Softpedia News - Developing Projects

Introducing Pivot, from Microsoft Live Labs

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:59:00 GMT

A new prototype from Microsoft Live Labs is designed to change the way in which the end users look at the Web. In this regard, the Redmond company explained that Pivot was a project dedicated to make the Web more like an actual web, and less like a series of disparate pages. “Pivot makes it easier to interact with massive amounts of data in ways that are powerful, informative, and fun. We tried to step back and design an interaction model that accommodates the complexity and scale of information rather than the traditional structure of the Web,” reads an excerpt of Pivot’s introduction.

At this point in time, although the testing program for the Pivot project is live, access is restricted to just a small pool of customers. According to the Redmond company, the Technical Preview is full, with the company having already distributed all the invitations to the first testing milestone. Still, users that want an invite can submit their email address and wait for a notification from Microsoft. The software giant made no mention as to when it planned to open the testing program for Pivot to additional testers.

“When we use the Web today we treat the most fundamental scenarios as separate activities. Search takes us from many things to one, browsing moves us from one thing to another, a... (read more)

Forget Windows 7 NUI, Speech Is the New Touch

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:35:00 GMT

Microsoft has been articulating the vision of a speech platform as the fundament for human computer interaction for the past 10 years. And just as Windows 7 has started acting like the primary vector to bring natural user interfaces to mainstream computing, the Redmond company is already looking ahead to the evolution of the NUI. Zig Serafin, general manager of the Speech at Microsoft group, is leading the software giant’s efforts to make talking to a computer as simple and as easy as using a mouse, but of course much more natural.

Specifically, Serafin and his group are hard at work to build world’s most advanced speech platform, based on the technology acquired with Tellme Networks in 2007. But the goal for Microsoft is not to confine itself to integrating a future speech NUI into a single piece of technology. Instead, the company’s vision is for speech-based technology to span cloud-based voice services, mobile phones and servers. Signs of this vision coming true are already palpable today, with speech being an integral part of Bing for Mobile, Exchange Server 2010, Windows 7 and Samsung Intrepid from Sprint.

“Voice is the new touch,” Serafin revealed. “It’s the natural evolution from keyboards and touch screens. Today, speech is rapidly becoming an expected part o... (read more)

eXtreme Computing from Microsoft

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:47:00 GMT

Microsoft's new eXtreme Computing Group (XCG), barely a few months old, is illustrative of the company’s efforts to evolve in order to embrace multicore chips and the Cloud. The Redmond company sees processors with multiple cores and data hosting facilities becoming mainstream examples of 21st century computing, and needed a group that would help transition technology innovations from Microsoft Research into products developed for consumers. In this regard, XCG is designed to tackle challenges brought by ultra-scale and high-performance computing hardware and software development.

Microsoft noted that this group in particular deals with a range of computing efforts, including: “security, cryptography, operating-system design, parallel-programming models, cloud software, data center architectures, specialty hardware accelerators, and quantum computing.”

Dan Reed, corporate vice president of XCG, revealed that the focus of XCG was to take hardware and software development to the next level. The group has a unified research and incubation model, which allows it to sit between plain vanilla research and fully fledged product development. Specifically, the group eases the integration of ideas from Microsoft Research into products.

“Our objective is to look at strategic needs and opportunitie... (read more)

Microsoft Creates Future Social Experiences Labs

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Fri, 9 Oct 2009 11:41:00 GMT

Microsoft is gearing up to explore the future of social experiences, and in this regard the company introduced a new research lab focused on social computing. The Microsoft Future Social Experiences (FUSE) Labs will be led by Lili Cheng in her new role as general manager. Cheng was previously the director of the Creative Systems Group (CSG) within Microsoft Research. The new social computing effort, which will bring together approximately 80 researchers, is a new pet project of Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s chief software architect.

“Myriad scenarios involving the notion of ’social’ have now gone far beyond communications and collaboration and are transforming experiences that are key to our customers and key to our business, in leisure & entertainment; productivity & teamwork; experiences extending how we use the OS itself,” reads an excerpt from an internal email from Ozzie, courtesy of Mary-Jo Foley. “The three groups being combined have concrete skills and code in areas where ’social’ meets sharing; where ’social’ meets real-time; where ’social’ meets media; where ’social’ meets search; where ’social’ meets the cloud plus three screens and a world of devices.”

It appears that social connectivity will no... (read more)

Post-Windows 7 Assessment and Planning Toolkit 5.0 Beta Program Live

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 15:41:02 GMT

Microsoft is moving forward with the development of its solution accelerator designed to perform readiness assessment and deliver migration guidance for the company’s top technologies. In this regard, the software giant gave the green light to the Beta testing program for Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 5.0. According to Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager), version 5.0 of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit is currently in development. However, customers interested in becoming testers and early adopters will not be getting their hands on the bits for Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 5.0 just yet.

Fact is that, for the time being, Microsoft has only opened up the registration for the MAP Toolkit 5.0 Beta program and nothing more. “If you are not a current beta group member of MAP Toolkit, join the MAP Toolkit Beta Program now! If you are a current member of the MAP Toolkit beta program, view the MAP Toolkit Beta Page here,” Baldwin Ng noted.

Just as it was the case for the previous version of the MAP Toolkit, the Beta program for the next iteration of the solution accelerator is hosted on Microsoft Connect. “The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 5.0 Beta Program is now open. Please stay tuned for our beta availability notif... (read more)

Microsoft Mouse 2.0 Prototypes, with Touch Capabilities

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Tue, 6 Oct 2009 08:19:00 GMT

Microsoft’s foray into Natural User Interfaces does not stop with its Windows operating system. Windows 7 will be a critical asset to ushering in the NUI era for hardware but, although a software company focused first of all on the Windows client, Microsoft is also building hardware. Well, not exactly hardware, so much as peripherals. And through five mouse prototypes, the Redmond company is exploring technology that will end up creating the “Mouse 2.0.” As you will be able to see via the video embedded at the bottom of the screen, Microsoft has married the traditional mouse design and functionality with touch capabilities. Just watch the demonstration, and get a taste of what the FTIR (Frustrated Total Internal Reflection) Mouse, the Orb Mouse, the Cap (capacitive) Mouse, the Side Mouse, and the Arty (articulated) Mouse are capable of.

Currently, Windows 7’s touch NUI is intimately connected with screens. But in fact there’s no reason that any touch-capable input device could not be used in order to permit end users to enjoy a new level of interaction with the operating system. The five mouse prototypes from Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group are an illustrative example of just how traditional input models can evolve in order to enable users to take advantage of natural interac... (read more)

Microsoft Hosts Space Elevator Event in Redmond

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:05:00 GMT

Does Microsoft dream of a 62,000-mile elevator ride, from the Earth into space? Well, it should come as no surprise that the answer is “Yes!” Some of you might have guessed that I attempted to reference Philip K. Dick's “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and fact is that a space elevator and Dick's novel that went on to spawn Blade Runner have “science fiction” in common. The software giant is one of the supporters of the elevator to space project, a strong enough supporter to host the Space Elevator Conference 2009 at its Redmond campus. The event, now in its second year, is organized by David Horn, a program manager on the Office Live Service Experience team, and will take place August 13-16.

"It does sound a little like sci-fi but, hopefully, not for long," Horn explained. "The excitement about the space elevator is that the technologies we need to make this happen are very near." Microsoft revealed that the idea of a space elevator was conceived initially by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky back in 1895. The concept became popular through the work of such SF authors as Arthur C. Clarke.

However, what was not until long ago just the product of human imagination, is beginning to take contour, some scientists say, pointing out that the space elevator could... (read more)

DHCP Server Management APIs Being Explored by Microsoft

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:33:00 GMT

While not promising anything set in stone just yet, Microsoft revealed that it was investigating the possibility of delivering a .NET Framework class library for DHCP Server management. An integral part of the company's effort in this sense is a survey designed to help gather feedback on DHCP Server Management APIs. The last question of the survey is “Do you see yourself using .NET Framework class library for DHCP Server management if available?”

“The DHCP team is investigating the design of a .NET framework class library that our administrators can use to automate their DHCP server management operations. We would like to get input from the DHCP administrators on key issues, faced with DHCP server management. Your feedback will be valuable to this effort. Please take a few minutes of your valuable time to fill out the online survey. Please specify scenarios/ use cases in detail to help us understand your requirement clearly. Expected time to fill out the survey is 5-10 minutes,” revealed Raunak Pandya, DHCP Server Team.

The first eight questions are designed to give Microsoft an idea of what DHCP administrators have to deal with on a daily basis, from the volume of DHCP servers, to that of nodes and desktops getting IP addresses served to them. Then the company offers r... (read more)

Microsoft Gazelle Browser OS Evolving Beyond Windows and IE

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Fri, 3 Jul 2009 07:13:00 GMT

Microsoft is working to produce not only non-Windows operating systems, with examples such as Singularity and Midori, but also the evolution of the web browser beyond Internet Explorer. However, Microsoft Gazelle is not a plain vanilla browser; in fact, it evolved into an operating system capable of serving as platform for the increasingly sophisticated web application environment, according to Helen J. Wang, senior researcher in the Systems and Networking group at Microsoft Research Redmond. Wang is responsible for Gazelle, which she insists is nothing more than a research project, and not even close to a prototype.

“Everyone accepts that applications need to run on operating systems,” Wang stated. “However, this has not been the case for Web applications; they depend on browsers to render pages and handle computing resources. Yet browsers have never been constructed to be operating systems. Principals are allowed to coexist within the same process or protection domain, and resource management is largely non-existent.”

By principal Wang actually refers to a website. However, considering the mashup nature of modern web pages, content on a single page could originate from different principals/websites. Gazelle comes as a platform set up to enable the management of pr... (read more)

Download Microsoft MyMedia Multimedia Recommender System

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:45:00 GMT

MyMedia, a system built through an EU-funded collaborative research project, with the European Microsoft Innovation Centre (EMIC) at the helm, is now available for download. June 30 marks the public availability of what the Redmond company referred to as an example of recommender system software for multimedia content. Essentially, MyMedia is designed as an intelligent recommender system technology capable of bridging users' individual tastes, preferences and interest with suitable multimedia content, be it served via TV or radio.

"Given the breadth and experience of the partners involved, the potential benefits to consumers across Europe, in a short space of time, [are] clear." explained Alexander Voss, program manager, Microsoft EMIC and project coordinator of MyMedia. "We are excited about the prospect of driving even greater insight into recommender system technology."

In addition to EMIC, MyMedia has been built with contributions from BBC, BT, Microgenésis, Novay, Eindhoven Technical University and the University of Hildesheim. Microsoft indicated that MyMedia was set up to do to multimedia content served through IPTV, video on demand and the Internet what Bing has done to search, namely filter the information overload. MyMedia will be able to factor in characteristics as the per... (read more)

Download the Microsoft Identity Developer Training Kit

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:38:00 GMT

The May 2009 release of the Identity Developer Training Kit went live on the Microsoft Download Center concomitantly with the second Beta development milestone for codename Geneva. Essentially, with the Identity Developer Training Kit, the Redmond company is providing a variety of resources designed to streamline development of solutions and software tailored to Microsoft's next generation of federated identity technologies. In this context, the Identity Developer Training Kit covers not only the "Geneva" Framework Beta 2 and Microsoft "Geneva" Server Beta 2 but also the March Community Technology Preview of .NET Access Control Service and the Microsoft Federation Gateway.

“The Identity Developer Training Kit is a set of hands-on labs and resources designed to help developers to take advantage of Microsoft’s identity products and services. Being designed for developers, the kit focuses on the Geneva Framework: however it also gives guidance on how to take advantage of Geneva Server, Windows Live ID, the Microsoft Federation Gateway and the .NET Access Control Service (which is featured in a renewed and expanded lab),” revealed Hans VB, evangelism manager at Microsoft.

The software giant released codename Geneva at Microsoft Tech•Ed North America 2009, after the first Beta... (read more)

Geneva Beta 2 Available for Download

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:36:00 GMT

At over half a year since the introduction of the first Beta for Microsoft's open platform for claims-based user access, the Redmond company has produced the next development milestone. Microsoft Code Name "Geneva" Beta 2 is now available for download, after the solution was introduced at Microsoft Tech•Ed North America 2009. According to the software giant, the Beta 2 means that Geneva's components all evolved over the previous release. The Geneva Server, the Geneva Framework – IDFX and CardSpace have all been kicked up a notch in Beta 2.

As far as CardSpace is concerned, Geneva Beta 2 brings to the table: “Support for Group Policy-based Information Card provisioning; updated management UI; updated card tile; group Policy-based way for administrator to make card selection decisions for specific sites; improved provisioning of X509-backed cards and compatible with most existing managed cards,” revealed a member of the Geneva team.

When it comes down to the Geneva Server, Microsoft has delivered AD RMS and SAML 2.0 SP-Lite support. Customers will be able to turn to Powershell commandlets in order to streamline their workflow, and will have available a solution that enables federating with Microsoft Federation Gateway. At the same time, the process of creating claims transformation policies... (read more)

Microsoft Vine Beta - Societal Networking

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:33:00 GMT

Microsoft is currently accepting participation requests for the Beta testing program of Vine, a new information service with social networking capabilities. The Redmond company's Vine will allow end users to build communities and to stay in touch via alerts, reports and traditional messages at all times, and using a variety of communication mediums. The service orbits around a personal dashboard that acts at the central hub, gathering information from a variety of sources from friends to news outlets. Microsoft Vine is currently tailored to the US, the software giant informed. The service is scheduled to debut into Beta at the start of May 2009, with a limited number of participants being allowed to join.

“Use the dashboard to stay informed about what’s happening with the places and people you care about. Information associated with the places you have chosen will appear on your map, including articles culled from 20,000 local and national news sources as well as public safety announcements from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Information associated with the people you care about who are in your Vine network will appear on the dashboard too. You will know when they send you an alert, post a report or update their Facebook status information,” Microsoft revealed.<... (read more)

Download Codename Velocity CTP3

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Thu, 9 Apr 2009 15:33:00 GMT

Microsoft has made available for download the third Customer Technology Preview of a project the company is referring to as a distributed in-memory application cache platform. Microsoft Project Code Named “Velocity” Community Technology Preview 3 (CTP3) went live on April 7, 209, and is up for grabs via the Microsoft Download Center. The Redmond company promised that CTP3 would be offered in March 2009, with revised application programming interfaces and additional improvements, including an evolved cache notifications feature, a performance boost, security enhancements, and fresh options associated with cluster management. At the same time, Microsoft also tweaked the installation program for Velocity CTP3.

A member of the Velocity team revealed the “performance improvements: throughput, latency, and memory usage have been further optimized to improve performance for your applications,” adding that, in terms of security, “The cache host Windows service now runs under a lower-privileged account: Network Service,” and that “to streamline deployment, the installation program now supports automated installation for the cache host.”

Starting with CTP3, SQL Server can be used to handle the cluster management role. This option was not available in the previous community techn... (read more)

Fresh Blood for the Non-Windows Microsoft OS Midori

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Tue, 7 Apr 2009 17:05:00 GMT

Since approximately mid-2008, all has been quiet on the non-Windows Microsoft operating system front. With Singularity available for download, and the Midori leaked details losing their newsworthy characteristics, the focus has slowly shifted to the developing Windows 7 operating system. But still, both Singularity and Midori continue to be built in Redmond, the latter kept under a very tight lid, tighter than even Windows 7. The lack of details is not equivalent to inactivity, and Microsoft has added new blood to the Midori project with microkernel developer Jonathan S. Shapiro jumping aboard.

“Some of you will have noticed that I have been conspicuously silent over the last three or four weeks. I have spent much of that time airborne, or in interviews at Google, Microsoft, and DARPA,” Shapiro explained. “After a fair bit of soul-searching, I have decided to accept a fairly senior position at Microsoft associated with the Midori project. The current plan has me starting there at the beginning of August.”

Before moving to Midori, Shapiro has been working on the BitC language and the Coyotos operating system, also a microkernel-based platform. With his move to Microsoft, Shapiro announced that BitC would be wrapped up and indicated that all the features planned for the first... (read more)

Code Canvas: Spatial Representations of Code

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:54:00 GMT

What if code could leave the boundaries of the traditional editors, and call home an infinite two-dimensional surface as a new spatial development environment? Code Canvas makes this possible. A project put together by Kael Rowan, an RSDE in the Human Interactions in Programming group at Microsoft Research, Code Canvas is designed to offer developers a spatial layout and Deep Semantic Zoom for source code. And an entirely new perspective over building software. Essentially, Code Canvas is meant to catalyze the evolution of the software development experience via spatial memory.

“Code Canvas is a research prototype focused on spatial orientation of code as the foundation of an integrated development environment. It is a spatial (2.5D) representation of source code, visual designers, and project-related artifacts that utilizes infinite panning and smooth semantic zoom for navigation. It is also extensible to allow analysis overlays and graph-based relationship visualizations,” revealed Rowan.

In the video embedded at the bottom of this article you will be able to see Rowan showcase Code Canvas, the successor to Code Thumbnails, according to Microsoft Research. Because it involves spatial representations of code, Code Canvas allows developers to centralize all data and resources on a project in ... (read more)

WorldWide Telescope Offers 25 Terabytes of Data and Imagery

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:20:00 GMT

In just under a year, Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope has managed to grow to a consistent size and to attract a strong installed base, and the evolution of the project continues with a steadfast pace. Launched in public beta in May 2008, WorldWide Telescope is currently offering no less than 25 Terabytes (TB) of both data and imagery, allowing users to explore the known universe from their desktops. And in just a year, the company has also managed to attract an audience of approximately 2 million users, who have downloaded the client enabling them to turn traditional desktops into astronomical observatories. The project was also nominated for the Edison Award and an American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) award in just its first year since launch.

Microsoft underlined that the volume of astronomical data and images made available to the public through the WorldWide Telescope was equivalent to no less than the contents of 1,000 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica, while still managing to be smaller than a single update to Virtual Earth. However, new information and imagery is added “aggressively” to the online virtual telescope. This week alone, Microsoft revealed that over 100 Terabytes of new content focused on Mars and the Moon would be made available via the WorldWide Telescope from ... (read more)

WorldWide Telescope Web Client Alpha

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:17:00 GMT

Microsoft has unveiled the latest step in the evolution of its WorldWide Telescope, making the service available beyond the limits of the desktop client. In this regard, the Redmond company has introduced the WorldWide Telescope Web Client. Now in Alpha stage, the WorldWide Telescope Web Client is designed to allow users to access content from any browser with support for Microsoft's Silverlight 2. Via the new Worldwide Telescope Web Client preview, users will be able to use their machine as a telescope without actually installing the desktop client, just by navigating to the Web Client page, but only with Internet Explorer 7, IE6 and IE8, Firefox 1.5, 2, 3 and Safari with Silverlight installed.

“The WorldWide Telescope Web Client Alpha is a browser-based version of WorldWide Telescope that functions as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground- and space-based telescopes to enable seamless, guided explorations of the universe from within a web browser,” Microsoft revealed.

The WorldWide Telescope was initially introduced a little over a year ago, at the end of February 2008. Since then the project evolved, with Microsoft delivering the WorldWide Telescope Solstice Borealis Beta Version 2.2.41.1 in January 2009. The Web Client is the next step for WorldWide telescope, desig... (read more)

Microsoft SenseCam Helps Recall Inaccessible Memories

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:27:00 GMT

SenseCam, a project from Microsoft Research’s Cambridge (UK) laboratory, is designed to help recall inaccessible memories for patients suffering from amnesia as well as neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s). According to information in a JNNP study, SenseCam technology is capable of bringing back to life previously inaccessible memories for people suffering from memory loss. The Redmond company indicated that functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging studies revealed that SenseCam images were capable of making users actually remember, by influencing a natural recollection of experiences. The technology enabled people with diagnosed memory loss conditions to recall the complete experience from thoughts to feelings and to the actual events beyond what the SenseCam captured in images.

“It’s clear that SenseCam has a huge potential both as a memory aid and as a tool for clinicians to better understand cognitive brain functions and further advance the study of neuroscience,” revealed Dr Steve Hodges, principal hardware engineer and manager of the sensors and devices group at Microsoft Research Cambridge.

Microsoft Research UK has designed SenseCam as a wearable digital camera. The technology functions without any user intervention, taking snapshots that are replicas of t... (read more)

Help Build MapPoint 2010

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:25:00 GMT

Microsoft is looking past MapPoint 2009 and is requiring users to contribute to the building of future versions of the product. In this context, the Redmond company has set up a survey designed to harvest information from end users. The promise from the software giant is that the data gathered via the MapPoint User Survey will be integrated into next-generation editions of MapPoint. But in addition to having the chance to influence the development of MapPoint, users will also be eligible for financial incentives, nothing spectacular mind you.

“The MapPoint Team is conducting a short survey to learn more about your organization’s use of Microsoft MapPoint to support your mapping, routing and data analysis needs. In exchange for your valuable time and feedback, we will include your name in a drawing for a chance to win one of 50 Amazon.com gift certificates valued at $25 each,” revealed Chris Pendleton, Virtual Earth Tech evangelist, Microsoft.

The survey debuts with general questions designed about current and past versions of MapPoint, but it rapidly gets to the juicy parts. Participants in the survey will have the chance to tell Microsoft whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the product and why, but also to criticize areas across MapPoint and indicate improving opportunities. The company also le... (read more)

Introducing GeoLife 2.0, Based on Virtual Earth

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:16:00 GMT

GeoLife 2.0 is a project from Microsoft Research Asia designed to build a location based social-networking service. GeoLife, the brainchild of Microsoft Researcher Yu Zheng, was demonstrated at TechFest in Redmond this week, and you will be able to find a video embedded at the bottom of this article showcasing the service. GeoLife aims to put the information generated by GPS-enabled devices to good use, namely to power a social network that is built on top of Microsoft's Virtual Earth platform. The GPS-data-driven social network plans to deliver a new level of interactivity between users based on the location histories associated with their trajectories.

“It is not only a Website where individuals can manage, visualize, and understand their life experience using their own GPS trajectories; it’s also a social networking service that enables people to build connections with each other based on location histories,” explained Chris Pendleton, Virtual Earth tech evangelist, Microsoft. “Such real-world location histories imply, to some extent, users interests and intentions and enable us to understand people and locations.”

GeoLife 2.0 is not available to the general public. Microsoft has been testing the service for an entire year, with no less than 112 people willing to share t... (read more)

Research Is Part of Microsoft’s DNA

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Suffering abundantly from the global financial crisis, and getting ready to face even tougher times ahead as the economic downturn deepens, Microsoft is turning to investments in innovation as a long-term strategy to survive and to ultimately come out on top. Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, sharing half of Bill Gates’ responsibilities together with Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, indicated that the Redmond company remained committed to Research and Development ahead of anything else.

“Conducting basic and applied research is part of Microsoft’s DNA,” Mundie said. “More than ever we’re committed to this investment, enabling our researchers and developers to continue advancing technology for challenging societal problems and pushing the boundaries of computing in exciting ways.”

At the Microsoft Research TechFest 2009, the research lab’s ninth annual innovation fair, the software giant showcased various innovations in computing technology, with natural user interfaces, adoption of manycore computing and a vision of evolved data centers in the limelight. A total of 40 technologies out of all the projects cooking over at Microsoft Research were made available to the public.

“Research projects at TechFest are technolo... (read more)

Microsoft Cloud Computing Futures

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:13:00 GMT

With its data centers running in recession mode, Microsoft has announced the birth of Cloud Computing Futures. Having a key concept at heart, a vision in which the data center is nothing more than a computer, Cloud Computing Futures aims to no less than apply the same design and programming strategies as for any integrated system. A project under Microsoft Research, Cloud Computing Futures will have the task to build novel data center solutions, while aiming to cut down costs associated with data centers by no less than fourfold. The software giant has named Dan Reed, managing director, Scalable and Multicore Systems, at the lead of the new group.

“A once in a generation computing revolution is underway that will broaden access and enrich the lives of individuals everywhere. Powerful cloud services and interconnected sensors, actuators and rich media devices promise to change profoundly how we work, play and socialize. The Cloud Computing Futures team is partnering with Microsoft researchers, academic innovators and technology developers to create the hardware and software capabilities needed to accelerate this revolution, while creating green computing capabilities,” Reed stated.

Following the poor financial results from the second quarter of fiscal year 2009, Microsoft has cut back extensively on spe... (read more)

Introducing Microsoft Viveri

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:11:00 GMT

When Microsoft said that the acquisition of Yahoo was no longer the backbone of its strategy to compete against Google, the company emphasized that the best solution available to reduce the gap separating it from the Mountain View-based Internet giant was to grow its search engine organically. With results having yet to attest that this tactic will be a winning move, Microsoft has its R&D wheels in motion, and is preparing the introduction of a search website designed exclusively to test concepts. Viveri, a project from Microsoft Research, is already live, but visitors will not be able to access any details from the Redmond company.

Moving forward in 2009, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer promised that the Redmond company would spend in excess of $9 billion on research and development by the end of this year alone. Viveri is an integral part of Microsoft Research's efforts to push Live Search forward, and closer to Google, without actually touching it. According to TechFlash, Viveri is designed as a standalone research search engine that will not be connected in any way with Live Search.

Robert Rounthwaite, a Microsoft Research software architect, revealed that Viveri was meant to act as the testing grounds for new concepts, ideas and technologies. Whether Viveri's testing items will end up being integra... (read more)

Introducing Infinite Canvas from Microsoft Live Labs

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:02:00 GMT

Microsoft Live Labs serves as an incubator for a variety of projects from Photosynth to the Web Sandbox, and even Thumbtack, Seadragon, and Social Streams. At the same time, the group also fosters what it has referred to as a funky side project, labeled Infinite Canvas, now in Alpha stage. Designed to take comic books into the Web 2.0 universe by breaking the limits associated with page real estate space, Infinite Canvas is live and offering a consistent selection of content for set up to permit users to experience comic books on an infinite canvas.

“Infinite Canvas, a new way of looking at comics on the web developed by Live Labs' own Ian Gilman has started getting some attention lately. Infinite Canvas is a JavaScript application that frees visual storytelling from the usual comic format of squares on a page. It started to take off when Neil Gaiman tweeted about a piece he put up called “The Day The Saucers Came.” Now we’re starting to get comments like: 'I’ve just seen the future of how to present comics online;' 'Loved the story. Absolutely awed by the format;' 'If this catches on it could be very cool,'” a Microsoft Live labs team representative said.

Ian Gilman, from the Seadragon group at Microsoft Live Labs, indicated that Scott McCloud's Reinventing Com... (read more)

Fugoo Platform for Neo-Diginets is Windows-Based

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:45:00 GMT

A new platform unveiled at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2009) in Las Vegas, built as a marriage between hardware and software, might just be the answer to transforming traditional household objects, appliances, and accessories into neo-diginets. Neo-diginets are nothing more than a new generation of Internet-linked devices with the Fugoo hardware platform and the Windows operating system at their core.

“The combination of Fugoo’s platform and Microsoft Windows opens up almost limitless possibilities for transforming ordinary household items, allowing them to perform all sorts of new functions and services,” Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of the Original Equipment Manufacturer Division at Microsoft, says.

“Imagine having your alarm clock not only wake you up but also remind you what your first appointment of the day is and calculate how long it will take you to drive to work based on current traffic conditions.”

Fugoo is designed to permit the reinventing of the home appliance, by connecting common household devices to the Internet and expanding their basic capabilities through content download and upload functionality. From net clocks to digital frames ... (read more)

WorldWide Telescope Solstice Borealis Beta

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Fri, 9 Jan 2009 11:01:00 GMT

Back in May 2008, Microsoft was unveiling a service designed to deliver a new perspective on the universe. Almost a year after the initial introduction of the first WorldWide Telescope, Microsoft has kicked up a notch its desktop-centric sky observatory. On January 7, 2009, the Microsoft Research team building WorldWide Telescope introduced version 2.2.41.1, an update codenamed “Solstice Borealis.” The new release of the WorldWide Telescope, and the first consistent upgrade since the service was introduced, brings to the table a range of improvements and new features.

Chris Pendleton, Virtual Earth tech evangelist, revealed that users would concurrently be able to find information in the National Virtual Observatory Cone Registry. “Search through the United States NVO registry to find information about astronomical bodies. You’ll find this under Search, then VO Cone Search / Registry Lookup. Once the screen comes up, you can enter anything into the NVO Registry Title Like box, then click the NVO Registry Search button,” he stated.

According to Pendleton, the new search features will make it easy to access data related to the base URL of a specific document, along with a variety of information on the items queried, including “RA – right-ascension in the J2000 coordin... (read more)

Introducing Microsoft Thumbtack

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:11:00 GMT

Thumbtack is a new project, developed under the Microsoft Live Labs umbrella and designed to provide a centralized location where users can collect, save, manage and share information from all over the web. All data “items,” from headlines to blog posts to entire articles, and additional forms of content including photos are added to Thumbtack in clips, with the users subsequently having the option to organize, edit, and share the chunks of information gathered while navigating. Thumbtack is offering storage in the cloud for all Thumbtack clips, which can be organized in collections in accordance with subject, date, or characteristics.

Thumbtack is an “easy way to gather and share links, photos, and text, from different Web sites and save all of the data in the form of a collection to a single place,” a Microsoft spokesperson revealed to Softpedia. “Thumbtack allows users to share and collaborate with others on collections, by providing the ability to directly email the content or by allowing them to publish their collection to the Web with a number of options including RSS, Atom, HTML, and Internet Explorer 8 Web Slices. Thumbtack collections can also be embedded in personal websites and blogs.”

Coming to the table with support for Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 3, Thumbtack can b... (read more)

Microsoft Free Oxite Blog Engine Available for Download

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Tue, 9 Dec 2008 11:55:00 GMT

Microsoft has made its Oxite blog engine available as a free download. The Redmond company is in fact offering the source code for Oxite via its Codeplex repository, in a move especially aimed to attract web content developers and designers familiar with ASP.NET MVC. On the official CodePlex page for Oxite, Microsoft refers to the open source project as a sample. Moreover, considering the Alpha label sticked to the the initiative, the early December 2008 release is just a taste of what the Microsoft content management system can do.

“Oxite provides you with a strong foundation you can build upon - pingbacks, trackbacks, anonymous or authenticated commenting (with optional moderation), gravatar support, RSS feeds at any page level, support for MetaWebLog API (think Windows Live Writer integration made easy), web admin panel, support for Open Search format allowing users to search your site using their browser's search box, and more - so, you can spend time on designing a great experience,” reads an excerpt of the solution's official description.

Oxite is being developed by the team behind projects such as Channel 9, Channel 10, Channel 8, TechNet Edge, and MIX Online. Therefore, in this context, Microsoft is recommending the engine as capable of greater things than just blogging. In ... (read more)

Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios

Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:31:02 GMT

Via Microsoft Connect, the company is accepting participation requests in a new Beta program for Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios. The software giant aims to streamline the way in which users interact with the desktop in an enterprise environment. At the same time, Microsoft is well aware of IT organizations working to become as green as possible, as well as to reduce costs and constantly build on their security. In this regard, Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios is a Solution Accelerator designed to deliver a scenario selection tool, as well as the necessary guidance for companies to adapt to a variety of desktop scenarios.

“Windows Optimized Desktop Scenario Selection Tool - this tool is a decision-making tool that maps business requirements to the most appropriate scenario for a group of desktop users. This tool will help you understand the relationship between desktop business requirements and the technologies suggested for each scenario,” Microsoft revealed.

Whether the desktop scenarios are task-oriented, office-centric, or focused on mobile, remote and contract-based workers, the Windows Optimized Desktop Scenario Selection Tool, along with the Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios Assessment infrastructure and design guide, provides IT organizations with the necessary support set up to lead... (read more)