Over the past two days, I have been simply amazed by the length and breadth of innovation happening at Microsoft. Don’t get me wrong. I have always loved this company, but the amount of radical innovation they are producing lately is overwhelming.
I downloaded Microsoft Visual Studio Express yesterday. It is completely free to download and is full of features to enable developers like me to build our own software, including games! The IDE is awesome, and the capabilities, ease of use, phenomenal.
Right now I am watching 3 keynotes from the WinHEC 2006 conference hosted by Microsoft, and am again awestruck. Microsoft controls the computing world, literally. They have great vision coupled with great products. Well, if you have thousands of genius minds working independantly, you’re sure to get great products. It is amazing how much the computing world has changed, and even though I have been experiencing it right from the “hay-days”, it seems like I have missed an entire decade! Just a moment ago, I was using MS-DOS 6.2, and having fun with BASIC games. Today, the entire software eco-system is so complex that no new software company could even think of reaching this level of complexity anytime soon.
Clearly, Microsoft is about developing robust platforms, and their new marketing jingle is working. Today, Windows works on everything from cellphones to MP3 players to electronic picture frames! Phenomenal.
I am still waiting for that phone call from Microsoft to hire their best fan since the late 80s.