Random Keynote Tidbits
Michael Desmond and Keith Ward, editor in chief of MSDN, are at PDC09 this week. Here's the scoop direct from L.A.
When U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra was remotely demoing Microsoft's "information as a service" subsystem, codenamed Dallas, he demonstrated a job-search application running on a mobile device. It was a cool demo, but perhaps the most interesting aspect is the device on which the app ran -- an iPhone. No Windows Mobile devices here.
I'm sorry, but two-hour keynotes are just too long. Too many demos, too many speakers, too many Microsoft partners. Too much, too much.
How much new stuff was announced? Not much at all. Dallas was new, and looks promising. And the vision of Azure was somewhat clarified. Microsoft promised to make the adaptation of existing internal applications to cloud-enabled apps almost as simple as clicking a few buttons. This is what's known in the industry as "overpromising."
It's interesting to see the reaction in the press room when the coding portion of the keynote starts. Conversation among the reporters picks up. The buffet gets full in a hurry. Attention wanders off of the bigscreen monitor broadcasting the keynote, and the media schlubs start blogging, tweeting, etc. In other words, we all get bored.
How many of you are ready for Azure to go live on Jan. 1? I'd be interested to see if you are, and how you're going to use it. Email me and let me know.
Posted by Keith Ward on 11/17/2009