Partners

Since the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, we have witnessed a phenomenal demand for the progress towards Natural User Interfaces. There are now new generation of PCs enabled with multi-touch functions and touch-optimized applications being released as you read this. The market for touch PCs is heating up. About 10 percent of new PC models in 2010 will support touch technology, says Amy Leong, research director at Gartner Research. “In the next few years, we are going to see touch technologies being tested and deployed for many applications. More than 6 million PCs with touch screens will ship in 2010, nearly four times more than in 2008.” Microsoft has worked closely with HP, one of our largest partner PC manufacturers, during the development of Windows 7 to ensure hardware design presents a flawless symbiosis of software and hardware integration. This collaboration between Microsoft and HP result in a truly intuitive, innovative and engaging computing experience that brings technology to life in ways never available before to a mainstream consumer audience. To further unlock the potential of HP’s touch-enabled hardware and TouchSmart 3.0 software together with Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, HP is now seeking software developers to join the HP TouchExchange Programme in creating cutting edge and functional applications that will revolutionize the future of the touch technology and bring new innovations to consumers. If your application holds commercial potential, HP may provide you with a HP TouchSmart PC and a sizeable start-up capital to help you develop your application and commercialize it in the market. With the wide range of touch-ready Windows 7-based computers coming to market this year, with some priced low enough to put touch within just about everyone’s reach, it offers great potential for you to showcase your solutions to a huge audience. The Windows 7 Multitouch Platform is a very powerful development platform. Microsoft with HP aim to provide you the necessary support and resources to help you succeed, connect with the relevant business partners and expand your market reach. For more details on the HP TouchExchange programme initiative, please read here. The Microsoft Innovation Centre is more than willing to help you achieve success. ...

Over this past weekend, local game development company Touch Dimensions was featured in an article in TODAYonline. The key part of the report: Microsoft has commissioned Touch Dimensions to create some 20 free casual entertainment applications that run on the Windows Mobile operating system. These range from a digital sketchpad to a Whack-A-Mole-type game that lets you smack mosquitoes to oblivion. This piece of news has gotten a fair bit of coverage over the weekend, and been picked up by both WMExperts and WMPoweruser.com. (Incidentally, is it just me or does it feel like nowadays every article that appears on WMExperts will also appear on WMPoweruser.com, and vice versa?) The TODAYonline report further states: ...

It seems that Christmas has come early for us here at the Microsoft Innovation Centre! Look at what we found last week: Yes, this is none other than the prototype LG Panther devices that have been seen in the wild for the past week or so. Here are some more photos, including the box that it came in: [gallery link=“file” columns=“3” orderby=“rand” exclude=“776,807”] Where did we get these devices from? Well, we wished we could say that we found it at a local Starbucks because someone left it there after a caffeine high, but in reality these were sent to us so we can start testing our Windows Phone 7 applications in Singapore on an actual device instead of only using the emulator. A few early observations: ...

Last week (May 13), we launched the Windows Phone 7 Call for Proposal with Expara under the i.Match BizMatch program. i.Match BizMatch is a platform that facilitates collaboration opportunities between Media Content and Digital Media (IDM) companies by introducing them to leading industry partners. Aspiring applicants for the WP7 CFP will receive technical guidance/training from the Microsoft Innovation Centre, as well as access to hardware and software resources to support their WP7 development process. The event was opened by Douglas Abrams from Expara, and followed by myself to discuss about the support provided by the CFP. A total of 8 companies did a verbal pitch in front of Microsoft panelists, who are all involved with Windows Phone 7. As promised, we had a hearty pizza and networking session right after. All in all, it was a successful event and we look forward to working with the interested parties we have met. The deadline for submission is June 30th. You can check this previous post here to check out the details of the CFP and upcoming WP7 events. If you are keen to submit, please fill up the form here and send it to the email address indicated in the form. (Tip: We really would love to see some prototypes running on the emulator, so it’s a big plus if you can include snapshots) That’s about it! And for developers out there, we’ve included below some really useful links and tips to aid you on your WP7 development. (Don’t forget to check out the upcoming WP7 events here, and a link to my Source Code folder in this post.) Useful links and tips: ...

With Microsoft Office 2010 officially launching this week, everyone here at Microsoft HQ in Singapore has reason to be excited. According to Forrester Research, 81% of surveyed enterprises are running Office 2007 today with at least a third of the respondents already planning to upgrade to Office 2010 within the next 12 months. The enthusiasm from customers is understandable, since Office 2010 is more than just an evolutionary update, but includes revolutionary new features such as Office Web Apps and the new Outlook Social Connector. At the Microsoft Innovation Centre, we are particularly excited about the Outlook Social Connector feature, because not only has it been useful to us by bringing social networking functionality (from services like LinkedIn) into Outlook 2010, but it also offers an opportunity for our partners to extend the functionality of Outlook 2010 to other online services as well. And one of our Singapore-based BizSpark startups has done just that. Socialwok describes itself as a service which “was created to allow organizations to harness the ease and power of rich media and feeds to improve collaboration and communication.” Winners of the TechCrunch 2009 Demopit Award, Socialwok provides a Facebook-like collaboration and sharing service for both enterprises and SMBs. And with Socialwok’s new (beta) Outlook Social Connector that they released today, Office customers can also now tap into the Socialwok service right from within Outlook 2010 (it works in Outlook 2003 and 2007 as well). Interestingly, Socialwok started out its life as a service specifically designed with Google Apps integration in mind, and even today, it’s running on Google App Engine. However, the Socialwok service today doesn’t require you to be using Google Apps or have a Google ID in order to use their service. Ming Yong, Socialwok CEO describes his commitment to the Microsoft platform: ...

We caught up recently with Janelle, CEO of Protege Production (a Microsoft BizSpark startup) and Robin Tan, the Creative/Technical Director, after being included among the top 20 finalists of the Dream-Build-Play 2010 Challenge for their game Armor Valley. Below is an email interview with her: “Congratulations for being among the top 20 in DBP 2010! Quite a feat indeed, besting the other games around the world! I remember you telling us before that this year would be a challenging one because you mentioned being ‘blown away’ with the other entries you saw. What are your thoughts about that now? Anything in particular that you think propelled you to Top 20?” ...

Visual Studio 2010 announcements and impact on MPN – This is a very good resource that describes the changes that this launch will bring to the Microsoft Partner Network, in terms of SKUs that Certified/Gold Certified ISVs (and other partners) will receive the the Microsoft Partner network. In summary: Download the deck for details: Visual Studio 2010 announcements and impact on MPN

Microsoft has just launched the new “Windows 7 Buyer’s Guide” at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/windows7.aspx. This is a recommended tool for those of you guys in the ISV Royalty Program and all Volume Licensing customers as your first stop for Windows 7 questions related to basic licensing, product keys, activation, or configuration including XP Mode and virtualization. Benefits Designed to reduce CS costs through helping customers self-service their basic questions Streamline and speed the pre-sales experience for upgrading Windows customers Provides customer service agents with a single “how to buy” resource to support Volume Licensing customers with Windows 7 Check it out at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/windows7.aspx

Summary What: Microsoft sponsored certification for Managed ISVs in Singapore When: Promotion runs until June 30, 2010 Details In an effort to encourage skills upgrading, we’re launching the Get Trained and Get Certified promotion exclusively for developers in our Managed ISV program where we’ll pay for your certification. All you have to do is take any 3 trainings from the sources below, send me information on the trainings you’ve taken and we’ll send you your details on how to get certified for free. Online Sources: Partner Learning Center at the Microsoft Partner Network (formerly Microsoft Partner Program) https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/ Sign in with the live ID associated with your company and register for trainings online. We have a huge catalog of live webcasts as well as on demand webcasts that you can search through for topics that are relevant to your projects. Channel 9 Learning Center http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/ A free for all resource for technical training on the latest products from Microsoft including : Windows Azure Platform, Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Silverlight 4 and Visual Studio 2010 Hands On Labs: Microsoft Innovation Centre Hands-On Labs Keep an eye on this site for announcements on hands-on labs for Microsoft sponsored trainings for partners. Courses held at Certified Partner for Learning Solutions Partners http://www.microsoft.com/singapore/learning/cpls.mspx Trainings you attend on your own or with company support at any of our CPLS partners above will count to your credit as well. Do note that our CPLS partners such as Avantus Training participate in funding schemes through IDA’s CITREP (Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme) that will subsidize training fees for your developers as well. All you need to do is take 3 trainings from any of the sources above, send the following information to sgisv@microsoft.com and we’ll give you a voucher to take your next Microsoft Certification Exam for free. Training Title: Date Completed: Training details (url / source / venue): Training Title: Date Completed: Training details (url / source / venue): Training Title: Date Completed: Training details (url / source / venue): This offer is exclusive to developers in Managed ISVs so do send us the above information through your company email address.

I realize that not a lot of people have heard about the ISV Royalty Program here in Singapore. The program is available to ISVs and what this allows you to do is license Microsoft products as part of your unified solution, that way, you can be your customers one stop shop for getting your software as well as the Microsoft licenses required to run it. There are 2 license types offered: ...