14 DAY TRIAL // Seeing as 2011 is just four days away, I thought I’d have a look back at 2010 and make a selection of the most important products that Microsoft launched over the past year.
You’ll be able to find the list below, but I just want to say a few words before you start reading.
The product enumeration is not designed to necessarily be a reflection of importance. Don’t take the position of a release in the list as a measure of its relevance. Instead, think that each product is relevant in its own way and go with that.
And by all means, feel free to add to this list by using the comments section below. Don’t think that a product deserves to be nominated here? Say so.
Right, let’s get on with it then.
Kinect for Xbox 360
People stood in line “old school” for the launch of Kinect for Xbox 360. In the first 25 days, Microsoft was selling 100,000 units per day, reaching the 2.5 million mark extremely fast.
But beyond its commercial success, Kinect ushers in yet another step forward in the evolution of Natural user interface (NUI) human computer interaction models.
You can pretty much bet on the fact that the company is trying to port Kinect to Windows. Let the “Minority Report-” type experiences come!
Windows Phone 7
1.5 million Windows Phone 7 devices were sold in just the first six weeks since launch. It must be the number “7” right?
Well, no. I’ve played with some devices, my favorite being the HTC HD 7, and Windows Phone 7 has nothing to do with its predecessor, Windows Mobile 6.5.
And both Apple and Google need to be worried, as WP7 can hold its own against iOS or Android anytime.
IE9 Beta
A very broad Beta was kicked off in mid-September 2010, and the bits were downloaded over 10 million times rather fast.
This flavor of Internet Explorer 9 is what the “world wide web” has been expecting of Microsoft for quite some time, a true rival to Chrome, Firefox and Opera.
And certainly something to look forward to in 2011. Remember, IE9 RC drops in early 2011.
Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0
Silent and… well, not deadly. Microsoft released the second version of its free security solution for genuine Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP for a while now, and is still mute on the matter.
MSE 2.0 comes to replace MSE 1.0 which was downloaded over 30 million times since launch. I’ve been using Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 since the very early stages of development, and it was like I wasn’t even running a Beta.
As far as I’m concerned MSE 2.0 is everything I wanted from an antivirus product, non-intrusive, fast and offering performance matching commercial AV.
Office 2010
This is the fastest selling version of the Office productivity suite in the company’s history. The reason why I’m putting this here is to illustrate the deep roots that Office has on the market for productivity solutions.
Microsoft is making the best out of enterprise complexity, tying Office 2010 intimately with a range of solutions from Dynamics to Exchange and SharePoint, getting customers to run not disparate products but integrated ecosystems of software.
While it’s theoretically easy for a rival to displace one product, it’s nearly impossible to get customers to switch from multiple solutions which are running in tune.
Office 365 Beta
And so, Office steps into the Cloud. Well, in all fairness, not just Office, but a range of additional productivity solutions from Microsoft, including Lync 2010.
But Office 365 is not all about the Cloud, it’s in the end an example of Software plus Services at work. The Redmond giant is even allowing customers opting for the enterprise variant of Office 365 to get the desktop version of Office on a subscription model.
Microsoft Tag
There have already been over 2 billion Microsoft Tags printed, just in case there was any doubt whether that the company’s barcode technology was a success or not.
If you have ever used Microsoft Tag then you know how simple the experience is, and how easy the technology can connect analog content to the web via mobile devices. Here’s to 3 billion and beyond!
Windows Azure
Yes, I know that Microsoft officially launched Windows Azure in 2009, but the platform’s commercial birth came on January 1st, 2010, so it qualifies it to be on this list.
This is the future as far as I’m concerned. If you watched Microsoft in 2010 you were able to see that the company went from a Cloud platform to offering the most comprehensive set of Cloud offerings on the market.
At the end of this year, Microsoft was announcing Hyper-V Cloud, after it had previously introduced Azure Platform Appliances.
IaaS, PaaS and Saas, the Redmond company has it all, including solution for hybrid on-premise and Cloud scenarios.
Windows 7 SP1 Beta
Yes, Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 makes the list, but for an entirely different reason than you think. Fact is that the company promised a minor upgrade, and SP1 is as minor as it gets.
SP1 gets a mention because, at least for me, it marks a turning point for Microsoft. With this service pack the software giant successfully broke the mold, convincing customers to no longer wait for the upgrade and deploy the RTM instead.
Otherwise, SP1 for Windows 7 is rather irrelevant.
Verve
Yes, I’m putting Verve on this list. Arguably, the introduction of Verve has made only a small impact. But for me this drop in the ocean means that Microsoft is looking ahead, planning and working to get ready for the post-Windows era.
Windows as it is today has already been stretched quite consistent, while still having core elements dating back to the past century. There will come a time when the software giant will need to wipe the slate clean.
Let’s just hope that the current efforts from Microsoft Research on project such as Singularity, Midori, Verve etc. means that OS evolution is ensured beyond Windows as we know it now.