Beck's Microsoft Blog: Computers and Internet

Announcing Windows Live Writer 2008 and more!

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:16:05 GMT

Come and get it! http://www.windowslive.com/

The very first beta release of Writer was in August 2006. Since then we've had 2 more beta releases and over 1.5 million people, all over the world, installing the product and send feedback our way.

This has been a really fun product to develop and I look forward to planning out the next version with even more cool and exciting publishing features!

Ms. Dewey

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 01:24:51 GMT

I got forwarded an email from a Microsoft colleague asking if I had ever heard of http://www.msdewey.com. The title of the email talked about the "sexiest search engine on the planet so far".

I started wondering if Ms. Dewey was in any way a "pen name" for the Microsoft DUI (pronounced "dewey") team that is all about making the user-inteface of our applications great looking (or, if you embellish, sexy).

Its a very interesting prospect to think that Search could be personalized more through a person/character that looks as though they are participating in helping me. The unforuntunate part is that the page loads half-way and then crashes for me. So I never got to see if this concept was built into the rest of the site and really worked or not. Really disappointing.

Beyond Vista - Editorial - CIO

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 23:27:01 GMT

With all the news around the Vista launch coming up, it was nice to see an article about what next in Microsoft's sight. While I'm excited about Vista, being someone working on Windows Live, this is something that I'm very excited about. One thing that struck me about the article was the idea that software could be distilled down to a browser + software as services:

Furthermore, all a user needs to access a Web-based application is a browser—not a robust operating system tightly integrated with the application. Therefore, unlike in its past battles with Netscape and others, Microsoft cannot rely on its Windows strength to pull its bacon out of the fire. And while Microsoft argues compellingly that it would be foolish not to take advantage of all the processing power a PC offers, the company simultaneously is planning for a future that will rely upon less powerful mobile computing devices and ubiquitous high-speed Internet connections.

Source: Beyond Vista - Editorial - CIO

This isn't a really new idea, Microsoft has been talking about this concept for years and yet somehow, because of where technology and the web are at today, the reality of that statement seemed so much more plausible than it ever has. Today I can get my email, save documents that I care about (and roam them), upload pictures, and a whole lot more using my browser and a bunch of web services. And, ever since I got my smart phone, I've noticed my need to interact with my desktop has decreased significantly. While I couldn't live without my desktop today, I can actually imagine a day soon where I could.

Although, I'm still wondering if I'd really want to. When I start to visualize the scenarios that I do today and imagine doing them on a lightweight machine with just a browser I get a strong tinge of excitement. And yet, at the end of the day, I love the idea of having my PC, with all my pictures, videos, music and files on it - I just don't want to give that up. I can't explain it and I can't imagine an advantage compelling enough to push me over the edge. The other scenario I can never imagine getting comfortable with is finances. While a consistently disgruntled customer, I currently use Microsoft Money to manage my finances, and while I make an occasional transfer now and again through my bank web site or pay a bill online, I can never imagine a day where I feel comfortable doing and storing my finances on a remote service somewhere. I know that someone could argue that accessing my financial information through the web sites of my financial institution is not a whole lot different than managing my money online and yet there is something emotional that I can't let go of that still makes me think I would still prefer to have it on my "old clunky" desktop computer.

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft catering to masses

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 23:48:11 GMT

Wow.

I think Microsoft's taking a smart approach that will do for feeds what Google did for search. It's bringing a powerful technology to the masses by making it dramatically simpler to use.
Like Google, Microsoft is also cementing its position by providing free tools that make it easier for Web designers and software developers to work with feeds.

Source: The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft catering to masses

Korean social-networking site hopes to nab U.S. fans | CNET News.com

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:40:00 GMT

I was wondering when this would happen.

It's arguably one of the oldest and more successful social-networking sites in the world, and it's now coming to the U.S.
Cyworld, a site based in South Korea, kicked off a beta in the U.S. on July 27 and later this month will formally begin a nationwide tour to encourage Americans, particularly those in the age 18 to 29 demographic, to create personalized Web pages, or "mini-homes," on the site.
Henry Chon, CEO of Cyworld USA, won't say how many people the beta site has attracted, but said the number is "way more than we expected."

Cyworld claims to have distinguished themselves among the social networking players in their focus groups that know each other:

"A lot of social-networking services are like going to a concert in a big stadium. You have loud music and 40,000 to 50,000 people in a stadium," Chon said. "Everybody is having a great time, but you will probably never see them again."

That sounds a lot like a direct comparison to MySpace and I'd like to see Chon comment on Cyworld vs. Windows Live Spaces which is the closest in relation (that I've seen) to the South Korean site.

The one aspect that I find extremely compelling and competitive is the notion of social networking sites as an extension of the cell phone:

Social networking took off early in South Korea, largely because of the proliferation of broadband. After the monetary crisis of the late 1990s, the government funded the creation of a massive cellular and broadband network that covers most of the country. Partly as a result, the country has become one of the global centers for online gaming, electronic homes, consumer electronics and development work for third-generation and fourth-generation networks.
In South Korea, Cyworld also functions as an extension of people's mobile phone. Using a camera phone, they take a picture of what they're eating for lunch, post it to their site and send a text message directing friends to the latest update. The ability to post from a mobile phone will come to the U.S. too.

I am also intrigued by their presentation of blog, rather "journal".

While the term "journal" seems to connote a less cyber-geeky and "professional" impression than what the term "blog" currently means in the US, I really like the decisions Cyworld has made here - they've really kept to their entire metaphor of each users site being a book about them. I love the ability to see Weather and Mood associated with each post. I also which they had "Song".

Personally think that cyber-geeky is geek and not chic (though I find myself corrected when close to those deep in the blogosphere - those who think they are responsible for "Web 2.0", etc). Cyworld's ability to gain broad appeal among people who are not into earning their geek-badge will be strong. However, I worry about their ability to attract people who really take their blog seriously and do blogging intended for professional audiences. This is where I think Windows Live Spaces has a edge.

All in all, very exciting news!

Source: Korean social-networking site hopes to nab U.S. fans | CNET News.com

Facebook customers revolt and everyone misses the point

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 02:37:28 GMT

Yesterday, Michael Arrington wrote up a positive review of the NewsFeed and MiniFeed features that were newly added to Facebook.
Today, there is a revolt from Facebook customers. And, based on the comments I'm reading, industry people are missing the point.

This is not about if Facebook did something cool. They did. They really did.
This is not about customers reacting (possibly overreacting) to change. They are. Most customers don't like change.
This is not even about "privacy" (in the overused-industry-buzzword sense of the word).

This is about control.
This is about control over my life, my reputation and how I want people to percieve me. To some degree this is about being able to control the information that people can see about me. Some people like to call this "privacy". That approach, and that term, is overlaoded and misses the point.

It is very frustrating to be a person developing technology and watch other people that make technology, and their close followers, consistently miss the sociological and psychological impact of the products they make and the reasons why "users" like or dislike something. The rationale that "all this information was available before" as a reason for why customers shouldn't be upset about this change, or that they'll be happy about a band-aid fix that is an option they can "check off" to disable the behavior, is just crap.

Start with Zachary Harrison for example:

Through Zachary's mini-feed I can see that wrote on Patricia Cheugn's wall 5 times in the last week (he only posted to Jake's wall once). I can also see that he posted to Patricia at all hours of the day (2:58 am, 1:49 pm, 10:30 pm). He seems to like Patricia a lot and want to interact with her all the time (definitely more than Jake).

That's really interesting to see SINCE HE'S BEEN DATING ME FOR THE LAST TWO WEEKS!! I can't believe I hooked up with him the night he wrote on Patricia's wall at 2:58 am!

Actually, we're not dating. I really don't know crap about Zachary and made the whole scenario up. But it's plausable and that I might be getting my point across.

Maybe, Zachary's new friend Chelsea Roska, that he was flirting with at Bull Feather's last weekend, is now telling all her girlfriends that "Zachary was so cute and was totally flirting with me at this bar like he didn't have a girlfriend. And then, the next day I got a thing to be friends on Facebook, which of course means that he's interested. And then I went to his page yesterday and saw that he left like a million messages for this girl Patricia. What's up with that?!"

Sounds like Chelsea might not be giving Zachary the time of day since seeing this new addition to his Facebook page. Sounds like Zachary might be pissed that Facebook made it so easy for Chelsea to see where and when he's leaving messages for people. Now Zachary has to try to explain to Chelsea that Patricia is, "an old friend from high school that is totally like my sister - I swear I don't have a girlfriend."

Good luck Zachary.

Zachary might love the concept of mini-feeds and news-feeds features. But with some exceptions. And those exceptions might change and evovle depending on what Zachary wants people to know about him at certain times in his life. Maybe Zachary's old girlfriend, Kate, just broke up with him and he's writing on Patricia's wall (a lot) to make Kate jealous and hopes that Kate might see her friend Patricia's wall and notice that Zachary has been putting a lot of stuff up there. While at the same time Zachary is trying to hook up with Chelsea as his rebound girl and hopes that she doesn't stumble on all of his posts to Patricia's wall. Quite a predicament.

In Zachary's case, and all other similarly plausable scenarios, 'm wondering how a check box option on Facebook solves this problem. I don't think it does.

I'm also interested in seeing how Facebook addresses the nuances of Zachary's need for different levels of control for individuals at different times in his life. Will Zachary really even know to, or want to, make the effort to set all of the options that would be required to design the exact way each person in his life is able to "see" him? Or will he just turn the feature off and feel resentful that Facebook messed up his dating life?

I'm not saying this problem doesn't have a solution. I think Facebook, and others creating social networking products, can get it right but only if they pay attention to how their customers really feel. I'm willing to be patient and I don't think anyone is really listening yet.

Comentful! Not a real word, but a real useful service.

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 00:38:05 GMT

Recently, I worte about the word "planful" and it's reality, as a word.

Ironcially, Mike Torres blogged about a web service named, of all things, COMMENTFUL. While not a real word, Commentful seems like a really useful (no pun intended) service.

Commentful actually

"watches comments/follow-ups on Blog posts, Digg submissions, Flickr pictures, and many other types of content. Whenever there is an update, such as a new follow-up or comment, Commentful notifies you instantly".

Commentful gets way more useful when I add it as an RSS feed to my live.com homepage. Since live.com is my dashboard for all information that I like to view the web adding a commentful "block" to my page allows me to take quick account of threads I like to track and if there is anything new that I would want to read. The screen shot below shows how I can hover on a my blog and see if there are any new comments that I should read.

That's freakin' sweet!!

This actually make my live.com experience better in so many ways: I can track updates from one place, I don't have to remember to go to sites and check if there are updates, I don't have to add each site as it's own block on my dashboard (saving me room on my home page and the time of sorting through what is new). I'm sure the list will grow as I continue to play with this.

All I can say for now is that this is great and I hope to see more.