I sort of went along with that, after all I was leaving Microsoft partially because I thought that Microsoft didn’t have an interesting product pipeline and wasn’t going to get the Internet for the second time. Only this time I didn’t sense Bill Gates screaming “turn toward the Internet.” For the most part I was right, at least until this year.

Remember, when a blogger says something is “dead” it just means that it isn’t interesting anymore and/or is potentially going to get disrupted. Well, it’s clear that Office DID get disrupted, if you watch today’s videos that I’ve posted about Office 10.

Who disrupted Office? Apple did. Look at the new PowerPoint and you’ll see Microsoft telling Steve Jobs to “stay off our lawn.”

Who else disrupted Office? Google did. Look at the new Web collaboration features and you’ll see Microsoft telling Eric Schmidt to “stay off our lawn.”

What happened in the four years since I left Microsoft?

1. The amount of strategy taxes have gone down. What are strategy taxes? When a Microsoft product team, like Office, needs to support exclusively technology from another product team, like, say, Internet Explorer or Windows. Here they started the demo in Firefox, which tells me that a good chunk of strategy taxes have been thrown out the window.

2. Microsoft is finally figuring out how to deal with Google. Is Microsoft’s strategy perfect? No, but it’s good enough to stop the bleeding in a range of areas like search and, now, office productivity.
3. Innovation is back. I see lots of things that are damn cool in this suite. Think that copy and paste was over? Watch the video about how Microsoft improved copy and paste. Think email couldn’t be improved? Watch the Outlook 10 video and see just how many new features are there.
4. The Web is finally front and center on the Office team’s mind. Are they completely there yet? No. Will Google continue to be interesting for a range of tasks? Yes. But Microsoft just said to the marketplace that they won’t be outplayed on the Web and that’s pretty huge.
5. It’s not Office alone that will rejuvenate Microsoft. Bing is coming on strong. Xbox is rocking and rolling. Windows 7 looks absolutely superb and is blowing holes in Apple’s strategy, especially at the low end of the market which is much more important this year due to the crappy economy. One area where Microsoft still doesn’t look strong? Mobile. But if the Windows Mobile team makes a few more shifts toward the web it will be a key player there, too.
6. Microsoft has the time to turn its big boat that other companies don’t have. Microsoft has 14 — can you count them all? — billion dollar businesses. I don’t know of another company with that luxury.
7. Microsoft’s R&D is resurgent and is feeling its oats. I’ll have more to say about that later when I get a video up I made in Microsoft’s Cambridge R&D lab last week. But I see lots of things in this Office that came out of Microsoft’s R&D department, which has now been in a great new building for more than a year and is expanding world wide.

Anyway, what caught my eye? I will upgrade just for the new Outlook features. Watch that video to see why. Also the new Web features might get me back from Google Docs. That will be a tougher sale, but you can see tons of places where Microsoft has run way ahead of Google and Zoho here.

Keep in mind, though, that Microsoft’s Office never was dead as a business. In fact I’m pretty sure that in dollar volumes Microsoft sells more today than it did four years ago when it got “boring.” This new version looks like it’ll ensure that Microsoft Office is a successful business for years to come. Some things, it won’t be out until first half of 2010, which gives Google time to respond. Other things? We don’t know pricing and haven’t yet seen all the features revealed or demoed.

Here’s the videos I filmed at the press briefing that Chris Bryant, product manager on the Office 10 team, gave me:

Outlook 10 gets new productivity features:

New copy and paste features in Office 10:

Office 10 brings collaboration features to many devices:

More videos are coming shortly (I have five in total that are uploading now) but TechCrunch has a report on Office 10 now.

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The BBC reports

In January 2009, Brussels reached a “preliminary view” that Microsoft was denting the chance for true competition by bundling its browser software in with its operating system.

Microsoft has then taken the step to not offer IE in the Windows 7 operating system release in the EC regions.

“We’re committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world,” Dave Heiner, said Microsoft deputy general counsel in a statement, “but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product.”

“We believe that this new approach, while not our first choice, is the best path forward given the ongoing legal case in Europe,” he added.

OK, so it looks like Microsoft is making a gesture toward remedying exactly what they are under scrutiny for. The EC, however, has been pushing for Microsoft to offer a choice of browsers and not eliminate the browser option completely. Hard to argue now however that Microsoft is getting the way of competition since they are offering nothing at all and letting the consumer decide. In addition, the consumer now has to go out and download their own browser to even get on the Internet, which will undoubtedly cause major issues for all. This will then solidify the EC’s attempts to improve commerce by heavily restricting it as being completely, well, clueless. Even in a world where government intervention in business is the ‘in thing’ this is just ridiculous and the EC is getting what it deserves.

John Paczkowski over at AllThingsD wraps up the EC’s bungling of this situation

Well played, Microsoft.

No wonder the EC is already wrinkling its nose at the move. “The commission had suggested to Microsoft that consumers be provided with a choice of web browsers,” the EC said in a statement issued late Thursday. “Instead Microsoft has apparently decided to supply retail consumers with a version of Windows without a web browser at all. Rather than more choice, Microsoft seems to have chosen to provide less.”

Hmm. Now who was it again that said Microsoft needs to “restore genuine consumer choice and enable competition on its merits?

Isn’t the true market driven choice that of the consumer being able to go anywhere to get the product they want? What if Microsoft doesn’t bundle every browser known to man in its operating system release? Will small niche players have a chance to petition the EC and stop the wheels of progress due to the ‘unfairness of it all”? Where will it end and why is it even an issue anyway? Doesn’t Microsoft shoot itself in the foot enough to allow competition anyway? Has the EC ever heard of Firefox?

Don’t expect the EC to let this one die but do expect that they will make a pathetic spectacle of themselves as they continue to bungle through making the world safer from progress, innovation and opportunity.

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Dave’s Answer:

I so know exactly what you mean and this kind of “friendly user behavior” drives me up the wall too.If I create a file called “foo.bar” then I want it to be shown as just that when I’m poking around on my computer. Both Windows and Mac OS X have this bad habit now of hiding filename suffixes and it just bugs me.

It’s not too incredibly difficult to figure out how to disable this “feature” in Vista, though, so you’re in luck.

The windows are all pretty big, though, so they’ll be scaled down here. Hopefully you can still step along and figure out it on your computer too.

Start out by getting to Control Panels:

There are a bunch of different things you can tweak and change, with handy common shortcuts shown in smaller blue text:

Notice where the cursor is located: “Appearance and Personalization”. That’s what you want, click on the category name.

Now you’ll see that there are subcategories of Appearance and Personalization from which you need to choose what you seek (yes, there are a LOT of ways you can tweak Vista. Probably too many, actually).

Select “Folder Options”:

Almost there. Now you’ll see the “General” Views settings, which have a few things you might want to fiddle with while you’re here:

What we seek, however, is under the “Views” tab along the top. Click on that tab and then look very closely at the many options in the lower scroll box, the advanced settings:

As I have highlighted, one option is “Hide extensions for known file types”. Uncheck that box. Now click on “Apply” and you’re done, it’s all fixed!

While you’re here, though, you might have a glance at the Search tab too, as Vista is, at best, weak in file search, but you can tweak its settings just a bit if you want:

Otherwise, you’re done, and you’re off to the races too!

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Users can search the Netflix library, manage both their instant and DVD queues, and filter searches by titles that are available to watch instantly. Windows Media Center uses the Netflix recommended category lists to make it easier to find the movies and TV shows that users want to watch.

The Netflix instant watching in Windows Media Center is powered by Microsoft Silverlight. The use of Silverlight allows users to have more accessible, discoverable and secure experiences.

“We’re continuing to work with the top content providers today to make watching TV on the PC a mainstream experience for the future,” said Craig Eisler corporate vice president of entertainment client software for the TV, Video and Music Business Group at Microsoft.

“Consumers understand that content is the driving force when it comes to experiences, and with Netflix, we’re underscoring our broader commitment to deliver a rich experience with Windows Media Center.”

The availability of Netflix in Windows Media Center is the second recent content deal for Windows, following the March launch of the Sports Channel, which offers a variety of interactive sports content from CBSSports.com, Fox Sports and MSNBC.com

Hopefully, Windows 7 will demonstrate that Microsoft has learned from the mistakes of the past. Vista had a hard time catching on right away, since it was too powerful and demanding to easily interface with older programs and technology. Windows 7 should manifest a bit more sympathy toward dated technology and weaker machines. In fact, Windows 7 is being marketed as the operating system of choice for low-power netbooks. As netbooks grow in popularity and demand, thanks to a still-soft consumer market, the new Microsoft operating system will probably enjoy greater-than-normal appeal by spreading through this venue.

Microsoft will market Windows 7 into a changing milieu. Never before has the company released a new full-scale operating system into an economy so shaken. Although the demand for Microsoft products is global, so are the economic doldrums. It may prove to be a disappointment for sales. In addition, Microsoft faces a formidable foe in the new Apple devices. The new generation of tech users seem to favor Apple products, and as October draws nearer, Mac rumors will fly thicker, probably talking up Steve Jobs’ latest gizmo. Windows 7 has a challenging road ahead.

“Because of the smaller size of Windows 7, three versions of the program will come loaded even on lower-end machines. If a consumer on a cheaper PC running the “Standard” version tries to use a high-definition monitor or run more than three software programs at once, he’ll discover that neither is possible. Then he’ll be prompted to upgrade to the pricier “Home Premium” or “Ultimate” version.

Microsoft says the process will be simple. Customers enter their credit-card information, then a 25-character code, make a few keystrokes, then reboot. Brooks says pricing hasn’t been determined, but upgrading “will cost less than a night out for four at a pizza restaurant.””

After reading this, I instantly thought about Cote excellent post titled “The Return of Paying for Software” from last summer.  Cote wrote:

“When it comes to making money with software, the iPhone App Store is the glossiest example of trend I feel creeping up on us: people paying for software.

Yes, people have been paying for software forever, but the expectations for most consumer software of late has been that it’s free.

…

The change here is an environment where people will spend $0.99 to $20 for a piece of software. I often comment that this user-mentality - spending small amounts of cash on software - exists in the OS X world, but it’s been lacking from others.”

While I initially balked at the thought of a popup window with: “Hey, it looks like you can afford a high definition monitor, so why not get the most out of it with Windows 7 Home Premium, for an low price of $19.99?”, I’m willing to give this idea the benefit of the doubt.  This recent NYT article (via Cote - that man is Gold!) explains the success of an iPod/iPhone game called iShoot, and is a reason behind my openness to the Windows Anytime Upgrade strategy:

“In January, he released a free version of the game with fewer features, hoping to spark sales of the paid version. It worked: iShoot Lite has been downloaded more than 2 million times, and many people have upgraded to the paid version, which now costs $2.99. On its peak day — Jan. 11 — iShoot sold nearly 17,000 copies, which meant a $35,000 day’s take for Mr. Nicholas.”

Consumers are getting accustomed to acquiring software for instantaneous incremental gratification.  The consumer gets some value off the bat, but is faced with a purchase decision to get incremental value.  When the consumer decides to follow through with the transaction, the gratification is instantaneous, not tomorrow in the mail or through a 4hr download.  With the Windows Anytime Upgrade strategy, consumers would get some value off the bat.  Upon hitting a feature/function wall, a purchase decision would be presented.  And if the consumer chooses to transact with Microsoft, it seems that the incremental value would be provided on the spot, without having to download or acquire and install another DVD’s worth of an OS.

Seems like an interesting strategy that’s much closer aligned to how consumers pay for software today.  Maybe an unexpected outcome of Apple’s App Store strategy is to educate consumers ahead of Microsoft’s Anytime Upgrade strategy.

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Dave’s Answer:

I’m a big fan of VMware’s Fusion product, which lets you run any Intel-friendly operating system within its sandbox on your Macintosh system. From Windows XP to Linux and more, there are quite a few different systems you can run on your Apple hardware with VMware Fusion.

The problem? Sometimes these upgrades hiccup and things glitch.

The error you’ve seen is the same error I saw when I recently upgraded VMware Fusion, so I know what you’re talking about, and know how to fix it too.

You were seeing this:

The solution? Believe it or not, you need to uninstall and reinstall VMware Fusion.

Start by clicking on the “uninstall” icon on the virtual drive:

It warns you about what you’re about to do:

Notice that the virtual machines are untouched. That’s good.

Continue and you’ll be asked to enter your admin password:

Do that correctly and it’ll start uninstalling:

Shortly thereafter (it really doesn’t take long) you’ll find that you’ve uninstalled VMware Fusion:

Now go back to the virtual disk and click on “Install” again. Agree to the license terms and default configuration and you’ll be installing yet another version of VMware Fusion in no time:

Once it’s installed, if you try starting up the virtual machine again you’ll still see that warning about the virtual machine being out of date, but this time when you click past the window you’ll see:

A few seconds later, voila! You’re running your virtual machine, just as you desire.

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A recent test version of Windows 7 (build 7048) is similar to many others insofar as it gives users the opportunity to turn features on and off.  Chris Holmes and Bryant Zadegan noticed that this build lists IE8 among the many other options, though, and they got a screenshot as proof.

Holmes and Zadegan also went through the removal process, and Zadegan observed afterwards, “For now, this only seems to wipe the actual executable running Internet Explorer 8 (iexplore.exe), but given that many of the most vocal proponents of choice were just looking for an option to functionally remove IE8, this might’ve been the only way to do it without killing the rest of Windows.”

Zadegan then continued, “In addition, this actually takes two reboots and a configuration step to complete, so there’s definitely something going on behind the scenes (likely a remapping of where IE-related functions can be found for other elements in Windows so that Windows doesn’t complain about IE’s nonexistence).”

It may be possible for Windows 7 to avoid the EU’s wrath and for the average Windows 7 user to save a fraction of his computer’s resources, then.  We’ll just have to wait and see whether this feature makes it to market.

After setting up a couple of servers, one with IIS and the other with SQL server, I see some issues that I will have to overcome before moving the servers to EC2. I will answer the first one in this post; the others will be in future posts.

1. How to handle load balanced web requests using?

2. What do you do about websites that need a certificate?

3. Internal IP address is set by DHCP and each instance you start has a new IP address.

I have not found all of the answers yet for each of these and this is in no way a complete list. I will write another post with any more issue I find.

1. How to handle load balanced web requests?

Right now I am using Windows Network Load Balancing service for our web servers in a standard (“old school”) non-virtualized server environment. This solution needs static IP addresses and a static “cluster IP” which is bound to the server in order to handle the traffic. Amazon only offers 1 IP address per instance and the public IP address is mapped to the internal one. The only way I can see around this is to think about the Amazon environment as simple as possible. The WNLB service is really a separate operation that Microsoft included with Windows. Separating this service off of the web server and onto its own seems to solve the issue. Incoming request will go to the load balancer server (which is probably going to be a Linux instance, Amazon article here) that has elastic IP address associated with it. A second instance should also be running and configured to take over if this instance is terminated. The elastic IP only needs to be re-associated with the secondary instance and the websites will be back up and running.

The second and third questions will be in a future post.

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• Windows Management. By now, you’ve probably seen that Windows 7 does a lot to make window management easier: you can “dock” a window to the left or right half of the screen by simply dragging it to the edge; similarly, you can drag the window to the top of the screen to maximize it, and double-click the window top / bottom border to maximize it vertically with the same horizontal width. What you might not know is that all these actions are also available with keyboard shortcuts:

  • Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow dock;
  • Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow maximizes and restores / minimizes;
  • Win+Shift+Up Arrow and Win+Shift+Down Arrow maximizes and restores the vertical size.

  This side-by-side docking feature is particularly invaluable on widescreen monitors – it makes the old Windows way of shift-clicking on two items in the taskbar and then using the context menu to arrange them feel really painful.

• The Black Box Recorder. Every developer wishes there was a way that an end-users could quickly and simply record a repro for the problem that they’re running into that is unique to their machine. Windows 7 comes to the rescue! Part of the in-built diagnostic tools that we use internally to send feedback on the product, the Problem Steps Recorder provides a simple screen capture tool that enables you to record a series of actions. Once you hit “record”, it tracks your mouse and keyboard and captures screenshots with any comments you choose to associate alongside them. Once you stop recording, it saves the whole thing to a ZIP file, containing an HTML-based “slide show” of the steps. It’s a really neat little tool and I can’t wait for it to become ubiquitous on every desktop! The program is called psr.exe; you can also search for it from Control Panel under “Record steps to reproduce a problem”.
• I Want My Quick Launch Toolbar Back! You might have noticed that the old faithful Quick Launch toolbar is not only disabled by default in Windows 7, it’s actually missing from the list of toolbars. As is probably obvious, the concept of having a set of pinned shortcut icons is now integrated directly into the new taskbar. Based on early user interface testing, we think that the vast majority of users out there (i.e. not the kind of folk who read this blog, with the exception of my mother) will be quite happy with the new model, but if you’re after the retro behavior, you’ll be pleased to know that the old shortcuts are all still there. To re-enable it, do the following:
  • Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars / New Toolbar
  • In the folder selection dialog, enter the following string and hit OK:
    %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
  • Turn off the “lock the taskbar” setting, and right-click on the divider. Make sure that “Show text” and “Show title” are disabled and the view is set to “small icons”.
  • Use the dividers to rearrange the toolbar ordering to choice, and then lock the taskbar again.

  If it’s not obvious by the semi-tortuous steps above, it’s worth noting that this isn’t something we’re exactly desperate for folks to re-enable, but it’s there if you really need it for some reason. Incidentally, we’d love you to really try the new model first and give us feedback on why you felt the new taskbar didn’t suit your needs.

• Windows Movie Maker. Windows 7 doesn’t include a movie editing tool – it’s been moved to the Windows Live Essentials package, along with Photo Gallery, Mail and Messenger. Unfortunately, Windows Live Movie Maker is currently still in an early beta that is missing most of the old feature set (we’re reworking the application), and so you might be feeling a little bereft of options. It goes without saying that we intend to have a better solution by the time we ship Windows 7, but in the meantime the best solution for us early adopters is to use Windows Movie Maker 2.6 (which is essentially the same as the most recent update to the Windows XP version). It’s missing the full set of effects and transitions from the Windows Vista version, and doesn’t support HD editing, but it’s pretty functional for the typical usage scenario of home movie editing.  Download Windows Movie Maker 2.6 from here:
  http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d6ba5972-328e-4df7-8f9d-068fc0f80cfc 
• Hiding the Windows Live Messenger Icon. Hopefully your first act after Windows 7 setup completed was to download and install the Windows Live Essentials suite of applications (if not, then you’re missing out on a significant part of the Windows experience). If you’re a heavy user of IM, you may love the way that Windows Live Messenger is front and central on the taskbar, where you can easily change status and quickly send an IM to someone. the other hand, you may prefer to keep Windows Live Messenger in the system tray where it’s been for previous releases. If so, you can fool the application into the old style of behavior. To do this, close Windows Live Messenger, edit the shortcut properties and set the application to run in Windows Vista compatibility mode. Bingo!

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