VERY Slow progress and maturity of SideShow!
So I believe that SideShow is turning a year soon. I have seen the same articles about hardware in prototype phases, etc.. (Ricavision). The hardware that has been released even recently supporting SideShow is the same old simple stuff. The maturity just has not been there to get this to get this to catch on in my opinion. The opportunities that were written about a year ago were way beyond where we are today and that is a HUGE disappointment and I think ultimately the failure of this platform.
OS Desktop.. Yes gadgets on the desktop. Great.. been there done that.
Workstation/Laptop Hardware.. Some very spotty workstation and laptop sideshow pane/window deployments. Just no where even close to what it should have and could have been.
Remotes.. Again very spotty and just poor.
Appliances.. Promised but not delivered and again in my opinion the biggest failure of them all. Go take a look at the chumby (www.chumby.com). This should have been an immediate focus in the SideShow push after the OS desktop to really get the SideShow solutions to catch. I was excited at one point and they all failed to delivery past a prototype where they site today. HUGE potential here!
XBox360.. Why not?? I mean if we could develop and customize the delivery of the information that we want then we need to close the circle.
Sync.. Again close the circle. We put this effort into developing gadgets, selecting gadgets that provide us the relevant information. When I get home and park my car or start it up in the morning before leaving why not "Sync" so I can have that information show in my car while I listen to my MP3's.
Mobile... Hmm.. "Start Doing More". Again this one should be a no brainer. Some is there but not to the extent that SideShow content could provide. Funnel it through the Live.com capabilities that is fine just get the capability into the devices and ultimate the operating software on those devices whether it is windows mobile or windows vista get some consistency going to maximize the technology!!!!
This is a huge let down in my eyes to what could have been. Huge potential that nobody seems to be pushing on or doing anything about. Microsoft has a huge pipeline for resources of any kind but yet the follow through is all it takes and I just don't see it happening.
My 2cents. Hope that the SideShow team reads it and pushes on whomever and whatever to make it right.
Thank you.
Jason Rosenberg
All Replies
Totally agree!!
I thought to buy (as advertised!!!!) a sideshow compatible remote (Philips SRM7500) Only to find out that the drivers are not there and hence no sideshow functionality other then a half backed self implemented lookalike..
Lack of drivers also falls back to slow acceptence and pushing from M$ side. Open a can of developers, get the stuff out, use Windows Update to cranck out the drivers and finally deliver what was promised a year ago!
Always problems with generation 1. The new SideShow SDK was release not too long ago so hopefully new devices will be coming on line soon.
-Sean
Jason,
You do raise some very true and direct points, and I wanted to take a few minutes to respond and let you know that yes, we do read this, and we're doing something about it. I'm not going to make excuses for why not all of the opportunities we've talked about have been realized, but you should know there is a strong commitment from Microsoft and the Windows SideShow team to the platform and we're working hard to bring these (and other) prototypes to production.
Almost everything that we've talked about in 2007 (you can use my WinHEC deck as a reference) either has been released, or is forthcoming in 2008. So far, we've released an updated version of our Device SDK for .NET Micro Framework which adds support for Bluetooth connectivity and portrait-orientated displays, as well as gadgets in 16 new languages to support our partners worldwide. We've also gotten some great customer and partner feedback on the direction they'd like to see things go, and are working that into our roadmap.
I can tell you that behind the scenes, there's a lot of really cool innovation going on in the SideShow space. I've seen some really creative and compelling devices from our partners, and there is a lot of momentum on the hardware side of things. We're making it easier to build SideShow-enabled devices on a wide variety of platforms through our Universal Driver and Windows CE platform, as well as through continued support for the .NET Micro Framework.
We're also working on some exciting things on the gadget side of the platform, and I might encourage folks to look at attending TechEd: Developers for an update here.
While things may seem quiet right now, there's a lot of action going on behind the scenes as we gear up to make 2008 a successful year for Windows SideShow. I hope to be able to share some more details on that work over the next few months.
Thanks,
Dan
- Throw in my hat with the disappointed pile. I found this thread while looking for .NET micro framework for the new Chumby guts available at https://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKCH1&Show=TechSpecs
This is a really neat idea that has been sitting on the back burner for too long.
I was planning to use it as a display on my office window to let others know about my calendar events and activities.
