Cloud computing and Windows Phone 7 have predictably emerged as the major themes of Microsoft’s Tech Ed conference, which kicked off in Auckland this morning.
Almost 2,500 IT professionals and software developers gathered at the SkyCity Convention Centre to attend the first of the three day event’s 172 sessions and 80 hands-on labs.
The cloud focus of this year’s conference is hardly surprising, considering Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a speech earlier this year that he had bet the company on the technology.
During a session called “Extending Business Productivity in the Cloud”, Microsoft’s technology advisor Nick Bowyer said businesses could cut staff numbers, increase efficiency and reduce training needs by adopting uniform cloud platforms.
An upgraded version of Windows Live was being rolled out this week, offering greater file editing and collaboration tools and 25GB of online storage. More than 1.25 million New Zealanders had live Hotmail accounts and 620,000 had Windows Live addresses.
Microsoft was also continuing to invest in its business-oriented Microsoft Enterprise Services and its cloud developer platform Windows Azure, Bowyer said.
Speaking at the same session Windows Phone 7 product manager Mark Bishop demonstrated how the company’s new smartphone OS used a “live tile” interface that connected to the cloud and updated with thumbnail images on the fly.
Source:http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/microsoft-has-head-in-the-clouds-at-tech-ed
