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At the beginning of each year, many of us assess how we (and our developer community) might want to invest our respective time and resources for the year ahead, and we’ve devoted some of that energy in the past few months toward thinking about the various developer conferences we host.
As part of that reflection, we have decided to merge MIX, our spring web conference for developers and designers, into our next major developer conference, which we will host sometime in the coming year. I know a number of folks were wondering about MIX, given the time of year, so we wanted to make sure there’s no ambiguity, and be very clear… there will be no MIX 2012.
For context, the idea to create MIX was conceived in the fall of 2005, literally as the PDC05 main stage was being disassembled after the final keynote. While we reflected on that PDC, there was a lot of discussion around our engagement with the web community, and how we needed a more focused effort around our upcoming plans for Internet Explorer, the roadmap for our web platform, the work we were starting on web standards (we were shipping IE6 at the time), and so on. MIX06 was held about four months later in Las Vegas, and has been there ever since. A lot of great things subsequently happened in and around MIX in the six years that followed, but there have been a couple of slow and steady trends that have brought us to this point.
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Skype — a company which is in the midst of being acquired by Microsoft — announced on August 21 that it is acquiring GroupMe.
GroupMe offers a messaging and conference call service, which it launched about a year ago. GroupMe officials referred to the service as “your real-life network,” and offers users a private chat room on their phones. GroupMe enables users to chat within their groups while circumventing SMS (and thus, not deducting from users’ SMS balances).
GroupMe allows users to have multiple “disposable” groups, and works on a variety of phones, including iPhones, Blackberries, Android phones and feature phones. When I talked with company backers a couple of months ago, they were porting their application to Windows Phones, and had big plans for the “Mango” Windows Phone release (allowing users to pin groups to their start menus and obtain real-time notifications).
Skype and GroupMe are not disclosing terms of the deal, but estimates have the deal valued at more than $50 million.
“We delivered strong financial results despite a mixed PC environment, which demonstrates the strength and breadth of our businesses,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “Consumers are purchasing Office 2010, Xbox and Kinect at tremendous rates, and businesses of all sizes are purchasing Microsoft platforms and applications.”
Microsoft Business Division revenue grew 21% year-over-year. Since its release last spring, Office 2010 has become the fastest-selling version of Office in history, and the integrated innovation with SharePoint, Exchange, Lync and Dynamics CRM is driving significant growth for the division.
“We’re already making strong traction across our Server and Tools Business by embracing cloud services,” said Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer. “Satya has deep experience in both our server business and online services, which will help accelerate our momentum while setting the course to deliver the cloud computing scenarios of the future.”
As president of the Server and Tools Business, Nadella will oversee the overall strategy, engineering, marketing and product development for Microsoft’s server, tools and cloud platform efforts. This includes developing the technology road map and vision to drive adoption of the company’s products, tools and services, and delivering the company’s next generation of cloud solutions for business customers.
“Our server and tools business is one of the fastest growing and most profitable businesses at Microsoft,” Nadella said. “I see great opportunity for Microsoft to grow the business and also lead the way in the transformation of enterprise IT. I’m excited to work with such a high-caliber team to chart the path for our continued success today and growth in the future.”
Nadella, 43, has been with the company for 19 years and most recently led the engineering efforts in the Online Services Division, which includes overseeing the technical strategy for one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world, spanning the company’s Search, Portal and Advertising platforms.
Microsoft is said to be on the brink of another shuffle among its senior management.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer plans to make changes to the company's senior management in order to improve the company's competitive edge in Web services, smartphones, and tablet computers, according to a Bloomberg report that cites unnamed sources.
Those changes, Bloomberg says, will be announced "this month."
What remains unclear is whether the changes will bump out any of the existing division heads, in place of talent from within or outside of the company, versus changing the number of business units and their executive make-up. Bloomberg did say that a central part of the company's plan was to "promote managers who have engineering chops and experience executing on product plans," which would imply moving someone at the top to make way for that promotion.
A Microsoft representative declined to comment.Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20030938-75.html#ixzz1DNlJNnJS
To those wondering why Microsoft has become increasingly cautious about acquisitions, here’s another morsel for thought.
Between 2006 and 2008, Microsoft bought at least eight search/advertising-related companies. On the list: Massive, aQuantive and AdECN, among others.
We’ve heard about Microsoft allegedly pulling the plug on Massive, its in-game advertising purchase. It has lost a number of its aQuantive execs and sold off part of that company (Razorfish) after buying it. And this week, we learn that Microsoft is closing down AdECN, the ad-exchange network it bought that year.
Thrice burned, thrice shy? Are these kinds of seemingly bad bets at least part of the reason why CEO Steve Ballmer has been putting the brakes on Microsoft’s acquisition spree for the past year-plus? Do you blame him?
Continue at All About Microsoft
Our #CES creative presentation creative consultant @ChetLogo has completed his journey of molding presenters for Microsoft's keynote. Watch his magic! Visit us on Facebook for more Chet (and CES).
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Today’s “rumor” has to do with the Microsoft brick-and-mortar stores, which have been slowly multiplying over the past year plus.
Currently, Microsoft has stores in San Diego, Calif.; Mission Viejo, Calif.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Lone Tree, Colo.; Oak Brook, Ill.; Bloomington, Minn.; and Bellevue, Wash. Microsoft’s strategy with these stores has been to locate close to Apple stores in each city and use the stores as a showcase for new PCs, Xboxes, Kinects, Windows Phones, games, apps and other consumer goods.
According to one of my sources, who has had a very good accuracy track record, Microsoft may field as many as six new Microsoft stores in 2011. On the short list of likely sites: Houston, Orlando and … at long last … New York City.
“With Games for Windows Marketplace, we set out to create a digital store built for PC gamers end-to-end,” said Kevin Unangst, senior global director, PC and Mobile Gaming, at Microsoft. “And by integrating with our existing Xbox LIVE and Windows Live services, we’ve made it easier than ever for millions of gamers to see for themselves how easy buying PC games can be.”
With Windows Embedded Automotive 7, car makers and suppliers have access to Microsoft’s latest tools and technology, as well as a worldwide partner ecosystem, which allows them to quickly create in-vehicle experiences that are easier to use and more engaging for drivers and passengers. Key features include speech commands, touch input, hands-free Bluetooth phone communications, advanced dashboard systems for access to music, maps, third-party apps and navigation, and streamlined connectivity with other devices.
The New York Times is reporting that the CEOs of Microsoft and Adobe recently met. Supposedly on their agenda: Apple.
I get that. That two of the vendors who’ve had problems getting their interactive media technologies approved for use on the iPad and the iPhone are chatting seems possible, if not probable. A Flash-on-Windows Phone 7 discussion? I could see it. Possible complaints to legal authorities launched in tandem? Sure, another plausible coffee-klatch topic….
But now I’m seeing folks leap to the conclusion that Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer met with Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen to talk about Microsoft buying Adobe (based on a passing mention that such an idea was on the Ballmer-Narayen “let’s team to beat Apple” agenda. There’s this paragraph in the New York Times’ report:
“Another person with knowledge of past talks between the two companies explained that Microsoft has courted Adobe several years ago with possible acquisition discussions. But the deal never moved past informal talks as Microsoft feared that United States Department of Justice would likely block the deal on antitrust grounds.”
Call me highly skeptical. Microsoft has been downright conservative on the acquisition front, as of late. The few acquisitions the company has made in the past year — only one of which Microsoft acknowledged publicly (AviCode) this week — are small companies. Microsoft officials have said repeatedly the company is not looking to buy bigger companies; any new acquisitions are likely to be small and supplemental to the company’s existing businesses.
Full Story At All About Microsoft
At Hot Chips today, Microsoft's Xbox team unveiled details of the system-on-a-chip (SoC) that powers the newer, slimmer Xbox 360 250GB model. Produced on the IBM/GlobalFoundries 45nm process, it's fair to say that the new SoC (pictured above) is the first mass-market, desktop-class processor to combine a CPU, GPU, memory, and I/O logic onto a single piece of silicon. The goal of the consolidation was, of course, to lower the cost of making the console by reducing the number of different chips needed for the system, shrinking the motherboard, and reducing the number of expensive fans and heatsinks.
The SoC also makes the new Xbox design more power efficient, which is nice for consumers, but the real motivation behind boosting the console's efficiency is to reduce the size and cost of the power supply unit, and to realize the aforementioned savings on cooling apparatus.
Microsoft engineers presented the new SoC and apparently did a lot of the layout (or perhaps all of it) themselves. Given the unique requirement of consoles—the system must perform exactly like the original Xbox 360—and despite a five-year gap and multiple iterations of Moore's Law, the consolidation presented a few interesting challenges.
If you take a look at the block diagram, you'll notice that most of the blocks are fairly obvious: the triple-core CPU is there, as is the ATI-designed GPU, and then you have the dual-channel memory controller and I/O. But the purpose of the "FSB replacement block" may not be obvious. This particular block essentially implements a kind of on-die "frontside bus" with the exact same latency and bandwidth characteristics as the older bus that connected the CPU and GPU when they were discrete parts.
Full Story at Ars
Earlier this morning the W3C announced the formation of a new Web Performance Working Group chartered with making it easier to accurately measure web application performance. Enabling web developers to understand the real world performance characteristics of their applications is critical to the success of HTML5, and we’re excited to have been selected as co-chairs of the new working group alongside Google. We look forward to partnering with the W3C and the broader web community to enable these scenarios through an interoperable API.
The third Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was the first browser to implement these portions of the WebTimings specification. Following standard conventions, we used a vendor prefix (ms) on the name because the specification was still under active development and hadn’t been brought into the charter of any working group. Google also recently provided an early implementation of these API’s inside Chrome using their vendor prefix (webkit). Through early collaboration between our engineering teams, we almost have interoperable implementations which is impressive for an API that has only been discussed for a few months. This is a great example of what’s possible through collaborative partnerships at the W3C.
Full Story at IE Team Blog
Tracking your energy use and saving money just got easier today. Microsoft and Blue Line Innovations have joined forces to give consumers real-time information about their energy use down to the minute and the dollar. The companies have combined Blue Line’s popular energy tracking device with Microsoft Hohm to give consumers information about their household energy use — and its cost — at a glance, with easy-to-use graphs that show where you can save the most energy and money.
“With a utility bill you may only see your energy usage once every month or even every two months,” said Troy Batterberry, product unit manager for Microsoft Hohm. “The Blue Line PowerCost Monitor and WiFi Gateway provide updates every 30 seconds, so you’re getting real-time data so you can take real-time action. It’s kind of like online banking for your energy bill, offering 24x7 access to your usage.”
The Blue Line PowerCost Monitor attaches to a household power utility meter; no wiring is required, and no need to call in an electrician. The WiFi Gateway device wirelessly transmits energy use data to the consumer’s Microsoft Hohm account and can provide personalized energy recommendations. Hohm also offers social networking communities on Facebook and Twitter to help users compare notes and get tips for ways to improve their energy efficiency.
Graphs and charts make it easy to identify usage patterns and potential problems. For example, the electricity usage chart below shows that power consumption spiked when the user turned on the air conditioner at various times of the day. With this type of insight into energy usage, consumers are empowered to make immediate choices about how to manage their household power consumption.
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