Monthly Archives: September 2005

Office "12" XML format session (OFF304)

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Brian Jones presented the new and improved (default) XML formats coming in Office “12.” There were a couple of slides where the font was too small–simply because there was so much information being conveyed in a small amount of real estate. Other than that, and perhaps a couple of demo glitches, Brian gave a nice presentation.

Here are my notes:

  • XML is default format in “12″ (not new information).
  • The new XML formats are actually a Zip “package” of compressed XML documents or “parts” along with relationships and other bits. (Aside: this sure does smell like OpenOffice and the OASIS Open Document Format (ODF) for Office Applications under development.).
  • Unlike their binary (legacy) counterparts, the XML formats are compressed. Current storage measurements show around a 50+% savings (e.g. .docx vs. .doc).
  • There will be patches available to patch down-level Office apps for new XML format support. This is critical if the new formats are to be adopted more rapidly and pervasively. ISVs must know that they’re not investing entirely in the future with no regard for the present enterprise landscape.
  • The openness of the XML formats means that any compression library, any XML parser, on any system (e.g. Linux) may be employed.
  • The current bits (not made available at PDC) make a binary format copy due to schema volatility (i.e. style undergoing work in fluid fashion) for the XML formats; this will change in final release (or before), of course.
  • The ordering of parts in a package is still in flux (e.g. important parts up front, etc.). Of course, this begs the question, what makes a part important and who decides the definition (e.g. Microsoft, an ISV and/or our customers)?
  • It was good to hear confirmation of Office “12″ and XPS (“Metro“) interop (e.g. unified rationale for Zip employment).
  • Word “12″ format is similar to Word 2003 format; Excel “12″ format is a significant revision; Excel 2003 was not a full fidelity format (e.g. not everything was saved to XML); and PPT “12″ is a brand new format.
  • The “Open Packaging Conventions” need to be studied, understood and followed (e.g. not adhering to these rules will result in data loss; e.g. a part with no reference flagged as corrupt and dropped in next save).
  • There is custom-defined XML schema support in O12–reference schemas provide formatting while custom schemas provide meaning, both to the same content.
  • I see these new XML formats as the new public, open API for OLE Structured Storage, which was previously only widely available via COM and Office binary formats. This transition is huge!
  • The new formats should make solutions development much cleaner (e.g. InfoPath-Word integration, custom XML/XSL and Word XML, metadata exchange acrosss different stores and systems, including offline scenarios, etc.).
  • The slide entitled “Sample Solution Scenarios” is particularly interesting when considering potential applications to add value to the new XML formats in Office “12″ (e.g. criteria/validation scans–inbound and outbound, inject/remove agents, taxonomy/ontology formation/refinement agents, etc.). Knowing that the packaged result is open and extensible (e.g. the VSTO manifest where Office “12″ is concerned will just be another part in the package) should prove to be a powerful development opportunity.
  • You should expect to see a ton of samples (based on significant feedback from 2003 release)–i.e. not just docs that state what, but samples that state how and why.

Brian advises that we stay tuned to his blog. Later this week (perhaps as early as tomorrow), Microsoft will release the current (preview) reference schemas for Office “12,” at which point Brian promises to blog in more detail about this development canvas.

9/14/2005 update: Brian posts information to download the preview schemas.

Tags: PDC05

Bill Gates’ keynote impressions

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In semi-chronological order, here are my notes from Bill’s keynote:

  • The “It’s what you bring to life” statement in the opening video before Mr. Gates took the stage made an impression on me for some reason.
  • I thought it a bit ironic that blogging is encouraged here and yet the public address person told us all to turn off our laptops.
  • Lifestyle … “workstyle”
  • Bill’s pun about software being as reliable as electricity was good-humored given yesterday’s blackout in downtown LA due to crossed wires.
  • According to Mr. Gates, software is the great enabler and it’s being underestimated in this capacity.
  • The college recruitment video was funny. “Cloberate” will now replace “collaborate” in business speak. :-)
  • 2005 marks the year where more broadband users exist than dial-up users.
  • Tools make platform advances reasonable (approachable, consumable, worth the investment).
  • Server-service symmetry is about providing a continuity of features and functions while allowing customer choice where hosting, admin, etc. is concerned (i.e. server – customer-run on premise, service – vendor-run off site).
  • Office is still promoted as Microsoft’s exemplar application (e.g. where smart clients are concerned).
  • The most compelling element didn’t involve Mr. Gates. It came when the reigns were turned over to Chris Capossela in order to demo Windows Vista and Office “12.”
  • Vista took the demo stage first. The “Clarity” emphasis was clearly demonstrated via the new “Flip Bar” (i.e. refactored Alt+Tab UE), the pervasive “Quick Search Bar” and “Virtual Folders.” Virtual Folders as simply XML documents is compelling to ISVs like mine who need to deploy specific views (and metadata painting portals) to their users. The Windows Sidebar reminds me of Google Desktop Search 2′s Sidebar, Apple’s (Tiger) Dashboard and Yahoo!’s Konfabulator acquisition. The fact that it’s a platform in its own right (along with Sideshow) is interesting (e.g. building “gadgets” for EMC | Documentum). BetaNews reports on gadgets, too. The way that IE7 takes tabbed browsing to the next level (i.e. “Quick Tabs”) reminds me of Apple’s (Tiger) Exposé. The fact that Vista has a built-in RSS store (i.e. yet another platform for development) is very compelling. It will be important to see whether or not annotations above feeds will be fully portable and open, too.
  • Office “12″ finished the demo (i.e. Excel then PowerPoint then Word then SharePoint and finally Outlook). With the new user experience (i.e. in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook (shell) and Access only), “every user becomes a power user”–because he can more easily discover the full potential the application provides. The “pick before you click” philosophy in the suite is compelling (i.e. new galleries and hover-based preview functionality). When the WSS3 Recycle Bin was demo’ed, it received applause. The “pitchbook” application demonstrating deep integration between PowerPoint and SharePoint was interesting, especially the ability to mark individual slides in the pitch book for automatic synchronization by SharePoint. The “To-Do Bar,” RSS integration and InfoPath integration in Outlook look nice and feel highly usable.
  • The same indexer, the same search engine will be shared across MSN Search, Desktop Search (Vista) and Outlook Search.
  • On Vista, the Office “12″ open dialog (and the other common dialogs?) is the Vista open dialog.

While waiting for David Folk et al to show up for coffee, I noticed that there are a low number of women again at PDC (although it does seem like the ratio is growing) and there are a large number of guys that lack basic fashion sense (e.g. the muted, monochromatic, washed-out look seems to be accidentally in style around the halls).

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Kickoff by keynote

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Bill Gates is normally not the most charismatic guy, but he was “on fire” compared to Jim Allchin. If you’re here and don’t already know what Jim is talking about at the high level he talked about it, you’re at the wrong conference!

The Vista and Office “12″ demos were well-received, especially since this was the first public showing of the later set of technologies.

Being a software guy I’ve already run into my first hardware issue–brought my digital camera (and have already taken some pictures of the event) but forgot my USB cable (and my Smart Card reader).

I’ve already made a number of connections at PDC.

Last night I enjoyed Italian food with members of the Office “12″ team. Rob Lefferts (soon to be blogging I’m told) and Dustin Friesenhahn (blog?) will be presenting later this week on server-side advances in “O12.” Pradeep Rajurs picked up the tab. (Thanks, Microsoft!) Rob apparently took some time to peruse my blog. His first impression of me afterward: I’m an “abstract thinker.” It’s true that I like to make connections among things that at first glance may not seem related. I also like to tell stories and make analogies in order to get my point across to others. This, I believe, comes from my Mom’s influence–she was a junior high school teacher for 16 years.

This morning I hooked up with David Folk and Sharat (“Shar”) Chander over coffee before the keynotes. These guys are the inbound and outbound PMs at Sun Microsystems for Sun’s Java Studio Creator product, which I think of as a VB-like developer experience for server-side Java application development. David and I used to work together on developer-centered products at EMC | Documentum before he left for his JSC gig. His introduction of me to Shar: I’m “nice and intense.” (I’m really learning a lot about myself at PDC.)

Stay tuned on this channel (and MANY more–lots of bloggers here) for more PDC05 news (e.g. more keynote takeaways).

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