{"id":15060,"date":"2013-06-26T17:07:22","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T16:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=15060"},"modified":"2013-06-26T17:07:22","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T16:07:22","slug":"build-2013-keynote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=15060","title":{"rendered":"Build 2013 Keynote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Ballmer<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

An estimated 60,000 watching via webcast.  They\u2019re going to show lots of Windows 8.1, Windows Phone, and Windows Azure.<\/p>\n

Windows 8.1 Preview is out now on http:\/\/preview.windows.com<\/a>.  You can do an online update or you can download the ISOs.  I just saw that MSDN has the ISO downloads and one for .NET 4.5.1 Preview.<\/p>\n

Steve Ballmer shows some Windows Phone handsets.  They are going to show small tablets.  MSBuild attendees are getting the Acer 8\u201d tablet.  More are on the way.  Ballmer \u201cwouldn\u2019t call them PCs\u201d.  <\/p>\n

He admits that most PCs last XMas didn\u2019t have the touch that was emphasised in Windows 8.  Since then, touch has become the norm.  True enough, for mobile devices, for most brands.  Some Asian brands have still been slow<\/em> to catch up.  Hmm, Windows 8 customers on touch devices are \u201chappier than Windows 8 customers on non touch devices\u201d and \u201ceven happier than Windows 7 customers\u201d.<\/p>\n

He talks up the hybrid device.  That\u2019s what I use \u2026 great for work and play.<\/p>\n

He then talks about apps.  To be honest, apps are improving.  The quality of games is up too.  Facebook are bringing out a Windows 8x app.  The NFL is bringing out a fantasy app for Windows 8.  That\u2019s a huge international market.  Tesco (UK version of Wallmart) have an app too.  <\/p>\n

Microsoft \u201cpushed boldy in Windows 8\u201d and desktop application users told Microsoft to \u201crefine the blend\u201d (in his coffee terms).  <\/p>\n

He reminds us that the Start Button (not menu) is back.  You can choose to boot to desktop.  You can quickly get to your apps.  There are more multitasking options with how apps share screen space.<\/p>\n

Bing is built into Windows rather than being an app.  It\u2019s there for devs to build on, just like Google is in Android (for the DoJ and EU Commission \"Smile\").<\/p>\n

Julie Larson Green<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here comes the worst presenter in the Microsoft executive level, in my opinion.  She starts the demo on an Acer.  First up \u2026 Nook \u2026 Ouch, Barnes and Noble.  Twitter looks decent in portrait mode \u2026 Oh, it was designed for this form factor apparently.  Oh nice feature, swiping on the space bar seems to autocomplete or something.  Now we can slide up on the top qwerty row to enter numbers.  Very nice \u2013 others will copy this.  <\/p>\n

The Mail app now includes social features, e.g. Facebook updates.  It appears (it is a demo) that you can easily delete a common selection of junk mail with a swipe.  <\/p>\n

Search can bring results from everywhere using Bing.  No need to explicitly select a Bing app.  In the demo, finds a restaurant, maps it, selects it, and can book a table.  A search of a band finds loads of info, and can quickly start playing music via a completely redesigned XBox music.  Redesigned for playing instead of the previous searching emphasis.  Goes to a regular music webpage.  Lists all the bands of a festival.  Shares via charms to the Music app.  The Music apps creates a playlist from the band list on the site.  Very impressive example of app contracts.<\/p>\n

The Start Screen is more customizable.  You can now get to All Programs by swiping up in the Start Screen.  You can sort the apps, e.g. by date installed.<\/p>\n

I looked away, I think I saw JLG swipe a screen without touching.  The Start Screen tiles smoothly appear on your desktop wallpaper, reinforcing the Start Menu \u201cplus\u201d functionality.<\/p>\n

We get a demo of 50\/50 snapping of apps.  The split can be any size you want by sliding the splitter.  You can right-click on a link to open a new window \u2026 now it\u2019s 3 apps on screen!  Apps on more than one screen at once.  Was surprised this wasn\u2019t on Windows 8 tbh.<\/p>\n

A preview version of PowerPoint running on Windows RT.  Browses Skydrive to get a file (default location).  Smooth transitions and video on Windows RT.  This is a PowerPoint app<\/em>.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWindows 8.1 is Windows 8 refined\u201d appears to be the mantra.<\/p>\n

Antoine Leblond.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Boring developer stuff.  Am going into hibernation for a while.<\/p>\n

The Windows Store is updated to make it easier for people to find and download\/buy apps.  Apps are now updated automatically.  Thank God!  The spotlight rotates.  Lots more apps are on the main screen via better use of space.  Your app history\/ratings are used to prepare \u201cApps for you\u201d.  The screenshots are bigger.  Related apps are shown in the description info.  You can change categories, etc by swiping from the top.<\/p>\n

Hmm, the app bar seems to allow much more controls now.<\/p>\n

Each monitor can have it\u2019s own scaling factor to make the most of the space.  This is done by Windows and has no app requirement.<\/p>\n

Tiled resources is a programmable page table for graphics acceleration.  In other words, be able to render huge objects that don\u2019t fit into the memory of your GPU.  Games can run with unprecedented level of detail.  They show a video of an object with 9 GB of data on a retail DX11 GPU.  They zoom in, and you can see the rivet detail of a glider in flight.  This feature is also in Xbox One apparently.<\/p>\n

A 3D printer is appearing in MSFT stores soon.  Another one coming to Staples for under $1300.  Out comes a Lego Mindstorms robot.  He uses a Windows tablet to communicate with a tablet in the robot.  The on-robot tablet controls the robot by USB interface.  <\/p>\n

The crazy 3200 * 1800 Samsung something something something ultrabook with Haswell processor is shown.  It gets 12 hours from a single charge allegedly.  The Lenovo Helix convertible is next.  Acer Aspire P3 (1.74 lbs) with Core i5 CPU with a detachable protective cover keyboard.  A sub $400 touch Acer laptop with dual core AMD CPU.  <\/p>\n

JLG Comes Out With Surface Pro<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

And there\u2019s the 2nd giveaway \u2026 Surface Pro with Windows 8.1 Preview and Visual Studio Preview.<\/p>\n

And the webcast fails because it \u201chas not yet started\u201d.<\/p>\n

And that is that.  <\/p>\n

Technorati Tags: Event Notes<\/a>,Windows 8.1<\/a>,Hardware<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Ballmer An estimated 60,000 watching via webcast.  They\u2019re going to show lots of Windows 8.1, Windows Phone, and Windows Azure. Windows 8.1 Preview is out now on http:\/\/preview.windows.com.&#160<\/a>; You can do an online update or you can download the ISOs.  I just saw that MSDN has the ISO downloads and one for .NET 4.5.1 … Continue reading “Build 2013 Keynote”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[176,180,110],"class_list":["post-15060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eventnotes","tag-eventnotes","tag-hardware","tag-windows-8-1"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t