Here be Silverlight and Microsoft and eLearning
December 13th, 2008
Posted by Charles in Rich Internet Applications, Software, eLearning | Comment now »
Microsoft Live Mesh: Killer eLearning or RIA Architecture?
December 11th, 2008
Technorati Tags: msft,microsoft,elearning,rich internet application,ria,live mesh,xbox 360,silverlight,adobe captivate,techsmith camtasia,madcap mimic,xbox live
Could Microsoft out-Apple Adobe?
Let’s examine a few trends and remember that Apple beat its competitors in the education market twenty years ago by having a rabid fan base along with compelling intuitive software. Microsoft Live’s community had 60 million users last time I checked. Working within the existing Live framework will be critical for any Learning Management Systems (LMS) play that Microsoft chooses to do in the future.
The eLearning potential with Microsoft’s (NASD: MSFT) current portfolio of hardware and software, part of which is the XBox brand, is gaining momentum. I’ve been discussing current instructional design trends with instructional designers, consumer media analysts, military training officers, and gamers. We’ve reached current consensus:
There are a lot of benefits to using the XBox 360 as a training / eLearning platform, primarily because of the XBox Live community.
Having solid revenue generating Intellectual Property (IP) in both hardware and software gives a strong advantage to MSFT in this space. Windows Live Mesh is self descriptive; it meshes all the services together.
How Does Live Mesh Work?
Posted by Charles in Blended Learning, Gaming, Rich Internet Applications, Software, Technical Communication, Web 2.0, eLearning | 3 Comments »
Adobe laying off 600 employees | Will RoboHelp Survive?
December 7th, 2008
Technorati Tags: adbe,adobe,layoff,recession,madcap,madcap flare,adobe TCS,earnings,adobe flex,msft,microsoft,technical communicator,technical communication,silverlight
No Jedi Mind Tricks Necessary
Whether there are corporate profits or not the Grinch, it seems, has struck twice in one calendar year for Adobe (NASD: ADBE). You heard my forecast about Adobe’s 2008 earnings here in last year’s posts and who can forget my venting in 2007 regarding Adobe’s negative user support strategy.
Now they have to cut 8% of their global workforce. Looks like the San Diego office will be shut down from the tweets I’ve read and MDowney, the Flex evangelist I was following in my Flex vs. Silverlight series is moving on as well… Good luck to everyone.
From the San Francisco Chronicle: Adobe laying off 600 employees
Adobe Systems in San Jose is laying off 600 employees and will restructure its business, the company announced Wednesday after the stock market closed.
Bottom line analysis for 2009: Adobe will survive in one form or another however all their software programs may not.
No Compelling Reason To Upgrade
Without the Vista mandatory upgrade upswing working in Adobe’s favor, I stated that this year’s sales were going to be significantly lower. I said sell short because there was no compelling reason to upgrade and people would figure they could get by just fine with last year’s model of CS3.
Panic in the streets of Bangalore… MadCap Flare Emerges
Well, ‘panic’ is not entirely fair to state about the Mumbai area after their recent security fiasco.
Gorillas in the Mists
MadCap Software is currently pounding Adobe on the Technical Communication workflow front. According to the MadCap October press release two independent blogging polls showed MadCap Flare to be the new Gorilla in the Game, promoted up from Chimpanzee:
Flare was identified as the authoring application of choice by more than 39 percent of respondents to the surveys conducted on behalf of the HAT-Matrix.com and I’d Rather Be Writing technical communications blogs.
The surveys represent the first time that Flare, which debuted in March 2006, has seen higher customer use than any other competing solution–including legacy applications that have been on the market for more than a decade.
Add to this the 2008 recession stone skipping across the water and it means sobering trends for ADBE, losing ground on several fronts. From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Posted by Charles in Corporate Authenticity, Tech Writing, Technical Communication | 1 Comment »
Gates’ last act: frees IE 8 and Silverlight second betas
June 5th, 2008
Don’t say I didn’t tell you about this coming up… Clearly IE8 and Silverlight is a triple threat when looking towards adoption of RIA.
From The Register: 
TechEd 2008 Bill Gates has announced the next betas of Internet Explorer 8 and Silverlight 2 while outlining plans from Microsoft on development services…
The second beta of Microsoft Silverlight cross-browser media player and development platform will be released by the end of this week under a Go Live license.
A Go Live license lets developers use pre-release code in real-world applications, but without the safety net of Microsoft support.
The second beta had been promised for the second half of 2008, so it’s… early!
As for Bill Gates’ last day, this YouTube video is pretty good with some great celeb cameos.
FWIW, GoLive is pretty cool. I’ve been working on a review for some time updating us on Silverlight and GoLive. With all the hubbub going on for me we’ll see how that looks for later this week.
Related Articles:
Rich Internet Applications War Is Brewing
Adobe FLEX vs Microsoft Silverlight Part 1
More about Silverlight – Microsoft’s Flex / Flash Competitor
How to convert 60 million users to Silverlight quickly
My LMS / eLearning Disruptive Technology Concept
Halo 3, XBox and Technical Communication? (Part 5)
Posted by Charles in Rich Internet Applications, Software, Technical Communication, Workflow Collaboration | Comment now »
