Microsoft releases its first iPhone app
Is it possible some at Microsoft find the iPhone a more attractive platform than the software giant's own Windows Mobile?
Microsoft's Seadragon on Apple's iPhone.
(Credit: Microsoft)Engineers in the company's Live Labs have released the company's first application for Apple's popular smartphone--even before making it available on Microsoft's own mobile platform. Seadragon Mobile, which was added to Apple's App Store on Saturday, is a free image-browsing app that allows users to quickly "deep zoom" images while online and is intended to demonstrate what is possible with a mobile platform.
Seadragon is the backbone for Microsoft's Photosynth, which allows users to take a grouping of photographs and stitch them together into a faux 3D environment.
Other iPhone apps are reportedly in development in Redmond; Microsoft's Tellme unit was expected to release the company's first iPhone app in the form of a voice-activated search for a variety of phones, including iPhone and BlackBerry. A Microsoft representative told my colleague Ina Fried in September that a public version of that program would likely be released in a few months.
So where's the Windows Mobile version of Seadragon?
"The iPhone is the most widely distributed phone with a (graphics processing unit)," Alex Daley, group product manager for Microsoft Live Labs, told TechFlash. "Most phones out today don't have accelerated graphics in them. The iPhone does and so it enabled us to do something that has been previously difficult to do."
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven. 
Begin....
And as for "PC Whinnies..." that's completely irrelevant to this topic. Don't be a tool.
Yeah but all these Apple Apps you're referring to have been on the Apple Platform FIRST.
What is it saying when Microsoft releases an application on the Apple platform before it's own - especially ti's Mobile platform in this case. Imagine if Apple were to release an application on one of the Microsoft platform before it's own.
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To all those who say Mac's are too expensive, get a job!
Microsoft is the 2nd largest Mac software developer behind only Apple itself.
And keep this in mind. The only reason Apple is #1 with the iPod at all, is because Apple got a clue and sells it for the PC platform. Anytime Apple wants to leave the PC platform and see how well they do without Windows, they can be my guest.
Alex Alexzander
say whaat? MS is the second "great" software developer for mac platform after apple? LMAO, first of all there is nothing great about MS, i think the word you were looking for was largest. secondly from your previous posts i remember you were an author of a low end dvd authoring book or something like that. i believe with your background you should be aware of programs like avid and developers like adobe. the only thing ms did for mac platform was internet explorer (which is dead for a long time now), windows media player that doesn't do anything than playing non-drm wmv files which quicktime is quite capable of, and a stripped down version of messenger that doesn't even let you use intranet voice chat without the use of an expensive local server. don't tell anyone here that apple would loose all of its market if it shifted its ipod market to macs only. ms is releasing crappy lite versions of its software for mac and no one seems to mind and it doesn't fool anyone into buying windows. in fact it pissed me off so much that i completely shut ms from my home and turned more and more into itunes in terms of media.
oh and the fact that MS is releasing an app that is the "backbone of photosynth" which is pretty much the most innovative thing that came out of live labs for iphone first means nothing but the failure of windows live
Alex
To all those who say Mac's are too expensive, get a job!
about ms office.... .... .... i have no comments for some piece of code that didn't change one bit since 1995... fail
Name one part in Apple's hardware lineup that's isn't in a PC anyone else like Dell, HP/Compaq, IBM, etc. Name a single part in any machine Apple makes. I dare you to even try. And before you say XEONs, those are offered from every PC vendor, and I can buy them loose as I have a duel XEON PC with twin Nocona processors. Nocona's are Xeons.
Alex
Alex
I'd never want to be lumped into the same category as that macintard troll.
What's wrong with you man. This is not the first software from MS for MAC. Never heard of MS office suite for MAC. It is the best office suite available on MAC
Let me help you a little since you don't seem capable of comparing very well.
Studio XPS Desktop
Intel® Core i7
Intel® X58 Chipset
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
Dell 23 inch Consumer? S2309W Flat Panel, Adjustable Stand
Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
6GB Tri-Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 6 DIMMs
640GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
2Yr Ltd HW WRTY, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis, 24x7 Phone Support
Front Ports
Optical Drive ((DVD+/-RW, Blu-ray DiscTM ))
Mini (4-pin) IEEE 1394
Headphone port
Microphone / Line-in port
19-in-1 Card Reader(optional)
USB 2.0 (4)
Rear Ports
IEEE 1394
RJ45 10/100/1000 Network port
Back L/R surround connector
Center/subwoofer connector
Line-in connector
Front L/R line-out connector
Microphone connector
Side L/R surround connector
USB 2.0 (4)
eSata
S/PDIF connector
PCIe x1: 3 Slot
PCIe x16 (Graphics): 1 Slot
$1,299
That costs as much as a low end iMac, has 3 times the memory, a bigger screen, expansion slots, and oh yeah, Intel's latest Core i7 processor.
So, find me a Mac like this. LOL!!!
Alex
AppleProLeo is the exact reason why I hate most Apple users."
The reverse is also true.
Unlike all the PC Whinnies when I make an argument for Apple I do it with facts and reasoning explaining my argument. What is so wrong with that, why are you Whininess not counter arguing my points and prove me wrong if I am. Yet in all my post that has yet to happen.
Is my logic so hard for you all to except.
I have a job, I have an iMac and I will not be purchasing another Apple computer. I prefer to build my own PCs and trust me when I say, I use high quality stuff. As a gamer, Apple is way down on the list of preferred computers. Quad core, SLI, liquid cooled and overclocked... I'm perfectly content with my main PC as my iMac mostly gathers dust. For that matter, I use Ubuntu more than anything, but my gaming box was built for high performance with top dollar stuff.
So I guess I don't need to tell you where you can shove your rude little job comments you smug little pig.
Was I talking about "history of history" or was I talking about replies to my arguments?
You wont by another Apple computer because you prefer to build your own PC's - O...K and your point. Of course you wouldn't be buying an Apple if you like building your own PC as Apple doesn't sell components. Dah!
" As a gamer, Apple is way down on the list of preferred computers."
How stupid are you to buy an iMac as a gamer and expect it to meet your satisfaction. You could have saved your self by doing a little research before your purchase - but if you haven't figured it out already here's a little advice, the iMac is not a serious gaming machine. It's like buying a car designed for comfort and then complaining it doesn't handle like a sports car - get a clue.
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To those Tree Hugging hippies who play around with fixing their OS all day - get a life! (Editors' note: Personal attack removed.)
you want logic? ok, i can oblige
Lemur was being sarcastic. its where hyperbole such as "the history of histories" is used to show a point to all but the most clueless morons who still cant understand it. As for the fact that he builds his own PC's, i think he was more using it as a reference to show that he's knowledgable in the field of computer engineering, undoubtedly more experienced than you.
And your argument that different computers are built for different tasks? Thats pretty much exactly what everyone has been saying to your mindless babbling. Way to take an argument as your own, twit. Strike that, clever twit.
And how does using a flavor of linux make you a hippy? Did i miss the memo? No, i just think you ran out of made up words like "whinnies" so you used the first title that carries a negative connotation that popped into your head. that or you looked up the word Ubuntu and found out it means "humanity" in an african dialect, and proceeded accordingly. Using linux is an economical alternative to Windows or OSX that runs very well, and is not broken. I've had less issues with my old tower running Ubuntu than my brand new Vista machine OR my macbook.
your move
As a rebuttal, I did not buy my iMac to play games on it. I thought that was sort of implied when I mentioned SLI and liquid cooled as that's not something you can do with an iMac. So to paraphrase you, how stupid are you to think I would have bought an iMac to liquid cool it, set up SLI, overclock in order to play a very limited amount of games?
I like building my own PC. I like having the freedom to pick what components to buy and build it to my liking. I've had absolutely no problems with Vista. NONE! The only crash it has had was with Nvidia drivers during install and that was a problem with Nvidia, not with Microsoft. But does that make Vista a problem child? I've seen my iMac crash on several occasions. Does that make the iMac bad? The majority of Windows problems are USER related.
Have you ever even used Ubuntu? There's absolutely nothing to fix with Ubuntu. But hey, if you are too stupid to maybe manually install or compile a driver... I guess then your little bubble wrap crayola world of OS X is perfect for you. But if you are feeling brave and think you might just have the intellect to install an OS on your own... you should try Ubuntu. It actually detects all your hardware. AMAZING I KNOW! Considering you come from a tiny little world walled up with very limited hardware choices... the rest of us are kind of used to our OS working with a wide source of hardware. So when a hippie OS can detect all sorts of hardware and install the correct drivers with next to no user interaction... then that's pretty impressive. It even does things like daily updates! I don't have to do anything other than deciding if I want to accept the updates and typing in my password. How I have time to live my life and work my job, manage to socialize, play games and such while spending that massive amount of time it takes to hug trees and fix my OS all day is beyond me. I mean in the 45 seconds it takes to do those daily updates if I so chose, I shutter to think what I am missing.
I am guessing you live a very insecure life based on how you bash those who "think differently" than you. Most trolls do live a sad life under a bridge. Next time I cross a river, I will be sure to throw you a sandwich.
http://europe.nokia.com/link?cid=EDITORIAL_324858
Best,
Alex
Perhaps things will start to change a bit, now that Google, Apple, RIM, the Linux/OSS community, etc. have demonstrated they can be formidable competitors.
I think it is great that Microsoft is delivering an app for the iPhone. I hope they deliver more. I hope they deliver apps for Android as well. Maybe they will even port Microsoft Office to Linux one day.
The best thing for Microsoft is to NOT have a monopoly position. Then they have to compete, like the rest of the companies in the industry. And who knows? If they begin to deliver innovative, quality products, they may even be able to regain respect from the non-Microsoft crowd.
"Microsoft uses a proprietary file format for its images and basically locks any interoperability with other companies' products."
I would like to retract any positive sentiment I may have projected toward Microsoft, in my previous comment. They still don't get it.
Computerworld article: http://blogs.computerworld.com/microsoft_iphone_app_ships_broken_and_proprietary_expectations_met#comment-123066
Oh yeah, by the way... The fact that Microsoft is so big, is the reason they cannot do what Apple does... bundle software. They tried that a couple years ago, they got hammered by the justice department. But Apple is allowed to bundle, because they don't hold a significant share of the market.
And lastly... Google, Apple, RIM, Linux/OSS are NOT formidable competitors. Stop confusing market percentage growth to overall market growth and market share. I know that "Linux market share grew 75% this year" looks great and is a good sound bite, but when your market share is 1%, the growth to 1.75% isn't that significant. Until someone has over a 20% share of the computer marketplace, I wouldn't call any of them that significant.
[Content edited to remove prohibited spam.]
As it is, Apple would deny the application as it would duplicate some of the functionality of their built in Notes application in that you can enter text and save it for later.
Whatever....
you just ate your words
- by Sabroson December 14, 2008 8:07 PM PST
- Oh Please !
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- by bob_dango December 14, 2008 9:50 PM PST
- @Sabroson (and others, who made similar comments) Agreed. Most of these comments are beyond asinine.
- Like this
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (105 Comments)Arguing about Windows vs. Mac AGAIN??
GET A LIFE !!!!!
If one likes Apple, one should buy Apple, if one likes Windows, one should buy...well, not Apple. Such decisions should not matter to anyone else. Also, one does not have to hate Apple to like Microsoft or vice versa. I like my Windows laptop. I also like my iPhone. Both are good products and neither has ever given me any problems.
Apple and Microsoft are both decent companies, with distinct pros and cons. Neither company, nor their customers, are "retarded" (such a witty epithet)
To everyone else: please ignore this even-handed, sane diatribe and return to the inane bickering.