Monday, November 3, 2008

Microsoft's Blue Period: Codename "Azure"


I read a handful of blogs on a daily basis - my "Daily News" is not an amalgam of CNN, BBC, NYTimes, or similar; my daily reading is chosen based on my daily hunger for inspiration, design, creativity, and excellence in the field of technology.

And so I was IM'ing with a friend who was at PDC. We talked a bit about Microsoft's cloud strategy (link to ProgrammableWeb - a fantastic all-around dev/MashUp/API resource). Or rather _he_ talked about it and I listened in the kind of silence that belies my unusually tenacious skepticism in all things "new" or "innovative". This is an EVOlution, not a REVOlution. Which brings me to the point of this entry:

Microsoft is innovating in areas most people are ignoring. The XBox is an incredible media center with few security issues, a (relatively) reliable hardware and software platform (their responsive support went a long way toward addressing the RRoD issues). Where is that kind of innovation with Cloud Services?

Where is the layman's ability to join data streams, or create small applications?

Where is Hal?