New Orleans, May 6, 2003 - Today the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) started with a big personal surprise for me. During the opening of WinHEC Tom Phillips, General Manager Windows Hardware Experience Group, announced the award winners for the best WinHEC whitepaper and all of a sudden I was called to the stage. Our article, Real-time behavior of the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, co-written with Michel Verhagen had won the technical excellence award. If you are interested in the article you can either download it, or look at it online.
Bill Gates’ keynote started of with a few words about the current economic situation, and because of that, less money is invested in purchasing new hardware and software. According to Gates, people are willing to invest only if real innovation is happening. An example of true innovation is the trustworthy computing concept that is fully applied in the just released Windows Server 2003. Thoughts are that this product will become popular, not only because it has incredible stability, but also because maintenance costs can be reduced significantly by using this new version of the Windows operating system in a server environment.
A large part of the keynote presentation was dedicated to a new PC. Gates showed this new PC prototype as just one example of the type of innovation required to address the needs of users, innovation that is only possible when hardware and software are developed together. Co-developed with HP and code-named "Athens," the advanced PC prototype represents an evolution of the PC as a center for communication and collaboration, one that simultaneously simplifies PC operations while merging all forms of communication, including next-generation voice, video and text messaging, into a consistent, streamlined design.
The "Athens" PC prototype provides significant productivity improvements for information workers through features:
- Integrated telephony functionality with wireless handset and headset provides users with one central communications unit, allowing them to communicate and collaborate more efficiently.
- A high-DPI flat panel display improves readability with a horizontal, 16:10 aspect ratio for working comfortably with multiple documents on the screen.
- Intuitive and consistent system controls makes the PC user experience more seamless.
- Improved PC fundamentals such as truly quiet operation, appliance-like availability and high-quality audio allows for new PC placement locations.
Another innovative development takes places in hardware controls. These controls are probably not limited to PC’s but they will appear in many modern devices. It is an entirely new set of cross-product navigation controls, currently code-named "Xeel." This cluster of hardware components and software interactions builds on the success of the mouse wheel to simplify content navigation and provide consistency across Microsoft® Windows-based devices such as Tablet PCs, Pocket PCs, Windows Powered Smartphones, Windows Powered Smart Displays and everyday objects based on Microsoft's Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT). Users will benefit from increased ease of use and productivity, while hardware manufacturers will have the opportunity to differentiate on form factor, styling and ergonomics without affecting functionality. A good way to think about it is like a car. There's a gas pedal and a brake in a car, and they are always in the same place. Compare this to a basic PC user scenario, such as the volume control of a PC. There are presently multiple means to control the volume, whether it is the volume knobs on your speakers, your keyboard or the control panel. If the industry works together to create a consistent volume control, the user will feel more in control and have a better experience. |
