A good article by Robert Scoble on PDC coverage…

Quoted: This week Microsoft didn’t get much hype for its three major announcements. Certainly it didn’t stay on top of TechMeme as long as, say, if Steve Jobs gets a sniffle. But don’t miss what they did.

Quoted: 1. On day 1 of the PDC they announced Azure, which is a set of cloud services that competes with Amazon’s S3 and Rackspace’s Mosso and will radically change enterprises’ acceptance of cloud services for a whole lot of reasons.

Quoted: 2. On day 2 of the PDC they showed off Windows 7 which is getting high praise from my blogging friends who were lent laptops with it on there (I didn’t get Windows 7 yet).

Quoted: 3. On day 3 of the PDC they showed off new Web-based versions of Microsoft Office that were really nice. Will the new PowerPoint have the collaborative features, of, say, SlideRocket? Will Zoho go out of business? No, and no, but this is a significant move into the Web for a group that’s tried to pretend that the Web didn’t matter that much.

Quoted: 4. They also released new Mac and Mobile versions of Mesh and further explained how that’ll enable new kinds of Internet-connected apps to be built.

Quoted: Translation: It doesn’t matter that Microsoft didn’t get all that much hype this year at the PDC or that it didn’t sell out or that other companies like Amazon, Google, and Rackspace are ahead in the cloud game. You just saw Ray Ozzie turn the creaky old cruiseliner hard to port and damn, it is impressive.

Some of the comments are good to… here are a couple of my favorites:

Quoted: After watching what Microsoft is doing to the EDM space with SharePoint, nothing surprises me. When Microsoft decides to come to the game, they come strong. Never count these guys out.

Quoted: I think you are spot on. Microsoft isn’t going anywhere and I think Ray Ozzie is awesome and glad he’s such a big part of the Microsoft “cruiseliner” as you put it //g

Quoted: Like one commentator on Twitter said, it’s as if this is a new Microsoft 2.0 which doesn’t have any shred of the old bunker mentality and “must not cannibalize our own base at any cost” thinking.

The comments aren’t all positive, but it’s nice to see something in the blogosphere that is overall positive about Microsoft.

Nice article on Win7 from Gizmodo…

Quoted: Like Elvis in ‘68, Microsoft is itching for a “comeback,” and Windows 7 is the perfect excuse. In fact, this week in LA at the Professional Developers Conference, Windows 7 officially shoved Vista aside. Having suffered through the often deserved criticisms of that ill-fated OS installment, Microsoft’s people are thrilled to tears to be able to talk about something (anything!) else. On Sunday, they took journalists through a lively 7-hour orientation on Win 7, then handed off a Dell XPS M1330 loaded with pre-beta Build 6801.

Quoted: Thankfully for the overworked, underappreciated developers at Redmond, it’s surprisingly stable, and its look and feel already puts Vista to shame.

Some of my favorites comments…

Quoted: Looking good, probably will upgrade.
Quoted: so they finished vista, it took them long enough
Quoted: ALL of this should be in Vista SP2. Now another $300 upgrade
Quoted: Vista!!!! Clever you changing your identity, still trying to get into my pants?
Quoted: Looks like a slightly upgraded Microsoft BOB OS.microsoft Windows Walkthrough Boot Video and

It’s almost worth getting an iPhone for this feature alone.

Quoted: Geotag your photos and send them online with SmugShot. Show your friends what they’re missing in seconds. And where they’re missing it.

Quoted: The iPhone camera is surprisingly good. See your photos BIG in gorgeous galleries with silky-smooth, full-screen slideshows at SmugMug. Or, browse your SmugMug galleries on your iPhone. SmugMug knows when you’re browsing with an iPhone and serves up a deliciously beautiful iPhone interface.

Interesting comments and perspective from Brad Brooks. I like the “i” way vs. the “you” way juxtaposition. Windows “without walls” is an effective campaign against the walled garden Apple offers. Still, it’s hard to compete in certain scenarios with the elegant, reliable and deterministic Apple experience.

Quoted: Ahead of what many expect to be the introduction of cheaper Macs, a top Windows exec says Apple users pay hidden costs.

Quoted: There really is a tax around there for people that are evaluating their choices going into this holiday season and going forward. There’s a choice tax that we talked about, which is, hey, you want to buy a machine that’s other than black, white, or silver, and if you want to get it in multiple different configurations or price points, you’re going to be paying a tax if you go the Apple way.

This is very cool. I’m a little suspicious though as to just how philanthropic this is vs. Google just building a platform for them to move in to new markets.

Quoted: Project 10 to the 100th is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.

Quoted: Never in history have so many people had so much information, so many tools at their disposal, so many ways of making good ideas come to life. Yet at the same time, so many people, of all walks of life, could use so much help, in both little ways and big.

Yep.

Quoted: Microsoft confirmed Tuesday that several services currently found within Windows XP and Windows Vista will be dropped for Windows 7, and replaced with similar versions of its Live services.

Quoted: Starting with the next release of Windows – internally known as Windows 7 - Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, Windows Contacts, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker will no longer be available in the Windows operating system,” a spokesman for Microsoft said in an email on Tuesday.

Quoted: Similar functionality for email, contact, calendar, photo and movie making will be available for free from Windows Live, removing the duplication of functionality for our consumers between Windows and Windows Live,” the spokesman added.

This guy is an idtiot. Apparently he missed the whole idea that “PC” means “personal connection”. So yeah Dvorak, these people don’t really think they are pieces of plastic with chips and circuitry.

Quoted: These dingbat Microsoft ads kind of miss the point. The people don’t symbolize anything. They say who they are and that they are a PC, which makes no sense whatsoever because they are not PCs. They are people. They use a PC, but they are NOT a PC, unless they are mentally deranged.

Here is a pretty positive take on the latest Microsoft ad starring Gates and Seinfeld…

Quoted: The second installment of Microsoft’s Seinfeld campaign launched Thursday night during the reality TV series Big Brother. Like the first commercial in the $300 million campaign staring the well-known comedian Jerry Seinfeld, the spot didn’t discuss Windows.

Quoted: While some are still confused, others are giving Gates two thumbs up. Dave Racine of MindSpike Design loved the new spots. He called them offbeat and irreverently fresh as Gates and Seinfeld are obviously “connecting” with real people.

Quoted: “Finally, a commercial that actually entertains me — and keeps me engaged for longer than a blip. The weirdness about it is what is compelling, along with the talent of Seinfeld and the unexpectedly good acting of Gates,” said McVey, president of S3. “Happy to see someone doing something different and effective in the TV ad-spot world.”

Quoted: The commercials give Microsoft and Bill Gates humor and some personality, according to Jason Mudd of Axia. The past public perception was of Microsoft as a cutthroat company seeking to destroy or buy out any competition, he noted, but business executives are talking positively about the commercial, and that’s what Microsoft wants.