Right now, Joe Wilcox is by far the best Microsoft watcher out there. He’s very adept at accumulating information and building his own conclusions and insights. I really enjoy reading him both to learn about Microsoft from the outside but also his take on many of the areas I focus on from within Microsoft.

His recent post titled Microsoft's Services Platform Takes Shape took cues from Bob Muglia’s keynote at our Get Virtual Now day and most interestingly for me, he latched on to the significance of the latest iteration of Microsoft’s vision.

 

Create experiences that combine the magic of software with the power of Internet services across a world of devices

 

I posted about this a few weeks back and took some heat for being “too PR” so I’m glad to see Joe picking up on the subtly I was referring to. Rather than me blather on about it again, go read Joe – his tea leaves are forming well and I’ll leave you with this quote from Bob

 

At PDC, "Microsoft will be talking much more in detail about our services platform and about how all these components fit together. You'll see that in Los Angeles,"

October can’t come soon enough.