Microsoft in 2010 – My 6 reasons to be excited

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I have a feeling it is going to be a great year for Microsoft. This is what gets me all fired up:

1. Windows 7 is great and the crisis doesn’t worsen and PC shipments are up, Windows 7 is going to do well.

2. Office 2007 is great and Office 2010 will be even better. I’ve been using a beta for months now and I’m impressed. Get it here: https://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/default.aspx. Developers also will be happy to discover great new features in Sharepoint 2010: https://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/Pages/default.aspx 

3. With version 4, Silverlight is becoming the client platform of choice. I believe WPF will be used for the special cases but the default will be Silverlight. It also puts to rest the cross OS, cross browser debates but most importantly I believe it will create the next wave of innovation for the web and client aps in general. Developers can get started here: https://silverlight.net/getstarted/silverlight-4-beta/

4. Visual Studio 2010 the .NET Framework 4 and the second big release of Visual Studio Team System will boost developers productivity even further. More and better applications will be created. Start here: https://www.microsoft.com/belux/nl/visualstudio/products/2010/default.mspx. A new SQL Server will also delight developers: https://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/r2.aspx 

5. A new baby will be born. The Windows Azure Platform! Going live with a datacenter in Ireland too. Read the FAQ and you know all you need to know and perhaps a little bit more: https://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/faq/ 

6. Every year Microsoft has exciting newcomers. What will we find out about Windows Mobile 7, Natal, Courier, Surface vNext…?

It’s great to work for the largest software company in the world and the product line up is dazzling year after year. Combine this product lineup with the best developer community in the world and the future looks so bright I got to wear shades.