Hey folks,
For those of you not at PDC that want to keep up-to-date with the exciting announcements there, we’re covering PDC live until its conclusion. To watch, go to www.microsoftpdc.com
There is an all-star lineup of guests including Mark Russinovich, Patrick Dussud, Steve Marx, Bob Muglia, Dave Campbell, Yousef Khalidi, Ray Ozzie, Erik Meijer, Kurt DelBene, Scott Guthrie, Don Box, Chris Anderson, Gary Flake, Carl Franklin & Richard Campbell (.NET Rocks).
· To participate, send a tweet to @ch9live
After the conference, sessions will be available for review at this link: http://microsoftpdc.com/sessions/
Cheers,
Global Partners Team
“The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.” — Isaac Asimov
Following on Mr. Asimov’s sentiments, Microsoft is changing, updating and improving its resources for ISVs. The Innovate On program will be retired on Friday October 30th. Instead, we encourage you to explore the following resources:
Greenlight helps you make your applications compatible with the latest Microsoft technologies. Greenlight currently supports Windows and Windows Server with SQL and Exchange and Office coming soon and other technologies added regularly. Be ahead of your competition, win business, and keep your customers satisfied. Visit the Greenlight site to find the tools and technical resources you need to make your application compatible.
Channel 9 Learning Center (we blogged about this on Monday)
The ISV Portal on the Microsoft Partner Network where you can learn more about the ISV Software Solutions Competency within the Microsoft Partner Program. It is designed to help you target and differentiate your software offerings. Learn how you can minimize risk and speed your time to market through ISV-specific benefits, like code samples, internal-use software licenses, and access to technical and business support.
Thanks to all who engaged through Innovate On and participated in developing the 25,000 projects that were supported through the program. We hope you will find continued value in Microsoft’s other programs to build your businesses going forward.
Best wishes for continued success,
The Global Partner Team
Don’t delay! Visit this new destination on Channel 9 which provides free technical training on emerging Microsoft products. Its a great opportunity to share a new training resource with your team and ensure htat your company is poised for success with the latest technologies. There is a collection of continually updated courses at the new Channel 9 Learning Center. Each one includes a set of videos, hands-on labs, and source code samples help to bring your team up-to-speed quickly.
There will be landing pages for each course offering, and the first two are now available:
- Visual Studio 2010 RC and .NET Framework 4
- Windows 7 for Developers
In addition to the great course material, on the landing page for each course you will find a link that allows you to download an entire Training Kit as a self-extracting package.
We hope you’ll enjoy and take full advantage of the Channel 9 Learning Center.
Cheers and happy developing!
Global Partner Team
To celebrate the launch of Windows 7 we are announcing an exciting new online competition called 7 Ways to Change the World! The competition encourages people to submit their ideas on how technology can help a nonprofit have a greater impact in the community.
How do you enter?
Step 1: Visit this website to find out more about the contest: http://www.7waystochangetheworld.com. Note, you must be a US Citizen and NOT a Microsoft Employee to be elligible. See site for more details.
Step 2: Create a 2-minute video explaining how you believe a Windows PC could help a nonprofit make a greater impact. It might be a food bank managing their inventory or an environmental group tracking deforestation, the possibilities are endless!
Step 3: Submit your entry by November 11th, 2009
Step 4: Stay tuned between November 16-24th when the 7 winners will be announced, one winner will be announced on each of the 7 weekdays.
What do you win?
There will actually be 7 winners, and each person who submits a winning entry will receive a new PC with Windows 7 and a $7,000 grant for their chosen non-profit organization.
Want more information?
Get the latest news on the event via Twitter and Facebook
Kind Regards
Tom Murphy
Corporate Communications, Citizenship & Community Affairs
Los Angeles Convention Center
Conference | Nov 17 – 19, 2009
Workshops & Boot Camp | Nov 16
The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) is the definitive developer event focused on the technical strategy of the Microsoft developer platform. At the PDC, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from and connect with the people behind the technology. >>Learn More
See the future of developer technology, register by Oct 30 and save $300 on your conference pass! >>Register Now
While you’re there, learn more about developing on Windows 7 – FREE! Join top Windows 7 engineers for a deep-dive into developing on Windows 7. The Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp will be held on Nov 16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center (before the PDC09 conference) and is FREE of charge for PDC09 attendees and the public. You must register to attend; space is limited. >>More Info
The PDC provides strategic information for ISVs' long-term platform and business model planning, including Cloud computing and other key software advancements.
Don't delay, register for PDC today!
October 22nd will be an exciting day for many. Are you ready to ride the Windows 7 wave?
A little homework for you this weekend would be to visit the ms dev website and check here for some great training to ensure your company’s readiness and compatibility with Windows 7. There is also general Windows 7 training available by clicking here.
We noticed on twitter, that the MS Dev team promises even more great new windows 7 training on Monday 10/19. Click here for a direct link.
If you have not done so yet, but are ready to upgrade your applications to Win7, go to here to see some great resources that our US Colleagues have put together.
Follow all the latest and greatest training by subscribing to ms dev Twitter:
One last inspiration. View the apps of the Code 7 contest winners here and see some of the unique and creative ways your peers are engaging Windows 7.
Best wishes for continued success,
The Global Partner Team
Each month through June 2010, Microsoft will bring you a 90-minute Architect focused Webcast to educate on the latest trends/topics and how new technologies can align with your business needs. The first is October 27th. Here are the details:
An Architect’s perspective on Silverlight 3
Abstract: Many .NET developers are becoming more and more interested in the Rich Internet Application development space, and in particular Silverlight. In this session we will step back from a detailed implementation technology and take a higher level look at Silverlight from the architect’s perspective. We will discuss the types of applications where Silverlight makes sense and some scenarios where Silverlight may not be the appropriate technology. We will also delve into some of the architectural decisions that the architect must consider when writing applications for this platform and where some of the tradeoffs may lie.
October 27, 2009 at 11:00am – 12:30pm PST
Event ID: 1032427862
Link to Register: An Architect’s perspective on Silverlight 3
Speaker Bio: Tim Heuer
Tim is a program manager for Microsoft Silverlight, a web technology aimed at delivering rich internet experiences to users. Before this current role, he was a developer evangelist for Microsoft serving the Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana and Utah areas aiming to strengthen and support communities and software developers in those geographies.
More to come!
Best,
Jodi Larter
Sr. Marketing Manager
Hello ISV audience and welcome back to the ISV team blog! We took a short hiatus for the summer as we reorganized and reenergized in anticipation of the Windows 7 launch this autumn. With just a few short weeks to go until the consumer launch of Windows 7, we want to send a special thank you to the following partners for their amazing support and partnership on this launch:
In the coming weeks, you will see a long-list of trusted partners announcing their support of Windows 7, as well as previewing how their applications will integrate with the newest and most exciting features of Windows 7, such as its touch-capabilities. Our partners are participating globally in virtual launch events, launch parties hosted at consumers’ homes, social media activities, press events and more. Some of the partners you’ll be hearing about soon include: CeWe, Sonic/Roxio, Corel, Nero, Nuance, Autodesk and more!
The news about Windows 7 has been trickling for a while now, but that’s about to change when the flood gates open as Microsoft and our ISV partners come out in full force October 22.
Warm Windows 7 Regards,
Persio Afonso
Director, Global Partners Team
Hi folks,
This is Vlad Eydelman, I work on technical strategy with global partners in the Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Warehousing (DW) space. Charles Fichter, an Architect on our team, and I just published a whitepaper that provides an overview on how different Microsoft BI/DW technologies relate in the BI spectrum. More importantly, it talks about how you can take advantage of integration and extensibility capabilities in Microsoft BI platform and tools to build or extend your own products/solutions and surface those to your customers. We also show you real-world scenarios how other ISVs and customers in the Enterprise and Mid-Market space build or integrate with the platform in their offerings.
We take you on the lap around BI Platform technologies such as Data Integration, Connectivity, Reporting, OLAP, Scorecards, Data Mining/Predictive Analytics, Portal and Collaboration, etc. and relate them to a BI Pyramid.
Each step in the pyramid does not necessarily imply the dependency on the previous block but shows more of the spectrum and what are you trying to achieve in the BI landscape. For example, you might already be offering extensive reporting capabilities in your products and now looking for that next step toward pervasive BI. In the paper, we explain what those next steps might be for you to build on top of the platform or extend it for your needs.
So whether you’re just starting exploring BI capabilities and thinking about how to surface those within your applications for your customers or looking for the next level in the BI Pyramid, check out this paper for ideas and start discovering the possibilities.
Download the whitepaper by clicking here or for a full view of published Business Intelligence Whitepapers, visit http://www.microsoft.com/bi/resourcecenter/whitepapers.aspx.
Vlad Eydelman – Senior Program Manager, Global Partner Team
Charles Fichter – Senior Architect, Global Partner Team
What software company wouldn’t want to reach millions of new customers? Windows can help you do that during the global launch timeframes. Simply show the world you are working to support Windows 7 
and Windows Server 2008 R2, by getting your products listed on the Windows Compatibility Center or Windows Server Catalog. If you haven’t already done so, visit the Windows Compatibility Center and tell us when you intend to support your client or server applications on the new platforms.
During the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 global launch timeframe, Microsoft will publish a list of all the currently compatible and future compatible applications to help customers with their migration planning. This is a valuable opportunity to list your products on the Windows Compatibility Center or Windows Server Catalog and gain worldwide exposure. Signing up is quick and easy:
1. Visit the product submission page to complete the web form, or download an Excel template and submit it to us with your information.
2. Be sure to opt-in to receive ongoing information about compatibility tools, resources and events.
3. Update your product status by returning to the product submission page to re-submit your information.
For more information about pledging your support, you can read the Windows Compatibility Center FAQ.
Bruce Burns
PC Ecosystem ISV Engagement
Here’s a great post which provides links and an overview on how to get started with the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Toolkit. It highlights the new gesture APIs as well as provides links to a related blog post that provides an overview of the new Widget Framework in Windows Mobile 6.5. Here’s the Windows Mobile 6.5 Device Emulator displaying the new honeycomb menu.
![clip_image001[4]](http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/msftisvs/WindowsLiveWriter/DownloadtheWindowsMobi.5DeveloperToolKit_9703/clip_image001%5B4%5D_thumb.jpg "clip_image001[4]")
For information on the Windows Mobile 6.5 Widget Framework please check out this post.
Thanks,
Rob Cameron
Industry Architect - Communications Sector / Media & Entertainment
I have attended the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) as an employee since 1999, while I was still working in Microsoft Brazil. Since then the show has evolved a lot. Partner attendance has increased every year, and is now around 10,000 people, and is certainly one of the largest shows in the Industry. This year, however, I get the opportunity to work behind the scenes of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference and have the privilege to help shape the session content for Independent Software Vendor (ISV) track on top of other WPC 09 activities.
With the economic crisis and recovery surrounding us, it is even more important to attend WPC 09, even if your business with Microsoft is still maturing. Why is that you ask? Here are a few key points why you don’t want to miss out this year:
- This is a pivotal launch year for Microsoft. Not only because of the products that will be announced in FY10 like Windows 7 or Office 2010, but mainly because of the Windows Azure, our cloud computing offering, which is promised in October 2009.
- Consolidation in the ISV segment is also making our world a different place. With Oracle and others on a spree of acquisitions that touch every segment of our industry, ISVs should be rethinking their relationships with platform companies and align to better deal with new threats.
- With the economic challenges, companies need to look for efficiencies, focus is more important than ever, and reinventing the wheel is not a good practice. Innovation is key now, and creates opportunity as the economy begins to rebound.
With these points in mind we put together an exclusive agenda for ISVs on July 16 at WPC. The day starts off with a keynote from Kim Akers at 11 AM. Kim is our General Manager for ISVs and she will discuss how as cloud computing and internet services transform our world the differences between ISVs, Web Developers, and Digital Agencies has been reduced, and how the software plus services approach to navigating the services transformation provides new opportunities for partnership.
After lunch Kim returns with a session starting at 1:30pm, where she will talk about the economic challenges or better said, the reset of the economy, and how companies are succeeding in that environment and the opportunities this presents. She will also show what Software plus Services offers to ISVs and how to benefit from it by increasing your breadth of offerings and also reducing your infrastructure costs.
After Kim’s session, Rob Craft, who is the CTO of our group, will discuss how ISVs should get ready for the new launches and develop applications to three scenarios—desktop, server and the Cloud. Very few companies, such as Microsoft, have the ability to offer a platform so comprehensive, and the business opportunities for developing solutions on the platform will be widely covered in this session. Rob will also talk about the steps ISVs need to take to make certain their applications are compatible with Windows 7, ensuring that our joint Customers are happy and no solutions present problems with the new operating system. He will also cover Office 2010, and how the pervasive productivity suite can serve as a front end using Office for Business Applications technology.
The last session of the day will be Ross Brown, Vice-President Solution Partners and ISVs, who will discuss the Microsoft business case and value of being a partner from a platform, program and pipeline perspective.
So, if you are an ISV and you are attending Microsoft WPC 09, you can’t miss these ISV sessions on July 16th. I will be there and I will be looking forward to seeing you. Check out Digital WPC to stay up to date on the latest news and happenings.
Alexandre Pombo
As “Generation Y” comes to the workforce, they have higher expectations, as a consumer ( What do others say about the generation shifts) and as a user, when evaluating user experience. The software industry, from consumer to line of business applications, is responding to this change by launching a new way to interact, such as project Natal on Xbox 360. Natal is a revolutionary new way to play, no game controller is required.
As consumers, we want to make informed shopping decisions, taking into account product features, pricing, warranties, availability, environmental impact, competitive comparisons and more, and we will use technology to accomplish this. We seek relevant information from retailers – but also from our social networks and independent third parties. As new technologies come to market at a fast path and an attractive price, our strategic partners invest on new windows platforms to provide a breakthrough user experience:
Windows 7 Multi-touch Support allows rich gestures, such as pan, zoom, and rotate. 
A user could use his fingers to browse the web, select options on a kiosk , explore additional product information and check what companion products or services would fit with the goods or services he is ready to buy. Here are a few places you can see more of the cool functionality of Windows 7:
- For touch gestures, seeing them in action is important so here is a brief video showing the gestures in action.
- Microsoft Surface Globe, an interactive globe that you can grab and stretch the view to zoom in, rotate, and move the view around. Interacting with the globe and exploring the world is the majority of the UI, and it is exceedingly easy to use with touch.
- To know more check the Engineering Windows 7 blog.
Beyond Multi-touch Support, Microsoft strategic partners are committed to offer enhanced user experience on Windows 7, check the Ready Set 7 to know more how applications are now more discoverable, informative, and interactive.
Microsoft Surface is unlike any other type of computing experience. Surface is particularly well suited for a collaborative experience to share, co-design, compare, locate nearby stores or point of interests, and get access to in depth information. 
- The engaging, social user interface of Surface allows customers to create experiences that your competitors aren’t offering
- Surface delivers a memorable experience that is educating and entertaining.
- Surface helps customers intuitively discover your products and services by exploring and discovering similar products and associated services. For example, in the hospitality industry users can discover other properties and even take a virtual tour of related locations.
- Enabling customers to interact with each other, Microsoft Surface encourages 360-degree interaction, information exchange, and collaboration among multiple users.
- Surface Gives ownership of the result by putting the end-user in the driver’s seat, and having them play a major role in discovering, learning, and making informed decisions about products and services.
As these and other technologies come to market, a wide range of new experience opens. Our strategic partners are currently re-thinking / re-setting their user experience architectures. Software companies doing business in retail, that used to provide touch enabled Point of Services for years, foresee opportunities to expand their capabilities to in store assistance, up and cross selling, product design and customization.
It is time to pause and think how your company can take advantage of it.
Touch it, feel it and tell others what you think!
Cheers, Baptiste Janique
Global Business Development Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Save the Date: Thursday, June 18 at 11:00am Pacific Time
https://ms.istreamplanet.com/springboard
Windows 7, is approaching fast and from the application standpoint is very similar to Windows Vista. We’re going to examine Windows 7 application compatibility not only from the perspective of moving from Windows Vista, but also for those coming from Windows XP. Join us to discuss the most common challenges around application compatibility when coming from a legacy operating system, why changes were made along the way, compatibility technologies inside the OS and methods for getting incompatible applications to run on Windows 7. Along the way we share tips and tricks, demonstrate free tools to analyze and fix applications and answer your specific questions about application compatibility live.
In Part 2 of this Virtual Round Table discussion (planned for later this Summer/Fall), we’ll discuss the options and approaches for using virtualization tools In depth to address application incompatibilities – including presentation virtualization, desktop virtualization and application virtualization. We’ll be sending out more details and posting information to www.microsoft.com/springboard for part 2 as the dates are finalized.
As part of the “virtual” experience, you may submit your questions about Windows 7 Application Compatibility to the panel live during the event—or submit questions in advance to vrtable@microsoft.com.
Springboard Series: The resource for Windows desktop IT professionals
Go Windows 7 Pros!
Global ISV Team
Last week, Dan’l Lewin, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Strategic and Emerging Business Development, and Steven Martin, Microsoft Senior Director of Developer Platform Product Management, took the stage at JavaOne to give the first ever Microsoft keynote at this event. It was an historic event. Two giant software companies coming together to interoperate and create synergy so everyone can benefit. That's goodness!
Sun Microsystems and Microsoft are delivering interoperable application platforms that span on-premise and cloud computing, and enable the companies’ mutual customers to leverage their existing IT skills/investments in Microsoft and Sun technologies. During the keynote, Dan’l and Steven were joined by Sun Vice President Aisling MacRunnels, who announced that Sun will participate in the Apache “Stonehenge” project, which was created by Microsoft, WS02, Red Hat and Progress Software last fall. This project gives customers better examples and more guidance on how to ensure the interoperability of applications across multiple vendor platforms.
Sun also announced its commitment to contribute the Metro-based StockTrader application code to the Stonehenge project. In addition to helping Stonehenge deliver even more value to customers by providing best practice guidelines and reference implementations across an even broader range of scenarios and platforms (Java, .NET, PHP, etc.), this also represents another step forward in Microsoft’s ongoing work with Sun.
Microsoft’s participation in the Apache “Stonehenge” project has been led by Kamaljit Bath from the Microsoft Interoperability Strategy Group and Kent Brown from the Microsoft Developer Platform & Tools Group. Technical information on the project can be found at www.interoperabilitybridges.com.
Jean-Christophe Cimetiere
Senior Technical Evangelist
