A bit to my surprise I got an invitation to attend TechEd Berlin. So to ‘please’ (*blink*) my employer I will join you all in the Messe.
I’m looking forward to see the latest evolutions in Azure.
Azure is something that will become big and to my opinion is the first real step of Microsoft in the direction of hardware solutions that have to do with hosting and serving capabilities. Are they outgrowing their software market share and now looking for strategic investments in the hardware market? Who knows and the future will tell but for the moment I like what I see related with Azure.
Google Wave development stopped
In 2009 I was completely blown away by Google Wave.
I was particularly interested in the new ways of collaborating and communicating. Some real time features, that are available in Google Wave, I never saw before on other platforms.
Recently I heard that the development was stopped and Google would only continue using it their own products but as a platform.
It is a pity but apparently people were not ready for these new ways of communication. I still hope to see features like side-by-side typing appearing future products. May-be they get accepted when released at a slower pace. On the other hand I still need to convince my parents to use text messaging and chat. For some people adapting to new ways of communicating will always be hard.
Wii used professionally
We all know that the gaming industry pushes hardware to the limit to realize a very realistic user experience.
The Wii console has some nifty feature onboard that can be used in a professional environment as well. For example it has an infrared camera that can track objects, it has accelerometers to track movement, …
I came across the website of Johnny Chung Lee which is a researcher at Applied Sciences Group of Microsoft. The guy engineered some very cool appliances based on the Wii. Check out the video where he used a Wii console to create an interactive Whiteboard.
With some low budget components he created the same functionality as we find in products that cost thousands of dollars. The only thing I’m wondering is what his employer, Microsoft, thinks about his inventions since they sell these very expensive devices as well. Think about MS Surface.
Microsoft going Open Source?
I recently stumbled on Scott Guthrie blog where he explains that Microsoft is releasing the source code of the .NET Framework Libraries. Finally was my first impression. A bit latter and a bit disappointed, I saw it was a blog post from 2007 when MS realized a link between VS 2008 and a website with the debug symbols for framework classes.
For some of the hardest bugs I had to solve as a consultant, the last resort was the use reflector to check the libraries’s code to understand what is really happening. Having access to the debug symbols we are able to simple step through.
Anyway I’m very pleased with the effort MS puts into documenting their libraries and providing additional information. Compared to the early days it is a vast improvement. I remember creating C coded OLE ActiveX objects to run Delphi application against. Not a lot of fun!
I always wonder why Microsoft does not allow some Open Source licensing schema for his core libraries. It is not that the content is hidden. Reflector easily reveals what is in these libraries. It is probably my academic flower power period where I thought everything could be open and free, that is catching up.
Who Moved My Cheese
“Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson is an allegory for organizational change.
The story is about two mice living in a maze. The are fed cheese every day in the same location … one day the cheese is gone and we read about the different reactions of the mice.
The lessons are:
Change Happens
They Keep Moving The Cheese
Anticipate Change
Get Ready For The Cheese To Move
Monitor Change
Smell The Cheese Often, So You Know When It Is Getting Old
Adapt To Change Quickly
The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
Change
Move With The Cheese
Enjoy Change!
Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!
Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again
They Keep Moving The Cheese.