Lauren Cooney's Reality Check

Fighting the Good Fight (for the Community)

I love this term. Yes, it tends to be overused and sometimes misused, but essentially for me, it means one thing: doing what’s best for developer communities. I’m not talking just about the Microsoft developer community, but the community as a whole – all developers with lots of different programming backgrounds – from HTML and CCS to PHP, ASP.NET to Java – and more. And usually I find that if we can do what’s right for the community, it’s a win-win for both organizations and communities out there.

At Microsoft I find it’s sometimes a mixed bag. The terminology that I use is that we’re a huge ship – and it takes awhile to get people in line to move that ship in the right direction. Cal Evans outlined this beautifully in a blog entry recently – and I think he gives a fair assessment of where we’re at and some of the things we could do to improve. 

That said, our teams that are driving the Microsoft Web Platform are really working to nail this. We started out with a vision – a very simple statement with lots of work that goes on behind the scenes.

 

 

It’s been 10 months since we kicked off this effort, but we have seen some amazing results to date, including:

- The introduction of the Web Platform Installer (WebPI), which streamlines the download/install process of our web stack (no more 10 websites to visit – only one!)

- The delivery of the Windows Web Application Gallery with the most popular open source applications out there – for installation on top of the Microsoft Web Platform (no more configuration pain!) – and, if you have an application you’d like to showcase – we’ll do it – marketing & distribution included :)

- The inclusion of PHP into the Microsoft Web Platform Installer (we do listen, I promise)

And the community is responding – we’ve had over 1.5 million downloads of our products through the WebPI since January of this year (!!) and almost 150,000 applications from the Windows Web Application Gallery downloaded since March 17th.

But let me get to the point that I’m trying to make here about the success of what we’ve done:

With greater success comes greater responsibility. And we want to deliver to you a better, more interoperable community-driven platform going forward.

What does this mean? Well, for starters it means that we’re going to be looking into the broader community to create guidance around certain things – such as OpenID (yes Chris Messina, we’re getting there) and other standards-based efforts. We’re also going to be continuing to work closely with the PHP community on different things we could do better for PHP developers working on Windows. We also want to include various tooling options that help developers build web projects faster and better – even if these don’t come from our own engineering teams.

That said though, as my team embarks on planning out our next steps – we need your help. What do you want to see? How would you like to participate?

Some of the things we’re looking for specifically are:

- Feedback on the WebPI: What’s missing? What would you like to see included?

- Feedback on the Windows Web App Gallery: What apps would you like to see? Could we improve this experience?

- On the Microsoft Web Platform as a whole: how can we make this better? What products do you want to see better integrated? We’re planning on integrating more with Azure, but are there other products out there we could provide guidance for and/or include?

- Guidance: What tutorials would you like to see?

So the action item here? Let us know what you want to see. We’ve been pushing hard to make this happen internally at Microsoft, but the community feedback is absolutely critical for us to take the next steps to make this a true community platform.

So on that note – you know how to get a hold of me – lcooney@microsoft.com or www.twitter.com/lcooney – or even better, let’s discuss here on my blog. We’re open for business. /LC

 

(photo credit: Jim Grisanzio, Sun Microsystems) http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimgris/542408040/

Tips and Tricks for Building your Personal Brand: An Insider’s Perspective

Last week I presented to Women@Microsoft, a group of about 100 or so women that hold monthly meetings down at the Microsoft campus in Silicon Valley. It was an awesome group, and I thought I’d post the presentation here.

As a side note – I got called from one of the General Managers at Microsoft to take this job almost based entirely on my blog and also on my twitter account… so you never know what can come from something as simple as building your own personal brand. :)

 

Brand-ology:Tips and Tricks for Personal Branding

View more presentations from laurencooney.

Brand-ology: Tips & Tricks on Branding Yourself from a Chick who Lives It!

Building your own personal brand used to be about a logo, or a tagline. Today it’s changed – now it’s about the picture you have posted on your Facebook account, or the Tweets you send via Twitter during your workday (and sometimes in your off-hours!). Can something this simple make you successful – personally and professionally? How do you build your own personal brand both internally and externally through these Web 2.0 communities? Thought you’d never start a blog? Well, time to think again.

Lauren Cooney will be discussing her adventures on Facebook, Twitter, in blogging, and also in building her internal and external brand at Microsoft. Come prepared for some great (and easy) tips you can use to build out your network, some laughable stories that you can learn from, and great takeaways and suggestions for building your own personal brand.

Apps, Apps, and More Apps! Introducing the Windows Web App Gallery - Including Drupal, WordPress, DotNetNuke, and More!

What We’re Announcing Today:

-       A kick-ass new website: www.microsoft.com/web - which includes everything and anything you could possibly want to know (and probably more) about Microsoft’s web products.

-       An updated version of the Microsoft Web Platform Installer– which includes PHP!

-       The Windows Web Application Gallery– browse popular open source .NET and PHP web applications to easily install on top of Windows, or else build your own applications into the gallery – and reach millions of customers, developers, and communities worldwide!

For those of you who want a bit more info – and I know that some of you do -

Here’s the back story:

Last June a few of us from Redmond took a trip down to San Francisco to figure out next steps for the direction that we wanted to move with Microsoft's web products. The developer ecosystem was changing, and we had great products and great customers, but we wanted to do more for our customers, the communities out there that wanted to use Windows - and, we wanted to figure out different ways that we could help developers be successful.

I had just come onboard as the lead for the Web Platform & Standards team, and between me, Bill Staples (General Manager of Web Products), Brian Goldfarb (Director of UX/Web), and a few others we put our heads together and came up with a few principles that we really wanted our web platform products and solutions to embody: (1) Simplicity, (2), Interoperability, and (3) Integration.

Today as we formally announce some of the pieces that extend on our web platform vision, I am happy to say that each component that we are announcing today deliver on each of these critical core values that are so important for developers, for communities out there, and for our customers.

So what are we announcing as part of the Microsoft Web Platform today? (other than the brand-spanking new website we have)

(1) The Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 Beta.(WebPI)

What does this do? It installs all the free Microsoft web products onto your Windows Server box, or your hosted server.

Why do I need this?                                                        

Well, first of all, this version of the WebPI  installs the community version of PHP. Additionally, instead of going to several different websites to download and install Microsoft's web products, you can now seamlessly and quickly install them from one website - and you can update them from this website as well. This is the simplicity we have been aiming for - one website, one download, and simple updates to the best products for building web solutions.

Why did Microsoft include the Community Version of PHP inside of the Web Platform Installer?

Microsoft is committed to providing developers and communities with the best solutions for building Web applications. Many popular applications are built using PHP, and Microsoft wants to ensure that its customers, community members, and developers are able to use these solutions on top of the Microsoft Web Platform – and including PHP inside of the Web PI simplifies this for Web developers. This is a critical piece of the Microsoft Web Platform strategy – which built to work with customers, communities, and developers - in mind.

What products does the WebPI include?

·         Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.1 on Windows XP SP3

·         IIS 6.0 on Windows Server 2003 SP2

·         IIS 7.0 on Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008

·         SQL Server 2008 Express,

·         .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

·         Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition

·         IIS Extensions including:

o   IIS 7 Media Services 3.0

o   IIS7 Administration Pack

o   Database Manager for IIS7

o   WebDav 7.5

o   FTP 7.5

o   FastCGI for PHP support on IIS6

o   URL Rewriter

o   IIS 7 Application Routing

o   Web Deployment Tool for IIS

·         ASP.NET and features such as ASP.NET MVC

·         Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio

·         The Community Version of PHP v5.2.9-1

(2) The Windows Web Application Gallery

What is the Windows Web Application Gallery?

-       The Windows Web Application Gallery is a community hub of the most popular Open Source and community Web applications that run on Windows.

-       It provides a simple streamlined way for users to explore, discover, and install ASP.NET, PHP, and other types of Web applications and solutions on the Windows Platform.

-       It also provides a simple way for developers to offer their applications to the millions of users worldwide.

What applications are currently included in the Windows Web App Gallery?

Current applications include: Acquia Drupal, DotNetNuke, WordPress, dasBlog, Gallery, SilverStripe, BlogEngine.NET, SubText, Umbraco, and ScrewTurn Wiki.

 

What are the benefits of using the Windows Web App Gallery?

A Great User Experience

The Windows Web Application Gallery makes it easy to explore, discover and install popular community ASP.NET and PHP applications for the Windows Platform. Discover and install web applications through the Microsoft.com website, the Microsoft Web PI, IIS 7.0 Manager, and participating hosting control panels.

A Strong Community Ecosystem

The Windows Web Application Gallery creates a social hub for connecting users to the right Web solutions. Make informed decisions and help others make decisions based on community ratings and reviews. Developers get access to a wealth of feedback helping them pinpoint ways to improve their web application. In addition, with numerous community and customized applications, developers no longer have to build their solutions from scratch; there are plentiful applications that solve real-world problems, and can be downloaded and installed, customized, and ready to go – saving both money and time for developers.

Easy Distribution & Amazing Market Opportunities

The Windows Web Application Gallery provides developers a simple way to offer their Web applications to millions of Windows users worldwide. By adding an application to the Windows Web Application Gallery that you package and we publish, you will gain access to millions of developers and end-users that are looking to discover solutions that will make them successful.

So I can build applications to the Windows Web Application Gallery?

Yes! You can - and by adding Web Application Gallery integration to your existing ZIP package, users can access your app inside the gallery - and Microsoft will help distribute and market it to millions of Windows developers worldwide. It's an easy way to distribute your application, promote your solution, or gain fame in the Windows community - oh - and help others be successful building web solutions.

I have to give kudos here to an amazing engineering team, a rockstar marketing team, and the superb website teams that we had working on this. Tremendous work has been done - and we've got lots more to come.

 

As always - questions and feedback welcome! /LC

 

And I'm back... Some Refreshing Changes at Microsoft

It's been awhile since I last blogged, but I was reminded today after devChix gave me props for starting to plan a Women's Barcamp for this coming Fall in SF (thanks gals!) that I probably should start to re-engage here... plus, I miss telling you guys what's going on at Microsoft (if you're not reading between the lines of my twitter account, that is.. )

So, I'll just give you guys a quick update on what's been going on at Microsoft, and what my travel schedule looks like over the next few months so if you're traveling to the same shows we can try to meet up...that, and I'll have some more things to blog about a bit later this week, but I can't give away too much right now :)

MICROSOFT:

After a few changes over at Microsoft, my team has grown two-fold over the past few months. Not only are we driving product management, product marketing, and go-to-market for The Microsoft Web Platform, but we have several announcements coming down the pipeline in the next month or so... 
 

So, the Microsoft Web Platform - is this a re-branding of our current web products? Yes and no. It's the free web products that you're familiar with, including IIS/Windows Server,  SQL Server, ASP.NET, Visual Web Developer, MVC,  Silverlight, Ajax, and much more -  but we've packaged this all up into one product download called the Web Platform Installer or the WebPI as we call it. So now there's little hassle when you go to download this - just one click/pick/download/install process - and yes, it's that fast. And no, you don't need to download everything - we actually give you a choice. :)
 

Let's just say it's a new focus - something my team is calling the customer-focused Microsoft Web Platform- that we're working on. What else does this include? Well, packaged OS PHP and .NET apps that are optimized to run on Windows. Did I say PHP? Yes. And Open Source? Yep. Does that mean you can use either SQL Server OR MySQL to run with this? Yes. Seriously? Yes. And overall, what does this mean?  An increasingly developer, community, and customer centric focus that you *may* be surprised to see from Microsoft - and let me tell you - there will be MUCH more to come.

 

With that, onto TRAVEL:

- MIX09, Las Vegas: March 18-20th. Come on, you know you want to go. I've actually never been to a MSFT conference so this will be my first - and the rumor has it this is by far the most fun (or from what people can actually remember about it)

- Web 2.0 Expo, San Francisco: April 1-3rd

So, hit me up if you're traveling to either show, or if you have feedback on the platform. We're open for business.. /LC