For most people, Microsoft’s range of home softwares probably doesn’t get hormones going, unless of course you’re researching “Boobies”. I don’t ever recall bloggers speculating feature lists or leaking blurry screenshots of the ‘next’ version of Encarta or Microsoft Works. Granted Encarta, Money, Student and Works are all very functional products, they haven’t really innovated or changed all that much. Project “Ohana” might have changed all that, if it hasn’t been already canceled.

As identified in Mary Jo’s book-of-codenames, “Ohana” is a Hawaiian phrase for extended family, in a nutshell. There is a rich cultural meaning behind it and for a deeper explanation, check out its Wikipedia article. At the time besides a few rumors not much else was known. This week, I found a few “Ohana” tidbits that I think paints a much better picture of what is, or what it was.

Reading the Jackson Fish blog, I came across a link to SectionSeven, a (talented) Seattle-based design and development company who also worked on “Tafiti“. Innocently browsing their portfolio, I stumbled across a Microsoft project which they showcased, “Ohana”. When I clicked on it, I felt like opening Pandora’s box. Included were design concepts including a CD packaging prototype and a set 5 out of 9 posters illustrating the user-experience principles for “Ohana”. I nearly dropped my jaw, luckily I caught it just in time.

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Since two weeks ago, a lot of people including myself had expressed interest in the catchy soundtrack to Animal Logic‘s showreel video shown during the Microsoft TechEd Australia 2007 keynote. “Ya da da da da da da”.

Just yesterday I have finally been able to track down the producers, Nylon Studios, to get in touch with them about the music and I have some unexpectedly good news. Not only were they very open to share the MP3 with me, but also allowed me to share it with all of you. You can download “Animal Logic” MP3 here.

Nylon Studios is a small Sydney-based group of composers and songwriters. Their music is widely used in advertising and film. For those who enjoy the “Animal Logic” song, you should also check out “Sunkissed” for the Telstra “Spread the good stuff” ad, downloadable here. They MySpace page can be found at myspace.com/nylonstudios.

Update: Nylon kindly provided some extra information about the song.

Elliot Wheeler and Johnny Green who wrote and produced the track wrote the lyrics. the singer is Australian singer/songwriter Melanie Horsnell.
http://www.myspace.com/melaniehorsnell

Elliot and Mel also make up the band Forever Thursday.
http://www.myspace.com/foreverthursdaymusic

MSN and Microsoft (arguably all the same) are at it again today with the latest rollout of its “interactive Office 2007” advertisements on the MSN homepage. The third in the series – once in April, July and now August, features the website wrapped around a faux Office PowerPoint 2007 “Ribbon” interface for the “It’s a new day, It’s a new Office” campaign.

Personally I’ve been a big fan of these interactive Office advertisements as they’re non-intrusive at the same time extremely educational. Granted most of you who read this blog, or any blogs for that matter probably won’t be as impressed, but to the user who only knows the Office suite by the big blue “W” or green “X”, a product demonstration without requiring any installation or bible-thick manual can work extremely well.

And with over 465 million unique visitors per month on MSN, getting the word out about Office 2007 is a good thing.

A range of possible combinations of SmartArt style and colors

However I do have to admit this PowerPoint version is not as functional or “fun” as the previous Word version. You are only restricted to one tab, “SmartArt Design”, which only allows you to change the style and color of the SmartArt placeholder. Technically, there are 30 possible combinations. It would have been much cooler if they also enabled “Design” and allowed you to change the theme of the entire page.

I asked whether this was a sign to expect more of these interactive Office ads as part of a whole series. The Microsoft spokesperson replied,

Microsoft bases ad campaigns like this on feedback from users. We are always looking for fun, innovative ways to showcase new technology to our customers, and the live preview on MSN has been a popular function. We are always keeping our eyes open for interesting ways for people to experience our products, and we take customer feedback into consideration when deciding on how to further engage our customers.

With Word and PowerPoint out of the way, I can’t wait until the interactive Outlook ad. 🙂

Once upon a time, Windows didn’t come in different versions or flavors. You bought Windows and it was Windows from A to Z, or technically W to S. Some might call it better times, but times change and so have market demands. Since now we have 5 versions of Windows for the consumer market – although some insist to round-up to a bazillion, it only seems fair to be able to upgrade between versions when it is required, thus Windows Anytime Upgrade was born.

Up until May, Anytime Upgrade was only accessible through a proprietary online ordering system provided by Microsoft, limiting the availability and accessibility of those who either don’t have a credit card or simply aren’t comfortable with purchasing online. From May till now, Microsoft has been quietly offering these Upgrade Packs, an off-the-shelve product for Anytime Upgrade. Not much has been said about these packs, and it’s not even mention on Microsoft’s own website which made me wonder what Microsoft intends to do with these.

A Microsoft spokesperson had this to say,

When did Windows Anytime Upgrade become available through these Upgrade Packs?

The initial version of Windows Anytime Upgrade was available at consumer launch in North America and EMEA on January 30th in the form of a card with a product key. Since then, we’ve redesigned the SKU to also offer a pack with a DVD and a product key inside. The English version of this pack was made available in the North America, EMEA and APAC markets in May, with localized SKUs made available in June. In the US market, the Windows Anytime Upgrade Pack is available as a service upgrade at retailers and can be purchased on Amazon or at Circuit City and Best Buy. In EMEA and APAC customers can purchase the pack through several different software distributors and retailers.

How does that work – is a reseller still involved in some way? Or are the bits available directly from MS on CD/DVD (with a new product key)?

Upgrade Packs are available through direct retail in response to requests from our retail partners. Direct retail offers customers the choice of another way to acquire WAU, coexisting with the online WAU model. When customers purchase the upgrade at windowsanytimeupgrade.com, they receive a digital certificate download and product key. With the upgrade pack, customers insert the DVD, enter the product key and proceed with the upgrade. The bits are also available on a WAU DVD that they can purchase at the same time.

To me this sounds like the ideal alternative for Anytime Upgrades. From a user’s point-of-view, purchasing software online is a scary thing. The question everyone asks is, what happens if you lose the electronic key or digital license? Even with all the fanciness and wrapping of “Digital Locker“, it is still a tough choice over something you can hold on to and gather dust on your bookshelf.

If anyone’s interested in upgrading their version of Windows Vista to Ultimate for any other reason than to enjoy the luxuries of Windows Ultimate Extras – because they don’t exist, then check out these Upgrade Packs.

Am I the only one to find this claim a little bit of a puzzler? PC Pro writes,

Skype blames Windows Update for 48-hour outage
Skype is pointing the finger at Windows Update for a critical system crash that wiped out the VoIP service for two days.

In a statement posted on the company’s support page, the company claims: “The disruption was initiated by a massive restart of our user’s computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine software update.” This is presumably the Windows updates that were sent out on Patch Tuesday last week, which required the PC to be restarted.

Of course on the Skype blog they don’t actually refer to the term “Windows Update”, they refer to a “routine software update” which many websites have subsequently replaced with “Windows Update”. Given Windows Update does fit the criteria for a mass “routine software update” in relations to the timing of the Skype outage, but does it really make sense?

Skype’s blog has been updated to say,

On Thursday, 16th August 2007, the Skype peer-to-peer network became unstable and suffered a critical disruption. The disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users’ computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update.

The high number of restarts affected Skype’s network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact.

Think about it. If Windows Update did in fact cause the restart of millions of Skype users worldwide, which it can do without argument, then how come Skype doesn’t crash the second Tuesday of every month when of course Microsoft distributes its Windows patches like they have for the past 3 years and years of unscheduled patches prior to that? As far as I recall, last week wasn’t any different.

Am I missing something? I’m not saying it was not Windows Update, but why only last week did it do what it could have done 36 times already?

Update: The Skype blog has now been updated to directly refer to “Windows Update” as the culprit.

Update 2: Skype clarifies their statement in an update about “Windows Updates”. Other factors not present at any other previous Windows Updates attributed to the “perfect storm” on August 16. Probably should have just said that the first time around. 🙂

By now most people have probably heard of WikiScanner, the web-tool used to map anonymous Wikipedia edits against a list 2.6 million known IP ranges owned by some of the most reputable organizations and companies in the world. Naturally, people start by scrutinizing the obvious targets such as the CIA, but what about our friends over at Redmond? Has any one of the 49,000 employees on-campus at Microsoft HQ been having a bit of fun with Apple’s Wiki?

And the answer is an anticlamatic no. Microsoft employee, or at least those who made anonymous Wikipedia edits during those long breaks between Windows releases, are a rather boring mixed bunch.

From within the IP range 207.46.0.0 to 207.46.255.255 which belongs to Microsoft Corp, Microsofties have been recorded doing a bit of everything – some knew what they were doing, others didn’t.

Although one particular edit stood out for me, an edit to Apple’s wiki. Before your imagination runs wild, it’s not what you think. In fact, it’s quite the opposite as this Microsoft employee was the first to remove some obvious vandalism, which had “Apple Inc sucks” added 2 minutes earlier by another anonymous user in Australia. Even after all the humiliation from Apple, I thought this was a meaningful act of decency.

Whilst I’m at it, Microsoft’s public-relations duo – Waggener Edstrom and Edelman appears to be doing nothing out of the ordinary as well . Just the obligatory self Wikipedia entry edits as well as correcting product rumors.

On the other hand, what is this Apple employee doing to Robert Scoble’s page? Got a little too zealous of the iPhone? 😉