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Windows Live Platform: our interview with Angus Logan

Kip Kniskern — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:44:00 GMT

Angus Logan is the Senior Technical Product Manager for Windows Live Platform, a title he only dusts off occasionally. Usually he's too busy building out content for Windows Live Quick Apps, or creating cool tools like the Messenger IM control, or working with Chris Keating from Windows Live Gallery to build a gadget to add that IM control to Spaces.

We met up with Angus in a conference room in Red West A, where we talked about Windows Live Platform, complete with whiteboarding:

Angus talks about the 5 categories, or buckets, included in the Windows Live Platform, along with the Terms of Use:

Rich Media (Silverlight, Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live)
Storage and Sharing
Communicating and Staying Connected
Finding and Locating (Search, Virtual Earth)
Identity / Authentication

We talked about those five categories, took a high level look at the Windows Live Platform, talked about where the platform is and where it's going, and spent some time talking about what's coming up, including CES and Mix08.

Introducing Angus Logan	00:00
A higher level look at Windows Live Platform	00:51
Some possible uses for the IM control; more consumer tools coming	03:25
The 5 categories of Windows Live Platform services	04:31
Terms of use	09:36
What's been announced, and what to look for	11:40
Platform focused on web developers, for now	15:17
"A large social network" gets some new stuff around December	17:02
The Windows Live Team at Mix08	17:39
On releasing tools as soon as possible	19:06
3rd party participation with the Windows Live Platform	20:22
On Quick Apps; lots more to come	24:06

Our interview with Angus Logan (mp3 12mb approx 25 minutes) (we'll be adding the Silverlight streaming back in shortly, once we tweak a couple of things)

Windows Live announcements: Windows Live Events launched; SkyDrive goes to 1GB - Our interview with David Fortin

Kip Kniskern — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Windows Live Events, set to launch at the time of this posting, 5pm PDT (Redmond time), is a new feature of Windows Live Spaces that makes it easy to create, manage, and share events using Windows Live Spaces. Here are some of the highlights of Events:

Create an event with a single set up page, and customize it with more than 100 templates as well as Windows Live Spaces modules
Invite guests to the event, using Windows Live Messenger contacts, or invite non-WL ID users by using their email address
Live Maps integration to show location and directions to the event
Send out customized invitation emails with links so invitees can view, collaborate, and share photos etc.
Integrate with user calendars, using 3rd party calendar protocols, including iCal
Manage discussion lists
After the event, collect and share photos and comments: keep the event for posterity

While we are awaiting a peek at Events ourselves, it sounds like a promising tool.

For more on Windows Live, Events, and some changes in SkyDrive beta, including a move to 1gb of storage, and a promise that "storage in the long run is not going to be a concern for our users, I had an opportunity to talk with David Fortin, General Manager of Consumer Products for Windows Live.

The highlights

What is Windows Live? An overview of the "set of tools to help people connect and share anywhere"
Where SkyDrive fits in
SkyDrive and the Windows Live Platform
The journey starts with delivering individual benefits
Announcing SkyDrive 1GB storage limit: "storage in the long run is not going to be a concern for our users"
Large storage numbers - really needed or a marketing ploy?
Announcing Windows Live Events
A quick tour of how to set up an event

download or listen to the interview via .mp3