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Introduction to Microsoft Hololens

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Hololens

As with  all new technologies the question is often “if” and “when” to use to avoid answering the wrong question: “Technology is searching for a problem to solve” instead of “Problem was solved by applying a suitable technology”.

In this introduction presentation I focus first on explaining what Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) is. Next we zoom in on the Microsoft HoloLens device and how it can be used in some canonical use cases. To conclude some attention is paid to the development aspects of HoloLens applications and the toos involved.

Presentation’s content:

  • Virtual Reality and HoloLens
    • Defining Virtual Reality
    • HoloLens Device Overview
    • HoloLens Holographic Principles
  • Demo 1
  • Using HoloLens
    • HoloLens Use Cases
    • HoloLens Team Collaboration
  • Demo 2
  • Developing for HoloLens
    • Development Teams
    • Development Tools
  • Q&A and Hands-On

Download the presentation:

Microsoft Hololens IntroductionDownload

Microsoft going Cuckoo sorry Coco for Blockchain and eDiscovering GDPR regulation!

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The fourth day of MS Ignite 2017, I followed some more sessions on security related topics. The focus was on Blockchain and some more on GDPR regulation.

With regards to Blockchain it is clear that in current economies people are trying the remove the middleman. In the commercial world this means lawyer and banks. Banks can be replaced by crypto-currency and lawyers by intelligent contracts. So Blockchain is seen by these middlemen as disruptive breaking down expensive systems that had sometimes not a lot of added value. The response is either fear or greed driven. Fear by pointing to the risks and complexity of trusting systems to deal with objects of potential high financial value. Greed is where middleman reluctantly abandon their position as their monopoly is broken down.

When getting into Blockchain the industry is demanding solutions to organize proof of concepts in such a way they can fail fast and cheap if things would not work out. To support this MS offers SaaS solutions that can be kept private i.e MS Coco Framework. In general, Blockchain environments fall into two categories. Either some public Blockchain offering is used running under the bonnet. Either a private Blockchain is used and participating members treat this as a trusted third party.

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Microsoft tools assure your sensitive data is safe!

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During the third day of MS Ignite 2017, I looked for sessions focusing on security.

In the data protection paradigm, we see MS supporting GDPR compliance by a new tool for SQL Server. It should be obvious for every company that client sensitive data needs to be protected. No company wants the reputational or financial harm a data breach can result to. But the numbers tell different. On a yearly basis 2 billion records are lost which boils down to a staggering 5 million a day. No wonder we distrust companies and the EU started regulating this topic as apparently self-regulation in industry failed.

MS created a model and tooling to support clients to achieve GDPR compliance. The model is a simple 4 step approach going form 1. discover and 2. manage over 3. protect to 4. report. To achieve general GDPR compliance a company must:

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Is Microsoft more open than the Open Source community wants us to believe?

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Is Microsoft more open than the Open Source community want us to believe? I think we need to “Hit Refresh” on our opinions as well!

Microsoft

Microsoft

The second day of MS Ignite 2017 was for me all about technical architecture in contradiction to the first day where strategic vision was the focal point.

Having been in my career at both sides of the proprietary vs open divide, I started in an academic and open source java oriented setting and moved to consultancy using MS .and NET oriented technologies, I must admit that what I’ve seen MS doing today with Linux was once again an eye-opener.

You see MS pushing for Windows on Linux and Linux on Windows. Not only is the command line interface cross platform but SQL, VS Code, .NET Core and ASP.NET Core are now running on Linux. This means .NET applications can be developed and run natively in a Linux environment. The support for Linux on Windows is also extending rapidly. Linux containers run on Windows. Bash, a traditional Linux CLI, runs on Windows. Also in the cloud we see great evolutions by now, 8 Linux distributions are supported with close Azure integration something you would only have expected from Windows VM’s before.

In the Apple IOS world, we are already more accustomed to MS solutions to be present. Think about Office for Mac, Skype and Visual Studio. I was amazed to see that Skype would come to Linux. We are still not there yet but I hope to see one day Office and Visual Studio running cross platform.

In the SharePoint and Office 365 world further adoption of open tools to support the development of customizations is realized. The push for JavaScript is remarkable. Development of extensions is relying on TypeScript, Gulp, Yeoman, React and node.js!

If you see the evolution one can ask, who is truly open across all these eco-systems? I remember in 1999 we said Linux and Windows would never work together I guess pigs can fly and hell just frozen over.

Hit refresh on your opinion of MS!