<p><strong>Mala Bhargava</strong><br><br>There are no prizes for guessing what’s trending on social media right now. It’s Microsoft’s launch of a whole ecosystem of devices, spanning all sizes, from the small Microsoft Band to the giant Hololens with its “Mixed Reality” experience and everything in between.<br><br>The global launch event, held in New York, was intended to be a showcase of the Windows 10 ecosystem of devices and software and though it may have started off in the familiar style of throwing statistics at the audience, went quickly on to a dramatic start with a demonstration of the Hololens. Interestingly, though one may have expected to see CEO Satya Nadella take the stage, it was Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group and later others were up to demo various products. Only towards the last eight minutes of the two-hour event did Satya Nadella appear on stage to wrap everything up with a reminder of Microsoft’s new vision and strategy.<br><br><strong>A Different Microsoft</strong><br>This energetic event changed pace to slow down somewhat as details of how the products would be used and what was unique about them began to be laid out for the audience. The event was live broadcast from Microsoft’s site with millions watching. The reception to the products launched was immediately obvious on Twitter as each product was welcomed with quite some enthusiasm. It was also quite obvious that this was a different Microsoft from that of the Balmer era. Previous events may have been energetic and lively enough, with the booming Steve Balmer, former CEO, bursting on to the stage with announcements, but today, the shift in thinking and direction was palpable.<br><br><strong>Project XRay and the Hololens</strong><br>Terry Myerson kicked off with a demo of the Hololens, its impressive and exciting augmented reality product, showing how it could turn your living room into a gaming arena. Using the fame, XRAy, “mixed reality” was shown off with which virtual objects can interact with the real world and a user, wearing a holographic glove, can interact right back. Creatures from a game can pop out of surfaces and corners around and the whole experience can be as immersive as if it were real. Gaming is by no means the only use case for the Hololens and Microsoft has opened the technology up to developers now.<br><br><strong>Redesigned Microsoft Band</strong><br>A slim bracelet style fitness band, the Microsoft Band can work with other platforms and does the usual fitness measuring but also has a barometer sensor to figure out elevation. It can tell you exactly how your golf swing is going and can tell the difference between practice shots and real ones. The band has Cortana integration, which makes it extremely powerful as it joins the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem.<br><br><strong>Lumia 950 and 950 XL:</strong> Computers in your pocket Windows phones have receded into the background for the past year or so, being able to offer little competition to Apple’s iPhones and a whole universe of Android devices, many of which are at rock bottom prices. The Lumias are now back with the 950 and 950 XL, 5.2 and 5.7<br><br>OLED displays and no major difference in specs from each other. The big difference from the older Lumias is that these are on Windows 10 and will fit into the ecosystem by syncing with other Windows 10 devices such as your laptop and will let the user take up where he left off from one place to the next. There’s a new 20-megapixel (Pureview) camera on these phones which, incidentally, are supposed to be liquid cooled.<br><br><strong>The Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book</strong><br>The Surface hasn’t been in India right from the start and one doesn’t know whether this situation will change, but it was a product that had everyone the most excited, along with the Surface Book. The Surface Pro has impressive specs including a fingerprint sensor, high-res display, long battery life and special cooling technology. It includes a pen and eraser on the back which also triggers off Cortana and is thinner than the MacBook Air. The Surface Book is an entirely new device and it’s a laptop on which the screen can be pulled away to separate. It has 12-hour battery life. It’s claimed to be faster than the MacBook Pro.<br><br>Satya Nadella closed the event by reminding the audience that mobility was not about the devices but about the people who were the real hub of mobility. And that devices weren’t about hardware but about the software that held everything together in an ecosystem. Microsoft is, for the first time in a long time, seeming not only to be aligned with the present but moving forward with a better vision of the future than others.</p>
