The Worldwide Telescope project from Microsoft Research is now available. It is simply incredible. If you are into astronomy or not you should check this out. The guided tours are a particular highlight. This is an amazing project from the Research crew.
Rick talks about the recent announcement of the fund here. It’s a $150M fund to drive mobile software/technology innovation.
It’s a great idea and I am proud to see it headquartered north of the border.
I had to read Rick’s post twice to notice something -
“we aren't sharing plans or getting sign off from anyone, including RIM, on the investments”
“What Platforms? All of them. No, really, all of them. Does that mean if somebody has an application on another mobile device but it isn't running on a RIM device we would fund them? Assuming it was a good investment, yes. We would expect the RIM devices to be on the roadmap and would certainly fund for that roadmap.”
This is an interesting twist. Windows Mobile has tremendous momentum in the Canadian marketplace right now. I believe that for a mobile software vendor thinking of developing a business we have a few benefits to consider:
- Speed to market: .NET developers are easy to find and Windows Mobile is straight forward to code for. Can you say Silverlight Mobile?
- Carrier support: just watch the latest Rogers, Telus and Bell ads on TV
- Strong partner channel support: we help you make $
So – if you have a business idea in development on Windows Mobile let us know. If it’s great, we can go from there…
www.energizeit.ca
This is our “capstone” event for the year (remember, when I say year, I am talking fiscal year – July – June).
EnergizeIT is the premier event for Canada’s IT Technology Professionals. This year's event takes place on Saturday, May 24, (the Saturday after the long weekend) at the Toronto Congress Centre. The theme this year is Anything is Possible as we celebrate the phenomenal things that IT has made possible in our work and personal lives (social media, cross-distance collaboration and communication, the never disconnected lifestyle, and more) as well as the potential of IT to change our lives in the years to come.
EnergizeIT brings together Developers, IT Professionals, IT Managers and Students for a day of amazing content and most importantly connection between each other. The event includes 9 tracks on topics such as Green IT, Career, Security and much more. There will be hands on labs and other activities so be sure to bring your laptops.
I will be there kicking the day off during the keynote session (which is always a blast for me). We will also take some time to recognize the potential achieved and accomplishments of your peers whose hard work will be rewarded at EnergizeIT through the presentation of the MSDN Code Award and TechNet Innovation Award to the winners by Phil Sorgen, the President of Microsoft Canada.
All the info is on the main page here. You can register here. Follow the behind-the-scenes information on the Canadian IT Pro and Developer blogs.
Join the Facebook Event Page and Group.
Follow on Twitter.
Pictures on Flickr.
Technorati Search.
Want a taste of last year? Check out the video:
Date:
Saturday May 24, 2008
Location:
Toronto Congress Centre - Toronto, Ontario MAP IT
Time:
9:30 am – 4:30pm. Registration starts at 9:00am
Cost:
Free of charge. Come and enjoy the day!
It is ironic that we announced a new (amazing) product/service called Live Mesh at the same time, but the MESH conference in Toronto is just around the corner. The agenda looks really solid. I like MARS as a venue, but I hope they have improved on the A/V setup this year for the main session (my only beef from last year).
We have always been a sponsor of the event (in various forms) and this continues this year. Our very own David Crow is speaking at MeshU. I will be there as well – mostly lurking the halls. Last year I moderated a pannel, but this year no such luck. Hey Stuart & gang, come on – let me talk :-)
Anyway – if you are there I would love to connect.
Cheers,
m.
I was on CP24 yesterday talking about DreamSpark which is a program that enables students to download Microsoft developer and design tools at no charge.
Video: Dreamspark From Microsoft
Over the last few months there has been a Microsoft-wide contest to encourage people to “improve the art of the demo”. Two of our team – Rick and Christian – came in second place. Not bad!! The video is now up on Channel 10, check it out…….
The art of the demo: Part 2
We are sponsoring the second Founders & Funders event in Toronto. The first one was a major success.
“Founders & Funders is a private, invite only social event. Founders and Funders is dedicated: to helping Canadian entrepreneurs to meet each other; meet potential funders: angel, VC or other money sources; to have fun; and see how we can help each other create the NEXT BIG successful company.”
More about Founders & Funders can be found here.
Technorati Tags:
Canada,
Startups
This is a GREAT idea. As someone who once paid for this kind of service, I can tell you that the “professional” data services are expensive and I really never thought they provided value for the money. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think paying for this kind of service is a bad idea – but if you can build a community powered service that basically does the same thing, go for it! I’d also agree with the founders that this kind of data is vital to keeping Canada’s startup community healthy.
Read all about it at Startupnorth:
"Tonight at StartupCamp Toronto we are launching Startupindex.ca, an open, community-managed and free startup tracking database for the Canadian startup community. This is Version 1, and we will be putting a lot of work in to it in the next few weeks and months.”
Technorati Tags:
Canada,
Startups
The Canadian Strategic Architect Forum is underway in Vancouver. We have a great turnout and the content has been exceptional so far.
We have been recording the sessions and day 1 is already available via the Live Silverlight Streaming Service.
Check it out:
Keynote - Norm Judah
Keynote - Richard Cleaver
Keynote - Stephen Ibaraki
Windows Server 2008 as a SOA Platform – David Remmer
Realizing Dynamic Systems – David Remmer
How to Manage Virtualized Environments using System Center – Damir Bersinic
Improving the End User Computing Experience at Bombardier – Alain Paquette
Core Infrastructure Optimization – Damir Bersinic
Building Business Intelligence Using the Microsoft Platform – Kristina Kerr
Building an Agile IT - The CN Way – Plamen Hristov
BPIO Service Line – Bart Bischoff
I am in Vancouver this week for the Canadian Strategic Architect Forum. This is an annual event we run to bring together the key Architects from our customers and partners in Canada. The event facilitates a sharing of ideas and a conversation about the future of Enterprise technology.
This is the 5th year in a row we have run the event and it has become one of my favourites. I will be playing the role of host and we have a great line-up of speakers.
I will try to blog a bit over the course of the event to let you know about some of the things coming out of CSAF.
Inaugural award recognizes significant contributions made by the technology community
MISSISSAUGA, ON – March 17, 2008 - Microsoft Canada Co. is pleased to announce the creation of an ISV Innovation Award – the Blue Sky Award – recognizing exciting, cutting-edge solutions developed on the Microsoft-based platform. The award is open to ISVs yet to achieve Certified or Gold Certified Partners status. In developing this award, Microsoft Canada is helping to recognize innovation by creating a forum for leading Canadian software developers to showcase their outstanding achievements.
People are the lifeblood of today’s businesses – their passion and ideas have the power to part clouds and create a world of limitless opportunity. The Blue Sky Award is designed to celebrate their innovation and the leading-edge applications they inspire.
"Independent software developers lead the cutting edge of technology innovation in Canada," says Mark Relph, Vice President of the Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft Canada. "The Blue Sky award allows Microsoft to provide ISVs with the opportunity to showcase their outstanding achievements and to recognize their efforts."
Entrants will be judged on the unique use of technology, the real-life challenge they are solving and the market potential. The winner will receive a customized engagement plan to support their software development, which includes:
- Software development resources
- Business development resources
- Public awareness campaign
- Exposure to other Microsoft-based resources both in Canada and Redmond, including access to senior executives, developer evangelists and partner account managers
“We are pleased that Microsoft is creating awareness around our desire to innovate and contribute to Canadian society and the economy. As a Microsoft ISV, we have seen the many benefits of developing on the Microsoft-based platform,” says Julian Spillane, CEO, Frozen North Productions Inc.
About the Award
For more information on the Blue Sky Award please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/canada/bluesky or click here to view the award information video.
Yesterday I had a chance to speak on a panel at ICE08. My fellow panelists included Amber MacArthur (ex-CityTV, new media strategist, video blogger and all round great person), Kris Krug (aka kk+, President of Rain City Studios and one of the best known photographers in Canada – check out Static Photography) and it was hosted by Eli Singer from SEGAL Communications.
(thanks to photojunkie for the pic)
It was a great discussion and we covered a lot of ground including:
- our definitions of “community”
- why should people think about building communities
- how to invest / how to build
- what happens when it goes wrong
- great success stories
- great failure stories
It was nice to be able to have a discussion on a topic I am very passionate about with 2 people who are so active in the community in Canada. Oh ya - we were able to avoid the Mac vs. PC debate :-)
I think the ICE folks recorded the session, so hopefully I will be able to share it down the road.
Thanks to David for getting me involved.