The new Developer marketing boy. : Web 2.0

BizSpark: calling all startups

chlong — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:36:14 GMT

Video: Steve Ballmer announcing BizSpark at the Developer Liberation Day, Thursday 6 November, Sydney, Australia (click here for the official video)

Steve Ballmer announced Microsoft BizSpark during his visit to Australia, following the success of DreamSpark, which allows students to download our developer and design tools at no charge.

What is a startup to Microsoft? Do I qualify?

There are four pre-requisites for a startup to join BizSpark. These are:

be building a software based product,
have been in existence for less than 3 years,
make less than USD 1 million and,
be privately held.

BizSpark is ideal for companies building Web applications, or delivering Web based services. A startup can be a part of the program for three years (and will have to renew their membership annually), unless they are disqualified because they have gone public (or have been acquired by a company that does not qualify for BizSpark) or if their revenue is greater than USD$1 million.

What kind of software is BizSpark offering?

We are offering development tools as well as production licenses of our server products.
For development, testing and demonstration, startups can download the software included in the Visual Studio Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN Premium, plus VSTS Team Foundation Server (Standard Edition).
For production use (that is, to deploy and host an application over the internet), startups can download and use Windows Server, SQL Server, BizTalk Server, and Office SharePoint Server for Internet Sites hosting, as well as Systems Center for managing hosting server operations
(please refer to the BizSpark Startup Program Guide for full details)

"No up-front cost" - do I pay when I leave the program?

Yes, there is a $100 fee when a startup exits the program.

What happens after three years of participation in BizSpark?

After three years in BizSpark, a startup will exit the program. A startup can continue to use the development tools although if updates are required to the development tools however, the MSDN subscription at usual rates and terms. apply. Or you can join the Microsoft Partner Program and receive complimentary tools as an Independent Software Vendor (ISV).

To continue using the production licenses, a startup may choose to take advantage of a licensing program like Microsoft’s Services Provider License Agreement program (or other Microsoft licensing programs that may be available at the time) but is in no way obligated to do so.

How do I join BizSpark?

Via a BizSpark Network Partner. This ecosystem will comprise of academic institutions, entrepreneurial organisations, business accelerators and investors who will help startups enrol. Find a Network Partner near you.

How does this help me, a startup?

Software - via the program
Support - via MSDN (two support incidents per startup) and the resources that the Network Partner has to offer for startups
Visibility - via BizSparkDB. Startups can profile themselves on BizSparkDB.

Is Azure going to be a part of the BizSpark offering?

Windows Azure, announced at PDC last week, is a natural platform choice for early stage companies.

While Azure is appealing to everyone from large enterprises to hobbyists, it is going to be particularly interesting to startups and Web 2.0 companies as well who want to take advantage of a rich, highly versatile web-based platform to build scalable applications for the web.

BizSpark program startups will receive preferential access to the Azure Community Technology Preview. To sign up for the CTP, BizSpark participants should enrol on the Azure site and profile with the same Windows Live ID they used to enrol in BizSpark. During the CTP, access will be assessed and assigned on a company-by-company basis and will be confirmed as capacity becomes available.

Where does Empower or Action Pack for Web Developers fit?

Click here to download this image as a pdf. Some information is specific to Australia only.

Where can I get more information?

http://www.microsoft.com/BizSpark

or http://microsoftstartupzone.com/ and the blogs from that page, like Anand Iyer's.

Innovation Days 2008

chlong — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:16:00 GMT

The dates for our ISV road show have now been published and we’re coming to a city near you.

What? “Get your feet on the ground, head in the clouds”

The day will concentrate on important announcements released at October’s Professional Developer's Conference, and will focus on our Software plus Services paradigm. This is Microsoft's vision for the next generation of computing that brings together the best of cloud-based services and traditional client computing software to deliver a richer experience to your customers.

When? 8.30am breakfast until 4pm

Canberra: 18 Nov
Sydney: 19 Nov
Brisbane: 21 Nov
Melbourne: 24 Nov
Perth: 27 Nov
Adelaide: 28 Nov

Who? Business/Technical Decision Makers in the morning… to become a little more detailed in the afternoon.
Click here to Register

Win a TekSkin for your Laptop!

chlong — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:23:00 GMT

The Microsoft REMIX and Partner teams have joined forces with TekSkin to give away 100 free laptop skins... all you have to do is create your design, upload it to the site and the best 100 designs win a laptop skin... easy.

5 top reasons to buy a TekSkin:

Protects your notebooks, keeping it looking new
You can have your own design on the cover of your laptop
Durable & long lasting and made in Australia :)
Easy application
Fits all note books

Terms and conditions apply including to be eligible to enter, you have to be an Australian Certified, Gold Certified or Registered Member of the Microsoft Partner Program who attended either the REMIX08 Australia conference at either Sydney on 20 May or Melbourne on 22 May.

Technorati Tags: TekSkin, REMIX08

Popfly Nominated for CNET Webware 100 Award

chlong — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:56:17 GMT

Popfly has been nominated for a CNET Webware 100 award. Right now, we’ve been selected as one of the 300 finalists by CNET editors. As you can imagine, we’re pretty pleased just to be nominated, but we’d be more pleased if we actually won and to do that, we need your help: we need you to vote.

They’ve made it pretty simple: just click on this link and you’ll be directed to a page where Popfly is automatically checked. Voting runs from now until April 21, so tell your friends and get them to vote also. The competition is pretty stiff, so it’s going to take a lot for us to win.

Scott Guthrie on Microsoft's Play for Rich Internet Applications

chlong — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:47:06 GMT

Our Scott Guthrie (who heads up the Silverlight development team) was interviewd by Knowledge@Wharton. Visit the site to download/play the audio. Questions from Knowledge@Wharton include:

Microsoft just launched the first beta of Silverlight 2. Why is this important?
What's Microsoft's revenue model for Silverlight?
How will you decide when to go with Silverlight versus other web technologies?
I note you've adopted the term "rich Internet application" rather than "rich interactive application" -- you're not going to fight that battle?
How do you differentiate yourself from Flash? Why is Silverlight something that we need? Why not just use Flash if you're building an interactive web app?
when will we see Silverlight on the iPhone?

Visit the site at http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1920

ReMix Australia 2008

chlong — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:41:33 GMT

Details on ReMix Australia have been announced. The details are:

1 day in 2 cities

20^th May in Sydney
22^ndMay in Melbourne

Opening Keynote followed by 2 streams (technical track is owned by Michael Kordahi and the creative track is owned by ShaneMo so give them your feedback on what you need)
Tickets will be $199 incl GST (includes a copy of Expression Studio Version 2 – NFR, valued at over $1,000)
Registration will open 7^th April
We will host the Imagine Cup Finals again
If you are interested in being a sponsor, please let Finula or myself know

Technorati Tags: Remix Australa 08

US$99 Expression Web Offer

chlong — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:21:00 GMT

A professional design tool, Expression Web creates modern, standards-based sites that deliver superior quality on the Web. It is available both as a full retail version and as an upgrade from Microsoft FrontPage (any version); Office and other products (see below table) are eligible for special upgrade pricing.

Visit http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/retail.aspx?key=web for more info.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Expression Web

Messenger IM Control and Presence API Beta

chlong — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:02:53 GMT

Today Angus Logan announced the availability of Windows Live Messenger IM Control & Presence API. Get it now for your blog or website as it's a great way to connect with your customers.

In a nutshell, it allows people to publish their presence and receive messages via the web from anonymous users without Messenger client installed via a control placed in the blog (or any website). The messages received are within the Messenger Client.

Could be interesting... I tried it but it was too wide (it needs at least 300x300px to overcome the captcha type input to prevent spam). So once I have time to update the graphic etc. I'll think about implementing it... or figure somewhere else to put it on the blog... maybe the header itself?

Visit http://settings.messenger.live.com/Applications/CreateHtml.aspx to create your own.

Alpha Computer Consultants Expression Training

chlong — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:16:38 GMT

If you are interested in Microsoft Expression, Alpha Computer Consultants are one of the first training partners to deliver a course: http://www.alphacc.com.au/course_outlines/microsoft-expression-silverlight.html

Microsoft Expression-Silverlight Course Outline

Course Aim:
This course introduces users to the features of Microsoft Expression & Silverlight. Users will be able to use Microsoft Expression & Silverlight to produce rich media. Microsoft® Expression® Studio takes your creative possibilities to a new level. The professional design tools and innovative technologies in Expression Studio give you the flexibility and freedom to bring your vision to reality—whether you are designing standards-based Web sites, rich user experiences on the desktop, or managing digital assets and content.

Course Prerequisites:
Previous experience using applications on a PC is an essential prerequisite for this course.

Course Duration: Two days; 9:00am - 4:30pm

Classroom courses include:

Adobe Certified instructors (with min 10 yrs experience)
Commercial courseware used in this course
Certificates
After course support (via email, to reinforce the learning)
Training guarantee
FREE repeat of public course within 6 months (where required, and on same version), see terms & conditions

Alpha Course Registration Steps:

please choose your course
call/email the office for specials/availablility,
register online BUY SYD BUY MELB or call one of our sales consultants 1300 880 860

Click here for Course Timetables

Win an AIMIA Award

chlong — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 06:17:35 GMT

Nominations for the 14th Annual AIMIA Awards, the longest running and most prestigious awards in Australia’s interactive media industry, will be closing Friday 9th November 2007!

There are plenty of Awards Categories to choose from, so click here to start your entry:

Best Advertising or Marketing
Best Children’s
Best Classifieds
Best Corporate or Business-to-Business
Best Cross-Platform Content or Content Integration
Best Cultural, Lifestyle or Sport
Best Integration with an Offline Advertising Campaign
Best Interactive TV
Best Emerging Exporter
Best Entertainment
Best Financial Service
Best Learning & Education
Best Mobile Advertising or Marketing
Best Mobile Product or Service
Best News, Media or Reference
Best Non-profit or Government
Best Online Retail
Best Science, Health or Environment
Best Student Developed Content
Best Tourism or Travel
Best Word-of-mouth, Peer-to-peer or Viral
Effectiveness Award
Best of the Best Award
Outstanding Contribution Award

Entries for the Awards are open from Tuesday 2nd October to Friday 9th November 2007, and all AIMIA Business, Associate and Corporate members are eligible to enter. Student members can enter their projects into the Best Student Developed Content category, and all members are invited to nominate an individual for the Outstanding Contribution Award.

Winners of the 14th AIMIA Awards will be announced and celebrated at the Digital Content Industry’s Night of Night’s, a glitzy ceremony bringing together over 650 industry leaders in Sydney on Friday 7th March, 2008.

Be a real winner in interactive innovation. and visit www.aimia.com.au/awards for more details and to begin your entry!

Technorati Tags: AIMIA, Microsoft Partners

Web Central Roadshow

chlong — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:03:30 GMT

Australia’s largest web and application hosting company, WebCentral, who are also the 2007 Microsoft Asia Pacific Hosting Partner of the year, will soon be kicking off their annual Partner Roadshow. As occurred last year, Microsoft will be presenting at the Roadshow – and all Microsoft Partners are welcome to attend.

Our very own Scott Barnes will be presenting... if you see him, ask about RIA. I'll be attending the Sydney event.

What will be covered?

WebCentral’s plans and roadmap for 2008
Microsoft's next generation web offerings, which tie in closely with WebCentral’s plans for 2008
How to be involved in the Software + Services vision

When is it?

Brisbane: 29 October 2007, 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Melbourne: 31 October 2007, 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Sydney: 2 November 2007, 8:00am - 11:00am

Full details and registration are available from www.roadshow.webcentral.com.au or call 1800 66 22 26 (option 2)

Technorati Tags: WebCentral, Microsoft Partners, Microsoft, Hosting

Web Directions South

chlong — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:49:40 GMT

I attended the Web Directions conference today in Sydney... one of the keynote speakers was Rashmi Sinha, a designer, researcher and entrepreneur. She is also the CEO for SlideShare, the growing web 2.0 type site for sharing PowerPoint slides. I've used it to share slides in previous postings and enjoy it's simplicity... and speaking to her, I found out that it's soon to have docx capability, so I can upload PowerPoint 2007 files :). I'd also like to see a plugin for Windows Live Writer.

Rashmi presented "The perils of popularity" (click here for the slides) which was an interesting presentation on how to drive hits to your site. It was very consumer biased about how to play the game with plenty of examples of all the usual suspects.... very interesting. Lots of key examples of all the stuff that's found in MarketingSherpa, so if you are an ISV and haven't signed up yet, let me know.

Tomorrow's agenda looks as good. Hope to see you there.

Technorati Tags: Web Directions South, Rashmi Sinha

Microsoft Web Experience DVD

chlong — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:18:32 GMT

As part of the new Web solutions pages up on the Partner Portal, you can request a Microsoft Web Experience Stack DVD. This is a great resource which is proving to be really popular as it allows you to really test drive our new platform, push it's limits, learn about our new products and see how it compares against the competition. It also includes software that may not be available through other means, like an Action Pack etc. So if you are a Microsoft Partner based in Australia I can give you a complimentary copy... keep reading.

The DVD includes trial versions of (which expire March 2008):

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition, SP2
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and .NET Framework 3.0
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, SP2
Microsoft Visual Studio Professional
Microsoft Expression Studio (includes Microsoft Expression Web, Expression Blend, Expression Design, and Expression Media)

There's a bunch of additional resources on the DVD as well:

ASP.NET 2.0 | ASP.NET 2.0 Virtual Labs | ASP.NET 2.0 Webcasts | Microsoft Web Development Learning Series (ASP.NET 2.0)
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition | Overview | Virtual Labs
Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition, SP2 | Overview | Training
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, Professional Edition | Overview | Virtual Labs | Webcasts
Microsoft .NET Framework | Overview | Virtual Labs | Webcasts
Microsoft Expression Studio | Overview | Virtual Labs | Training Videos

So, do you want one? :)

Do you want to pay for the postage?

You can either click here and then click on this graphic --> complete the online form and pay US$5.00 for postage

- OR -

if you are based in Australia and are a Microsoft Partner, send me an email or leave a comment and I'll post you one at no charge (limited to the first 100 requests, 1 copy per organisation). I will also have a small supply of these at the Australia Partner Conference in a couple of weeks time.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Web Experience DVD, Microsoft, Microsoft Partners, Web 2.0, Windows Server, .NET Framework, SQL Server, Visual Studio Team System, Expression

SharePoint Goes Web 2.0

chlong — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:47:06 GMT

I'm been looking at this community kit for SharePoint for a while now and as Eileen says: more and more people are coming round to the idea of SharePoint Wikis and blogs, so the release of our web 2.0 "addon" (great marketing term eh?) is a really great idea for anyone who needs to interact with their customers.

This community kit for SharePoint consists of a set of to open up your site to a whole new set of features. Take Hawaiian Airlines for example. what a lovely site. Built in SharePoint. All they need is to add the blogs and wikis feature for customer feedback and they've got a truly interactive customer experience..

If you're interested in creating a community site using SharePoint instead of community server, here's a good place to start. And if it's other stuff you're looking for - go here to get the community portal with all resources in one centralised place...

Technorati Tags: SharePoint Server, Community Kit

WebTrends & Social Networks

chlong — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:26:35 GMT

From Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim:

WebTrends releases a new version of their Marketing Lab web analytics product.

Mark Evans suggests that the music industry no longer needs fear peer-to-peer networks. It’s social networks that are sharing illegal music.

Not only are more of us using social networks, we’re spending more time on them that ever before.

Click here to subscribe to the newsletter.

Technorati Tags: WebTrends, Social Networks