LiveSide - Interview blog

Windows Live 2009: Pierro Sierra on shared data experience

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 02:59:00 GMT

We hope you’ve enjoyed our discussions with some of the program managers working on Windows Live, we really appreciate the opportunity to get to sit down and talk to them, and appreciate the opportunity to bring them to you.

Our last interview of the day was with Piero Sierra, Group Program Manager for Shared Data Experience. We ended up talking for a good twenty minutes on camera, and since we try to keep these video interviews around 10 minutes or so I broke this one up in to two parts.

In part one, Piero begins with a quick definition of shared data experience (sdx), his team is responsible for SkyDrive, Windows Live Sync, and Windows Live Toolbar. We started out talking about the differences between Live Mesh and Windows Live Sync, talked a bit about SkyDrive, and then Piero described one of his favorites, Windows Live Toolbar:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

In part two, Piero talks about the uptake of the new services without getting too specific about numbers, we talked about what it means to run these services the scale of the internet, and then touched on how FolderShare has been transformed into Windows Live Sync, and some hints of what’s to come now that the move to Live ID and the inclusion into the Essentials suite has taken place.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Hopefully we’ll be able to continue our discussions with the people who bring you Windows Live, again, we really enjoyed our day of meetings, and look forward to doing it again soon.

Windows Live 2009: Jeff Kunins and Windows Live Social Experience

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:02:00 GMT

Jeff Kunins is a Group Program Manager for Social Networking for Windows Live, working on some of the features of Windows Live that cut across what used to be separate products. Working on Spaces and Groups, Profile, What’s New feed, and the 3rd party web activities are some of what Jeff’s group focuses on. Jeff sees Windows Live Wave 3 as “the birth of Windows Live as a suite”, more than just a set of products with a single name.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

We like how Jeff explains where we’re at with Windows Live today, that 10 years ago search was able to simplify the “cacophony” of information on the web, and now 10 years later Windows Live seeks to simplify the cacophony of the many and different social networks we find ourselves immersed in. Good stuff.

Windows Live 2009: Omar Shahine part 2 – People in Windows Live

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:46:00 GMT

While Omar Shahine has been kind enough to talk to us (twice) about POP3 support in Hotmail, it’s not really what he works on. Omar has been busy down in Mountain View, California, working on Hotmail, and the People features in Windows Live Wave 3. In the second part of our chat with him, he gives us a quick overview of the new features in Wave 3 dealing with people. Omar explains that contacts updates are now automatically “dynamic” (before Wave 3 it required an opt in), so that when you update information in your profile the people you give permission to access that info will be kept up to date.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

In the next few weeks we should be seeing some new stuff in Hotmail: POP3 access of course; web messenger, and even a few surprises. Keep an eye out, and of course keep checking back with us here at LiveSide!

Windows Live 2009: Rodger Benson on Windows Live Photo Gallery

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:51:00 GMT

In our next interview, we spent some time with Rodger Benson, a program manager working on Photo Gallery talking about facial recognition, new upload limits for photos on photos.live.com (or Spaces), how Photo Gallery works with the suite (for example: picking face names from your address book):

(Please visit the site to view this media)

We’ll get the last two interviews up as soon as we can convince Soapbox to play nice ;)

Windows Live 2009: Colin Anthony and Emmanuel Miranda

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:11:00 GMT

Up until Wave 3, Windows Live has been a suite pretty much in name only. In Wave 2, services were focused, some were culled, in order to make some sense of the seemingly random slapping of the Windows Live moniker on any piece of code that walked by (remember Windows Live Barcode?). In Wave 3, not only was the look and feel of the online experience cleaned up, but internally teams started working on a single product: Windows Live, instead of a number of separate products with a common name.

In our next segment, Colin Anthony, Senior Program Manager, Custom Experience Platform team, and Emannuel Miranda, Developer Lead for the same team, talk about Home.live.com, shared experiences across the web applications, and how the way they look at their work has changed:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Previously, we chatted with Windows Live Senior Director Ryan Gavin, and let Omar Shahine explain a bit about POP3 – we’ll have more from Omar soon, and hear from 3 more Windows Live managers.

Windows Live 2009: Our interview with Ryan Gavin, Sr. Director, Windows Live

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:04:00 GMT

2008 was a momentous year for Windows Live. After lots of fanfare, but with no real direction, Windows Live first appeared in early 2006, with lots of new apps, lots of rebranding (and re-rebranding), and lots of queries from the press and from customers on “what IS Windows Live?”. That continued into 2007, where even Microsoft had had enough of all the rebranding foolishness, pulled back on new releases, and started cleaning up the Windows Live act. We got our first glimpses of a new direction in Wave 2, in early 2008.

But Wave 3, which debuted in the fall of 2008, for the first time offered a clear definition of Windows Live, and a (mostly) unified presentation experience. In January of 2009 Steve Ballmer took the “beta” tag off of Windows Live Essentials, and this week we were able to fight the freeway traffic and head up to Redmond to speak with a number of Windows Live managers about where we are.

Our first interview of the day was with Ryan Gavin, Senior Director, Windows Live. Ryan was busy at CES, talking to a number of publications, and we were grateful to be able to catch him while missing all the CES Vegas madness. Ryan gives us an overview of the Windows Live platform, talks about “simplifying the web”, about partners, including Facebook, and give a shout out to LiveSide readers at the end:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

In the next few days, as we get the videos processed and loaded up to Soapbox, we’ll be bringing you more in our short series of Windows Live interviews. Our thanks to Microsoft, Windows Live, and Waggener Edstrom for setting this all up for us.

Hotmail POP3 access on the way: Omar Shahine explains

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:12:00 GMT

We spent the day today (Jan 13) on campus, talking to some of the people who have helped to bring you Wave 3. In quite a coincidence, one of them was Omar Shahine, who we spoke to last fall when POP3 access was announced. We’ll bring you more from Omar coming up, but we wanted to get this bit out on POP3 now while the news is fresh. Funnily enough, Omar doesn’t actually work on POP, although he has been working on Hotmail, and more recently on some of the social networking aspects of Windows Live, specifically People and Profiles. We just happened to catch him, twice, right when there were POP announcements.

Last night we reported that users in the Netherlands were accessing their Hotmail via POP3 (as Omar explains in the video, POP is a kind of lowest common denominator for email retrieval. It isn’t nearly as rich an experience as DeltaSync, which is what Windows Live Mail and Outlook use, but it does allow just about any email client – including most notably the iPhone – to access Hotmail), and we’ve since seen reports of access in the UK and in Australia. If you’re waiting for POP access, perhaps for your iPhone, you shouldn’t have to wait long. And if you are able to access POP for the first time in your region, let us know in the comments.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

(Our friend Arnout Hemel posted on Hotmail access in the Netherlands on the LiveLog blog today – it’s in Dutch but you can play with Windows Live Translator)

In the next few days, we’ll be posting the rest of our chat with Omar and our other interviews, just as soon as we can get the videos processed and posted. Thanks to everyone for a fun day!

Live Mesh video interview parts 1 and 2: Abhay Parasnis and Jeff Hanson

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:08:00 GMT

Our coverage of PDC continues with some big announcements about Live Mesh coming out of LA. Sometime this week you will be required to update Live Mesh, and after that will be introduced to some significant changes. Beginning with very limited betas (much like the way Live Mesh itself was rolled out gradually), Live Mesh will soon include support for Macs, and for mobile (Windows Mobile 6). We will also see coming up in the next few months the addition of “web apps”, small programs that can be run in the browser “in the cloud”, or also offline, and will have the same sync capabilities that Live Mesh folders do. Right now these web apps are only available to developers, we'll have more on how you can get a chance to play with them in upcoming posts.

I talked to Abhay Parasnis, General Manager Live Mesh, and Jeff Hanson, General Manager Services Marketing about Live Mesh, the Azure Platform and the new web apps in part one of the interview:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

(just a couple of technical notes: 1: no they didn’t put us in the kitchen ;), we were in a very nice press cubicle with no ceiling not far away from where they were clearing lunch from the press room. Really it didn’t sound like that live, but not much we could have done about it anyway, and 2: sorry about a bit of a smudge on the camera lens, could have done something about that, lesson learned)

In part two, we move around behind Abhay’s laptop and get to take a look at web apps:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

We’ll have lots more on Live Mesh coming up. In the meantime you can take a look at www.microsoftpdc.com, materials for a number of the sessions are already up.

Windows Live Messenger Program Managers talk Wave 3: Part 3 of 3

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:59:00 GMT

In the first two parts of our interview, we talked to Alton Kwok and Brian Moudy. In this part, we talk to Marisol Ontaneda about design, and then we get into an overview of what it means to be a program manager. We really enjoyed our session with Alton, Brian, and Marisol, and want to thank them again for taking the time to meet with us.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Just a note about the videos: Sorry about the mess, MSN Soapbox, which I wish we could count on to use, wouldn't play nice at all last night and it took me til now to get the files uploaded. I won't go through all the gory details, but this was way too hard.

OK anyway, we have MSN Soapbox videos of everything up now, so you can watch without needing Silverlight (although go get it!), and/or link or embed the videos. Hopefully we’ll get this mess sorted out soon.

Part 1: Alton Kwok on Messenger conversation window, pawns, and more

Part 2: Brian Moudy on Messenger Groups

Not to take anything away from our talk with the Messenger guys, they were great, we'd love to do it again. Any other Windows Live teams want to talk we’d love to talk to you, too!

Windows Live Messenger Program Managers talk about Wave 3: LiveSide interview part 2 of 3

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:15:00 GMT

In part one of our interview, Alton Kwok talked about some of the new features in the new Messenger beta, including an interesting history of “the pawn”, and how it finally was replaced in Messenger Wave 3 with “the chiclet”. Next up is Brian Moudy, who works on Groups, and is “incredibly excited” about the possibilities:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

(While we get our video hosting all figured out, here’s a couple of screenshots of Alton, Brian, and Marisol):

I’ll have part three up soon, where Marisol talks about design, and the group talks about what it means to be a Program Manager. Good stuff.

Windows Live Messenger PMs talk Wave 3 Part 1
Part 1 wmv

Windows Live Messenger Program Managers talk about Wave 3: LiveSide Interview Part 1 of 3

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:14:00 GMT

Today I ventured to Microsoft's Red West campus to talk to three Windows Live Messenger Program Managers; Alton Kwok, Brian Moudy, and Marisol Ontaneda. It was great getting a chance to talk to them about Windows Live Messenger and Wave 3.

In this first part of the interview, I ask the three to introduce themselves, and then Alton starts off by talking a bit about contacts, pawns, and What's New:

(Please visit the site to view this media)

(about 7 minutes)

(here's a link to the file, in case you want to download: just right click and "save target as": Part 1 wmv )

I'll have parts 2 and 3 up shortly, just don't ask me about Soapbox or Expression Encoder anytime soon ;).

Our interview with David Treadwell of Windows Live Platform Services at Mix08

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:49:00 GMT

Microsoft is betting heavily on Software + Services, the concept that all the power of the desktop will not go away when services are introduced, rather that storage and computing power, local to the user, will continue to play a big role in how we use computers. For the past couple of years, David Treadwell has been working along with Ray Ozzie and others to develop what has been known as Windows Live Core, now Windows Live Platform Services. This platform, which we will be talking quite a bit more about shortly, is the beginnings of a transformation at Microsoft - not switching from Software to Services, but bringing services along as an integral added piece to software. David Treadwell is the Corporate Vice President for Windows Live Platform Services at Microsoft, and we talked to him at Mix08 about the platform, and how it relates to Windows Live.

01 00:00:34         Windows Live Platform Services defined: A developer platform for services, blended with client: the best of both worlds

02 00:01:23         Messenger Services Library API: A good example of the Software + Services model

03 00:02:57         Integrating a front end for Messenger into a website

04 00:04:03         The Windows Live Platform: Comparing it to the PC file system in the 80’s; working towards an ability to create a service just like creating an application

05 00:07:36         Identity Services and Interoperability: What’s different from Passport and Hailstorm

06 00:10:39         Issues with ID services: Spam

07 00:11:52         Is Microsoft turning towards an Open model?

08 00:13:12         Advertising? Artificial barriers to keep users will fail in the long run

09 00:14:38         Microsoft is serious about Software + Services

8mb mp3 download - 17 minutes and 20 seconds

Windows Live Platform: our interview with Angus Logan

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:44:00 GMT

Angus Logan is the Senior Technical Product Manager for Windows Live Platform, a title he only dusts off occasionally. Usually he's too busy building out content for Windows Live Quick Apps, or creating cool tools like the Messenger IM control, or working with Chris Keating from Windows Live Gallery to build a gadget to add that IM control to Spaces.

We met up with Angus in a conference room in Red West A, where we talked about Windows Live Platform, complete with whiteboarding:

Angus talks about the 5 categories, or buckets, included in the Windows Live Platform, along with the Terms of Use:

Rich Media (Silverlight, Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live)
Storage and Sharing
Communicating and Staying Connected
Finding and Locating (Search, Virtual Earth)
Identity / Authentication

We talked about those five categories, took a high level look at the Windows Live Platform, talked about where the platform is and where it's going, and spent some time talking about what's coming up, including CES and Mix08.

Introducing Angus Logan	00:00
A higher level look at Windows Live Platform	00:51
Some possible uses for the IM control; more consumer tools coming	03:25
The 5 categories of Windows Live Platform services	04:31
Terms of use	09:36
What's been announced, and what to look for	11:40
Platform focused on web developers, for now	15:17
"A large social network" gets some new stuff around December	17:02
The Windows Live Team at Mix08	17:39
On releasing tools as soon as possible	19:06
3rd party participation with the Windows Live Platform	20:22
On Quick Apps; lots more to come	24:06

Our interview with Angus Logan (mp3 12mb approx 25 minutes) (we'll be adding the Silverlight streaming back in shortly, once we tweak a couple of things)

Windows Live announcements: Windows Live Events launched; SkyDrive goes to 1GB - Our interview with David Fortin

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Windows Live Events, set to launch at the time of this posting, 5pm PDT (Redmond time), is a new feature of Windows Live Spaces that makes it easy to create, manage, and share events using Windows Live Spaces. Here are some of the highlights of Events:

Create an event with a single set up page, and customize it with more than 100 templates as well as Windows Live Spaces modules
Invite guests to the event, using Windows Live Messenger contacts, or invite non-WL ID users by using their email address
Live Maps integration to show location and directions to the event
Send out customized invitation emails with links so invitees can view, collaborate, and share photos etc.
Integrate with user calendars, using 3rd party calendar protocols, including iCal
Manage discussion lists
After the event, collect and share photos and comments: keep the event for posterity

While we are awaiting a peek at Events ourselves, it sounds like a promising tool.

For more on Windows Live, Events, and some changes in SkyDrive beta, including a move to 1gb of storage, and a promise that "storage in the long run is not going to be a concern for our users, I had an opportunity to talk with David Fortin, General Manager of Consumer Products for Windows Live.

The highlights

What is Windows Live? An overview of the "set of tools to help people connect and share anywhere"
Where SkyDrive fits in
SkyDrive and the Windows Live Platform
The journey starts with delivering individual benefits
Announcing SkyDrive 1GB storage limit: "storage in the long run is not going to be a concern for our users"
Large storage numbers - really needed or a marketing ploy?
Announcing Windows Live Events
A quick tour of how to set up an event

download or listen to the interview via .mp3

Office Live Small Business: our interview with Michael Schultz

feedback@liveside.net (LiveSide.net) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:36:00 GMT

With 450,000 domains in use with Office Live (now Office Live Small Business), its becoming clear that there is a market for a connected set of services helping small businesses to establish, maintain, and grow a web presence. We talked with Michael Schultz, U.S. business and marketing lead for Microsoft Office Live Small Business, about small businesses and their website presence, about SEO and SEM, and some partnerships they have developed, specifically with The Search Agency and WebSite Pros.

You can listen to the Silverlight streaming version here, with chapter markers:

Why change the name to Office Live Small Business?
Three versions: Basics, Essentials, and Premium
Most of the customers start out with Basics
The value for customers with everything (domain, website building and management, SEO and SEM) all in one place
Small businesses want to focus on their business more than website management
Search Engine Marketing described
Search Engine Optimization: Science and Art
The Search Agency and three levels of help: Do It Yourself, Get some help, and Have it done for you.
What's coming up? Users want help to promote and market their business.

Interview with Michael Shultz on Office Live Small Business:

or listen to or download the mp3 8mb.