Posted by blackhook at 5/11/07 4:44 p.m.

Todd,

Nice coverage. I was at the conference the last three days. Microsoft reported 2800+ attendees from at least 53 countries ...really phenomenal turnout for its paid "1st Annual" BI conference.

Steveb was his usual bullish, ebullient, irrepressible & impressive self. Clearly he & his top guys in this space (Jeff Raikes & Ted Kummert) are jazzed about where MS is & where they're going with Business Intelligence.

Microsoft has already made great strides in BI, and is clearly committed to continuing the investment & ramping up the effort. Ted Kummert referenced data warehousing apps, built on MS BI foundation, of 6-8 terrabytes. Clearly, the message is that Microsoft can play with the big boys. Its continuing success story around SQL Server -- now expanded to include comprehensive, "scalable, affordable" BI -- is certainly impressive by any business standard.

Many excellent breakouts this week covered such topics as analyzing dimensional data in Excel 2007, new data mining extensions for SQL 2005, upcoming PerformancePoint Server (wrapping ProClarity with other cool tools such as dashboards & scorecards), integration of BI with SharePoint Server 2007, MS's internal "eating our own dogfood" BI implementation, and much more.

It should be an exciting next few years.

BTW, I work for a close Microsoft partner, and though I'm not an apologist for everything they do, clearly they are doing a lot of things right in this dynamic, fast-growing and promising space.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/12/07 7:26 a.m.

Todd,

I was surprised at the lack of coverage of Ted Kummert's keynote in the trade press. I expected more details on Katmai and integration of the the Entity Data Platform (Entity Framework), but most stories were future tense regurgitation of the press release. Thanks for your coverage of the Ballmer keynote.

--rj
oakleafblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/sql-ser
ver-to-deliver-entity-data.html

Posted by I Tell The Truth at 5/12/07 2:56 p.m.

Somebody nees to tell Ballmer that MS Word is completely broken for the average user. Lists, tables and formatting such structures are a nightmare.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/13/07 10:58 a.m.

Todd, good reporting technique. Prior to previous elections I interviewed politicians as to what their platforms were. The ones with open office volunteers gained my vote more than those working the volunteers in back rooms. Now an unelected back room hired Attorney General is supposedly controlling the wheels of justice that have had flattened tires. An open house usually means open to the public. When even bad press is considered good media exposure, wonder why Ballmer did not want that coverage.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/13/07 6:13 p.m.

Bears make money, bulls make money, and hogs get slaughtered! Mr Softy, while they do need to get more ears to the ground, do make the masses happy. This ain't no hog, its a cash cow, innovation is the domination, MSFT is behind, only because of mere mass, not a lack of effort. This pig will continue to profit. Margins thin, thats part of the game, but the original premise holds. Superior product, ease of use, thats haow its all started.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/14/07 11:40 a.m.

Stevie B is quite the optimist, if he talks of improving the Office GUI, doesn't that mean that the old one isn't very good? You can't sell a car twice by repainting it. Office is at the top of the bell curve, as is it's owners. Microsoft has nowhere to go but down. I've used their products for nigh on 25 years, never really impressed, since I first ran edlin in dos. I used MS because my employer does, now we're looking at Ubuntu and Open Office. It runs on cheaper hardware and it doesn't need an (expensive) upgrade every 3 years - I'm impressed and look forward to the change.

Microsoft reminds me of the old AT& T - they take their customers for granted - where they gonna go? - that's the attititude. I guess they'll find out. Microsoft needs to start making real innovation, or start real downsizing cause that behemoth will sink real fast without a sea of corporate dollars to keep it afloat.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/14/07 12:11 p.m.

Not much of a crowd in that photo Todd. Good thing Mr softies hardbody aint retired yet.

Posted by unregistered user at 5/16/07 5:20 a.m.

the microsoft is "dead" comment to rational comment ratio is a strong 4/6 so far. Good work folks. You are taking one for the open source "team".

Posted by unregistered user at 7/14/07 1:27 a.m.

Have you ever checked out stever Ballmers Office by any chance?
Check it out