Microsoft loves developers. That’s why, maintaining platforms (Desktop Windows, Windows Mobile but also MSN and many others), they need developers to augment value of it. As Professor Valor explained us last year during IME’s Advanced Digital Strategies program (which is the start of this DiCoDE initiative), pampering complementors, giving them tools to innovate, engaging them and allowing them to be profitable is key for the success of your platform. That’s the reason why Microsoft invites every year developers (and now also designers) to a big event: REMIX. I attended the Belgian edition this year.
Beside having had the possibility to listen and meet Georg Petschnigg from Microsoft Pioneer Studios, I was interested into the overall Microsoft speech and hearing more about Windows Phone 7. I attended a speech from Kat Holmes and Karen Davis of Microsoft recently created design team about Metro UI that was very interesting. 
Not only they bind in a very smart and user centric way apps and OS, they build a smart dashboard that position other OS (including Android and iOS) as app launchers and they provide a very clean and with personality UI (which does finally prove Steve Jobs wrong), but they also grasp evolution of users, both mobile and fixed. The picture is not very clear, but I like how they show desktop PC user and mobile phone user getting closer to the device, closer to the eyes, closer to the senses, closer to the heart. That’s what I call Experience in RiCoDE.
With WP7 getting closer to Service and Experience concepts, on a NUI (Touch UI, vocal activation…) device, Kinect using NUI assets in the living room and a strong focus on design, I believe Microsoft is on the right path. And has done the most difficult part for them: re-inventing themselves. Now, they just need to roll-out their traditional very efficient sales and marketing machine (budgetted to 500 million dollars just for Windows Phone 7 launch) to make it work. If it’s not too late…
I’ll just close this post on a very inspiring video from Microsoft that had a big impact on creation of DiCoDE future: a glimpse ahead
what a vision! it’s great to envision and embrace a future that’s digitally and technologically driven yet remaining human-centered, and where innovation is powered by passion more than just profit or competition.
This is a good post and may be one that should be followed up to see what goes on
A close friend e mailed this link the other day and I am eagerly looking your next page. Continue on the super work.
Great article, thanks for submitting this!
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