making them ideal tools for training, evaluating, and preparing personnel for optimal performance in the real world,” said Chris Cortez, general manager of Strategic Programs at Microsoft, and a retired Marine Corps major general. “ESP models the entire world and will allow Lockheed Martin’s developers to easily add their own content, objects, scenery, simulation functionality, and scenarios to create custom training solutions.”
The Microsoft ESP IP licensing agreement builds on the existing Microsoft/Lockheed Martin Strategic Allianceto bring meaningful information technology services and products to market and continue to fuel innovation. It is also an example of Microsoft’s broader efforts to collaborate with industry through IP licensing.
Microsoft ESP is a visual simulation software development platform that brings immersive games-based technology to training and decision support for commercial, government and education organizations.
A Bell 206B JetRanger police helicopter flying over an urban downtown is one example of how Microsoft ESP enables pilots to navigate through a wide variety of highly-realistic static and animated objects including ground and air vehicles, buildings, and other structures.
Visitors to the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation & Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando this week can see Lockheed Martin’s first ESP-based solution on display in booth 2049. The Pilatus PC-12 desktop trainer showcases the affordable, powerful training and mission rehearsal capabilities ESP will bring to Lockheed Martin’s customers.
Lockheed licenses Microsoft ‘visual simulation’ technology [TechFlash, Nov 30, 2009]
To answer the biggest question first, this is not the future of Microsoft’s consumer Flight Simulator product. Flight Sim’s fate remains uncertain following the company’s decision to disband the studio behind the long-running and beloved product.
However, it is an example of the core Flight Sim technology living on. Microsoft has reached a deal to license to Lockheed Martin its Microsoft ESP system, which the Redmond company derived from the Flight Simulator project two years ago with an eye toward offering a “visual simulation” platform — taking the immersive world originally created for Flight Sim and allowing it to be customized for specialized commercial applications.
Microsoft says it will also look to license the ESP technology to other companies to use and offer to their own customers, as Lockheed will be doing. But in deciding to offer the underlying intellectual property for use and development by other companies, Microsoft is signaling that it doesn’t plan to further develop ESP itself.
“This clearly was not going to be a core piece of our growth,” said David Kaefer, Microsoft’s general manager of intellectual property licensing, saying the decision was part of Microsoft’s broader re-evaluation of its business priorities in the midst of the economic downturn. “What we decided was that it was a lot better to take the investment, earn some money back but also enable our partners to take it forward and succeed.”
Under the licensing agreement, Microsoft says Lockheed is expected to further develop ESP to train warfighters in battle. At the same time, Lockheed’s software developers will also extend the technology beyond flight training for use as a general simulation tool by the military and other government agencies.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but in general such licensing agreements provide benefits to Microsoft when the people who license its technologies see success with the resulting products.
Microsoft Confirms Aces Closure [IGN PC, Jan 23, 2009]
Studio responsible for Flight Simulator shut down amidst layoffs.
Microsoft has confirmed the closure of Aces Game Studio, the internal development studio responsible for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Flight Simulator is one of the company’s oldest product lines, stretching back more than 20 years. The closure came amidst the company’s first major layoffs in its history, announced on Thursday. Approximately 5,000 Microsoft employees will be laid off; around 1,400 were cut immediately, with the remainder to but cut over the next 18 months.
In a statement, Kelda Rericha of Edelman, Microsoft’s public relations firm, said that the decision was made within Microsoft’s Internal Entertainment Business “to align our people against our highest priorities.”
The closure of Aces marks the shuttering of another major developer within Microsoft Game Studios. Since September of 2007, the company has shut down FASA Studio (Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries, and Shadowrun), announced the closure of Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires), and Carbonated Games (Hexic HD, Uno). In addition, Bungie, the studio responsible for Halo, left Microsoft Games Studios and became an independent studio, though Microsoft does maintain an ownership stake in it.
Does this mean the end of the Flight Simulator franchise? According to Rericha, “We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise which has proven to be a successful PC based game for the last 27 years. You should expect us to continue to invest in enabling great LIVE experiences on Windows, including flying games, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time.”
Microsoft ESP models all types of terrain using accurate DEM and vector data [from MS, Oct. 29, 2008]
What Microsoft planned before closing Fligh Simulator and the associated ESP:
Microsoft ESP Showcases the Future of Immersive Simulation Experiences [Microsoft press release, Dec 2, 2008]
Government, industry and academic professionals attending Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) 2008 get an early look at future capabilities and new visual simulation solutions built on Microsoft ESP.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Dec. 2, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today unveiled for the first time new capabilities of the next version of the Microsoft ESP visual simulation software development platform at I/ITSEC 2008. Show attendees can preview new ground-vehicle operations capabilities and multi-channel display support that will be available in ESP version 2.0. For a firsthand experience of the current version of Microsoft ESP, a range of innovative simulation solutions designed to help government and military organizations improve operational functionality, enhance mission-critical skills and mitigate risks will be displayed.
Since the debut of Microsoft ESP earlier this year, significant progress has been made working with partners and the academic research community to bring the power of immersive simulation to the desktops of defense and civilian agencies for mission rehearsal, interactive training and decision support. Growing interest in Microsoft ESP can be attributed to the cost advantages and productivity gains realized from creating mission-critical visual simulation solutions on a common software development platform that supports Windows-based commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software.
“Government and military organizations are looking to augment traditional readiness programs with affordable, powerful and portable simulation solutions,” said David Boker, senior director of business development for ACES Studio at Microsoft. “Microsoft ESP transforms how people learn and organizations plan and prepare by enabling partners to rapidly add scenarios, change out variables and integrate different technologies into their synthetic environments.”
In the next version of Microsoft ESP new capability for ground-vehicle operations will extend the immersive experiences of mission rehearsal and skills training from warfighters in the air to warfighters on the ground. Support for multi-channel displays will expand the view from a single-cockpit screen view to a full panoramic visual environment, making simulations built on Microsoft ESP suited for first-responder training, ground transportation training, route familiarization, mission rehearsal, and rescue and recovery operations. Working closely with partners to define and prioritize feature sets, Microsoft will be disclosing additional capabilities over the course of the software development cycle of ESP version 2.0.
Microsoft ESP makes it easy and cost-effective for government, industry and academic professionals to apply immersive games technologies to learning opportunities, workforce readiness, decision-making and operational excellence. Solutions built with Microsoft ESP’s simulation engine, tools, application programming interface (API) and synthetic world content can be used over and over again to create custom high-fidelity, dynamic, immersive experiences. Partners using ESP can augment existing capabilities, build and deploy new solutions, and integrate them with existing simulations.
“The combination of Northrop Grumman’s mission-critical experience with Microsoft ESP’s innovation is enabling the next generation of simulation solutions to be the most advanced ever seen for planning, rehearsing, training and debriefing military missions,” said Barry Rhine, sector vice president and general manager of the Command and Control Systems Division of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. “New simulation solutions that are emerging allow for better execution, which in turn helps create a more effective military and increases warfighter safety.”
Microsoft ESP simulation solutions at I/ITSEC 2008 include the following:
The Northrop Grumman simulator demonstrating virtual landing of an F-18 Hornet on the CVN-21 “carrier of the future” incorporating Microsoft ESP, Virtual Earth and Microsoft Surface with Northrop Grumman’s Command and Control Mission Rehearsal (C2MR)
A Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle simulator showcasing Microsoft ESP version 2.0’s forthcoming ground-vehicle operations capability
A helicopter flight simulator revealing Microsoft ESP’s version 2.0 multi-channel display capabilities across three large screens
The F-16 cockpit trainer from Flight-Dynamix demonstrating the integration of Microsoft ESP version 1.0 into an existing custom hardware simulation solution
A demonstration produced by the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton, United Kingdom, made using Microsoft ESP and Windows HPC Server 2008, showing a helicopter landing on a moving ship. A white paper, “Real-Time Computational Fluid Dynamics for Flight Simulation,” describing the process used by the scientists has been published by the I/ITSEC conference.
“It is important to be able to apply a variety of techniques in order to accurately solve challenging problems such as a helicopter interacting with a ship air wake,” said Dr. Kenji Takeda, senior lecturer in the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton. “Improvements in price/performance of technologies such as Microsoft ESP and Windows HPC Server 2008 are helping to make such breakthroughs possible.”
In response to partner requests, the Microsoft ESP group has enhanced marketing efforts on a number of fronts, including the January 2009 availability of a single-client license at $899 (U.S.) and a single software development kit (SDK) at $99 (U.S.); the announcement of a worldwide Microsoft ESP Partner Program to provide increased technical and marketing opportunities; and an ESP Developer Center on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) now available athttp://msdn.com/ESP.
I/ITSEC show attendees can experience Microsoft ESP by visiting Booth 3718.
More information about Microsoft ESP is available at http://www.microsoft.com/esp. Developers can access specific information from the Microsoft ESP Developer Center Web page athttp://msdn.com/ESP.
Update: Microsoft Reportedly Shuts Down Vancouver-Based Studio [UPDATE: Projects Cancelled]
… Microsoft has informed Kotaku that they have not shut down the studio but it has ended development on flight simulator Microsoft Flight and Project Columbia, a Kinect interactive TV project designed for children.
Although Microsoft would not comment on how many people were laid off, they say Microsoft Game Studios in Vancouver has “more projects and development in the pipeline.”
Here’s their official statement:
Microsoft Studios is always evaluating its portfolio of products to determine what is best for gamers, families and the company, and this decision was the result of the natural ebb and flow of our portfolio management. Many factors were considered in the difficult decision to stop development on “Microsoft Flight” and “Project Columbia,” but we feel it will help us better align with our long-term goals and development plans. For “Microsoft Flight,” we will continue to support the community that has embraced the title and the game will still be available to download for free at http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/.
A tipster contacted Kotaku to share the news, which was reported by a Facebook page dedicated to innovation in Vancouver and confirmed by several former Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver employees on Twitter. According to the folks at Facebook group Can We Do It Here, “the entire studio at Microsoft Games Studios on 840 Cambie has been laid off. 35 people in total.”
Update: SUPPORT REMINDER [FLIGHT NEWS UPDATES, July 27, 2012]
We know there are a number of questions out there in the community about the discontinuation of development for Microsoft Flight. We wanted to make to be sure to clarify a few things. While we will not be continuing active development, we are committed to keeping Flight available for our community to enjoy. All the content you have paid for is still valid, and the content that is available for sale will continue to be available onhttp://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/ If any further information becomes available for us to share, we will do so. If you do have questions about errors you run into or have gameplay questions;
1. First, check out the following support links; your question may be answered in one of them.
2. Ask the Flight community. We monitor community channels and try to respond there when possible. Other users may also be able to answer your question as well.
3. If neither of the above methods helps you find an answer, email us at Tell MS Flight.
Please note: The support alias offers English-language support only, and forMicrosoft Flight only (for assistance with FSX and earlier entries in the Flight Simulator franchise, please visit http://support.microsoft.com).
WE HOPE YOU ENJOY MICROSOFT FLIGHT! [news update on Microsoft Flight site, Feb 28, 2012]
We’re proud to open the hangar doors and present the future of flying on your PC. Whether you’re a complete newcomer to aviation or an experienced PC pilot, we believe you’ll enjoy flying with us.
The release of Flight represents the culmination of three years of hard work and experimentation as we worked to reimagine the 30-year-old Flight Simulator franchise, push forward the evolution of the PC flying experience, and bring the thrill and wonder of flight to whole new audiences.
There’s a lot to do in Flight’s version of Hawaii, from basic flight instruction to hunts for hidden Aerocaches, from experimenting with different aircraft to showing off your skills in aerobatics challenges, from ferrying passengers and cargo around the islands to advancing your career as a pilot. We hope you’ll have fun exploring the environment we’ve built.
We’ve only scratched the surface of how we can deliver on our vision. There are a lot of opportunities on the horizon to continue to evolve the experience, and the team is already hard at work designing ways to fulfill the promise those opportunities represent. We’re excited about continuing to provide new and interesting ways to fly.
The future is bright. We hope you’ll enjoy what we’ve made so far and can’t wait to show you what we’re working on next.
See you in the sky!
Joshua Howard
Executive Producer, Microsoft Flight
Microsoft Flight Release Trailer [MSFlightOfficial YouTube channel copy of the Microsoft Flight Announce Trailer of March 5, 2012, Feb 26, 2012]
ICON A5 to Be Feature Aircraft in Microsoft Flight [ICON Aircraft press release, Jan 4, 2012]
ICON Aircraft announces a new collaboration with Microsoft. Microsoft has chosen the ICON A5 amphibious Light Sport Aircraft to be the featured aircraft in the upcoming launch of the Microsoft Flight PC game. The starter pack will be available to download for free this spring. It features the A5 as the default aircraft and includes the Big Island of Hawaii.
“ICON and Microsoft Flight share the common goal of making the fun of flying accessible to everyone who has ever dreamed about it. ICON does this by fusing world-class product design with the very best engineering, and Microsoft does it by combining the excitement of a great gaming experience with the authenticity of a top-notch flight simulator,” said ICON Aircraft CEO and founder Kirk Hawkins. “We’re excited to have such a central role in Microsoft’s highly anticipated launch of Flight.”
Developed by Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Flight emphasizes the thrill and wonder of aviation and requires no past experience or special hardware, making it accessible for beginners. At the same time, realistic flight physics, weather patterns, cockpits, and graphics ensure that Microsoft Flight will also challenge experienced PC pilots.
“‘Microsoft is excited to work with ICON to provide the opportunity to experience the revolutionary ICON A5 before it’s available anywhere else,” said Joshua Howard, executive producer of Microsoft Flight. “The excitement that the A5 is generating in the aviation community makes the A5 the perfect aircraft to bring the joy of aviation to the masses via Microsoft Flight.”
Microsoft Flight will be available to play at the Consumer Electronics Show, which starts on January 10. The game is available through closed beta at:
https://connect.microsoft.com/site1134/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=6087&InvitationID=FLY-BRQXBXTB.ABOUT ICON AIRCRAFT:
ICON Aircraft is a consumer sport plane manufacturer founded in response to the new sport flying category created by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2004. ICON’s first plane is the A5, an amphibious sport aircraft that fuses outstanding aeronautical engineering with world-class product design. It has won some of the world’s most prestigious design awards and has inspired a global following. The company has received more than 600 order deposits and is scheduled to start production of the A5 at the end of 2012. ICON Aircraft’s facilities are in Southern California, a hotbed for automotive design and aerospace engineering.
Microsoft Flight Behind the Scenes [MSFlightOfficial YouTube channel copy of the Microsoft Making Of Microsoft Flight video of Feb 9, 2012, Feb 4, 2012]
INTERVIEW WITH JOSHUA HOWARD [news update on Microsoft Flight site, March 2, 2012]
…
What about Flight and the team interested or excited you?
I was initially skeptical about joining this team, having never been a flight simulator fan. But when the team said, “No, no, no: This is about taking the magic of flight and trying to deliver it to a whole new group of people,” that got me excited. I’m here because we have this amazing experience – what it is to fly – that we can use software to deliver, and I’m an old-school believer in using software to empower people and bring them experiences they could never have elsewhere. I’d spent most of my career building fun for humans — that is, games for people who wouldn’t normally call themselves gamers — and the idea of bringing the magic of flight to millions and millions of more people than ever before was very exciting. …What was it like joining a team that includes people who have been making airplanes for Microsoft for decades?
The subject matter expertise in this team is just astounding. Many of the people on theMicrosoft Flight team have a similar back story – they have had two parts of their lives: their professional lives which have been about software, and their hobby which has been all things aviation. At some point they had the chance to turn their hobby into their day job. This means that for this team, this product is much more than a job. ……
The team has been really quiet about what they’ve been doing during the development process. Why the low profile?
We set out to do something that’s never been done before. That’s hard.
We had to wander around a bit, to experiment. And any time you’re experimenting, you’re going to have some false starts, you’re going to have to back up a bit and try a new path. You can’t tell everybody, “We’re just days away, trust me,” because you’re going to wander until the moment that you realize you’re there, and you don’t really know how long it’s going to take. That moment you know you are there is defined by building an experience that captures the vision the team had. And it took us a while to do that.…
FSX vs. MS Flight – The comparison [HD] [TakeoffWithUs YouTube channel, March 14, 2012]
…
- FSX was designed as a simulator, MS Flight is and always will be an arcade game..with payware planes/scenery/textures FSX becomes more realistic. but if you want a true flightsim turn over to X-Plane10. X-Plane is even being used in real-life simulators around the world. FS9/10 is not MSFlight will never and i repeat NEVER!!! be a simulator….. case closed!!spookyrambo 1 week ago
- yes you are right!!TakeoffWithUs in reply to spookyrambo (Show the comment) 1 week ago
Notes:
– The flight simulator X-Plane is from a small software company called Laminar Research and has been evolved since 1993, released first fo Macintosh. Their other popular program is a virtual reality combat simulator Giant Fighting Robots (for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Plam Pre and Android) which “grew out of Laminar’s experience in creating the mobile versions of the X-Plane simulator, but is itself not related to flight simulation at all (though the physics are pretty realistic!)”. There is also X-Planner, “a tool for keeping real-world pilots safe by allowing them to easily perform pre-flight preparations and planning”, as well Jet Skier and Running with the Bulls.
– X-Plane 10 – Flight Simulator Trailer 2012 [oprealgamingOfficial YouTube channel, Jan 17, 2012]
– Microsoft Flight vs. MSFX vs. X-Plane 10 Comparison Video: Microsoft Flight till [0:50] – FSX till [1:47] – X-Plane 10 after that
– X-Plane 10 : State of the Union [Xplane10’s Blog, March 6, 2012]
– Interview Ben Supnik, Graphics Developer X-Plane 10 [Aerosoft Sim News, March 21, 2012]
– Good Questions [Ben Supnik, March 14, 2012]: “… The conference was attended by a number of MSFS third party developers, a few X-Plane third party developers, as well as Austin, myself, and Aerosoft management. So the audience was mostly technical people (developers) and mostly MSFS, not X-Plane developers. The sessions covered two basic areas: Boot-camp … New features … For me, the most useful aspect of the sessions was the interactive aspect. … The experience also has changed my view on the scenery tools. … For the upcoming US developer’s conference (in Columbia in April) the sign-ups so far look like a more mixed group, with some very experienced X-Plane people and some totally new developers coming over from the MSFS world. …”
– BTS: Interview with Austin Meyer at Aerosoft Dev meeting (1/2) [mcphatstudios YouTube channel, Mar 18, 2012]
BTS: Interview with Austin Meyer at Aerosoft Dev meeting (2/2) [mcphatstudios on Mar 31, 2012]
XP Reviews : Don’t mention the war! [flightime56 on Xplane 10’s [User] Blog, March 26, 2012]
1. There is a war going on, a subtle war but a fight to death one at that, and it is who can win the “Lost Generation” of Ex-MSFS Simmers
Now most MSFS Simmers would say “we don’t care, we like what we have anyway and don’t need you”, but the it is not their hearts that is the aim of all this but their wallets.
And this whole saga is twisting and turning like a cornered snake in the fact that what was written in stone only months ago could now be “well we will even now chip a little off the block here and here”.
Flight said, and still do “we do our own thing here now and don’t need the large universe of MSFS developers to develop for Flight”, Fine in that and that is loud and clear, “Steve Balimar Ballmer has no doubt screamed (and sweated) at the flight development team “Why are we giving all the profits away to them!”
Problem is Mr Balimar Ballmer is that “Them” built MSFS into the huge product machine it is today.
2. The MSFS developers where were initially attracted to Prepar3d as it was the perfect fit as Lockheed’s product can be easily adjusted for MSFS aircraft and scenery, the only person looking in another area was Mathijs Kok of Aerosoft, he still has a foot in the door with Prepar3d but also looked at the up-coming X-Plane10 product from Laminar Research and bravely decided to support it. It was first and foremost a business decision, but a big call to change to a completely different platform – and since then he has supported the simulator 100%.
The issue with Prepar3d was its entrance cost, At nearly $500 compared to X-Plane’s Eur69.95 so when Flight declared that it was not going to move on the developer issue then other developers including the MSFS bright star PMDG also decided to develop X-Plane products.
3. This is of course all mostly early in the year old news, but then Aerosoft ran the now called “Mallorca Conference” in which the MSFS developers got together with Laminar to see the future of the X-Plane10 product and have a say on what they thought of X-Plane and what they liked and what they didn’t.
I noted that the conference was probably the most important in Laminar Research’s career, the results were however even more astounding than you could have ever imagined.
The reason was that Laminar went to Spain to was do one thing and came back and did another. It went to sell X-Plane10 to the MSFS community. It came back home with a list of “yes we are interested but if you want us then we will need this or this”.
More astounding is that Laminar said “okay we will see what we can do”, and then the list slowly filtered out.
4. We knew that the crucial items that was the priority was to get the plausible scenery “city elements” out into the simulator and that was known before Mallorca, the interesting part wasthat the MSFS developers wanted better tools to accelerate the process of add-on elements and to help in the quicker creation of custom scenery – including airports and their infrastructure.
This really would not be a surprise as Laminar need as much product out there as soon as possible to make the simulator a viable product and for the MSFS developers to start the business of making money out of the platform.
5. In this area you have to understand that X-Plane is not like other simulators, the fundamental underlying structure is not like anything else, not MSFS or Flight or even a “shoot them up” game – and it is this feature that gives X-Plane a bigger advantage over any other simulator. If you look carefully a the Flight-MSFX_XP comparison video it will show you how different X-Plane10 really is from the others.
On both the MSFS products they both clearly show the photographic base with buildings on top view, fine higher up but with squashed cars and everything else from any other angle. Flight is the worst at this level and MSFS is still very good with buildings and with trees well situated.
X-Plane looks and feels very different, but it does look 3d and very animated, those empty green spaces are just waiting to be filled in and at this point it only has the small selection of default buildings to fill out the view.
However take the add-on MSFS scenery and the huge range of coming default scenery and you will have something bordering on the spectacular. That is X-Plane10′s promise and depth and to a developer that green real estate it is worth money.
6. The other items that trickled out of Mallorca all point towards the same direction and issues. 64bit was a surprise and that came out from nowhere, X-Plane devotees expected that one coming in a few years time, now it is suddenly coming in a beta form in only a few months (or even weeks).
The other item now coming is seasonal textures, only as an add-on and only in a local environment right now and not as a Global Default, don’t ask when but it is a big job to convert all those tiles, but regional seasons will be possible soon – That was another item that was constantly put on the Laminar “We will get around to that” list.
Texture size limit bumped up to 4096 x 4096 max as well to help the boat along, so with all this suddenly dropping into your lap – then as a scenery designer he must be wondering now what simulator he is really working on.
Overall Laminar Research are wanting to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible and were probably more surprised than us by what was presented to them at Mallorca.
7. Then another bombshell….
“Prepar3D for professional use is now offered at $199.00, for students with hands-on educational experiences at $49.95″…
Feeling the heat – Of course, only a few months ago the official word was “No, as Prepar3D is for professional use, we have no reasons to go into a consumer market” was Lockheed’s mantra…well take two.
The next date to put in the event calender is for the Orbx major announcement for April, no doubt it will want to put forward Prepar3D as THE platform of choice….that heat must have been getting very hot.
So if you were an MSFS developer then what would you do now, drop tools and just go back to the MSFS community and carry on the as in the past in the better FSX/Prepar3D platform and note that X-Plane is too hard to re-engineer – that would clearly make the most sense.
But would it?
Remember money is business, and to make money you have to sell product, lots of it.
If you go back to Prepar3D then all the product you have is already sold and so you just move it from one folder through a Prepar3D installer to the next…no money in that….Aircraft too.
$199.00 is still a very high price to pay for a hobby, If you’re a student then it is bargain – so how many 50 -60 year old’s will now go back to school!
8. No doubt the area X-Plane can-not compete on one level and that is cities, the default scenery is fine but the cities are simply non-existent, fly to London and it is not there, New York…nothing, Sydney is a joke really.
And this is the current achilles-heel for the platformbecause simply there has been no past professional add-on support to create the scenery system, but that does not mean that developers should not discount X-Plane and why they won’t.
Money and features – The big carrot is that the new underlying OSM world gives developers a smorgisboard of ideas to create great product and animated product. If they use the OSM network to their benefit then X-Plane10 cities will be a work of art – the other benefit is HDR.
HDR is a feature that is yet really stillborn but holds the greatest promise for X-Plane10, It hasn’t had much refining yet (If any at all) and it is still very frame rate hungry, but when it works it is gobsmackingly beautiful in its execution, any scenery created correctly in HDR will be overwhelmingly good.
All this scenery with HDR/OSM 3d cities will suddenly leave any other simulator in the dust for quality, it won’t happen overnight but it will come quicker that you realise.
Aircraft…and non yet there either, because most new aircraft have to be created or converted for X-Plane10′s use and that takes time -and so we are all sitting in that strange twilight zone of nothing at the moment.
but once they do start flowing it will be a trickle turning into a full flow of products, same with airports as all are being created but still not on your desktop yet.
9. Another carrot is you, the X-Plane user – as most MSFS product is already sold and you are a market waiting to be developed and if you get it right then you can not have just only the MSFS market but you can add the X-Plane users to your customer base as well, in fact you are worth far more than the MSFS market as you are ripe for the plucking for products that can be repackaged and resold.
We see ourselves as a minority group but there is over 140.000 users in X-Plane with a core of 25.000 and that is growing by 20% every year, in anyone’s guess that is a lot of money to be made.
The odd thing is that it is very hard to estimate the total users of MSFS as they are not as centralized as X-Plane users are, you usually find there is 20,000 here but it is mostly 4,000 there.
10. Other overall issues are that X-Plane is also multi-platform, 10 years ago the Windows box ruled every domain, but today Apple are selling to the converted, they will never out-sell a windows computer but the numbers still add up and PrePar3D is Windows only.
Another plus for developers is Laminar Research itself. If you want a feature then it will be pushed through in an update, Laminar for the first time is hungry and wanting to please the developers as it knows its future depends on their involvement – If the two can work together then X-Plane10′s future will be assured and the developments and products will create a simulated world like no other, the promise is there and the money is too, but right now it really could go either way.
11. If you were a developer with a business to run what would you do?
The biggest reason is that “Yes it is difficult to convert to X-Plane”, but it has the most new features (and exciting current ones) for a long term business model and is constantly innovative with new ideas.
X-Plane isn’t going to go and do a “Flight”, and Lockheed could turnoff the tap in a few years if the low income business model isn’t living up to corporate costs.
You can work more closely with Laminar to build X-Plane into a genuinely large platform and the underlying flight model is certainly more realistic.
If the platform grows and performs there will be more money to be made out of X-Plane by creating a larger merged community.
X-Plane’s current situation is that the developers created (mostly scenery) product for MSFS and not for X-Plane, in every other area X-Plane is as good or even better than most simulators, it is just missing that vital component.
X-Plane10 was created to fix most of the scenery issues and will mostly succeed, but it still can’t beat the shear numbers of people creating products and add-ons for a platform….so to winning the developers hearts is the key to future success for Laminar Research and Mallorca was ground zero for that, win them and you win, win.
In the end we will all settle down in our own little simulated worlds just like it was a few years ago after all this swapping around of chairs for chairs, If anything X-Plane10 was certainly timely in its release…and maybe Austin will have the last laugh after all.
A Whole New World for Technology in Education [Lockheed Martin feature article, March 26, 2012]
Lockheed Martin launches Prepar3D® simulation software as an immersive educational tool for students at the undergraduate level and below.
Offering a virtual world simulation that spans from deep underwater all the way to suborbital space, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D® software is now available as a hands-on learning tool for students. The software harnesses the power of gaming technology for an educational purpose.
“Our Prepar3D software presents a virtual world for experiential learning, transporting students to realistic settings where they can see the effects of their decisions,” says Martile Allen, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D program manager.
“Imagine students applying geometry to figure out the shortest flight plans, or learning about marine life at the Great Barrier Reef. These types of lessons can come to life through virtual worlds,” adds Allen.
In addition to offering a platform to teach science, technology, engineering and math, Prepar3D allows students to work together to solve challenges and build their communication and teamwork skills.
Currently, the National Flight Academy uses Prepar3D as part of its hands-on programs to link learning standards and aviation games in the classroom, at community venues and in an in-residence program aboard the NFA Ambition, a new land-based simulated training aircraft carrier.
“Our nation is facing a shortage of skilled STEM professionals,” says David Shikada, the National Flight Academy’s chief marketing officer. “Consider that the U.S. is ranked 35th in math education and 29th in science education worldwide. Stats also show that the U.S. has made no significant performance gains in the last four years in science.”
“To reinvigorate the American spirit of innovation and build a better future for next generations, we must inspire young people to choose STEM disciplines so we can build a workforce that can bring new ideas and new products to the global marketplace,” Shikada says.
Since 2009, the National Flight Academy has brought Aviation Classroom Experience (ACE) labs to five schools in Florida. The program uses virtual game play and simulation to teach students aerodynamics, propulsion, navigation, communications, flight physiology and meteorology.
A typical ACE installation consists of a series of individual computer workstations, three Prepar3D flight simulators and an air traffic control station.
“It’s amazing seeing these kids’ faces light up when they work with their peers on a challenge. What’s even better is seeing the light bulbs go on when they understand a math or science topic that they were having difficulty mastering,” says Shikada.
Lockheed Martin Prepar3D can be used for educational curricula, after school programs, summer camps and at home. The software will be showcased during the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., April 28 and 29.
In 2010, Lockheed Martin launched Prepar3D for immersive mission rehearsal and procedures training by professionals and military personnel. The new academic version is now available at www.prepar3d.com for student instruction at and below the undergraduate level.
Lockheed Martin Experience [Lockheed Martin feature article, March 23, 2012]
Lockheed Martin is returning to the 2012 USA Science & Engineering Festival as the presenting host and a major exhibitor. The timing is auspicious as we celebrate our 100th anniversary this year, marking a century since our pioneering founders – Glenn L. Martin and Malcolm and Allan Loughead – first incorporated their aircraft companies. Lockheed Martin’s exhibits will explore the corporation’s legacy of innovation, collaboration, and the evolution of advanced technology and exploration through interactive and hands-on experiences. Examples of the interactive presentations from Lockheed Martin that will be at the 2012 Festival include the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, Flight Simulators, and the Robot Raceway. These, and others which will be on display at the Festival, are designed to inspire the future engineers and technologists who may someday develop solutions that make a profound difference in our world.
[Note that the simulators are in the normal font sizes within the list given below !]
Science Festival Demostration
Exhibit Description
F-22 Cockpit The F-22 Cockpit Demonstrator is an immersive fighter jet simulator. Attendees can fly the airplane and land safely at an airport to experience the feeling of being a fighter jet pilot inside a full-working cockpit. Engineers will discuss the opportunities for future pilots, as well as the engineering aspects behing the simulation.
HIL
This exhibit will fully immerse visitors with the F-35 fighter jet in a virtual environment. The participants will wear a head-mounted display and will interact as virtual maintainer inside the F-35 weapon bay.
T-50 Trainer The T-50 Cockpit Demonstrator is an immersive fighter jet simulator. It contains a full-working cockpit for each individual to experience the feeling of training like a fighter jet pilot. The simulation allows the individual to perform an afterburner take-off, fly the airplane, and land safely at an airport. Engineers will discuss the opportunities for future pilots, as well as the engineering aspects behing the simulation.
Environmental Booth
This exhibit will highlight several different models, displays, and Lockheed Martin technologies related to monitoring and understanding the environment, particularly as they relate to energy efforts. Highlights include:
· The WindTracer model from Lockheed Martin’s Energy Solutions Center, along with simple wind turbine models.
· The Multitouch Executive Dashboard – Energy (MED-E), which can visualize many different types of grid data — from power transmission lines to generation sources and the natural gas infrastructure of the US and European Union. It will be used as a centerpiece to discuss how real-time monitoring is important to alternative energy technologies.
· A tornado display model built by a Lockheed Martin engineer, and a display which details how tornados work.
Mondo Spider vs. Titanoboa
From the same team that brought us the Mondo Spider at the Festival in 2010, Titanoboa is a 50 ft mechanical snake powered by solar panels. Look for these two exhibits outside the convention center.
Antarctica 2041 – Renewable Energy in Extreme Environments
An exhibition of renewable energy equipment that was tested in Antarctica, as well as video footage from the icy frontier.
Solar Decathlon
Hampton University will display its efforts to produce a sustainable living and universal design house for the 2013 Solar Decathlon.
OmniGlobe
The OmniGlobe is an eye-catching and enlightening display that projects a wide range of geographic imagery, from flood zones and oceanic currents to CO2 levels.
Nanotechnology Exhibit
The Nanotechnology Tube (nanotube) canopy will allow Festival-goers to explore a range of applications for nanotechnology.
BioBus
The BioBus pulls in electricity from the solar panels on the roof and the wind turbine mounted on the bumper, runs its engine on waste veggie oil collected from restaurant fryer grease, and provides heat with pellets made from compressed sawdust. It powers a mobile microscope research lab where more than 10,000 students every year explore bugs, bark, cells, particles, and more at up to 30,000 X magnification.
Electromagnetic Devices
Three radioactive and magnetic devices will be on display: an electrophorus, an electroscope, and a kelvin generator. The devices provide a clear way to communicate the fundamentals of physics.
Fun Exhibits LLC
This interactive public artwork exhibit requires people to work together through shared-control interfaces. This fosters a sense of community as strangers engage each other in cooperative play. These exhibits stimulate enthusiasm for science by activating the most powerful motivator for learning: natural human curiosity. This booth includes: a ferrofluid magnetoscope, an exhibition on interactive electrolysis and the hydrogen economy, and a pedal-powered bubble dance party.
Museum of Interesting Things
The Museum of Interesting Things is a traveling interactive demonstration/exhibition of antiques and inventions inspiring innovation and creativity – learning from the past to create an inventive future. They will bring the following exhibitions…
· Eureka! The Invention Show: Explores the industrial revolution and mechanical era as it relates to green energy and alternative power, with interactive demonstrations of such items as the steam engine, Thomas Edison cylinder phonograph, windup toys and mechanical inventions.
· Can you hear me now? The Communications Show: Traces the evolution of inventions involving communication, including telegraphs, box wooden telephones, teletypes, wire recorders, crystal radios, pigeon post, cell phones and computers.
FIRST Robotics
FIRST Robotics Competition robots will take to the court, free throwing basketballs in a scaled-down Rebound Rumble challenge while FIRST Lego® League teams will compete in the Food Factor Challenge. Interact with the Lockheed Martin sponsored teams that engineered the robots and find out what it takes to build a functioning robot from scratch, and check out the simulcast of the FIRST Championships live from St. Louis.
Spirit of Innovation Award Winners: Electric Very Light Car team from West Philadelphia High School
The West Philly EVX Team from West Philadelphia High School Auto Academy, West Philadelphia, Penn., will display its Electric Very Light Car (EVLC). The EVLC is being prepared for commercial market and will set the standard for efficiency with electric vehicles.
Spirit of Innovation Award Winners: UTRApod team from Thomas Jefferson High School, Alexandria, Va.
This student team from Alexandria, Va., will demonstrate its ULTRApod, an underwater unit that uses turbines to harness hydrokinetic energy from a flowing river. Electricity generated by the turbines is then used to power an ultraviolet chamber that disinfects and purifies dirty river water.
NCIS:LA
Lockheed Martin brings engineering and Hollywood together in DC! Come and meet actors from the hit TV show NCIS as they pose for photos, sign autographs, and describe how the show incorporates real Lockheed Martin technologies.
Future Cities
The Future City Competition is a national, project-based learning experience where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades imagine, design, and build cities of the future. Two student teams will present their projects in the Lockheed Martin exhibit space.
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad student teams from the DC Metro area will demonstrate a variety of devices built for the Science Olympiad competition, including structures, vehicles, musical instruments and catapults. Science Olympiad team coaches will be on hand to share information with teachers and students.
MBSD
You’ve read about futuristic printing technologies. This booth will include an iPad game that allows students to construct 3D models of LM products and print them out to a 2Dprinter. The booth will include a 3D printer with continuous output to show how engineers can use them to rapidly prototype 3D electronic models.
Becoming Sustainable by Design
The mobile and interactive In the Zone display conveys how Lockheed Martin employees are committed to sustaining people, places and products to ensure the long-term viability of the Corporation. The four different zones, which include Sustainability, Environmental Remediation, Energy & Environment and Safety & Health (EESH), demonstrate how EESH considerations can be applied to everyday actions and business practices.
The display consists of a pop-up wall and four kiosks, which run interactive presentations and games. The F-35 Carbon Check Demo challenges participants to get the lowest carbon emissions when ordering parts for an F-35. At the conclusion of the game, Festival-goers can ask about how to make more sustainable decisions to reduce carbon emissions as well as costs.
Robot Raceway
Grab hold of your creative and competitive instincts as you design and program your own robotic race car and compete against your fellow students to see who can race past the finish line and capture the checkered flag first.
Mission Capabilities Powered by Cloud Computing
This demonstration features multiple critical missions that are powered by cloud computing, such as biometric-enabled identity management and emergency response and incident reporting. The identity management demonstration shows how Lockheed Martin can use biometrics to identify and authenticate people to special events, air ports, secure facilities and financial services, securely without compromising user privacy.
The emergency response and incident reporting demonstration shows how Lockheed Martin uses geospatial data to support crises management and humanitarian incidents. Festival-goers can see firsthand how cloud computing can reduce time to respond to crises on a global basis and provide real time situational awareness to first responders. Both demonstrations are engaging for a wide age range.
Cyber Security Exhibit: Cyber Security & You!
Festival-goers can participate in interactive sessions such as Email Flag Identification, Cyber Jeopardy, and other hands-on age appropriate activities.
Additionally, students will learn how Lockheed Martin delivers technology to customers while also learning about potential career paths in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Helicopter Simulator Soar through the skies of Washington, DC. This Lockheed Martin demonstration puts you at the hands of a helicopter. Pilot your way up, down, left, right, and spin your way through an aerial tour of our nation’s capital.
Meet the Astronauts
Do you dream about becoming an astronaut? Come and meet our astronauts. Hear stories that will help you turn your dreams into reality. This special appearance will include: a speaker Q&A panel and an autograph signing.
Orion Capsule
Come and see the next generation of space transportation, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. See the full size test capsule and how it was flown to test the emergency escape system that will ensure the safety of future astronauts.
Orion service module model and associated materials Alongside the capsule you will see a scale model of the Orion and service module like it will appear in space and see the progress Lockheed Martin is making toward Orion’s first flight. You might even get a chance to fly the Orion Simulator and dock with the International Space Station. Hubble Telescope Model
Have you seen those incredible images from space, taken by the amazing Hubble Space Telescope? Now is your chance to see a scale model of the Hubble and learn how it works.
Solar Display
Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft and instruments are giving scientists new insights into how the sun, the center of our solar system, works. See these exciting images and learn a little more about Earth’s brightest neighbor.
