Office of the Future presented at Fall COMDEX November 1995, featuring Bill Gates Hardcore Software 2022-04-10 | In 1995, just after the launch of Windows 95 (and Office 95) Microsoft presented a vision for "Office of the Future". This built on the previous two COMDEX keynote known as "Information At Your Fingertips." In this keynote, Bill Gates describes the future of information worker tools, automation, and collaboration. He is aided by a series of demonstrations of potential software and hardware products.The New York Times reviewed the keynote in the print newspaper by writing "And Bill Gates, chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, offered a film presentation involving computers connected to the Internet without any cords at all, and that old standby, continuous speech recognition, two forms of magic that typically fail in the real world but worked flawlessly on the screen." -- "Some Whatchamacallits at Comdex", November 21, 1995
Windows 8 Launch 10/26/12 Times Square Store Opening Hardcore Software 2022-10-26 | As part of the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft opened a flagship retail store in Times Square, NYC. The opening of the store took place on the day of the Windows 8 launch and was a big celebration in Times Square including all sorts of street level entertainment.Microsoft Surface was sold exclusively through the Microsoft Stores, Panos Panay then General Manager of Surface is featured in the video during the Store ribbon cutting.This video is a b-roll created by the Microsoft Store team showing highlights from their event.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Windows 8 Demonstration Video, June, 2011 Hardcore Software 2022-10-21 | Jensen Harris, Director of the Windows 8 User Experience Program Management team demonstrates Windows 8 about a year before project release and 15 months before general availability. This video was released on the "Building Windows 8" blog hosted on blogs.msdn.com.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Windows 8—Team Meeting Finale (2010) Hardcore Software 2022-09-30 | Windows 8 began development in the spring of 2010. There was an all-team (5000 people in Seattle, WA) meeting where the plans for the whole project were shared.This video was played as the meeting ended and the team departed the Seattle Convention Center. It is a highlight or sizzle reel of the many months we spent planning the release and all of the inputs into the Windows 8 project.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Windows 8—Steve Ballmer (CEO) was introduced to these walk-on videos Hardcore Software 2022-09-30 | Windows 8 began development in the spring of 2010. There was an all-team (5000 people in Seattle, WA) meeting where the plans for the whole project were shared. Steve Ballmer (CEO) was introduced to speak to the plans using these now famous videos. The first is a video created for the launch of Windows 2.0 at a sales meeting as Steve portrayed a stereotype of a tv pitchman showing off Windows as it was about to launch. The second is an impassioned video about the role developers played in the success of Microsoft. In a discussion Steve and I held on Clubhouse in 2021, Steve spoke of the origin and importance of this moment. More here, geekwire.com/2021/developers-developers-developers-ballmer-sinofsky-talk-microsoft-memes-clubhouseAs I wrote in "Hardcore Software" (link below) "While intellectually I understand why some might make fun of these showings, not only are they classic Microsoft events they show the genuine and electric passion SteveB had for the company and the mission we were on. They are as much a part of the success of Microsoft as any software we wrote."Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Windows 8—Prototype and planning sketch / demonstration (2010)—Part 6 of 6 Hardcore Software 2022-09-30 | One of a series of six videos from the product planning that led to Windows 8. The product was released in October 2012. The brainstorming and planning for the release took place 2009 through early 2010. These videos represent the product plan and represent the work of the team prior to the coding of the product. The videos were shared with the entire team prior to the formal start of coding in the spring of 2010. Each of the videos in the series represents on pillar or theme of the product. The six themes were:• Designed for a Tailored Web Experience• Engineered for Tailored Web Development• Connected and Ready to Use• Enhanced with Services• Approaching Consumer Electronics Quality• Future-proofing the OSThe full details and a copy of the product vision document and associated written materials is available via the link to Substack below.Future proofing the OSOne of the greatest strengths of Windows is its versatility. Windows runs on hardware ranging from netbooks to huge multi-processor servers, in roles spanning touch-enabled PCs in the home to massive databases in the enterprise. To make this possible, we build Windows on a powerful set of core services that deliver performance, scalability, reliability and security across a wide range of form factors, user scenarios, and server workloads. And, as the industry innovates in the core components of computing—such as processors, networking and storage technologies, as well as device types—investments in the core of Windows 8 ensure that Windows remains the leading way industry innovations reach our customers. This allows us to benefit from the innovation our partners deliver and enables great new products, only a fraction of which we can imagine today. There are several current trends that will have a particularly significant impact on the core of Windows in the Windows 8 timeframe. System on a Chip (SoC) vendors are delivering new offerings that enable emerging form factors such as slates to rival the capabilities of today’s PCs. Virtualization technologies are redefining the boundary between the operating system and the hardware on which it runs and the way that companies deploy and manage both their servers and clients. Further, customers tell us their use of virtualization technologies will grow dramatically. The price of commodity storage is plummeting at the same time that storage use is exploding in both consumer and business settings. And new security technologies are emerging that will affect the way customers experience computing in the future. Each of these trends will shape the marketplace into which we deliver Windows 8. Our investments in future-proofing the core ensure we’re well-positioned to compete with a wide range of innovative device types, take a leadership position in scalable computing architectures based on commodity hardware and devices, and strengthen Windows as a secure, trustworthy platform.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Windows 8—Prototype and planning sketch / demonstration (2010)—Part 3 of 6 Hardcore Software 2022-09-30 | One of a series of six videos from the product planning that led to Windows 8. The product was released in October 2012. The brainstorming and planning for the release took place 2009 through early 2010. These videos represent the product plan and represent the work of the team prior to the coding of the product. The videos were shared with the entire team prior to the formal start of coding in the spring of 2010. Each of the videos in the series represents on pillar or theme of the product. The six themes were:• Designed for a Tailored Web Experience• Engineered for Tailored Web Development• Connected and Ready to Use• Enhanced with Services• Approaching Consumer Electronics Quality• Future-proofing the OSThe full details and a copy of the product vision document and associated written materials is available via the link to Substack below.Connected and Ready to UseConnectivity is the oxygen of digital life. People expect to connect to people, websites, data, devices and applications whenever and wherever they want. They don’t want to think about connecting, they expect to just BE connected. They’re frustrated if connectivity is cumbersome or unreliable.To provide connectivity our industry has relied on wired ISPs, Wi-Fi networks, Virtual Private Networks, web services and (mostly) wired devices. But connectivity is changing rapidly. One of the biggest changes is the emergence of 3G, LTE and WiMax, which are enabling mobile operators to offer Internet connectivity anywhere on computers, mobile phones and other portable devices. Desktop virtualization is enabling mobile workforces to access corporate resources securely. Wireless technologies are increasingly used for device-to-device interaction. This hyper-connected world is driving rapid growth and evolution of web services and applications.Innovation in connectivity offers lots of promise, but it also introduces complexity. For example, different networks have different constraints and cost structures, making it hard to deliver a consistent customer experience on every network. Once customers are connected to the Internet, they increasingly need to remotely connect to work or home. Enterprises are struggling to secure corporate data while providing connectivity to a flexible workforce, one that’s using a wide range of PCs and devices on and off premise. Internet service providers and hosters are seeking cost-effective ways to provision and run flexible data centers. Simple and stable connectivity between wireless devices remains a challenge. And structural changes within the Internet—such as IPv6 addressing, internationalized domain names, changing DNS infrastructure and alternative DNS services—are introducing new complications.Windows 8 PCs meet these challenges by easily connecting to people, places and data over any network; making network and device connectivity snappy and responsive on a wide range of hardware; intelligently managing network resources; delivering on the promise of connecting to work or home from anywhere; creating rich and delightful scenarios with wired and wireless devices; providing hosters more economical options for scaling their services; giving organizations the network policy controls to meet their security and compliance goals; creating more opportunities for Telco, retail and IHV partners to participate in and profit from the Windows experience; and offering programmers the ability to use the most important functions of Windows network and device capabilities in modern applications. Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Windows 8—Prototype and planning sketch / demonstration (2010)—Part 5 of 6 Hardcore Software 2022-09-30 | One of a series of six videos from the product planning that led to Windows 8. The product was released in October 2012. The brainstorming and planning for the release took place 2009 through early 2010. These videos represent the product plan and represent the work of the team prior to the coding of the product. The videos were shared with the entire team prior to the formal start of coding in the spring of 2010. Each of the videos in the series represents on pillar or theme of the product. The six themes were:• Designed for a Tailored Web Experience• Engineered for Tailored Web Development• Connected and Ready to Use• Enhanced with Services• Approaching Consumer Electronics Quality• Future-proofing the OSThe full details and a copy of the product vision document and associated written materials is available via the link to Substack below.Approaching Consumer Electronics QualityIn the early days of the PC, most people who owned a computer were hobbyists or technical enthusiasts. As enthusiasts, their expectations were generally low around how much maintenance, repair, and tinkering were required to keep PCs running well. In fact, the amount of skill and know-how to keep a PC in top shape was often the source of bragging rights and status among enthusiasts. As the PC became more mainstream, this overhead didn’t decrease significantly, and non-enthusiasts were forced to deal with maintenance as well. Individuals and businesses began to grow increasingly frustrated with the maintenance overhead, but they didn’t have many great examples of complex consumer devices for comparison. There were relatively few complex electronics in general, but those devices that were popular—such as VCRs, camcorders, or stereos—often had similar challenges (for example, many people’s VCRs always displayed “12:00” because they were often too difficult to program). As time went on, more consumer electronics began to enter people’s homes and workplaces. These became increasingly smart devices with tailored experiences, and today it’s not uncommon for people to have a number of sophisticated electronic devices that they use frequently—digital cameras, smartphones, game consoles, portable music players, e-readers. Many of these devices deliver simple, consistent, and high-quality experiences for customers. By contrast, the PC has not kept pace with these improvements and is generally considered a more complicated and fragile device, which can perform unpredictably. Windows 8 PCs close the gap between the hobbyist device of the past and the consumer-oriented devices of the present and future and deliver an experience that offers all of the power of the PC coupled with the ease of ownership of a consumer electronic device.The Windows 8 PC is easy to own and operate, from the day it comes out of the box to the day the owner decides to retire it. Building such an experience starts with our partners, who design hardware, drivers and applications that are a considerable part of the customer experience. To deliver a great PC to customers, we ensure these partners have the tools and data they need to create and deploy Windows images, assess their quality and solve any problems discovered. In many ways this is a journey that started with Windows 7, where we took a major step forward with both in-box quality and with the work we did with our partners to deliver great systems. Windows 8 takes the next step, with additional capabilities built into Windows as well as tools to help our partners deliver high-quality systems. Hardware platform investments and shared bets with our silicon partners, OEMs, ODMs and IHVs increase system quality. These investments result in the most stable, responsive, power-efficient and low-maintenance Windows we’ve ever produced, running on systems that take full advantage to deliver a quality experience that matches that of consumer electronics. Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Windows 8—Prototype and planning sketch / demonstration (2010)—Part 2 of 6 Hardcore Software 2022-09-30 | One of a series of six videos from the product planning that led to Windows 8. The product was released in October 2012. The brainstorming and planning for the release took place 2009 through early 2010. These videos represent the product plan and represent the work of the team prior to the coding of the product. The videos were shared with the entire team prior to the formal start of coding in the spring of 2010. Each of the videos in the series represents on pillar or theme of the product. The six themes were:• Designed for a Tailored Web Experience• Engineered for Tailored Web Development• Connected and Ready to Use• Enhanced with Services• Approaching Consumer Electronics Quality• Future-proofing the OSThe full details and a copy of the product vision document and associated written materials is available via the link to Substack below.Engineered for Tailored Web DevelopmentWindows has been a cornerstone of the computer industry for quite some time, with a broad and diverse spectrum of engineers and designers creating an equally diverse set of devices and applications. Traditionally, Windows developers have been excited about challenging the conventions of human/computer interaction and developing experiences that take full advantage of the raw performance, system capabilities and integration of hardware and software stacks. However, in today’s world, the web is an increasingly central part of how customers use computing devices. Given the broad customer reach, the ease of deployment, and the potential for monetization on the web, developers—particularly new developers entering the market—have focused intently on the web and have utilized the standards-based web technologies of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Today, Windows offers very limited value to web developers, who cannot use web programming models for reliable access to the capabilities of the rich client.In Windows 8, we will blend the best of the rich client with the ease of deployment and openness of the web platform and enable developers to easily create, sell and deploy applications that take advantage of native system capabilities such as touch, media, hardware acceleration, connection to devices and services, as well as the capabilities of specialized PC form factors. Windows Live continues to be an important showcase for our Windows offering and a growing part of our platform message. Windows Live focuses on being a premier developer for Windows and provides additional services, including Windows Live Connect, which developers can use as they build their applications.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Windows 8—Prototype and planning sketch / demonstration (2010)—Part 1 of 6 Hardcore Software 2022-09-30 | Designed for a Tailored Web ExperienceOne of a series of six videos from the product planning that led to Windows 8. The product was released in October 2012. The brainstorming and planning for the release took place 2009 through early 2010. These videos represent the product plan and represent the work of the team prior to the coding of the product. The videos were shared with the entire team prior to the formal start of coding in the spring of 2010. Each of the videos in the series represents on pillar or theme of the product. The six themes were:• Designed for a Tailored Web Experience• Engineered for Tailored Web Development• Connected and Ready to Use• Enhanced with Services• Approaching Consumer Electronics Quality• Future-proofing the OSThe traditional strength of the Windows-based PC has always been productivity. The familiar Windows user experience, introduced in Windows 95, was designed with the needs of office workers in mind—to make people more efficient, productive, and to help them create the best looking and most powerful work products possible.But the world has changed immensely since 1995. The web—initially as a research tool, but soon after as a place to read, shop, be entertained, and connect with others—has had a profound impact on the world. Today, people spend more than half their time on the PC using the web browser. In a very real sense, people feel like they boot up the computer twice today—once to the Desktop, and then a second time into their web browser, where the things they really care about live.In the time they’re not on the computer, people are computing on their phones: consuming the web increasingly not as raw sites crammed into a web browser, but as apps that tailor their content to the form factor and user scenarios of the phone. Customers of the iPhone, Droid, or Palm Prē view the web through the lens of focused, discrete apps that have a clear point-of-view. They expect these apps to take advantage of the capabilities of the hardware (camera, GPS, compass, accelerometer) to provide connected experiences that far surpass the lowest-common-denominator raw web. They also expect their devices to be personal and connected to the services they use every day.What has changed most fundamentally since Windows 95 is that people are increasingly using computing devices not just to be productive, but to consume what matters to them—to enjoy themselves and to connect with the things in their life that they love doing: watching TV online, listening to music, reading, playing games, communicating with friends. A wide range of PC form factors have evolved to provide experiences more easily integrated into real life, from lightweight slates, to all-in-one countertop PCs, to low-cost netbooks.In Windows 8, we will create an experience optimized for consumption scenarios, and the form factors and input methods that enable them. We will design a modern user experience that re-imagines the spirit and benefits of the web—connected experiences, informing in real-time, built on open platforms—but evolved for modern PC form factors. We will cultivate a new ecosystem of applications, optimized around multi-touch, sharing, people, and connection to devices, which together will create a web experience tailored to Windows. We recognize that customers store information about their identity, people, and the services they use in the cloud, and we’ll rely on Windows Live or other compatible services to complete our tailored experience. We will measure this experience not by how productive it makes people, but by how much they love using it.The full details and a copy of the product vision document and associated written materials is available via the link to Substack below.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Windows 8—Prototype and planning sketch / demonstration (2010)—Part 4 of 6 Hardcore Software 2022-09-21 | One of a series of six videos from the product planning that led to Windows 8. The product was released in October 2012. The brainstorming and planning for the release took place 2009 through early 2010. These videos represent the product plan and represent the work of the team prior to the coding of the product. The videos were shared with the entire team prior to the formal start of coding in the spring of 2010. Each of the videos in the series represents on pillar or theme of the product. The six themes were:• Designed for a Tailored Web Experience• Engineered for Tailored Web Development• Connected and Ready to Use• Enhanced with Services• Approaching Consumer Electronics Quality• Future-proofing the OSThe full details and a copy of the product vision document and associated written materials is available via the link to Substack below.Enhanced with ServicesWeb services are an established part of daily life, connecting people, devices and information in a diversity of contexts—home, work, and in between and in an increasing number of geographies. Seamless web services that understand context can move software from the mundane to the modern. Services help realize the promise of connected technologies, dynamically delivering digital assets—content, media, applications—into contexts that delight customers. Services enable feedback loops and improvements over time, demonstrating customer-driven decision-making, founded in data, and ensuring that the experience becomes increasingly relevant and richer.Customers expect integrated services to help get the most out of their PCs and devices and to provide a singular, seamless view of the entire Windows Experience, across the Windows client, Windows Live and Internet Explorer. Partners have come to rely on services to deliver greater software business value, differentiation from competitors, and to establish loyalty relationships with customers in a time of decreased margins and price deflation in the software and hardware business. Extending partner access to customers across Windows, Windows Live and IE increases ecosystem incentive to deliver on Genuine Windows.Services in Windows 8 enhance the customer experience when a connection is present, while respecting a quality baseline experience in a disconnected state. Windows 8 services help us connect with customers, understand their needs and pain points, and enrich their experience over time through dynamic, contextual delivery of content and applications relevant for their locale and in their preferred language. Windows 8 partners benefit from targeted telemetry that helps them understand the customer experience with their software and services, realize new reach and revenue streams for their offerings and elegantly integrate their brand and services as vital members of the Windows ecosystem.Windows 8 services support the Windows business by providing platform for modern digital marketing, increasing revenue per license through friction-free upgrade, establishing a clear Genuine value proposition and increased anti-piracy hardening, and ensuring Windows is delivered in the languages of our billion customers.Windows Live continues to offer services for customers that they can choose to enhance their Windows experience, including identity, contact management, e-mail, photo sharing, and connection to your social networks. We expect improvements to these services to be covered in the Windows Live Wave 5 vision document and we design Windows 8 assuming that customers connect Windows to Windows Live or other compatible service.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Hope youre working hard - Short recording of Bill Gates in his office in 1994. Hardcore Software 2022-09-12 | Quick recording of Bill Gates in his office in Microsoft Building 8, summer 1994. Recorded to thank the summer interns (over 100) by Steven Sinofsky using an early QuickCam. Download and other uses prohibited. (c) Steven Sinofsky
Microsoft held a technology briefing Forum 2000 in June 2000—main event. Hardcore Software 2022-09-12 | Hosted by Steve Ballmer (CEO) and Bill Gates (Chief Software Architect), Forum 2000 was the culmination of several months of work designed to articulate Microsoft's vision for a connected future. The event focused on consumer, developers, and devices that could be used to access a variety of internet-related services envisioned for years in the future. The main event video features numerous executive speakers including Steve Ballmer (CEO), Bill Gates (Chief Software Architect), Paul Maritz (Group VP, Developer), Richard Belluzzo (Group VP, Consumer), Bob Muglia (Group VP, Business Productivity Group). In addition to presentations and live demonstrations, this video contains scripted video vignettes intending to visualize the concepts.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Windows 95 Launch 8/24/95 — Office 95 Demonstration Hardcore Software 2022-09-12 | August 24, 1995 (Redmond, WA) The launch of Windows 95 was an all day festival with the main event featuring Jay Leno and Bill Gates in a series of demonstrations. This section is the demonstration of Office 95 performed flawlessly by Office product manager Sarah Leary.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Windows 7— Vision Presentation Themes w/ Special Guest (2007) Hardcore Software 2022-09-12 | In planning Microsoft Windows 7, the project had 5 major themes. Before coding on the project began we gathered the entire team to see what the whole product would look like. This was our commitment to Microsoft to deliver. The themes included:0:05 Intro "Sizzle" 1:05 Specialized for Laptops5:05 Designed for Services10:29 Personalized computing for everyone15:51 Optimized for Entertainment20:14 Engineered for Ease of Ownership26:51 Special Guest KeynoteSpecialized for Laptops. Windows 7 will significantly enhance the laptop experience, make them more responsive, energy efficient, easier to network, easier to interact with, and more secure.Designed for Services. Windows 7 will enable new capabilities via integrated web services such as Windows Live, connected applications and gadgets, and an all-up web experience to access information and stay current.Personalized Computing for Everyone. Windows 7 will work the way you do, let you access and find files across all of your PCs, make it easier to manage windows and the desktop, and enable files and settings to follow you anywhere.Optimized for Entertainment. Windows 7 will get the most from the latest digital entertainment technology, allowing you to access, view, and interact with media the wayyou want, anywhere, with high fidelity.Engineering for Ease of Ownership. Windows 7 will make the PC ownership experience easy out of the box, keep your data protected, while also lowering the cost of deploying, managing and administering Windows.This video starts with a "sizzle reel" we showed the whole team at the end of the day. There is also a special guest who spoke at the whole team meeting.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Windows 7 PDC Testimonial from Autodesk touch (October 2008) Hardcore Software 2022-08-04 | With the first public introduction of Microsoft Windows 7, October 27, 2008, we demonstrated much of Windows 7. As part of the introductory keynote, we showed partner and developer support for the new touch capabilities. In this video, a member of Autodesk's technical staff demonstrates touch in Windows pre-release.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Office 12 User Interface Demonstration at PDC 2005 Hardcore Software 2022-05-14 | In 2005 at the Microsoft Professional Developer's conference (Los Angels, CA on Sept 13), Microsoft unveiled Office "12" as part of the Bill Gates keynote. This significant demonstration of the new user experience was done by Chris Capossella of the Office Marketing team. Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Office12 Vision Demos March 2004 Hardcore Software 2022-05-02 | At the start of a project, the team created videos for each of the main pillars of the Office12 (aka Office 2007) product as described in a product vision document. These are the demonstrations from March 2004 and the start of Office 2007 which released in August 2006 (about 10 weeks late). ****Note: Video was in a format difficult to scale. Please excuse the lack of sharpness.****The pillars for Office12 included the following Vision Areas (quoting):We will deliver on the vision for Office12 by focusing our efforts on the following six vision areas:Redefining the Office Experience. Office12 will redefine the experience of using our applications through a bold new UI, more streamlined tools, and a deeper integration with the shell for system and document-level tasks.21st Century Documents. In Office12, documents will not only look dramatically better but will also integrate much more efficiently and dynamically with the systems and processes of which they are part.Effective Teams and Organizations. Office12 will fulfill the promise of group productivity, making organizations more effective through enhanced collaboration tools, better access to corporate assets, and stronger integration with the desktop.Manage Your Time, Work and Relationships in One Place. Office12 will bring together improved e-mail, calendar, task, and contact management tools, enabling our customers to manage their time, work and relationships in powerful new ways.Unlock and Incorporate Business Information. Office12 will make it easy for customers to collect, find, view, and analyze relevant data, communicate their findings to others, work together to make decisions, and measure the results of their actions.Breakthrough Quality and Satisfaction. Office12 will be the most trustworthy and easy to deploy version of Office ever, and will mark a leap forward in increasing the value of our digital connection with our customers.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 Meet the Team Hardcore Software 2022-02-27 | Meet some members of the team that created Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003. This team was formed when transitioning the NetDocs project to a new product entirely focused on XML. The product enabled a whole new way to create and publish forms to collect business workflow information. The video is a great look at some typical offices in the old Microsoft buildings of the era.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Office System Great Moments multiplatform advertising campaign (2003) Hardcore Software 2022-02-23 | Video ads used across platforms and print ads for the 2003 launch of "The Microsoft Office System" featuring Office 2003. Campaign was part of a $200M USD effort led by creative work from McCann-Erickson Worldwide. Campaign was largest ever for Office (the "Information Worker" business at the time) compared to $30M USD for the launch of Office XP.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Office NET Protosketch: Prototypes used in planning Office 2003 Hardcore Software 2022-02-22 | At the start of Office.NET in spring 2001, before releasing Office XP, the team created sketches of what the end-result of the product would look like conceptually. The focus was on 5 key themes of the release:• My Office• Team And Corporate Productivity• Keeping in Touch• No-Brainer Upgrade• Unlocking Information via XMLThese were presented at an all-hands meeting May 7, 2001.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Company Meeting excerpt 1994 on Priority of International Products via Andy Abbar Hardcore Software 2022-02-10 | A section of the Microsoft Company meeting held in Seattle in 1994 discussing Mike Maples' priority for international products. This takes place before UNICODE or an operating system that natively supported bidirectional or complex scripts languages. The "MEPD" or Middle East Product Group led by Alex Morcos (AlexMo) did *all* the work. Video was shared on Facebook by Andy Abbar (AndyAb) who was an engineering leader on the project.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Office XP Launch, May 31, 2001 Hardcore Software 2022-02-10 | Full video from the public launch event for Office XP in New York City on May 31, 2001. The event was set up to be the "consumer" launch though most of the energy was a series of 100's of events around the world aimed at business customers. Windows XP launch event was scheduled for the Fall, 2001.The event featured Bill Gates, a guest appearance by a relatively new online bookseller called Amazon.com with the founder/CEO Jeff Bezos, and also an official retirement of Clippy.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.comNote: some music is muted due to copyright.
Clippy Retires. In April 2001, Microsoft announced the retirement of Clippy (Clip-It). Hardcore Software 2022-02-10 | In Office XP, Microsoft changed the default for the Office Assistant to off and with that Clippy retired. In a bit of an embrace of a feature that did not work out how we expected, these videos were created celebrating retirement. Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Clippy at the Office XP Launch 5/31/2001 Hardcore Software 2022-02-10 | At the Office XP launch event in New York City, May 31, 2001 (hosted by Bill Gates), Clippy opened the show. Clippy came on stage to talk about the pending retirement due to the fact that Office XP is much easier to use than before and Clippy's services were no longer required in the product.This is Clippy's last video appearance as a Microsoftie.
SharePoint Team Services from 2001 Hardcore Software 2022-01-23 | A quick tour of SharePoint Team Services as shipping with Office XP in 2001. This demo is running on a Windows XP desktop PC and the software was setup by using the Office XP Special Edition DVD. Amazing how much it did back in 1999-2000. (No audio)Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Congressional Hearing on Computer Viruses May 10, 2000 (C-SPAN) Hardcore Software 2021-12-26 | See c-span.org/video/?157059-1/love-bug-virus"Love Bug" Computer Virus hearing from May 10, 2000 in the House Science Committee, Technology Subcommittee. Witnesses testified about the “love bug” computer virus that infected over 10 million computers worldwide starting May 4th, 2000, shutting down Internet servers and corrupting files. Testimony centered around how the virus spread so quickly, the impacts and damages, and what steps could be taken to prevent similar attacks in the future.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Office 2000 Enterprise Customer Launch Event - Metreon SF, 1999 (in Hardcore Software) Hardcore Software 2021-11-19 | This presentation (June 7, 1999) features a detailed strategy talk on Office 2000 for the enterprise, numerous demonstrations, customer testimony, and Microsoft's broader vision of Office and Windows 2000 for the enterprise. At the start of the event, the mayor of San Francisco, the Honorable Willie Brown, presents Steve Ballmer, Microsoft President, with the key to the city. The event took place at the about to open (June 16 was the official opening) of the Sony Metreon complex.The logo screen at the start featured the tag line for the release of Office 2000.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Office 2000 Launch television coverage Hardcore Software 2021-11-19 | The launch of a major software product from Microsoft in the late 1990s was the kind of "event" that would garner news coverage on local television stations along with business news shows. The communications team would produce a VHS tape with clips of this coverage to share with their client (us). These clips were what we saw with the launch of Office 2000. This was the last launch that saw this type of television coverage.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Microsoft Office 2000 Sign-off and Release to Manufacturing Hardcore Software 2021-11-14 | At the end of every release we gather team leads from across the project and sign off on the "final bits" to send to manufacturing (literally). For fun, we model this on a rocket launch and how NASA used to ask each station if they were good to launch. Part of this is also a big party in the Microsoft courtyard where the Office team was mostly situated (buildings 16-17-18). There's a fountain in the courtyard which is where people are ceremonially dunked, hence the waterproof gear. The sign-off for Office 2000 took place on March 25, 1999. The party was a few weeks later.This video also has a roster of all the members of the team. There is a tribute to two members of the team that sadly passed away during development.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.comThis video is transferred from a VHS tape and most of the recording was done on a consumer camcorder.
Software Bloat—Customer Focus Group Characterizing Software Bloat Hardcore Software 2021-10-24 | From a focus group conducted by Microsoft in 1997-99, customers discuss the various possible meanings of software bloat, aka "bloatware". Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Software Design—Reducing Bloat in User Interface Hardcore Software 2021-10-24 | Example of reducing software bloat in Excel 3.0 and Excel 2000 by using the technique of having shorter menus. These were both failed attempts at reducing the perception and reality of compelxity.Featured in "Hardcore Software". Subscribe via hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com
Outlook 97 - the Outbook Bar Hardcore Software 2021-08-22 | A quick video showing the various elements of the Outlook 97 Outlook Bar.
Office 97 Enterprise Airlift Demonstration, The Office Assistant Hardcore Software 2021-08-13 | In this video excerpt, Microsoft Product Manager Jeff Smith demonstrates the Office Assistant, aka Clippy, for a sales readiness training video (aka "Airlift"). This is about 6 minutes of a two hour training video.The video highlights the three key elements of the Assistant technology:1. Animated character and user experience surrounding it2. Answer Wizard technology to map questions from the end-user to potential sources of help or assistance (introduced in Office 95)3. IntelliSense technology offering predictive assistance based on monitoring usage patterns
Microsoft Office 97 and beyond, gallery of Office Assistants including Clippy Hardcore Software 2021-08-13 | A sampling of the worldwide set of Office Assistants provided in Office 97, 2000, and Macintosh Office 98. In addition there are a couple of custom assistants that were not shipped with the product.
Conan giving Microsoft Clippy a hard time (permission granted by NBC at the time) Hardcore Software 2021-08-13 | In 1999, during the Microsoft v DOJ trial at a low point, Conan had this brief skit about how the government let Microsoft off easy compared to Clippy. Tape was provided by NBC for use non-commercially in the education of Clippy design and development.
Microsoft Office 97 Clippy Usability Test and Focus Group Hardcore Software 2021-08-13 | Some vintage usability testing and focus groups done while developing Office 97 and the Office Assistant. These tests are done with prototypes built on Office 4.2 (Excel 5.0) in 1994 and early 1995.These are examples used during public talks and college recruiting efforts to discuss the design of Clippy.Subtitles are available, generated automatically.
Looks Like Youre Trying to Write a Letter - Clippit in Office 97 (sound on) Hardcore Software 2021-08-13 | This is a short clip of Microsoft Clippit firing off after typing "Dear Mom" at the start of an Office 97 Word document. The video includes sound.Please visit hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com for the full story of Clippit and the whole journey of the PC revolution.
Project Stretch - 1996 design prototype sketch for a web-centric Office Hardcore Software 2021-08-01 | This Fall 1996 prototype sketch done as part of the work after Windows 95 and Office 95 released to show how a future release of Office could take advantage of web-based technologies to build productivity scenarios. Note: there are captions available.This was created while building Office 97 (and Internet 2) and was long before technologies such as DHTML, AJAX, and the DOM. The original codename was "Watchtower" which was deliberately chosen to sound vague and impressive. When it came time to use the demo we called it "Stretch" as an ironic nod to IBM's famously failed mainframe project that ultimately led to the 360. As you watch this you might consider Office products and technologies such as SharePoint, OneNote, Office Web applications, "Click to Run", Outlook, and more. It took a decade or more for all the web underpinnings to be able to implement many of the elements in the prototype but these are the seeds of those ideas.Please read more about this time in the development of Office in "Hardcore Software" starting in post 40 on https://hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com.
Office 95 Binder, A Forgotten Feature Hardcore Software 2021-07-27 | A backgrounder on a forgotten (and later removed) feature of Microsoft Office 7.0 for Windows 95 (aka "Office 95"), the first suite for Windows 95 released the same day as Windows 95 on August 24, 1995.A Binder was sort-of-kind-of like a folder that combined Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations into a single file – each document was a different section in the binder. The key advantage was it could print everything at once with consecutive page numbers.Originally we planned on delivering this with what became Office 97 that was being developed at the same time. We decided, however, to pull it forward but in the process we removed some key features (like headers and footers, watermarks, and printing as a single "print job").The feature was removed in Office XP, though we did release and unbind tool to get the individual files out of any existing binders (there weren't any!)Please enjoy this video as part of the Substack "Hardcore Software" an insider story of the PC revolution. You can subscribe to it on hardcore software.substack.com. This video was recorded off of a vintage PC using Office 95, including PowerPoint for the slides. It was recorded via a scan converter and edited on an M1 iMac.Note: there is no audio with this video, only text titles.
Making a slide show using Excel 4 Hardcore Software 2021-07-13 | Did you know that Excel 4 (and also Excel 3, though it was much more limited) had a tool to create a slide show from worksheets and charts. It was written using Excel macros packaged as an “Add-in” as a “checkbox” feature for compete and subsequently removed from Excel 5. It was written by a new hire Excel PM “off the books” from the development schedule. For more on this see the comments section of hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com/p/036-fancy-wizard-and-red-squiggles/comments This is a quick video I made using iDOS on the new M1 iPad running Windows 3.0. It is very snappy but font rendering is limited (there was no TrueType just bitmap fonts). Excuse the wandering mouse—the drivers are not great for the iPad trackpad.
Answer Wizard in Office 95 Hardcore Software 2021-07-11 | Some examples of Answer Wizard in Office 95.
Windows 95 Video Guide (1995) Hardcore Software 2021-06-01 | Whether you're a PC rookie or an experienced user looking to upgrade, this hilarious [sic] how-to readies you for Windows 95. Created with Microsoft, the Windows 95 Video Guide is your ticket to personal computing in the 21st century.--------------Please subscribe to hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com for stories behind wonderful finds like this. Thank you.--------------And who better to drive you than Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry, TV's hottest comedy stars as they go interactive with a cast of wacky propeller heads. Along the way, they'll download essential instructions, inside information, and...Plus, Microsoft answers the Top 20 Most Asked Questions about Windows 95. It all comes together for an eye-opening and entertaining instructional that gets you totally wired for Windows 95!(above from the VHS cover)Also includes a commercial for Office 95 tacked on the end of the video.
MacBook Duo c. 1994 being shown ejecting from the docking station. Hardcore Software 2021-05-15 | Apple Macintosh MacBook Due had a very fancy motorized docking station. This a video from 2019 showing my personal 1994 Duo undocking. This was the Macintosh that had all of my early internet demonstrations running as described in "Hardcore Software" on http://hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com.
A Hard Line on Software - Microsoft Corporation (c. 1981) Hardcore Software 2021-04-14 | Microsoft takes a "hard line on software" in this promotional video from early 1980 (I believe). The video goes through the complete Microsoft product line and commitment to providing world class technical support. It features some narration by Bill Gates along with early Microsoft executive Vern Raburn.
Office XP Ship Party Video March 2, 2001 Hardcore Software 2021-03-03 | 3-2-1 Blast Off! This was the video the team put together to celebrate the shipping of Office XP on March 2, 2001. The video features the teams, final sign-off, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Shipping Office XP was a team of about 1300 engineers and 2000 people total. The project was about 660 days, of which 275 days were full time/scheduled programming.
DONKEY BAS - MSDOS 1.0 game written in BASIC by Bill Gates and Neil Konzen Hardcore Software 2021-02-23 | This is the original DONKEY.BAS game written in BASIC by Bill Gates and Neil Konzen c. 1981. It is running on an original IBM PC with EGA graphics and 640K or memory. The video was recorded off of a screen converted from EGA output. The loud noise is the fan which I left in for effect.
