Why I’m excited for Microsoft’s Vision of the Future: Living in an Age of Visual Data
Watch this clip from the TED Conference of Blaise Aguera y Arcas - Architect of PhotoSynth
Or go directly to: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129
I’ve been following Photosynth for a while now… and that demonstration just launched the product into the geek/design world blogosphere. It is buzzing on the web! Blaise and crew are doing incredible work… the potential applications for new visual data technologyies is really just limitless.
Don’t tell my Apple/Mac groupie friends - but I’m really starting to like Microsoft…
Announcements from Steve Jobs are getting old. iPhone is great. But which phone company doesn’t have a demo just like it in the labs?!
My eyes are being pulled towards Microsoft… and the Live Labs team.
It’s Ray Ozzie who excites me. Microsoft has reach. It can redefine how people use technology. And I think we’re seeing the decline of their focus on the ‘operating system’. The new Microsoft seems more open, more collaborative - and more driven by the user experience. I’m looking forward to seeing them launch a new wave of technology experiences to mass audiences- around maps, touch interfaces, video and photo stitching.
The two ‘big’ announcements from Microsoft have been Silverlight (my post on the RIA space) and Surface Computing (my post) But what I really love is Photosynth and Seadragon. Their work in the visual space of data (images and video) is nothing short of impressive. Not everything is new. (But what is really ‘new’ in tech concepts?!) The important thing is that these products are filled with intention. Microsoft is not going to grow with a better ‘Word’ or ‘Excel’ program- their growth will come from new user experiences. And visual data is a huge area for growth. Within five or ten years Microsoft will be delivering them to mainstream users.
Keep your eye on work from their Live Labs…
Microsoft is changing. Many young people working there on skunk work type programs are out presenting at conferences saying ‘I never thought I would work at Microsoft’… but it’s changing.
… don’t go away until you watch this post…!!! Wait until the end - when the host asks:
“What you saying is that within a few years. All the images of the taken by individuals can / will be linked together?”
Blaise: “… yes, they will be hyperlinked with meta data”
Right now, I don’t think we can appreciate what is going to happen in industries that use visual data?
What is going to happen in the minds of young people who grow up in a world where images can be linked geospatially?! That’s as big of an idea as was ‘hyperlinked text’ — if not bigger!
It’s worth considering the implications and opportunities ahead… (Oh, I’m dreaming of maps, maps, lots of 3D worlds)
So thank you Microsoft for changing…
(And to Google for pushing them along…)
-Garry