Microsoft Week, 5-11-07

First a rundown of some of the speeches given this week:

• Steve Ballmer, CEO, May 9
• Gary Flake, technical fellow, May 8
• Bill Gates, chairman, May 8
• Mich Matthews, senior veep, central marketing, May 9
• Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft chief advertising officer, May 8
• Craig Mundie, chief strategy and research officer, May 9

The news and what it really means:

Features Go Overboard. Microsoft is pulling core features from next-version Virtualization Server, code-named Viridian. This week's shocker—or not—follows a delay in delivery of the first big Viridian beta.

Following the beta delay, Windows Server Longhorn's delivery seemed in question. No longer. Microsoft will be shipping Viridian as much as six months after Longhorn's release—and that's with the dumped features. Microsoft now plans to release a Viridian beta when Longhorn Server is released to manufacturing.

The feature dump makes Viridian a virtual shell of its former self, at a time when virtualization is sizzling. In a Tuesday press release, Gartner predicted: "Virtualization will be the most important technology in IT infrastructures and operations up to 2010 ... dramatically changing how IT departments manage, buy, deploy, plan and charge for their services."

The Name Says It All. Speaking of Windows Server Longhorn, next week's WinHEC is the right place for a christening—with Windows Server 2007 or 2008 the only really likely candidates. My money is Windows Server 2008, simply because of where Microsoft is with the development. If so, Microsoft's second half RTM commitment is going to be a lot later than sooner. There really is rhyme and reason up there in Redmond, and, as such, nomenclature is pretty consistent. A 2008 designation would mean very late-2007 release or, effectively, 2008 availability.

For example, in November 2005, Microsoft released three products together: SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk 2006. The mixing of 2005 and 2006 naming seemed a bit odd, except that BizTalk shipped much later. Microsoft's choice of 2007 or 2008 will foreshadow realistic availability of the software.

Update: This picture is from one of the TechNet sites. It's one of several places where the Windows Server 2008 name is already available on Microsoft Web sites. It kind of removes the mystery around the name and the timing, which is looking to be late year.

What do you want to do tomorrow? Whatever happened to Microsoft's "Where Do You Want to Go Today?" slogan? During Microsoft's Strategic Accounts Summit, Gates droned on and on and on about the future—especially the five years ahead. It's great that Microsoft has a five-year plan, and foresight and forward planning differentiate the company from many competitors. But aren't the ad professionals interested in what Microsoft is going to do for them now? Surely, Google is ready to tell them.

Gates spoke to media professionals that are used to glitz and glamor, of telling a compelling story in 30 to 60 seconds. His visionary speech seemed out of place for a bunch of ad executives. Some highlights: "Pervasive connectivity," "Wi-Fi-like connections," "ultrawide band," "exponential improvement," "products are prototyped in a digital 3D form," "Live Era," "today things are quite fragmented," "using advanced forms of RSS." Geek speak and generalities just don't convey enough meaning.

Unfortunately, Gates set the tone for the conference. One after another, Microsoft executives droned on about the future and what Microsoft would do for media and advertising someday. Even Mehdi spent too much time talking about the future and not enough about the here and now. Mehdi is one of Microsoft's true visionaries, too. He'll make advertising work for Microsoft, or no one will.

ComScore released Top 50 Web rankings today, with Microsoft sites coming in fourth behind Google. Microsoft had consistently been in the top three, behind Yahoo and Time Warner. The point: Microsoft better start telling a better story about the right now, because tomorrow is going to belong to Google otherwise.

More Promises, Promises, Promises. Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's Business division, headlined the company's Business Intelligence Conference. Raikes announced that SQL Server "Katmai" would ship next year (will that be called SQL Server 2008 or 2009). Raikes also spoke about what Microsoft would do for customers someday.

Microsoft deserves kudos for increased transparency—all these exec speeches that were Webcast and transcribed—but, again, where's the benefit today? Why is so much about tomorrow, what Microsoft will do for customers in the next product release cycle or the one after?

Raikes' message was really about increasing cross-product integration and the number of different server packages customers will need to buy to see all those promises fulfilled. It's good news for Microsoft partners, because somebody is going to have to put this stuff together and service it.

Live Hotmail Really Is Hot. Microsoft's revamped mail service went, ah, live on Monday. Microsoft is backing up the new service with some commercials intended solely for the Web. "Suspicious Male," with the jump cut to the car and sound of the girl, isn't Microsoft's typical, staid advertising. It's unusually trendy for Microsoft.

Did Mehdi have anything to do with this kind of edgy approach? Microsoft certainly needs more of it. Especially now, with Apple's "Mac" and "PC" all over the Web banner ads, a little more edge is necessary.

Microsoft talks about eating its own dog food, meaning its own products. It's a good showcase for customers. How about showing potential advertising customers and media partners smart Microsoft advertising? If Microsoft can do for itself, advertisers can see more what Microsoft can do for them.

Related Posts:

• 'Katmai' to Anchor Microsoft BI Strategy, Microsoft Watch, May 9, 2007
• Hot or Live, It's No Longer Beta, Microsoft Watch, May 7, 2007
• Microsoft's 'Big Bang' Is When?, Microsoft Watch, April 26, 2007
• Viridian Delay Foreshadows What About Windows Longhorn Server?, Microsoft Watch, April 12, 2007
• Vista Virtualization Goes Back to the Future, Microsoft Watch, April 2, 2007
• Virtual PC and the Value of Free, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 20, 2007
• VMware Strikes Back, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 26, 2007
• Windows Live Hotmail is Too Hot, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 8, 2007
• Windows Server Takes the Lead, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 16, 2006