Developers MIX It Up in Vegas
Oh, the jokes we could make about Skittles and Mountain Dew, but we're going to give developers a break this week as they attend the Microsoft MIX10 conference in Las Vegas.
After all, there is a bunch of stuff going on at MIX, and some of it might even interest partners. Let's start with Silverlight, which is taking analytics to a new level, as Kathleen Richards explains at RCPmag.com. Going beyond simple Web analytics, Silverlight's new Analytics Framework tracks what users do with Silverlight both in a browser and outside of one. It's all part of Silverlight 4, which Microsoft will likely make available this week.
Then there's the new development platform for the forthcoming Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's attempt to pull the rip cord on its mobile operating system's parachute and stop its market-share free fall. The free tools will be based on Silverlight 4 and Microsoft's XNA Framework, which means developers will be able to do...well, all sorts of things.
OK, so, this stuff might be a bit esoteric for most partners. The way we see it is that every advance in Silverlight or even the Windows Phone 7 platform will ultimately mean something cooler to sell to customers down the road, or maybe even right now. It also means more very public innovation coming from Microsoft, which never hurts in terms of the company's perception. So, even if you don't have a taste for Skittles and Mountain Dew, MIX10 is worth watching this week.
What do you want to see come of out Microsoft's MIX conference? Send your thoughts to [email protected].
Posted by Lee Pender on March 15, 2010