Mesh, Deep Zoom, Netflix on Xbox: Is Microsoft Becoming "Cool"?
Microsoft. Depending on who you are, their name alone elicits some pretty strong feelings. Some people love them, others love to hate them. Few people are neutral. However, everyone can pretty much agree that Microsoft has been fighting an image problem lately and one that has started to make them look less like a towering giant and more like the underdog. Those "I'm a Mac" ads didn't help, either. However, some recent innovations make us wonder if the tide is starting to turn for the big blue monster.
Earlier this year, we wondered if the Microsoft was beginning to wake up from an apparent slumber. That post addressed cloud databases and IE8, but perhaps those won't be the turning points for Microsoft's image after all. In fact, given the number of happy Firefox customers, IE8 may still be somewhat of an uphill battle. But some other innovations prove that even Microsoft can still be cool.
Netflix Comes To Xbox
Earlier this week, Netflix subscribers got a nice surprise - they no longer need to save up for that Roku box to get instant access to Netflix movies on their TV. Instead, the new set-top box for Netflix is going to be one that many people already have in their living rooms: an Xbox 360. The partnership between Xbox and Netflix will be bringing a new "Watch Instantly" feature that will appear on Xbox later this fall. In addition, a "Live Party" feature will allow people to watch movies together over Xbox Live. Well, the coolness of that feature is debatable...but still, Netflix on Xbox? Did Microsoft just win the living room from Apple?
Deep Zoom Changes the Web
Bah humbug - another browser plugin. Is that what you think? Well, like it or not the Silverlight plugin is being pushed hard. It's going to be installed on millions of HP computers and it's going to power NBC's Olympics '08 website, so it's going to become hard to avoid installing this one after a while.
If you've been paying attention to Silverlight news, you know that one of the most remarkable things about it is its Deep Zoom feature. It's definitely the coolest. It initially received attention when Hard Rock debuted their Memorabilia website. Then there was the incredible Deep Earth site (which technically didn't use Silverlight's Deep Zoom, but instead uses Silverlight plus a custom-written component created in Visual Studio). Now we have a Silverlight Deep Zoomable image of Yosemite National Park. 70 photographers, GPS-enabled cameras, 10,000 high-res photos. The results let researchers study rockfall activity and help Yosemite search-and-rescue teams with their operations by providing detailed, zoomable maps of the rockfaces. Cool? Yes, definitely.
Live Mesh
This service is rapidly approaching coolness. Mac fans have complained there's no Mesh for them, but that's only a matter of time. In the past couple of days, we've seen Live Mesh open up to all and launch a mobile web site.
Via m.mesh.com you can see your stream of Mesh news, access your Meshified folders, and move your photos, videos, and other content from your mobile device into your Mesh, instantly making them accessible from any computer, anywhere. The Live Desktop (cloud storage) offers 5 GB, but you aren't limited to meshing only 5 GB - you can mesh as much as you want. Data will sync from device to device via P2P connections, but only 5 GB are stored online for access when you're away from a device you own. You have the option to configure which files are part of that 5 GBs. Oh, and it does Remote Desktop, too.
If you haven't been able to wrap your head around Mesh, yet, this video is a killer introduction. Here, Ori Amiga demos the native Mesh feeds, WPF applications using Mesh, a Silverlight client that supports working on and offline, a custom Facebook application that syncs Facebook photos with Live Mesh, and even a Mac client that sends photos to Live Mesh. Cool? You bet.
Ori Amiga: Programming the Mesh
Your guide to this video
- 10:53: Skip to this point to start seeing the best stuff
- 19:10(ish): The developer stuff continues until 19:10ish
- 19:40: WPF demo app Family Show
- 27:01: Silverlight App PhotoZoom running offline
- 33:08: Mesh connector for Twitter
- 34:35: Mesh connector for Facebook
- 36:45: Mesh running on the Mac - photo from Photobooth synced to Mesh almost instantaneously - to both PCs and mobile!
- 43:00: Opening/editing files directly from the cloud - the cloud will be a shortcut on your desktop
- 46:09: Viewing offline RSS feeds synced to Mesh in your RSS reader
Do these innovations change your opinion of Microsoft? Are you impressed, annoyed, neutral, upset, undecided? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Author Disclosure: I also blog for Microsoft's Channel 10. I'm not a Microsoft employee, just a technology fan. This is not a paid endorsement - these are personal opinions.
Comments
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I don't think I've ever seen them as un-cool. Some of their hardware (input devices, etc.) is great, they're still pushing out decent ideas (you've mentioned some above), you can't knock the Xbox too much for what they've done with it, etc..
But, and it's a very big but, their Operating System is slowly becoming a mess under it's own weight and much of their current improvements seem to be more reactionary than visionary. Unless they get some of the woes with this fixed, I'm not overly impressed these days!
Posted by: Neal McQ | July 18, 2008 7:38 AM
It always amazes me that the developers side of Microsoft is left out.
Posted by: Yuvi
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July 18, 2008 8:23 AM
The least cool companies tend to be the ones that try too hard to be cool. Articles like this that commoditise cool do not help Microsoft appear cool to people who are indifferent about computers. You know, THE REST OF US. Fortunately, there is a company that makes and markets technology for the rest of us ....
Posted by: Mike Peter Reed | July 18, 2008 8:26 AM
Cool, thanks for the info.
Posted by: ITrush | July 18, 2008 8:36 AM
I don't think they're becoming cooler, they are doing what they do best, and that's playing catch up. Silverlight, netflix , and live mesh functionality are already out there in one form or another, just now ms is doing it.
Posted by: cease | July 18, 2008 9:38 AM
I've tried other companies, but I always come back to Microsoft for their development tools and platforms. I'm willing to give up a little bit of cool for the many benefits they provide.
I'm the main developer for uvntv.com an online TV station/Social Network launched by DJ Pooh and Ice Cube. Our new site is built completely in Silverlight. We originally had it in PHP, and thought about using Flex, but in the end the MS tools and support we got were to good to pass up.
Posted by: Luke | July 18, 2008 9:39 AM
Netflix is really welcomed.
Posted by: LiviuX | July 18, 2008 11:01 AM
Microsoft is and will be cool.
They backing up technology and research in areas we can't even imagine. A friend of mine is Professor of Cognitive Science and recently fund for research in integrating AI with Facebook. Robotics is another perfect example.
So, let's face it Microsoft is ubiquitous.
I am even writing these very lines from an XP box. :)
Posted by: panefsky | July 18, 2008 11:06 AM
I always laugh when I hear the proponents for uber cool but yet to make a dime Web 2.0 start-ups heap scorn on companies like Microsoft that make.... billions a year
One question for bootstrapping start-ups toiling away all hours in a garage somewhere - through being slow and steady and working on their business case as well as technology case, MS has achieved billions of dollars worth of profit rich revenue for decades - now how cool is that?
Well, in theory, yes, Microsoft is getting "cooler". Or at least, it's on the paper and if you take an even closer look to what they up to, it's the same picture all over again. They don't get "open", they don't want be open and they are hardening their grip even tighter with technologies like Silverlight. It's actually enough for everybody to be "fighting" Flash from Adobe and one of the few things that Apple is currently doing right is not placing Flash on the iPhone. Apple is demonstrating this way, that no proprietary plugin is needed to enjoy the web. But then again, Nokia back stabbed all of this work by announcing that they will be installing Sliverlight on Nokia phones (which is really sick).
And you've forgot one thing: Vista. It's a done deal. Vista is dead a cow that is rotting away under Microsoft's roof. I think it did hurt them even more, than Microsoft ME back in the days.
Sure, Microsoft isn't that and they are not going to be (at least not for a foreseeable future). But are they gaining momentum in really doing the right thing and not only to appear cool? No, sorry.
And by the way, you should read this about the XBox/Netflix deal. I though of it as a game changer to, but if the technology isn't ready, than it's not going to matter how much content they can deliver: http://www.parislemon.com/2008/07/microsoft-winning-digital-living-room.html
Posted by: Igor Schwarzmann | July 20, 2008 4:11 AM
The Hard Rock Memorabilia link in this article is incorrectly formatted resulting in an error page. The correct link is: http://memorabilia.hardrock.com
Posted by: Will | July 24, 2008 3:59 AM