Questions to ask Microsoft

[Scott B]

Hi everyone, you did such a good job of coming up with questions for MSI that I'm going to make it a regular thing. This week I'm interviewing Microsoft and Dell, but I'll start another thread for the latter.

Steve Clayton is one of the 'evangelists' for Microsoft's Software + Services initiative. This concerns accessing Microsoft software online, as a service, as well as installed on a PC. He explained a key component of this, called Live Mesh, to HEXUS.channel last year. He's also joined the HEXUS.community.

So Steve and I will be talking about this sort of thing and cloud computing in general mostly, but I will try to talk about other Microsoft things.

Please suggest any questions you would like asked, just bear in mind that specific questions about Windows or Office or whatever may not fall within his remit. As with MSI I will try to ask as many of your questions as possible.

[digit]

Just got three questions:

1) What security threats do MS expect to see with the transition from in house server + software hosting to a cloud based model?
2) Do Microsoft see most of its business in the future to be the selling of cloud based services as opposed to the current business of selling software Sharepoint, Exchange etc etc?

Completly off topic:
3) When is the UK going to get Zune and why has its launch been delayed so long!?

[lodore]

1. Will there be a push for oem's to ship more 64bit versions of windows 7 than 32bit?
2. Will 64bit versions of windows 7 be specially recommended to consumers and business,
based on allowing more than 4gb of ram and also the better security that 64bit has?
3. what has been done with windows 7 to help minimize blue screen of deaths and maximize up time?

I may think of more questions later based on what other people ask.

[Lee @ SCAN]

Ask them have they ever installed any of the linuxes out there and more importantly how did it feel and look to them

Also, when Vista was launched and all when the mis-information was flying about regarding it's stability and whatnot, how did this make them feel after all the time they spent working on vista.

[TAKTAK]

In before GoNz0, you need to ask EVERYONE the pizza question...

It gives a cross section of the industry

[TheAnimus]

Originally Posted by Lee @ SCAN

Ask them have they ever installed any of the linuxes out there and more importantly how did it feel and look to them

Also, when Vista was launched and all when the mis-information was flying about regarding it's stability and whatnot, how did this make them feel after all the time they spent working on vista.

You read who the guy is right? Cloud and SaS isn't really the person to ask those questions too!

[Lee @ SCAN]

Originally Posted by TheAnimus

You read who the guy is right? Cloud and SaS isn't really the person to ask those questions too!

He might have had a bit of a play with linux, you never know

[GoNz0]

Originally Posted by TAKTAK

In before GoNz0, you need to ask EVERYONE the pizza question...

It gives a cross section of the industry

bastard, he beat me to it

and yes it should be in every interview

[Whiternoise]

When is microsoft likely to implement proper rendering in their browsers so web designers don't have to "hack" their code to get around it?

[directhex]

Why isn't Live Mesh pushing other MS technologies like Silverlight?

[Bazzlad]

Originally Posted by Whiternoise

When is microsoft likely to implement proper rendering in their browsers so web designers don't have to "hack" their code to get around it?

IE8 is mainly standards compliant. So the answer to that is from now on.

[Vroomparrot]

What do they think of the competition? What can they learn from them? Who do they see as their main rival(s) in this area? and why should businesses choose MS - in other words what can they offer that others can't?

Many businesses will have compliance issues (legal and otherwise, eg data protection) which may put them off using these types of services. How will Microsoft deal with these concerns?

[directhex]

Why are they suing TomTom for patent infringement of FAT32 patents when they publish FAT32 specs under a covenant not to sue?

[Splash]

Originally Posted by Bazzlad

IE8 is mainly standards compliant. So the answer to that is from now on.

Disclosure - I'm not a web dev, and I've not looked into IE8's engine.

My bold, but that's the part that is a problem. Microsoft may well argue that all their browsers have been "mainly" standards compliant. A browser either is or is not standards compliant in my eyes, and when it has the kind of market share the IE has (and bear in mind that not everyone will upgrade to IE8) if it's *not* compliant then it's a biig problem.

[Bazzlad]

Originally Posted by Splash

Disclosure - I'm not a web dev, and I've not looked into IE8's engine.

My bold, but that's the part that is a problem. Microsoft may well argue that all their browsers have been "mainly" standards compliant. A browser either is or is not standards compliant in my eyes, and when it has the kind of market share the IE has (and bear in mind that not everyone will upgrade to IE8) if it's *not* compliant then it's a biig problem.

I am a web dev, and this is a MAJOR step forward for us web devs. IE8 passes acid 2, which is a hell of a feat given the state of IE itself. When you add that to the fact that IE8 will display in standards compliance mode AS STANDARD (originally you'd have to code an *opt in* tag) and you can see the effort they're making.

It's still a pap browser though.
Let me put the file bar back at the top!

[Scott B]

The Microsoft interview has now been done FYI.