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A couple weeks ago I attended Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference.  Microsoft invites all of their partners to a week-long conference full of education, unveiling, vendor booths, meetings, and of course a little fun.  They had some pretty cool demos this year: the world’s largest touchscreen – Eighty-four inches!  As the guy was demonstrating the screen, he literally back-handed the screen, and it didn’t even crack!  Another amazing demo was related to Microsoft’s Kinect technology.  A guy spent no more than thirty seconds taking a 3D scan of a person using the Kinect, and printed a miniature 3D replica of that person (done prior to the demo due to time).  They were also handing out Microsoft’s Windows 8 On A Stick – State Fair style!  The conference had its cool moments, but it also had a lot of innovation.  It’s no surprise to anyone that this year’s conference had an underlying theme: Microsoft is going all in.

Microsoft’s Windows 8:

Windows 8 is being released soon, and it is Microsoft’s best OS release yet.  You will see greater continuity between devices, with Windows 8 mobile and desktop versions looking identical to each other.  Cloud-based apps in Windows 8 will have a native feel to them.  It is safe to say that we have probably seen the end of traditional laptops, and the beginning of touchscreen laptops.  Windows 8 is designed for, and makes more sense for, touchscreen-enabled devices.  You will want to start thinking about investing in touchscreen technology as you upgrade your devices.  Microsoft is even coming out with their own tablet device.  For touchscreen laptops, we recommend taking a look at the HP EliteBook 2760p Tablet PC, a powerful, light, touchscreen-enabled laptop device.  Yes, touchscreen technology is still more expensive than we’d like it to be.  But you will see a considerable price drop as manufacturers start to focus on this technology to fully embrace Windows 8.

Keeping Up With Technology:

In the next twelve months we will see the single largest simultaneous release of the Microsoft product line; more products are being released/updated at the same time than Microsoft has ever done before.  Windows 8, Server 2012, SQL 2012, Office 2013, Office 365 (update), and more – literally most of Microsoft’s product lines will be seeing an update in the next twelve months.  What does this mean?  As I said before, I believe Microsoft is going all in.  They are making the necessary changes they need to keep up with technology.  They are listening to their users, paying attention to what people have said (and hated) about their products, and they are fixing those issues.  They have made recent acquisitions (most notably Skype & Yammer) to keep up with the increasing focus on social media.

What can you expect from the Gurus?

Over the next twelve months, aCOUPLEofGURUS will make a complete conversion to the cloud.  With advancements in Microsoft Azure and Office 365, Microsoft is making cloud technology both real and accessible to the SMB market, and we want to take advantage of that internally.  We are also offering free demos of Windows 8!  If you are curious about what Windows 8 has to offer, we will come to your office and let you see Windows 8 on your computer.