My (non) expectations about Windows 8 from the BUILD conference

I am keeping a total open mind. This feels like that movie that has been hyped to the max and every time the trailer comes on TV, you change the channel. You don’t want to see spoilers. You don’t want leaks about the ending. You don’t want to know who dies in the end. You just want to pay your money, go in the theater and have a great time. It’s how I feel. Having said that though, the stakes are really high for Microsoft. Most people (rightly) feel that the movie has to justify the suspense and the hype. It’s Sunday night and there is (at this point) no detailed agenda. We don’t know who is speaking, for how long and about what. We have very little idea about the integration between Windows 8 Server, Windows 8 Client and Windows 8 Tablets. Heck, we are barely sure that this thing will be named Windows 8. Here’s what we do know.

• We know that Steven Sinofsky is the captain of this train and he is, if nothing else, a serious man.
• We know that Steve Ballmer understands that the stakes are really high for this OS and he has probably approved the use of every Microsoft asset available to get this right.
• We know that Microsoft understand the perception that they (ironically) are an innovation underdog.
• We know from what we have seen so far that this is (by choice) a radical re-imagining of Windows. A risk that will one way or another define where Microsoft is or is not heading over the next decade.

We don’t know much beyond that. I’ll be live blogging during the keynote speech and will bring you all the photos and sights from the BUILD conference starting tomorrow morning. This is a fun time in technology. Let’s all sit back and enjoy the ride.]]>