Microsoft Memories - a look back, at the past of Redmond technology
Sometimes applied science is a collection of circuitry and silicon, sometimes though – information technology is a magical moment full of feelings and memories. The best experiences are born when engineering science transcends our noesis and connects us with what we love. British science fiction writer and futurist, Arthur C. Clarke, once said:
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Microsoft has been around for a long time and for those of us who alive off of the engineering they provide, some of the memories will never seep abroad.
In 2007, the company released a iv infinitesimal commercial that has come to exist known as "Your Digital Lifestyle". The ad highlighted the so electric current hello-tech Microsoft products of the time and how one green shirted hipster used them to party the night abroad. The commercial is prepare to a comprehend of Ash'south Daughter from Mars by Canadian group, Magneta Lane.
Buckle up, because we are going on a field trip to six years ago; along the mode, we are going to jam with our green shirted friend and revisit some of our past Microsoft technology goodies. Windows Vista volition probably be seen along the way, merely there will be plenty of other experiences to combat that bad flavor.
Okay, roll the footage!
Windows Live Messenger
Our friend Marker, is at work and on his PC when he receives a Windows Alive Messenger chat from his friend Pia (she must be the girl from Mars). Today we know that Microsoft'south messenger software is deprecated, but in 2007 – nearly of the world withal used it. The service was showtime rolled out every bit "MSN Messenger" on July 22, 1999 until information technology was rebranded in 2005. Until its death, Microsoft reported that over 330 million active users a month used the service.
What happened next you inquire? Microsoft purchased Skype and merged the two services. Finally in 2022, the service was killed in favor of fully utilizing Skype. This marks our offset evolution of a Microsoft service: MSN Messenger -> Windows Live Messenger -> Skype with Windows Alive Messenger -> Skype.
Windows Live Spaces
On nosotros become! Pia sends Mark a link to Windows Alive Spaces where he tin can cheque out party details and RSVP to the event. Windows Alive Spaces was Microsoft's poorly known social network and launched in 2004 equally MSN Spaces. The goal of the site was to compete with other networking sites such every bit Facebook and Twitter (Lamentable kids, grandpa didn't have Google+ yet).
The trouble with Microsoft's social networking platform was that it didn't offering any differentiating features from its already popular competitor, Facebook. The network was close down in 2022 and has not been rebranded or reestablished.
Microsoft has launched a new, simply unrelated, social networking site called Socl which you tin read more about here.
Live Search Maps 3D
Mark decides he wants to go to get his groove on, so he heads to Live Search Maps 3D and spins around a view of the city before dashing off. Why he spins the city around in circles, we tin can't tell yous. What we can tell you is what happed to 3D maps – they died. The service was an attempt to achiever near-photorealism of a city with high resolution models and aerial photography. Needless to say, the service was expensive and less than 68 cities were rendered earlier the plan was dropped in 2022. Co-ordinate to Microsoft, they wanted to focus more on their new service – Bing Maps (more on that in a chip).
Windows Live Search
With his dashing lime green sweater now on, he pulls out his HTC telephone and uses Live Search to expect upward traffic. Microsoft has been in the search game for a long fourth dimension; they launched their outset spider web search product in 1998 and crowned it, MSN Search. The newly launched service consisted of a search engine, alphabetize, and web crawler. It isn't well known that from 1998 to 2005, Microsoft didn't really provide its own search engine results; the visitor partnered with Inktomi, Looksmart, and AltaVista until 2004 when Microsoft decided to go at it on their own.
In 2006, Microsoft rebranded MSN Search to Windows Live Search then changed their mind in 2007 and settled on Live Search. For the first time in history, Microsoft now powered their unabridged search engine internally. A problem nonetheless remained though, the company wanted to divide their search platform from their Windows division and "Live Search" just wasn't doing the job. On June threerd, 2008 – Microsoft launched Bing! Another evolution pattern emerges: MSN Search -> Windows Live Search -> Live Search -> Bing!
Zune
Now that Mark is safely buckled in and ready to put the petal to the metal, he docks his gigantic first generation Zune into a automobile dock and rocks some tunes. You lot will accept to give me a minute to mourn Zune every bit it was i of my favorite Microsoft babies… okay, I'm proficient now.
Zune was launched in Nov 2006 as a direct competitor to Apple's line of iPod multimedia devices. Toshiba helped design and develop the outset generation Zune units under code proper name "Argo". The original Zune was criticized for its bulky size and it'due south (uh) interesting colour choice of chocolate-brown. It likewise didn't assistance Microsoft that on December 31st 2008 at midnight, many kickoff generation Zune 30 GB models froze due to an internal clock commuter problem - luckily the devices resumed working 24 hours subsequently.
The 2nd and third generations of Zune were manufactured past Flextronics and gave birth to the squircle (not to be confused with the Pokémon, squirtal) shaped Zune Pad; this ingenious impact-sensitive pad allowed users to flick through content or click in on the edges to navigate the metro manner interface.
On September 15, 2009 the last and final fourth generation Zune was released – the Zune HD. Oh, the excitement I think experiencing when I ran to BestBuy and picked up my beautiful Zune HD with platinum backing. The blueprint of the unit was superb, taking cues from industrial styling. And of course I could not forget the OLED bear upon screen which, at the time, made the iPhone look dull and washed out. Unfortunately, Apple tree's iPod Affect had accumulated a massive store of applications while the Zune Hard disk's list of apps could be counted on ii hands.
On March 15, 2022 Microsoft's Zune brand was killed as it failed to capture any significant market place share. Zune isn't completely gone though, it has been rebranded. Production of any Zune players may take stopped, only the Zune Marketplace services were rebranded as Xbox Music and Xbox Video. The spirit of Zune continues to alive on within Microsoft's Windows Phone line of devices.
Games for Windows
Back to Mark - unfortunately his automobile has failed him and like whatsoever true hipster, he has a foldable wheel in his body. He hops on his bike and pulls out Live Search in one case once more to observe directions to the closest pizzeria (although, if he lived in the area, y'all think he would know where a pizza identify is located). After arriving at the pizza identify, a semi-psychotic man jumping up and downward playing a shoot-em-upwards video game, is behind the counter. Video games on a PC? This must be a Windows auto!
One of the major reasons Microsoft has been able to proceed its following, is PC gaming. For the intense gamer, the PC platform provides a more than open up and moldable playing field. Using online stores like Steam, gamers tin can access a avalanche of content available for download. Faster and more powerful hardware allows for graphics that tin blow consoles out of the water. Quite frankly, if you haven't played Crysis on Ultra settings with 3 environment-view monitors – you lot haven't lived.
Games for PC were non united under a single brand proper name until 2007 when Microsoft launched "Games for Windows". The new service and branding allowed Windows Vista games to admission the Xbox Live service. With Games for Windows, players can cumulate achievements, chat with friends, and more. Some games, like Shadowrun, allowed for cantankerous platform play betwixt a Windows PC and Xbox 360 game console. The service was eventually renamed to "Games for Windows Alive" with support on Windows 7 machines. Newer, Windows eight machines, have advantage of their Xbox integration and run games nether the championship: "Xbox LIVE on Windows".
Whatsoever you would like to telephone call the service, it did non fair also well. The marketplace based effectually "Games for Windows" was eventually scrapped. Microsoft may be the number one PC platform for gaming, but in terms of a marketplace – they are ages late. Most PC gamers volition beloved to tell you all nigh their devote loyalty to the Steam Market; while they do that – allow united states of america, move on.
Xbox 360
The commercial snaps away to a scene of party goers (does that give away how often I am not invited to parties) gaming on an Xbox 360 game console.
Xbox was launched in Due north America on November 15th, 2001 to compete against Sony's PlayStation two and Nintendo's GameCube. The idea was outset pitched in 1998 by four engineers working on Microsoft's DirectX team. The engineers built a image Windows based console from pats of a dissembled Dell laptop. The thought was pitched to executives and eventually approved.
The marketing team at Microsoft hated the Xbox proper name and made many suggestions in favor of a proper name modify. In the end, consumer testing had revealed that Xbox was the preferred name for the console and it stuck. If you oasis't figured it out withal, the proper noun Xbox, was derived from the discussion "DirectX" – the software platform the console was based on.
The unit of measurement launched with impressive features such as Xbox Alive, an online based gaming service with buddy list integration, and a build in HDD, to store save game data without the need of a retention card. For those wondering, the internal specs were every bit follows: Intel Pentium 3 CPU, eight-x GB HDD, 64 MB of RAM, and a 233 MHz NVidia GPU.
Microsoft'due south beginning step into the console world was a success with the Xbox selling over 24 million consoles.
The Xbox 360, the console seen in the commercial, was the second game console developed by Microsoft and the successor to the original Xbox. The unit competed against the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii and sold seventy million consoles as of September 2022. The console was a hitting and sold out upon release in all regions except Japan.
Stepping upwards from its predecessor, the Xbox 360 independent a PowerPC tri-core CPU, a 500 MHz ATi GPU, 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM, and 4GB – 250 GB of internal storage.
Later this twelvemonth Microsoft will be launching the Xbox Ane, a new game console, with tight TV and Windows viii/RT integration. The unit will characteristic an 8-core AMD CPU, AMD DirectX graphics, and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM. If you missed the original annunciation for the console, you lot tin check out our Reveal Mean solar day Overview here.
Windows Mobile
While our "bestie" Mark is out, the daughter from Mars sends him a picture show text message via her Windows Mobile device - she needs beer and chips!
Windows Telephone Central is all about Microsoft's latest mobile operating organization and we could spend a calendar week giving yous the lowdown on the evolution of Windows Mobile, and so hither is the very only of it.
Windows Mobile was launched on April 19th, 2000 and originally called Pocket PC. In 2003, Microsoft decided to rename Pocket PC to Windows Mobile.
The software was released in iv editions including: Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Premium, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Professional, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, and Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Telephone. If you call up that naming scheme is confusing, just imagine how the boilerplate consumer felt.
Somewhen, Microsoft narrowed downwards the operating system to three different iterations including: Windows Mobile Professional, Windows Mobile Standard, and Windows Mobile Classic. Professional was designed to run on smartphones with touchscreens, Standard was designed to run on mobile phones without touchscreens, and Classic was designed to run on PDAs or Pocket PCs (AKA: Annihilation without a mobile broadband connection).
In 2004, Windows Mobile's market place share was eleven.3%; it increased to a maximum high of 42% in 2007 so decreased downwardly to three% by 2022 – Blackberry and iPhone were becoming too potent of a force to bargain with.
On November 8th 2022, Microsoft launched its successor to Windows Mobile – Windows Phone. Too the massive changes to the forepart finish of the OS and a complete recoding of the backend, Windows Phone was aimed at an entirely new market place audience; the previous phone Os from Redmond was aimed at business concern users and enterprise, while Windows Telephone is aimed at consumers.
Currently, Windows Phone has a growth rate of 133% per year, surpassing Android Bone' 79.five%. As of now, Nokia dominates the Windows Phone hardware market with an 83% share outside of the United states.
More Zune
Like any good guy chasing a girl, Mark follows the instructions Pia has sent him, and heads to a local convenience store to option up the goods. While there, he notices the cashier has a Zune also and decides to eject her.
No, get your mind out of the gutter you internet reader! Squirting a user was a characteristic on Zune in which you could easily share your music wirelessly with others. It was important to note that if the user did not have a Zune Pass they would only be able to share a lx 2d clip.
Later Mark squirts the woman behind the counter (seriously guys, stop thinking like that) he rushes out of the store and heads over to the party he has been so anxious to get to.
Windows Live Essentials
Know what is libation than viewing pictures of a party? Viewing pictures of a political party while you are still at that party. The girls decide to accept a avalanche of photos and (because nothing else fun is going on) organize and share them with Windows Live Photo Gallery.
Apple's Macs have come preloaded with iLife, a suite of video and photo editing software, for years. Microsoft needed to badly cut in on the dwelling multimedia action for their Windows platform. In 2006, the company released what they called "Windows Live Essentials" – a parcel that included: Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Photograph Gallery, Windows Live Picture Maker, Windows Alive Mail, Windows Live Author, SkyDrive (formally Mesh), and Windows Alive Family Prophylactic Tools.
The software has proved to piece of work well and information technology is in its 5th wave (or distribution). The software suite, had been renamed to Windows Essentials in its last release; this ensured that the make proper noun stayed in line with Microsoft's corporate setup. Only as Live Search was renamed to Bing, Windows Live Essentials was renamed to Windows Essentials - dropping the "Alive" branding.
Windows Vista
Mark finally arrives at the party with a collection of pizzas and starts dancing the night away. And equally we all know, the perfect way to end a commercial is with Windows Vista – oh my. Nosotros have to talk almost Windows Vista at present, don't nosotros? Let's practise this, to spare you pain and to spare myself pain, I will make the Windows Vista discussion cursory.
Microsoft'due south redesigned operating system Windows Vista was released vi years ago on January thirtythursday, 2007. The listing of criticisms for this iteration of the Redmond OS can get so long that there is an entire Wikipedia page (and many angry webpages) devoted to it.
Here is the just of the worst Windows Vista features: To start, the operating organisation was incompatible with near all Windows XP drivers because the code base was rewritten; this caused farthermost hardware issues with new and onetime devices alike. It took manufacturers months to provide correct driver compatibility and even then – they didn't work too well.
Windows Vista was as well the introduction of User Account Control, a software mechanisms designed to keep users safe when installing content or running applications as administrator. The problem – the feature was over intrusive and constantly nagged at you to approve EVERYTHING.
Let's conclude with the fact that Windows Vista was bloated and tedious. The new aero interface taxed heavily on your graphics card and the organisation seemed to have no mercy unless you had the top of the line hardware.
Desire to know a hole-and-corner of mine? Windows Vista was then bad, that I ran out and purchased a MacBook Pro. That is correct, I switched to Mac during the Windows Vista years and returned when Windows 7 was released.
The Road Alee
I've had a ton of fun taking a semi-cursory await back at Microsoft half-dozen years ago. The company has changed much since and then and we are being shot frontwards into a future of crazy bright colors and alive tiles. Technology is an manufacture that is moving faster than ever and it is nigh impossible to properly predict. Will Xbox One be a hit or flop? Will consumers grow to love Windows 8 or not? Nosotros will have to wait and detect out – this route trip is over.
If y'all are wondering what happened to our friend Marker at the end of the video, check it out for yourself.
Tell the states, what is your favorite piece of Microsoft nostalgia? I personally, to this twenty-four hour period, remain in honey with the Zune line of devices. In fact – just last nighttime I had a dream that I was running Spotify off of my old Zune HD…. Probably a sign that I need a vacation.
Chat soon beau Microsofties!
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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-memories-look-past-six-years-redmond-tech
Posted by: morrowhavour.blogspot.com
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