Microsoft Drives New Media Revolution into Homes Everywhere

Windows Vista, currently in beta and due to release early 2007, is bringing the core technologies driving the new media revolution deep into the operating system run on most of the world’s computers. Technologies that have already shaken the world of media and advertising–despite their complexity, expense and low penetration–will soon be an integrated part of Microsoft’s core operating system.

Hawthorne Direct: July 11, 2006 

By Dr. Stephen S. Kelley
CTO, hawthorne direct inc

Windows Vista, currently in beta and due to release early 2007, is bringing the core technologies driving the new media revolution deep into the operating system run on most of the world's computers. Technologies that have already shaken the world of media and advertising-despite their complexity, expense and low penetration-will soon be an integrated part of Microsoft's core operating system.

Consider the current impact of the web on media and advertising, and that most people access the web using Microsoft software. Consider also the initial impact of technologies lumped under acronyms and buzzwords such as PVR, interactive advertising, P2P, Web 2.0, RSS, behavioral targeting, contextual marketing, etc. Most of these technologies are at an early adopter stage. Vista provides a foundation to bring these technologies into almost every home and pocket. It allows the mass market to easily use these technologies without having to know the acronyms and buzzwords. My bet is that we ain't seen nothing yet!

In my opinion, the four things in Vista most relevant to media and advertising are Windows Media Center, Windows Communication Foundation, CardSpace and Windows Presentation Foundation. Windows Media Center adds PVR capabilities to a computer. Windows Communication Foundation provides rich network connectivity and interactivity for user choice, user feedback and user tracking in all computer applications. CardSpace is a digital identity management system. Windows Presentation Foundation provides graphics capability to applications that seamlessly integrates 2D, 3D and video.

Windows Media Center has been around for a while with little market penetration. TiVo and cable boxes comprise the bulk of the PVR install base. However, Microsoft has been working steadily to put Windows at the center of the home entertainment system. Vista is a huge step forward in facilitating the use of your Windows computer as a PVR. Integration with the XBox and an explosion of cheap, easy to use, wired and wireless devices extends Windows Media Center to screens and mobile devices everywhere.

Windows Communication Foundation extends networking capabilities to use technology associated with buzzwords like web services, RSS, P2P and Web 2.0 to communicate with other computers. It allows Microsoft and developers to build applications that can discover and filter media resources on behalf of users anywhere on the network. It enhances the user's ability to choose exactly what they want from any media anywhere, easily and automatically. It also enables rich interactive media use, feedback on how people interact with media and on the choices they make. These trends are already rocking the media and advertising world. By making discovery, choice, interactivity and feedback easier and more profound for consumers and providers, Vista brings these trends to the mass market in a powerful way.

CardSpace provides a framework to securely identify people and services on a computer network. It is an essential element to enable secure, trusted interactions and transactions. Without reliable, secure digital identity, eCommerce falls into a world of mistrust, identity theft and fraud. Microsoft's previous attempt at digital identity management, HailStorm, never took off. However, Microsoft learns quickly from failure. It is likely that CardSpace will just work automatically for users with a pretty interface, and have great developer tools that integrate well with other identity management systems. This may give it the critical mass needed to become the default digital identity management system it is intended to be. Digital identity management is a key piece of the digital economy that everyone wants to own.

Windows Presentation Foundation has perhaps the most profound implications for long-term change. Computer interfaces have evolved from physically moving wires, punch cards and command line to the well-known modern mouse and windows interface. Until now, 3D graphics and video have been separate systems that run inside of 2D windows. Windows Presentation Foundation represents a logical and fundamental evolution of computer interfaces into cyberspace.

Cyberspace is a virtual world where individual users and automated systems are represented by characters and avatars. Multiplayer online games provide an early example of cyberspace. Second Life already hosts several examples of real-world business and advertising crossing over into game cyberspace. Science fiction and far-out computer conferences have been predicting for two decades that most computer uses, not just games, will soon be through a cyberspace interface. Vista is an important enabling step in this evolution, but from what I have seen of the betas, it may require another iteration before cyberspace applications become mainstream.

Summary

I don't think Vista represents anything fundamentally new in the new media revolution. It builds upon the same familiar trends and technologies. However, Vista does represent two very major breakthroughs. First, all the enablers of the new media revolution are being brought to the mass market through every computer running a Microsoft operating system. Second, this platform, along with associated developer and back office tools, provides powerful capabilities to more quickly and easily roll out new, very polished services and applications that leverage any or all of the new media technologies for a very large market of Vista users.

Dr. Stephen S. Kelley is CTO of hawthorne direct inc, a full service DRTV ad agency founded in 1986. Stephen has a PhD in high-energy theoretical physics and over 25 years of experience in almost every aspect of information technology.