Benefits of using Windows Azure:

In simple words, Azure benefits the developers, Independent Software Vendors, Business Partners and any Third parties with their solutions.

Infrastructure Management made Simple: Since services platform manages many critical OS updates and management tasks, more focus can be put for the needs of the users. Also, eliminating the expensive hardware planning and management.

For the Developers: Millions of .Net developers, can utilize their skills to create cloud-based applications that are scalable across on-premises and online. In future, applications written on Ruby on Rails (RoR),Python, Php can also be deployed.

Standards Compatibility: Since Azure platform supports all industry standard protocols like HTTP, SOAP, REST etc., applications can be easily integrated though built on different technologies.

Enhanced User Experiences: With Windows Azure a variety of applications can be developed for web, mobile and hybrid domain. These applications can also easily get integrated with existing or third-party applications.

Faster: Since the Azure platform is offering lot of services up-front, applications will be created and deployed faster than custom way.

Development Tools

• Complete offline development environment, including computation and storage services
• Complete command-line SDK tools and samples
• Visual Studio add-in that enables local debugging

source: microsoft.com

 Read Related: What is Windows Azure in Part 1

Windows Azure Platform

Microsoft’s first step into Cloud Computing is by providing cloud platform known as Windows Azure. It is a platform that provides with wide range of services for both internets as well as on-premise environment. In simple words, Windows Azure platform allows applications to be hosted, managed as well as to run at Microsoft datacenters.

The hosting environment of Windows Azure is called Fabric controller. Besides supporting Microsoft and non-Microsoft languages, Windows Azure platform welcomes third party languages as well such as Ruby, Python, PHP and Eclipse to usher in enhanced cloud-based computing capabilities. Additionally, the open architecture of Windows Azure platform enables developers to build web applications that will run on PCs, connected devices or servers, thus providing with best of hybrid solutions for both on-premises and online. The environment also supports multiple internet protocols such as HTTP, SOAP, XML and REST. It can also integrate well with Microsoft Visual Studio for development of Azure-based applications.

Windows Azure Platform includes following five services that the developers can use to run the applications in the cloud.

Live Services:
It is the building block for the developers to build rich social applications for larger section of population in web. Using the Live Services components, developers can build applications as well as mash up.

SQL Azure services:
It is the relational database that allows search, relational queries as well as data synchronization with remote offices and mobile devices. In simple words it offers data storage capabilities. This Microsoft SQL Azure can store as well as retrieve unstructured, semi-structured and structured data and information.

.Net services:
This service can be used to secure applications as well as for communication across all applications. One can create federated applications using Microsoft’s .Net services so that the applications can span from on-line premises to the cloud.

Sharepoint services & Dynamics CRM services:
These are the other two components which the developers will be using in the long run to build strong customer relationship. These two capabilities integrated in applications will enhance cloud-computing experience manifold.

Read also Azure Benefits … to complete the knowledge cycle. Keep reading!

Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft announced the technical preview of the much awaited MS Office 2010 at Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans on 13^th July, 2009 and unveiled the enhancements to MS Office 2007.  The development of Office 2010, codenamed as Office 14, started in 2006. This will be the first office application to be available both in 32-bit and 64-bit version.

The key features that Microsoft claims to have added across all applications in the MS Office 2010 package:

1. The applications will be available on your phone, PC and web. MS Word, excel, power point, OneNote becoming web based is one of the major leaps Microsoft is making through Office 2010. A lighter and free, web version of office 2010 can be accessed across devices (PC, phone etc) and will be available anytime, anywhere.  This cloud based web application will have fewer features than the desktop version of MS Office 2010 but will be good enough to edit and make changes in the document.
2. The ‘Ribbon User Interface’ (Ribbon is a combination of tool bar and tab bar which we see at top in most of our Office 2007 applications) is upgraded and is extended to all the applications including MS Outlook, MS Visio, OneNote, Project and Publisher.
3. Backstage view is something which is going to attract all of us. It acts as a substitute to the usual ‘File Menu’. This will redefine our experience of opening a new doc, with a good layout of templates of new document, different ways to share our work, different print settings and page layouts at one place.

Here goes the detailed analysis of enhancements of few applications in MS Office 2010 suite:

Microsoft Word 2010:

1. More than one user can work at a time on the same document at the same time. Word will alert the two or more users who are working on the same doc when the changes need to be synchronized with their document.
2.  We can have the live preview of paste function.
3. Word 2010 diminishes the use of ‘Print screen button’.  It is capable of taking screenshots directly from the word document by clicking on “screenshot “ .
4. We can remove the background of the picture directly, we need not use Photoshop.
5. Word 2010 makes available the visual panes with which it becomes very easy to navigate through the document.
6. Few amazing art effects are added in ‘word art’.  Features like pencil sketch, chalk sketch, glow edges, photocopy are included ‘artistic effect’.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2010:

1.  PowerPoint is powered to edit a video and image within itself with the help of basic video and photo editing tools.
2. We can share a slide with others via browser.

Microsoft Excel 2010:

1. One of the cutting edge feature of excel 2010 is ‘Sparklines’. It gives a visual snapshot image of the data trend over time with in a cell.
2. We can toss between tabs to access formula, insert diagrams and charts and get data from the connected source.
3. More kinds of charts are included in this version of excel and this will help us analyze the data more effectively.

Microsoft Outlook 2010:

1. The most striking feature is the ‘Ribbon user interface’ that Outlook possesses now,  like word, PowerPoint  and excel.
2. With improved search functionality it is easier to search contents.
3. The calendar can be previewed in e-mail itself.

Microsoft Share point 2010:

1. Like Word, Excel, SharePoint 2010 is also going to use ‘Ribbon user interface’.
2. The authors of the document can be tagged and they can be shared more easily.

There is an interesting trivia associated with Office 2010 being codenamed as Office 14 after MS Office 2007 being codenamed as Office 12. The version number 13 was not considered due to the “Number 13 phobia”.

The web-based MS Office 2010 is looked at as a huge challenge to Google docs and it will be in market in first quarter of 2010. So we need to wait for quite sometime before we experience the new, rich version of MS office.

Project NATAL : Redefining the gaming experience with Xbox 360!

Microsoft brings to light the much rumoured hands-free and motion-sensing gaming and entertainment. This is a project (code-named Natal) that is still within Microsoft laboratory walls and has a long way to go to come to market.  This small black device, an add on to the Xbox 360 gives a full on real life gaming experience of what is happening in the screen without any controllers and wires attached.  It has the capability of playing with multiple users during a single session.

It has a surprisingly sensitive video camera which can capture and track where your body is and what you are doing. It automatically recognizes if you are a man or a woman. It has a monochrome camera (works with infrared) that reads the depth in our movements like how far away our body is. It also exhibits a super sensitive and multi-array microphone that can not only pick up voice commands but also tells when you are talking, when your friends are talking and when somebody in the game is talking. It is powered with a software that tells Xbox how to find our body’s various joints.(It tracks 48 of them). Isn’t it ultimate?

The project is headed by Don Mattrick, the head of Microsoft’s interactive and entertainment division and the former head of Electronics Art. Any guesses on why is the project named Natal?? Lets see.. This is because Microsoft tends to name its internal projects after cities; Natal is a city in Brazil, where Alex Kipman, one of the key engineers on project Natal comes from.

The other players in market in this field are Nintendo Wii, Sony EyeToy but they come with some kind of swing and swivel device and with not so good movement capture and are in no way close to Project Natal.

However, some say it would be weird to dodge a ball when you actually don’t hold it and it is not meant for hardcore gamers and games like star wars etc.         

Microsoft has denied disclosing the date when Project Natal is going to take its first independent step outside the laboratory. People are eagerly waiting for the day when they can actually see this in market and have the ultimate fun.

Let’s wait and watch how it turns out!!