Microsoft offers free photo-sharing tool

LOS ANGELES--Microsoft on Tuesday released a photo-sharing program aimed at showing off the graphics abilities being built into the next version of Windows.

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Designed as a sample application to show off Microsoft's next-generation presentation and communications engine, Microsoft's "Max" allows users to create a display of their digital photos that can be e-mailed to friends and family.

The program is available as a free download, but it has some pretty hefty hardware requirements. It requires XP Home or Pro with Service Pack 2, along with a 1GHz processor, 256MB of memory and 200MB of hard-drive space. For a better experience, Microsoft recommends a 2.4GHz chip and 512MB of memory.

Max is based on already-released beta versions of the Windows Presentation Framework and Windows Communications Framework, better known as Avalon and Indigo. Microsoft plans to make Avalon and Indigo part of Vista but also available as downloads for Windows XP.

Microsoft showed off the program as part of Jim Allchin's speech at the Professional Developers Conference here. Microsoft also showed an example of an application designed for clothing retailer The North Face.

"You just saw the future of Vista applications," said Allchin, the company's group vice president in charge of Windows.

Allchin began his talk by demonstrating a machine running the game "Reversi" running in Windows 1.0. He then showed off some Windows Vista-based graphics from game company Crytek. Crytek is planning a new game to debut simultaneously with Vista, Allchin said, although the images he showed were not of the game itself, but rather of sample graphics that included floating clouds and realistic face images.

"That's quite a change from 'Reversi,'" he said, following the brief demo.

[R. U. Sirius]

Okay, so?

Microsoft is a day late and a dollar short on the photo sharing front. Google, Yahoo, Apple and others like Shutterfly have been doing this for quite some time. Oh, but let me guess, Microsoft will protect your photos by using the WMV format?

No. Doubt.

Why would i need a special 'software' program to share photos when i can just use ANY browser with flickr?

The company is seriously 2-3 years behind the rest of the world...they seem to only exist now as a gluttonous blob of money that is completely void of creativity and innovation --- their mission is to absorb smaller, creative companies and just slap a Microsoft label on them ---

are you kidding me?

So he showed Reversi in Windows 1.0 and then compared it to the new "Windows-Vista version"?!?!? And THEN had the nerve to say "That's quite a change from 'Reversi,'?!?!?!?

That's like demo'ing a wooden cart from the 16th century then showing a 2005 Dodge Viper --- "quite a change from a wooden cart, eh?"

What a mother-effer.

"That's quite a change from 'Reversi,'" Of COURSE it's a change from "Reversi" BECAUSE THAT WAS 20 YEARS AGO!!!! Technology has evolved -- not Microsoft.

What ELSE do you have, geniuses? I pray that this new "update" of Windows fails. I really, really do. The world needs a better OS and Vista ain't it.

I use a PC at home and an Apple at work... I'd be much much happier with an Apple at home.

[jean.luc.picard]

really?

And this will be available when?

I can do slides shows on my Mac for years now, and even the Mail
app that Apple bundles for free will turn emailed photos into a full-
screen slide show on the spot, just click on the lideshow button!
The Spotlight search tool will do a slide show of the images it finds,
too.

far too little too late, I agree! LOL!

[aabcdefghij987654321]

The MacAttackers all miss the point again (no surprise)

The slide show program was written to *demonstrate* the new Avalon and Indigo subsystems. It's not a serious application, it's just an example which means I'd expect it to be available in source form from MSDN.

[R. U. Sirius]

Guess again

I'm not a MacAddict. Read my post again.

Google. Yahoo. Shutterfly. And Apple. Even Adobe.

This is not new technology.