The MossyBlog Times Archives 2007 - 2009 : MIX07

MIX On Campus - Brisbane (QUT)

scbarnes — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:37:12 GMT

On Tuesday 20th, I'll be attending MIX On Campus, a concept that our Nicholas Ellery has single handedly worked his butt of to organise (well done Nick)

You can view more details here:

http://mixoncampus.spaces.live.com

This event will take place in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney (Note: Perth is still being discussed).

This is the agenda for Tuesday, if you are keen to pop by.

AGENDA (Brisbane)

9.00am REGISTRATION
10.00am Welcome Nick Ellery – Microsoft
10.10am Opening Keynote: The Future of the Web Bryn Giles – AIMIA / Qantm
11.00am Step Up – the Web Careers Session
11.45am BREAK
12.00pm Web 2.0 and other such Delights Chris Saad – Faraday Media
12.45pm Games Development Research Ross Brown – QUT
1.30pm LUNCH (Provided by Microsoft)
2.15pm Why you should Popfly Nick Hodge – Microsoft
2.45pm The Journey of the Light - the progression of Silverlight
Scott Barnes – Microsoft
3.15pm Closing Address and Giveaways Nick Ellery – Microsoft
3.30pm CLOSE

MIX07 Demo Video Mashup

scbarnes — Wed, 09 May 2007 09:21:18 GMT

New Zealand evangelist brethren Nigel Parker has put together a good rant of his thoughts wrapping up MIX07. One of the little gems within his post is his video that he put together around MIX07 Demos that he felt were the highlights.

Love it and great work Nigel! :)

[ Click here to go watch ]

The Rich Web, The Rich PC & The Rich Device.

scbarnes — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:12:59 GMT

I was going to do a MIX07 wrap-up, but it's been done to death and to be honest, I spent a bulk of my MIX07 experience meeting and greeting a large number of folks whom attended (I counted around 40 business cards at one stage). That being said, the common questions I was given were around where Silverlight sits, how does it relate to Adobe Flash and more to the point where to from here?

Silverlight's Posture

It's a basic equation, how does one give developers the ability to go beyond the initial browser experience offered today, whilst more importantly nurturing their existing skill set(s). Let's face, it we all hate having to learn new things as it gets in between shipping an end result and having free time to innovate on the next series of projects.

This is extremely important, as you being a developer have to evaluate where you next go in your career, is it about changing languages (I've just flipped my entire language portfolio, it's not easy) or is it about changing perspective. I look at Silverlight as an extension of ones current core competence in most programming cubicles around the world and that is JavaScript/HTML. It's a language which at the best of times seems to smack you in the head when you least expect it. It doesn't offer much in terms of innovation and whilst we saw exciting movements in the AJAX space, it didn't really change much other then illustrated that we can architect the pieces we already had in a much more efficient and innovative way (via the means of a methodological approach).

Silverlight is looking to take that core skill set, and provide an extension, a tunnel if you will into the Rich experience driven application(s) and it's only version 1.0. It's got potential and capabilities to go further into the device channels, by providing a secure context driven environment in which the browser sort of gets an upgrade, patch if you will to help formulate a more focused understanding of the possible roadmap forward for Silverlight.

It's quite a unique value proposition when you take a step back, where we have a runtime solution which not only will offer you the similar metaphor for building web applications, but it has services and pieces already in place to empower you the developer to build up from. It's version 1.0 and already you have the capability to write your own online Video-ware application that has full streaming and free (up to a point). Already it's version 1.0 and you're first hurdle is to pick which tool to use in order to build with, then there is the entire features within this tool that are quite extensive and rich. You're going to be drinking from the fire hose with your first "Hello World" application, but like other solutions of past, you got through it eventually.

Silverlight as a channel of delivery is looking to expand its horizons beyond the browser and into other areas such as devices. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen it's only a matter of time.

Silverlight and Flash

You get this a lot, the flash killer syndrome whereby a lot of Flash developers around the world are concerned that initially all the years of experience they have invested is subject to being terminated, thanks to Microsoft. It's not that easy I'm afraid, and more to the point it's not the approach going forward. This is an emotional issue, it is one that should be discussed more but not from Microsoft or Adobe, but more to the point from the community overall. Up until now, the RIA community has been somewhat self-contained in either Adobe's hands or the makers of AJAX Frameworks hands. The notion that these communities can co-exist is proven, and more to the point there is now a third option, Silverlight Community (It's "Our" community not "Your" Community, Our being all of us not one single brand). Microsoft offers this community (Silverlight) one thing and only one thing, a focus driven approach to empowering these users in the ability to develop, design, deploy and distribute there Rich Web experience. In doing this, it's Microsoft's burden to figure out what makes all of you tick, what keeps you motivated and how can ensure there is interoperability with brands like Adobe.

An example of co-existence is Adobe Flash has ExternalInterface API, one of the best API's i've seen in quite some time, and not being used as effectively as it could be. It's possible today, to use this API to leverage the capability and power of pushing/pulling data through remote servers such as Flex Data Services or WebORB. There as many more scenarios in which if you look close enough, and keep a agnostic approach you will uncover other pockets of commonality between the two.

Silverlight plays well with others, in it's transparent open format, it will provide developers the ability to harness it's language(s) to integrate with various pieces online in the RIA space. If you isolate by itself, then you will need to move beyond the Flash Killer instinct as you're setting yourself up for an emotionally charged debate, which will have no ending.

Silverlight and where to from Here?

It's simple, to broaden the Internet reach from beyond the Rich PC into the Rich Device arena. The notion of sharing one day a Silverlight application inside concepts like Windows Live Messenger, using Windows Live Platform that connects to Microsoft XBOX 360 all the while using Silverlight as the connecting piece. To top it off there, to then provide developers a unique value proposition, learn C# once and only once.

You could argue you need to know XAML, but when you begin to use the Expression Studio it becomes clear that when you are learning XAML it's usually due to a limitation in the Expression Studio offering, something in which Microsoft will pay close attention to going forward.

I for one have noticed the one emerging pattern amongst all of the Expression Tooling, that is it's primary focus is to remove the burden of choosing what type of plumbing an application is to use, but how to get developers and designers shipping innovative applications so that they can push the Internet to the next tier of experience (whichever that maybe).

The tag line Silverlight uses, "Light up the web" can mean many things to many people, but for me it's casting the first spark, the fusion of ideas around RIA and how concepts like Web 2.0 clouds can be combined with products offered by Microsoft while at the same time provide paths for other brands to play a role in.

I've been reading a lot about how the DLR is both good and bad, but you're missing the point as it's about providing the notion, the idea that Silverlight is looking to integrate and to what, is your job. You need to figure out where the blank canvas is going to take you once you've got the swing of it all, as the demo's found in MIX07 illustrated that with imagination and determination you can create a lot from little.

Cynergy Systems a brand well regarded in the Adobe Flex community announced today they will support Silverlight. The key word is support, not ~~replace~~. They get it, they get the notion that this isn't about one brand vs another, it's about being relevant to their customers and Adobe and Microsoft can play multiple levels of roles in enabling this notion to carry forward.

Feel free to comment in anyway you want, personal flame, anonymous the works as I'm looking for the next pain point developers & designers have, as so far with both brands I think they are covered now (Best of all, you have potential to move into three tiers of experience as well (Ultimate, Great and Good).

The Silverlight Team have your back.

Lastly, I spent a lot of time with various folks in the Silverlight Team and these folks have put in some enormous amount of hours to get Silverlight online this week. I've heard stories from both the developers, support squads, marketing teams through to the executive level on how hard they have worked to make all of this happen. I am amazed at the level of skill that has gone into making this happen and when I was first shown an internal build in February 07, it wasn't all that exciting. It's now April and they have exceeded my expectations 10 fold, and already they are thinking of 1.1 and beyond. Think about it, why would 1.0 be released now, and 1.1 at the same time? it's about getting the latest pieces to you as soon as they can, as they are curious to see what you do with it as history has proven in this space that designers & developers can take something, flip it on it's head and change a products future quite easily.

I watched Mike & Joe yesterday stare in amazement at BBC Radio application and was glad that they got to see how something they both worked hard on get flipped into a new innovative approach. It inspired them, and it may have unlocked the next feature or idea for Silverlight 1.2 and so on. Software is never perfect and inspiration is what keeps it from decaying, as it physically can't by itself.

It's a simple task given to you, make the most craziest, stupidest hello world Silverlight application today and show Microsoft which direction you want to head with it? It's more productive then comparing it to other brands right?

MIX07 - Day 1 - Chats, Microsoft, Quotes and Silverlight

scbarnes — Tue, 01 May 2007 06:14:15 GMT

Sitting here watching Scott Guthrie do a demo of Silverlight on a MAC, using C# to write what initially appears to be JavaScript output one has to wonder what in the world has come to. Here is Microsoft VIP working on Apple using our new toys? Microsoft has sent a clear signal, the old days are over and (we) are all entering into a new vision, experience first (he did handle himself really well may I add).

One of the things to keep in the forefront of your mind is that Microsoft is looking to broaden the average online experience to be both beyond the browser and within the browser. It offers different perspective on which path to take, and given the entire XAML stack, you have a nice selection of choices at your disposal (WPF-Standalone, WPF-XBAP, Silverlight).

Ryan Stewart said it best today "If I didn't know better, I would think this was an Adobe keynote." and I'd have to agree with that as I was waiting for some adobe familiars to get up and do their spiel. This is good thing as if folks are thinking in this space, it shows Microsoft can play in the rich media space just as well as other companies can. As Scott Guthrie stated, this isn't a win/lose situation, both brands are going to be in the same space and developers are going to do some interesting things with all of these new toys (I'd actually like to see Adobe Apollo support Silverlight as given it's X-Platform, it should be a nice mash-up?).

Why care about Silverlight?

Silverlight is just damn easy to develop against, and I urge you all to download the tools and give it a try. The key thing to get into your minds straight away is that this is not Flash? Although there are some similarities to the tools, use these to help you navigate your way through it all but overall keep your mind open and enjoy the new discovery.

You're going to have access to C#, a language that for most ActionScript 3.0 developers won't be so bad to learn (so you can have two pieces in your resume, this will make you stronger, trust me). The video encoding is dream sequence as it's that easy, and I'm not sure if most picked up on the fact that Microsoft will cover the burden of hosting the video, so you'll all have the ability to park your cool video assets on our servers - free (provided you're not turning a buck on it etc - read the Terms/Conditions etc when they come out).

It's also very important to note is that this technology has been focused on empowering interoperability between designers and developers, by given each unique soul the ability to communicate with each other through code, at times so seamless you don't realize what you're doing. This is quite unique in this regard, as I've not seen two worlds collide so elegantly in some time, and so I'm quite excited about how these two worlds are going to work together.

Let's recap, you now have Silverlight 1.0 and 1.1 to play with. You now have Expression Blend, which is in packaged software. You now can not only deploy Silverlight to both PC and MAC, but can even debug on the Mac (Say what you will about Microsoft, but come on, give credit for that!). Yet, I know you want more, well we haven't even begun to talk about how Live.com plays a role overall. I mean sure, we released the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR - aka you can now have Perl, Ruby, Python etc in the room?) but what about Live.com. That cute little website with a lot of SDK's and so forth, what could the Live Platform Team be doing with this space? More to the point have most of you checked out Live.com? If not, start keeping an eye on it.

The coolest part that I think people have overlooked is the overall payload of the Silverlight applications. I think from memory the application for Metaliq's Top Banana was around 30k or something as crazy as that.

Tools are going to set you free.

It's equally important to note here that developers have got a unique amount of power within both Visual Studio 2005+ and Expression Suite as you're essentially building stuff that takes little or no time initially. It's going to get better as well, and last week roaming the halls of Redmond I stumbled upon a lot of passion. There are a lot of folks within Microsoft right now, having a great time in Las Vegas, but they are also thinking ahead to the next release and getting more focused on the task list for the next release and so on. This is the starting point for most of them, and I think it's going to get much richer and greater overall (who would of thought the CLR made it Mac? I mean CRAZY TALK!)

I managed to grab a slushie with Mike Harsh (Be sure to check out his presentation tomorrow), one of the brains trusts for Silverlight Runtime and in the conversation he also stated one comment that I must agree with, it was from a buddy of his - "Writing code in C# is like having a extension to my right arm, it's so seamless and easy to approach". Having learnt C# for the past 2 years and I stress the word learnt, I have to agree as I kept slapping my forehead often throughout the process thinking "If only i knew...If only I knew this existed". I was a guy who'd sit in 3-5 different languages when I'd code, and I got by like most without hassles but overall It meant I kept track of 3-5 different code syntax adjustments and so on.

Microsoft's clear in this regard, C# or VB.NET are going to your best friends and if you're even more keen to do stuff, let's invite XAML along for the ride. Yet, it gets better, the tools themselves are going to not only coach you but take away allot of the mundane tasks (don't get met started on how both Strong Type Datasets + Class Designer work so seamlessly, it's just drool factor).

I'd love to run with Silverlight, but it's got 0% penetration so..

I get this question quite a lot, and it's political in many respects. As in one hand you're going to be made aware you need to download this runtime and install it. Scott showed how easy it was today to go from nothing to install and playing, thus the install process isn't scary. This then leaves the whole story around how does one get critical mass distribution with Silverlight?

Given Windows is on a large bulk of the worlds computers, the fact that most of you will go to your .NET 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 install locations and suddenly realize you had these installed (i do that often when I get this thrown my way as they get this look of "How'd they do that!"). I say all of this without being arrogant, it just simply means that for years I've never worried about Microsoft's ability to distribute something if they set their minds to it. That for me was hygiene, it will however still come back to the developers & designers around the world whom are looking to either use it, park it or simply flat out reject it. This will tell the story but I think with the Silverlight + Live.com Streaming capabilities, this could get some traction fast enough.

Overall, I think this is a good 72 hour discussion so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing folks reaction to some of tomorrow's announcements.

I'm also damn glad I can start talking about a few things post-MIX as It's got my propeller-geek-hat spinning on over-drive on how many cool things can be done with Microsoft now. Who would of thought 5 years ago, they'd be where they are now?

I must say, it's good to be apart of Microsoft today.

MIX07 - Day 1 - Keynote notes.

scbarnes — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:23:09 GMT

Expression Studio was just announced as being public today by Ray Ozzie. Silverlight story was told, and overall the kids are happy so far (few cheers).
Windows Live Platform Group are going to make some announcements tomorrow as well.
Silverlight + Photosynth Zoom capabilities are also now in the room.
Silverlight Streaming announced. It's a companion services to Silverlight, and taps into Microsoft online cloud. Silverlight will be picking up the tab in empowering users to post Silverlight centric content onto Microsoft servers to then be streamed out to the world-wide-web (aka interweb).
Ray Ozzie's keywords "Experience First" which is the key ingredient behind our new toys.
Silverlight now has a x-platform version of the .NET framework and installed under 20 secs (install time).
There is now a Silverlight preview version on the web with both design and developer tools made available! (which is uber cool).
700,000 sites today have ASP.NET AJAX keeping the RIA concept flowing.
Silverlight media can stream to XBOX 360.
Our streaming service is 3-4 times cheaper then any other on the market today.
More later...

MIX07 Day0 - Calm before the storm

scbarnes — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 02:48:45 GMT

It's DAY0, Registration tonight and everyone's whom could make it is flying into Las Vegas for the action packed MIX07. There is a huge buildup to this conference and I think honestly Microsoft is going to deliver well.

I flew in a day earlier last night because I was bored in Seattle and my co-Developer Evangelist Michael ended up getting Vertigo or something like that and is sadly bed ridden for the next 3 days ( We feel for you Michael, poor guy). I landed around 10 pm last night and sent out a probe ( email / SMS ) to all those in town and where the drinks where.

I got a response and was in the V Bar shortly there after and somehow managed to stumble my way back to my hotel about 4am. I met a lot of Microsoft guys/gals but also some of the partner contingent we invited over. One stand out was Nigel Parker, our friendly New Zealand Evangelist and it was good to finally meet him in person ( so recap: I flew half-away around the world to meet a New Zealander? wtf???)

That being said, there are a lot of rumors floating about online today that I noticed. Namely there is movement in Live.com, Silverlight and WPF are the main three points of interest tomorrow (that others have speculated on that is).

You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out the answer to that but suffice to say when I got told a few things about tomorrow, I was genuinely surprised and excited at the same time. I made a joke, that the "Sleeping Giant" has awoken and one of the other Microsoft staffers at the time said "Yeah, and it's got a massive hangover" (I am not sure what that meant but felt it was worth mentioning).

As I wait now for my in room Lobster Maine + Coke (haven't eaten in 2 days - I'm so not used to US food) to be delivered and starting to get ready for tonight's pre-MIX Day 0 events, I look forward to the upcoming year as there is going to be a lot on my plate to work with. There is just too much cool stuff rolling off the assembly line at Microsoft and some of it won't be perfect, but the potential and core goodness is not only there but will raise a few benchmarks.

I will highlight one piece that's worth checking out while you wait in some Airport for your Las Vegas flight or something, that is:

Family.Show WPF reference app. from Vertigo. Absolutely nice application. Also check out Nigel's post on how the User Experience Summit went pre-MIX.

P.S

I'm staying at the Bellagio Hotel, and while the fountains are awesome to watch - they are also loud enough to be heard, so if you don't mind firework sounds going off every hour etc then go for it.

In Seattle, cold, tired and annoyed with Qantas.

scbarnes — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 07:00:19 GMT

Woohoo, just got into the hotel in Seattle and ready for an action packed week with Microsoft HQ (around Live.com stuff). I'll be jetting off on the weekend for Vegas - MIX07!

It's cold in Seattle but I'm a Queenslander whom regards anything under 20 degrees Celsius as being cold so don't take my word on weather ever.

I managed to have an interesting flight, Michael sat behind me while I had some girl next to me whom decided my shoulder will do as a pillow (isle seat - don't got there as my booking wasn't linked to my Frequent Flyer number, resulting in random selection instead of preferred seating - I'm a window guy). I can't begin to tell you how many "polite" nudges I gave her to, find alternative arrangements (especially as the guy on the other side (window - grrr) was hitting on her at the start of the flight (there ya go sweety, go use his shoulder), could of made his day!). Then, as we are leaving, no "sorry" or "thankyou", kids today...

Then to top it off, Qantas onDemand failed (again). In both trips over to the states, Qantas onDemand has failed, so either I'm getting unlucky in flying or their system needs more attention. I'm wondering if MS allows alternative airlines to travel with, as 2/2 is my limit heh ( I can't recommend enough on how much fun it was to watch "Blood Diamond" on repeat though :) (PSP saved me though).

If you're reading this and are in Seattle as well, ping me offline, happy to go grab a bite with you :) (I've had my complaining now).