Ye old "guess what MSFT is gonna show at the PDC" thread

I've been walking around Microsoft doing a ton of interviews in the past week. I have to tell you. So far I haven't seen ANYONE talking about what's really coming at the PDC next week.

It's just amazing to me that no one has any idea. Which, I guess is good from our standpoint. But I've seen some amazing stuff. Your eyes should pop out when you see the vids I'm editing.

So, come on, what's the best guesses?

F...U...D... ?

ps - where are my 300 threads?

*( im in a bad mood - signing out...)

FUD = Fear Uncertainty and Doubt.

Well, there might be some fear when you see Office 12. That is true.

Uncertainty? Hmmm. What's uncertain. Oh, yeah, we still don't know what day Windows Vista will ship on for certain.

Doubt? I doubt Ballmer will throw a chair next week. Well, on second hand, maybe he will, I don't know.

LOL....I hope he throws a developer like Westley Snipes in Demolition Man...

Scoble: Excuse me, perhaps I can help. What seems to be your boggle?

Ballmer: My boggle? Scoble how much do you weigh?

*Scoble flies into the first row of visitors*

LOL...hmm a guess at PDC...I want to say more "Linux defeating apps". I can't think of any off the top of my head. And maybe SVG and PNG support for paint?

I want to vote for synch ability between your cars Windows Mobile OS and your Windows Mobile device letting you add voice clips and recieve information via bluetooth as you toll points using RSS intergration?

or maybe considering...

A huge backhoe to dig a trench around Google and fill it full of Sharks with Lasers on their heads?

There is one thing that will bo coming to the PDC that I really look forward to:


TLN213  Future Directions for Building Windows Presentation Foundation
("Avalon") Interfaces
Day/Time: Thursday, September 15 11:30 AM- 12:45 PM Room: 502 AB
Speaker(s): Peter Faraday
Session Type(s): Breakout
Session Level(s): 200
Track(s): Tools & Languages
Introducing a new tool which utilizes Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly codename "Avalon") to allow the creation of rich user interfaces.
Come see how you can produce visually stunning UI using 2D vectors, animation, 3D, layout containers, control templating, databinding and code.
Get a tour of the tool, and then walk over how features are used to build a UI.


I really hope that this is about that thingy codenamed "Sparkle". 

Also John Gossman will be talking about the same tool (i.e. how it was built). The only problem with that:

a) John Gossman is not listed as a speaker
b) John told me his his Session ID is TLNL03 wich does not exists

Now John fears that noone is will be coming to his session ....

Steve (or whoever else is responsible) do you read this ?

First guess that comes to mind:  Some new Identification system that keeps track of more information than we want, but uses that info in compelling ways--although MSFT promises we can turn it off.  I know we've already been given messages along this line, but I expect there to be something along these lines that is supposed to "wow" us.

Second guess:  some new games shipped with Vista (no brainer, but a big disappointment if they don't).

Third guess:  a decent media viewer/organizer app that goes beyond the (very cool) capabilities built into Vista.

Fourth guess: bettercontrol over startup processes (for newbies)

I'm going to bed.

My Guess #2:  Office "12" beta 1 ?

MyGuess #3: Unreal Tournament 2007 demo show running on Windows Vista (highly unlikely but it would make my eyes pop out)

bonk: guessing Office 12 isn't that big a stretch.

What I was hoping to see is some guesses as to what the headlines for news stories about Office 12 will be.

>some new games shipped with Vista

Hmm, I just interviewed Adam Nathan about his new Internet Hearts version. Not specifically for Vista, but damn cool anyway.

scobleizer wrote:

bonk: guessing Office 12 isn't that big a stretch.

What I was hoping to see is some guesses as to what the headlines for news stories about Office 12 will be.

Office 12: This time it's personal.

Don't tell me, it supports importing and exporting to OpenDocument and LaTeX?
More certain would be the complete integration with .NET, taking over VBA as the leading programming language.
Better support for tablets, maybe better windows mobile versions...

Furthermore I don't mind being surprised, I hope it's worth the upgrade 
Peter

bonk wrote:

Introducing a new tool which utilizes Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly codename "Avalon") to allow the creation of rich user interfaces.
Come see how you can produce visually stunning UI using 2D vectors, animation, 3D, layout containers, control templating, databinding and code.
Get a tour of the tool, and then walk over how features are used to build a UI.

I don't know if it's "Sparkle" but it certainly describes the lightbulb that went on over my head about Acrylic.  At first I was like, "yeah yeah yeah vectors big deal" but then when I realized, you can just paint pretty much anything, then turn it into XAML and wire up every object you painted/drew to a piece of code... it was like, "OH."  That's not just Photoshop (bitmaps) + Illustrator (vectors)... it's Photoshop + Illustrator + DREAMWEAVER.  Sparkle adds tranforms & animations, I guess?  So now it's Photoshop + Illustrator + Dreamweaver + Flash. 

What else?  Hmmm.  Maybe something on how to write apps so they're compatible with Freeze Dry.  (or whatever the magical reboot without changing appstate technology is)  Hard to believe that it works with apps that haven't been specifically written to be Freeze Dry-aware...

Somebody's gonna have to show some Beta 2 Aero Glass bits.  You know, Beta 2, the version of Vista that is actually not supposed to look like crap.  LOL

Maybe some WinFS bits, now that it's apparently out of the intensive care unit...

I know slim chance, but... Crossing my fingers some Tablet PC vendor will be showing off new models with the auxiliary display and enough graphics horsepower for Aero Glass.  There's a BOF session for Tablet PC...?  I know PDC is not WinHEC but what's the use of all this cool software if you can't show off any cool hardware to run it on...?

scobleizer wrote:

What I was hoping to see is some guesses as to what the headlines for news stories about Office 12 will be.

Microsoft Dumps Sharepoint, Replaces It with Groove
"Finally we think people will collaborate," says an excited Gates


New Metro Format Eats PDFs, Stuns Users
Adobe/Macromedia Shares Tumble after Demo


Office 12 to be Offered as Hosted Service
Service to be Charged at Penny Per Character Typed

Clippy Resurrected for Office 12
Said to be Much More "Life-Like," "Fun"
Now Makes Noises Using 5.1 Channels of Surround Sound

hehehe, good one!

XML in Visual Studio

XML in SQL Server

XML in Office

XAML on the desktop

scobleizer wrote:

What I was hoping to see is some guesses as to what the headlines for news stories about Office 12 will be.

MS-Office 12: Thirteen new toolbars to speed you through those memos!

Microsoft pulls out the stops with new bullet paradigm!

Paragraph management productivity levels hit new heights with Office 12!

Lab Report: How much memory do you need to make Office 12 sing?

Office 12 features yet another new widget toolkit: will it be the future look of Windows?

Clippy still missing; search appears to be called off; users rejoice

Gleaning the cube with Excel 12!

Anger management courses in decline with release of Word 12

Access finally taken out back and shot: film at 11

I can't comment on any of these, but some of the throwaways you guys have suggested are actually remarkably accurate, lol.

I know exactly the reaction I'm expecting from Office 12's demo:

1. Oooh... New look!
2. Hey... That looks familiar...
3. Erm, wtf is that there? That looks like a huge waste of space!
4. Oh. Um, so that's what that's there for.
5. Holy hell, I love the waste of space!
6. Huh. Yeah, those features make perfect sense.

At least that was my series of reactions

O12 is fantastic. I love it. It's still very crash-prone, but it's not even in alpha yet, so that's understandable. Love the new "waste of space". Love the new outlook features. Love the integration with [existing integration thingy]. Absolutely love the fundamental changes to PowerPoint and Access.