14 DAY TRIAL // A new, free application from Microsoft is designed to streamline access to the resources that the company is offering to IT professionals and developers. The Microsoft Desktop Player is available in two flavors, namely a Cloud application built in Silverlight, or a desktop client that can be downloaded and installed locally. The Microsoft Desktop Player went live at the end of March 2010, and is currently delivered to users in Beta development stage.
Both TechNet and MSDN feature a world of information designed to serve IT pros and developers, and although the two portals offer users comprehensive search capabilities, the Microsoft Desktop Player comes to allow the content to be filtered in accordance with a range of criteria. In the end, the Microsoft Desktop Player will do a better job at simplifying discoverability of TechNet and MSDN resources for scenarios, with a focus on video content.
“The Microsoft Desktop Player, now in beta, [can be used] to find contextual content for IT professionals and developers based on your adoption lifecycle. The Desktop Player filters content by topic based on your role and where you are in your adoption lifecycle. It also surfaces local resources based on your zip code. Find videos, webcasts, podcasts, whitepapers and relevant links based on your specific criteria. And get a feed of the latest news for IT pros,” Mitch Irsfeld, editor TechNet Flash Newsletter, revealed.
Queries can be performed on general terms, or narrowed down with criteria such as role, and even geography. “You can find yours-truly in the ‘Local Resources’ section – if you happen to live in the area of the United States that I cover. (North Central – MN, ND, SD, NE, IA, KS, MO, and sometimes Y.) Or discover who YOUR local Microsoft IT Pro or Developer Evangelist is. (Click on ‘Local Resources,’ and then configure your local settings.) And not only will you find your local Evangelist, but local training centers, nearby Microsoft Offices, and additional resources,” Kevin Remde, IT Pro evangelist, added.
At the same time, the Silverlight-based flavor of the Microsoft Desktop Player Beta can be embedded into websites, Microsoft underlines.
The Microsoft Desktop Player is available for download here.