Microsoft

Blogosphere Trend: Customer Service Comments

July 20, 2006

I’ve noticed something very interesting on this blog, and on others; it’s something I’m calling “customer service blog comments.”

It seems that it’s becoming more and more common for company representatives to post comments on blog posts related to that company or its products. For example, so far on this blog I’ve had comments from FeedBurner, Dell, and Microsoft employees, plus a comment from the CEO of FeedBlitz; the comments were in reply to various blog posts I wrote that were related to those companies.

What I find interesting is that even big companies like Dell are getting on the bandwagon. I think it’s a great idea: don’t make the customers come to you, making them wait on hold or for an email response; instead, go directly to the customers and help them solve their problems with friendly, personalized service. That’s the way to do it.

Windows Interface and Icons: Trademarked?

June 15, 2006

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Windows icons aren’t used in just Windows. They’re everywhere: in software and on websites.

I haven’t been able to find any information on the Microsoft website that prohibits the use of these icons, so I guess that means it’s okay, right?

For Windows XP, maybe. But according to a screenshot of the “About Windows” dialog in Windows Vista Business posted on the SuperSite for Windows:

The Windows Vista™ Business operating system and its user interface are protected by trademark and other pending or existing intellectual property rights in the United States and other countries.

Of course, the OS name at the beginning of the sentance will vary if you’re using a different edition of Windows Vista.

But compare this to the legal info found in the “About Windows” dialog in Windows XP:

Copyright © 1981-2001 Microsoft Corporation

Yep, just a copyright notice.

Obviously, the legal information in the About Windows dialog has changed significantly from Windows XP to Windows Vista.

Does this mean that programmers and web developers will be unable to use elements of the Vista interface, including icons? If so, does this interface protection cover just Vista itself? Or does it also encompass programs included with Vista, such as Windows Media Player 11 and Windows Internet Explorer 7? If IE7 is protected with a “trademarked interface,” does that mean that usage of the IE7 feed icon is illegal? What other implications might this possibly have?

I have previously considered the use of Windows XP icons on websites to be okay. Many popular sites use them, and Microsoft hasn’t complained about it as far as I know. In addition, the usage of Windows icons presents a consistent user experience for new PC and Internet users.

But it looks like this might be changing. For me as a programmer and web developer, I would find it very helpful if Microsoft would make it clear what exactly they want to prohibit and what they want to allow.

What do you think?

Windows Media Photo: Microsoft’s New JPEG Rival

May 28, 2006

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According to a CNet article:

If it is up to Microsoft, the omnipresent JPEG image format will be replaced by Windows Media Photo.

The software maker detailed the new image format Wednesday at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference here. Windows Media Photo will be supported in Windows Vista and also be made available for Windows XP, Bill Crow, program manager for Windows Media Photo, said in a presentation.

[...]

Typically digital cameras today use 6:1 compression, Crow said. Windows Media Photo should offer better pictures at double that level, he said. “We can do it in half the size of a JPEG file.”

Not only does compression save storage space, which is especially important for devices such as cell phones and digital cameras, a smaller file can also print faster, transfer faster and help conserve battery life on devices, Crow said. “Making a file that is smaller has all kinds of benefits.”

Considering that Microsoft already has the Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video formats, Windows Media Photo seems like a no-brainer addition to the Windows Media format lineup.

But then again, do we really need yet another image format?

Microsoft Considers Atom to Be an RSS Format

May 20, 2006

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Looks like Microsoft will be considering Atom an “RSS format” in Windows Vista.

From the Windows Vista Developer Center RSS homepage:

Windows Vista will support all common RSS formats, including: RSS 1.0, 2.0 and Atom 0.3. We will support Atom 1.0 when it’s released.

And from the RSS Support in Longhorn article:

RSS, as we use it in this document, refers not to a single format (such as RSS 2.0), but to the general concept of feeds of syndicated content. It should be considered to cover all feed formats that meet the basic criteria of updateable [sic] collections of items.

I do see why Microsoft has chosen to define RSS this way, and at the same time I don’t.

There really isn’t a term that exclusively encapsulates both “RSS” and “Atom.” You could say the word “feed,” though that can include other formats such as OPML.

But don’t you think “feed” is more technically accurate and user-friendly than “RSS” when describing both RSS and Atom?

Windows Media Player 11 Screenshots

May 16, 2006

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The SuperSite for Windows has just posted screenshots of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP yesterday. I’m really impressed with WMP11′s new method of displaying albums and songs.

Give Your Computer a Spring Cleaning… on the Inside

May 12, 2006

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Microsoft recently published a helpful step-by-step guide to cleaning your computer.

From the article:

“Your computer could fry if you don’t keep it clean,” says Jonathon Millman, chief technology officer for Hooplah Interactive.

Dust clogs the vents behind your computer, which causes your CPU to heat upâ€”and heat is the biggest cause of component failure in computers. Regular cleaning could save you costly maintenance fees down the road.

This is definitely something I want to add to my to-do list for this summer!

Microsoft Invents “Dance-Dance Email”

April 25, 2006

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Okay, I thought this would be something really dumb when I first saw “Microsoft” and “dance-dance email” in the same headline, but it’s actually kind of cool. Users of this email program developed by Microsoft Research can “dance-dance” to quickly sort their email. Sounds like it could even make sorting through a full inbox fun for once.

From an Arstechnia.com article:

The Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) pad on the floor [...] turned out to be the centerpiece of the event. Dr. AJ Brush, PhD, jumped on the pad and showed us how the team had used the off-the-shelf gaming interface to demonstrate a new method of human-computer interaction.

Firing up a custom-built e-mail application, she used her feet on the up and down arrows to scroll through messages, and hit another pad to open and close them for viewing. E-mails could be flagged using the left and right arrows. Deleting was the most fun, as it involved jumping and hitting a specific combo (right arrow and the diagonal between up and left) together. Dr. Brush said that test subjects had gotten quite excited about deleting e-mails and became a bit too carried away in cleaning out their Inbox.

Dr. Stephen Drucker then demonstrated a second possible application for the pad, a smooth-scrolling photo management application in the vein of iPhoto or “Microsoft Codename Max.” The user could quickly run through photos and sort them into different folders using the DDR pad, although Dr. Brush did admit that in testing it was found that one’s right leg could get tired while constantly scrolling to the next photo.

The floor was then opened up to questions. First off the bat was the obvious one: it looks like fun, but when the fun wears off, how practical is such a system? Schofield admitted that there have to be specific, measurable increases in productivity for a new system like this to take off, but that there were some cases where people might welcome a change of pace in the way they interact with their computer. The opportunity to stand up, stretch, and get a small bit of exercise while simultaneously sorting through your Inbox might appeal to busy workers who are hunched over their keyboards all day long. Besides, he concluded, “there is no law that says work can’t be fun.”

Microsoft’s Guide to Speeding Up Your Computer

March 18, 2006

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Microsoft has a 4 Ways to Speed Up Your Computer’s Performance article that I found some time ago. The steps are, in summary:

Free Up Disk Space
Defragment
Run the Windows Disk Checker
Get an Anti-Spyware Program

Pretty basic steps, but it looks like a very good step-by-step guide for someone who’s new to computers.

It’s Official: Office 2007

February 18, 2006

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It’s official: Office 12 is now Office 2007!

Here are the new Office editions:

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 – Can be installed on three PCs. Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. That’s right: not Outlook, OneNote. Costs $149; no upgrade version available.
Microsoft Office Basic 2007 – Includes Word, Excel, and Outlook. Can only be purchased along with a PC.
Microsoft Office Standard 2007 – Just like Basic, this includes Word, Excel, and Outlook. What’s the difference, I wonder? Costs $399, or $239 to upgrade.
Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 – Here we’ve got Word, Excel, Outlook with Business Contact Manager, and Publisher. Costs $449, or $279 to upgrade.
Microsoft Office Professional 2007 – Includes Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, and Publisher. Costs $499, or $329 to upgrade.
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 – Wow: this version has Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher, InfoPath, and Office Communicator, plus other corporate features. Only available via volume licensing.
Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 – Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher, InfoPath, OneNote, Office Communicator, and Office Groove. Only available via volume licensing.

Hey, what happened to the “Edition” branding? For example, now we have Office Small Business Edition 2003, but the Office 2007 edition of that will be known as Office Small Business 2007. Ugh, this will make it hard for newer PC users to differenciate between the suites and the products.

If you look at the list closely, you’ll see some new products in the lineup.

Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 – Instant Messaging for businesses.
Microsoft Office Groove 2007 – Wow, uh, interesting name. This is a peer-to-peer networking product.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 – Okay, so this isn’t in the edition list; it’s a standalone product. This “new” product is actually, for the most part, a renamed FrontPage 2007.

Get the full scoop at the SuperSite for Windows.

Vista Release Date: October 2006?

February 15, 2006

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I noticed that a recent Neowin article mentions that Windows Vista will be released in the mid-end of October 2006, to coincide with the five-year anniversary of the release date of Windows XP.

Now that I think of it, I’m surprised someone didn’t guess that beforehand.