October | 2008 | briangorbett.com

smooth streaming

in case you have been caught-up with all the pdc announcements and missed this one, we have announced plans with akamai to enable high-definition (HD) quality experiences over the web using smooth streaming.

so what the heck is smooth streaming? smooth streaming, a new extension for internet information services (iis) 7.0, enables adaptive streaming of media to silverlight clients via http. the sweet thing is smooth streaming dynamically detects and seamlessly switches, in real time, the video quality of a media file that a silverlight player receives based on local bandwidth and cpu conditions. consumers with high bandwidth connections can experience hd quality streaming while others with lower bandwidth speeds receive the appropriate stream for their connectivity, allowing consumers across the board to enjoy a consistent high quality streaming experience.

akamai also announced a proof of concept portal demonstrating the technology available at www.smoothhd.com. additionally, microsoft is announcing the upcoming availability of expression encoder 2 sp1 which encodes smooth streaming files.

pay attention to how this will change the game in media streaming!

s+s makes me feel all good inside

the “overnight success” video at the software + services site just makes me feel all good inside. i remember the days of launching “big deal” sites and worrying if they would hold up. how i would love to just simply be able to spin a dial and provision some more cloud love in the middle of a game of gears.

this video is my new best friend.

microsoft strata = azure

in case you were not paying attention, during the opening keynote at pdc ray ozzie announced our cloud services platform, azure services platform (formerly codenamed “strata”). i am super excited about this since i have been making the speaking tour on the windows live platform. azure takes this to a new level with a comprehensive development service, consistent programming model on-premises and in the cloud, a familiar development environment, and control and customizability. azure does all this and does this well.

windows azure is a component of the azure services platform that extends the windows environment to the cloud for developers who want service hosting, scalable storage, and automated service management of their software applications.

pay attention to more announcements from pdc to see where we are taking azure now and into the future.

windows live platform

tulsa techfest i have been making the rounds at techfests around the central region talking about the windows live platform, getting ready for all the exciting announcements starting today at pdc.

i like talking about windows live because most folks don’t know what it already out there since all the buzz has been around mesh.

with all these services available to developers, i sometimes wonder if we just not have been doing a good job marketing the power of the live platform. when i build a website or client application, if I could get some free authentication (from windows live id) i would be all over that.

i would also recommend you pay attention to all the exciting announcements we are making at pdc this week (starting today with a keynote at 8:30am pst). this is a big week for us and many of the announcements are going to be service related, including announcements and sessions on the windows live platform itself.

for those that have been looking for my presentation, here it is (below). i am still working on cleaning-up some of the code i used, but will be posting it here or to codeplex soon.

head in the clouds

i attended the cloudcamp chicago event last night and was delighted to mingle with some really incredibly smart people chatting about a topic that is relevant to just about every developer, architect, marketer, business owner, etc.

the open spaces format was really effective and i had the honor to lead a topic on microsoft cloud technologies (don’t worry, i didn’t give anything away before pdc).

i also had a great chat with harper reed, the chief technology officer at skinnycorp/threadless (yes, i was wearing my favorite threadless tee at the event). harper is the kind of guy that i actually enjoy talking technology with. if you can get past the horrible sound in the following video, he makes some great points about solving business problems and not worrying about the technology. harper, i’ll see you at techcocktail in a couple weeks.

another great conversation was had with dr. werner vogels, the vp worldwide architecture and cto at amazon. all i can say is that i am infinitely wiser from my chats with him.

i also talked to a couple super smart google engineers, some smart folks from clarity, and tons of other partners. anyway, done with my words. catch more of the horrible quality video at my qik feed.