Event

Microsoft unveils next-gen Web strategy

IndiMIX’06 saw Steve Ballmer, Microsoft, CEO, in Mumbai as the Redmondians unveiled their strategy for the next-generation Web. Megha Banduni reports

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s whirlwind trip to India has been covered to death by the mainstream media. Much has been written about how he prefers not to ‘Google’ and the fact that Microsoft is open to Open Source.

In Mumbai to attend the “Next-Generation Web” at IndiMIX’ 06—Microsoft’s event for Web designers, developers and decision-makers, Ballmer kicked off the event with a keynote on the innovative ways companies can use Microsoft software to change the face of business and experiences on the Web.

Steve Ballmer (centre) flanked by cricketer Anil Kumble and film-maker Yash Chopra. Tarun Gulati of Microsoft is to Ballmer’s extreme left and Rajnikant Patel of BSE to his extreme right

The event focussed on bringing technologies that will power the next-generation Web into the mainstream. It witnessed the participation of over 40,000 Web designers, developers and decision-makers—both online and offline.

Microsoft and its partners also showcased a range of applications developed on Microsoft’s platform for the Web including ASP.NET 2.0, Windows Presentation Foundation with Windows Vista and Microsoft Expression.

Steve Ballmer putting forth his point of view

In his keynote, Ballmer said, “Customers are demanding an interactive and responsive experience that takes full advantage of the capabilities of the Web, as well as the multitude of digital touch-points that consumers use every day, ranging from the Web to the PC to the mobile phone. We, at Microsoft, are committed to innovating in this area.”

“India is not only a consumer but also a major hub for Web development and our first and foremost priority is to equip it with the best tools and technologies for this. Our strategy for the next-generation Web centres on the breadth of our platform, is not only for the developer community, but also for designers,” said Tarun Gulati, General Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India.

IPTV and digital advertising

Ballmer said that he saw potential in India for Web applications and identified a few areas where he sees good scope. The Web is becoming more important in today’s world and Microsoft envisions bringing about a revolution in the areas of media, entertainment, gaming and advertising through the Next-Generation Web experience.

“IPTV is a two-way interactive TV over an IP network. The best thing in IPTV is that you can personalise your experiences. India has good potential for this technology because it already has good cable infrastructure,” explained Ballmer.

Digital advertising is another area that Microsoft finds interesting. Ballmer added, “Be it on TV, PC, Web or mobile, we will provide innovative advertising technology to make it next-generation advertising.”

The event highlighted how industry leaders are harnessing the latest Microsoft technologies to improve the online experience. The company had invited some key users from industry verticals to speak about how they have been using its products.

Cricketer Anil Kumble, Director, StumpVision, was one among them. “Cricket is a passion in India. We use Microsoft as the platform for statistics, matchcast and scoring for which, we are using Microsoft Vista. For simplifying score and analysis, we use Microsoft Office 2007,” informed Kumble.

Rajnikant Patel, Managing Director & CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange said, “To get relevant information at the right time and in the right manner, you need strong IT tools. We work as partners with Microsoft and are using .NET at the BSE.”

BharatMatrimony.com, a match-making portal, depends heavily on search. Built with the help of Expression Graphic designer and Interactive designer and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), the application aims to enhance the user experience by making it more intuitive and interactive.

Satyam has a self-service portal for customers registering and applying for loans. The portal also lets them view the loan status. There’s also a back-office application with an administrative user interface (UI) for a loan officer to approve or reject a loan plea and view loan status.

A large crowd of developers and designers had turned out to learn how to build UIs.

Microsoft also demonstrated technologies like IE7, Atlas, Windows Presentation Foundation and CardSpaces for designers.

After that was the session for developers where it was demonstrated as to how services can follow users through Sidebar gadgets in Vista and Live Toolbar buttons.

Microsoft is coming up with three new products for designers—Microsoft Expression Web, Microsoft Expression Graphic Designer and Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer. Microsoft Vista is to be launched in January this year.

Microsoft Live, a combination of Windows developer platform and MSN Network, with features such as cricket, matrimony, astrology, movie, quiz, railway, real estate, etc that can be customised—basically a rebranded MSN—was ballyhooed. Windows Live messenger is part of this service.

Gurpreet Pal, Director, MSN Services stated, “Today there are 240 million Hotmail users and 20 million people connected to MSN Messenger. There are 145,000 new pages and six million new photos created everyday. Windows Live is a service for the next-generation Web.