Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Exec Describes Microsoft's 'Social Networking' Vision
5/8/2008
A Microsoft executive involved with the company's Windows Live efforts outlined some of the company's ideas about cloud-based computing and social networking technologies Tuesday. The talk was presented by Brian Hall, general manager of the Windows Live Business Group, at the 2008 Merrill Lynch Technology Conference May 6.
Hall predicted that applications will be moving to a world that combines the "best of the PC" with "the best of the Web."
He depicted a software past in which social networking was once typically enabled by just a few "siloed applications," such as e-mail and instant messaging. Microsoft entered this space early on with its Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger offerings.
In contrast to this siloed approach, the future of social networking will bring more of a "people-centered platform," Hall said, "where stuff moves wherever I go, and that doesn't mean it's all in the same place."
The categories between social networking apps and e-mail/instant messaging apps are "very similar" and "it's really one category," Hall explained. He estimated that 448 million people are using Microsoft's Hotmail and Messenger applications.
"During the last 10, 12, 13 years, we've got 448 million active users," Hall said. "These are people that have logged-in in the last 30 days, meaning that they are actively involved with the service -- it's not just that they have an account that they haven't checked in a while."
Live Mesh, which Microsoft unveiled about two weeks ago at the Web 2.0 conference, is Microsoft's planned approach for bringing together communications, applications and files.
"We see a fantastic opportunity to take the best of the PC, the Web and the phone and to create a mesh of files that is accessible from all of these places but is ultimately provisioned at your site," Hall said.
One example of such aggregation is Windows Live Mail, which Microsoft released last summer in beta form. The application can pull together all of a person's various e-mail accounts, Hall said. It solves the problem of dealing with multiple accumulated e-mail accounts.
Another way that Microsoft has been working to interconnect is with social networking partnerships. Hall said that Microsoft has established partnerships with "most of the leading social networks" to have address book synchronization and roaming. Users can provide their Windows Live or Hotmail credentials at those social networking sites, he said. It moves people closer to using "a single address book approach."
Hall answered an audience question about Microsoft's "software plus services" strategy.
"We see a future where the rich client and other kinds of software interact very closely with the services that are hosted," he said. He pointed to Live Mesh as an important component in that strategy by creating a file system for those interactions.
Recommended Reading
- California Community Colleges Partner with Waterfall Mobile on Statewide Emergency Notification Coverage
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has awarded a statewide emergency alert notification contract to Waterfall Mobile. The contract establishes Waterfall's AlertU as an approved technology through the official non-profit foundation for the California Community College (CCC) system office. Through this partnership, individual colleges may directly implement emergency communication services, eliminating lengthy technology evaluation and RFP processes.
- King's College and ASU Add e2Campus for Improved Emergency Notifications
King's College and Arizona State University have switched to Omnilert's e2Campus for emergency notification. Omnilert also has introduced a new program called the ENS Conversion Service that allows schools to bulk upload data from their previous emergency notification system into e2Campus at no charge.
- Saint Joseph Builds Out Wireless Network in Multi-year Upgrade
Saint Joseph's University has begun deploying a Meru Networks wireless local area network across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.
- Vista Ramp Up Is Happening Now, Study Says
Organizations may have been slow to adopt Microsoft Windows Vista, but expect that to change by late 2008 to 2009, according to a Forrester Research report by Benjamin Gray et al., published last week.
- Talisma Launches New Version of CRM with Built-in Application Management
Talisma Corp. announced version 8.0 of its constituent relationship management (CRM) application for higher education. The new release includes application management, a revamped user interface, two-way text messaging, personalized Web portals, and an ADA-compliant Web client, among other enhancements.
- Bringing Composers into Classrooms Through Skype
Two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype's free videoconferencing technology.
