With members of our team heading to San Francisco for BUILD next week, our Think Tank has been in high gear predicting what will happen at this year’s event.
A Developers Utopia
“One Kernel to rule them all, one Kernel to define them, one Kernel to bring them all and in the Cloud bind them. In the Land of Redmond…” You can finish the rest in your head (at least, if you’re cool you can). It is an exciting time to be a Windows developer! BUILD is approaching, Xbox One is announced, Windows “Blue” is leaked, Windows Phone is getting it’s next round of devices, Skydrive and Azure have moved from bumpy awkward teens to handsome adulthood, and Microsoft is LISTENING to developers again!
The time is right for a host of announcements that could mean a Developers Utopia – we are just waiting… this year? Next? Microsoft has surely laid the groundwork for this utopia – where I can sit at my PC and in one Visual Studio project create an entire data architecture, web service, pc app, tablet app, phone app, and TV app – and deploy those projects to a single marketplace that even includes hosting for my service.
In this Utopia, my apps operate independently AND communicate harmoniously when needed. They use sensors and unified logic to serve me timely and contextually relevant data together as team. My apps bring together a world of disparateness and hone it to a laser focus that bores a hole in reality and lets me peer through into the future. My prediction for BUILD is that – at BUILD 2030, I’ll be at hackathon with my friends and say “it all started in 2013…” ~ Vito DiMercurio Director of Execution at Vectorform.
Windows Phone Live Tiles
“Most rumors seem to be talking about Windows 8.1, but I am most excited about what is next for Windows Phone. I’m hoping for more customizations through new controls offered to Live Tiles. It would be great to see Microsoft expand on their current offering so developers could create their own solutions. This way, developers would have the ease of using the current infrastructure but empowered to discover new potential with their tiles. Not only would this benefit the developers, but users would see a much larger variety of tiles, allowing them even greater customization of their phone. Expanding on what makes the Windows Phone special is going to be key for the future of the platform.” ~ Rich Geyer, Interactive Developer at Vectorform
WinRT Features
“With Toolbox for Windows 8, we pushed the WinRT library to its limits with our multi-window framework. I am really hoping to see new APIs and functionality added to the WinRT library that allows Modern apps to include even more powerful features that integrate deeper into the operating system to better match the capabilities of desktop applications, ” ~ Kevin Foreman, Director of Product Vision at Vectorform.
More Snap Views
“I’m excited to see the (rumored) 50/50 snap view, and hoping they also release an option for horizontally split snap views.” ~Taylor Hanson, Account Manager at Vectorform.
Expand The Grid
“What I would love to see come from Build 2013 is a rethinking of some of the Windows 8 design restrictions, such as the heavy reliance on horizontal navigation. If Windows 8 were to offer new approaches and layouts that optimize the screen real estate, I would expect to see more innovative implementations of their unique features like semantic zoom, edge UI, and live tiles. Now that Microsoft has aggressively defined the grid it’s time to support breaking it. I want to see more immersive experiences that break from the expected grid layout, yet still leverage the organization, simplicity and gesture focused interactions that have helped redefine what a Microsoft experience is.
To date, the folks in Redmond have spent massive efforts providing developers with tools and options to improve their workflow and create simple yet beautiful apps. I would now like Microsoft to open their arms to UX and UI designers, as they have done for developers, and arm us with tools and support to take the foundation of the modern aesthetic, combined with progressive UX elements, and push experiences to utilize the available space and accurate input mechanisms to their fullest potential. Doing so would undoubtedly continue to excel Microsoft forward to not only have consistency in their visual language but innovation and progression in their marketplace. “ ~ Ken Disbennett, Associate Creative Director at Vectorform
Enterprise Updates
“I’m hoping to see some Enterprise-focused sessions at BUILD this year. With the expansion of the snap view functionality in the upcoming release, the flexibility of running standalone and traditional desktop apps increases. If Enterprise level purchasing and market penetration increases, we can expect watch the business/productivity section of the Marketplace start to build momentum.” ~ Jason Richert, Account Manager at Vectorform
Platform Consistency
“Personally, I think MS is a step ahead of the competition and no one realizes it right now. What they’ve been attempting with the Launch of Windows 8, Xbox One, and Windows Phone is something that Apple and Google haven’t addressed very well yet.
Consistency across platforms – if I’m familiar with one platform, I can transition effortlessly to another. This is a rather important topic right now with the rise of the “Post PC” world. Computers are no longer the beige boxes that sit on your desk. Nearly everyone has a computer over 100 times more powerful in their pocket than what we used to send guys to the moon. Tablet computers and motion control have given rise to a generation of kids who think keyboards are a baby’s toy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMy1zO8m8sM anyone?).
So my predictions for BUILD this year are towards more of this consistency, and further integration between the platforms. Whoever is the first to find a way to effortlessly share content between all your devices is going to be the winner of this generation. “ ~ Will Hinchman, Research Engineer at Vectorform.
Bold Competitive Claims
“Most of all, I want to see Microsoft compete. During WWDC, Apple didn’t miss an opportunity to take a dig at its competition. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, started with statistics around the Mac vs PC business with phrases like “it isn’t even close.” He emphasized satisfaction over size, asserting Windows 8 is “struggling” to even get to 5% on adoption. But it was perhaps Phil Schiller’s defiant language used to introduce the new Mac Pro computer that exemplifies it best, “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass!” Statements like these wrapped with the hyperbole of a conference setting could convince you that Apple’s got it all figured out. But, when you look at the influence Microsoft and Google have had on the new design of iOS 7, you realized that behind these comments, Apple recognizes the innovative thinking Microsoft and others are bringing to the table. And when that happens, we all win.” ~ Trevor Anulewicz, Creative Director at Vectorform
What are your predictions for Build 2013?
