Testing

Being based out of Dubai, gives me the opportunity to visit neighboring countries...which would have seemed inaccessible from my home island, Mauritius. I was recently in Jordan where I was attending a company meeting ....This a fantastic country and you should add it to your list, if you're looking for your next vacation destination. The meeting was held in a hotel near the dead sea....What an experience, floating on this salty lake at 400 m below sea level !!

I also had the opportunity of visiting the lost city of Petra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra, those of you who are Indiana Jones fans will recognize the place :-)

It was a humbling experience...Humanity is capable of such great things.

After several months of absence, I've decided to get back in the blogosphere. I've been quite busy managing my relocation to Dubai (I have a lot of experience to share about this !!...Specially the driving license stuff J ) It's a city full of surprises, but everything has landed smoothly for me. The picture below shows a view from my balcony with a view on the Golf of the Emirates…I watched Tiger Woods win the Desert classic last week. So watch this space for some more news about Dubai….and Microsoft Office SharePoint server!!

The Windows Live team has released a new search service code-named Tafiti...which means "Doing Reasearch" in Swahili. This new service combines the power of Live Search and Silverlight. The result is quite impressive with various interactive views and filters. Filtering on books provides you the possibility of browsing through the book (provided it is not copyrighted). You also get a "shelf", which is a area on the page where you can drag and drop search results for future use.  Check it out at:

http://www.tafiti.com

She's there...Eva, my third daughter was born on the 10th of August at 16:35. Everyone say that she looks like her dad :-)

You can view a picture of her in my SkyDrive public folder:

For those of you wondering what SkyDrive is...watch this space :-)

The announcement of my new role at our Middle East and Africa HQ has been covered in the local newspapers. Makes me feel important :-)

Check the article in "Le Mauricien"

It's been some time since my last post. This was mainly due to the fact that I was quite busy finishing the fiscal year and starting a new one :-) I successfully closed the year meeting my objectives and then flew to Maputo where I met all my colleagues from various parts of Africa....It was a great event, lot's of fun and energy, but also good strategic sessions putting  us in good shape for the unfolding year.

On the Gadgets front, after the Iphone mania died out, we are starting to see the first really objective reviews of Apple's new baby...And guess what ? ..They're really good:

Check out Mark Orchant's post on the subject

"90% of 200 owners said they were “extremely” or “very” satisfied with their phone. And 85% said they are “extremely” or “very” likely to recommend the device to others."

Back to this new fiscal year...I have accepted a new role at our Middle East and Africa HQ and should be relocating to Dubai in the coming months....More on that later.

For several years Microsoft has invested in TV, as it saw the potential that this appliance had at being the center for digital entertainment in the living room. Imagine having your IPTV set-top box, your Media Center and your XBox in a single device....this is what Microsoft is introducing with Mediaroom, its next generation IPTV platform. Available from a few operators worldwide, we should see Mediaroom gain popularity very quickly as it will be setting the trend as a new category of device.

If like me you spend most of your day with Microsoft Outlook, I'm sure that you'd love to have a means of bringing in your Live Hotmail emails. Well, your wish has become a reality...A beta version of the Live Hotmail Outlook Connector has just been released. It weighs just 4 Mb, the install is smooth and in a couple of clicks your Live Hotmail messages will start dripping in Outlook. You can grab it here after going through the Genuine Advantage validation.

I talked about this in my post about Safari on Windows.....  

» Is Jobs planning a hostile takeover of the Windows desktop? | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com

When I first read about the Microsoft Surface, a few weeks ago, I thought that this was another Microsoft Research concept that would not be integrated in real products before years.

I changed my mind once I saw it in action...This is innovation in action. The official press release describes it as follows:

"Surface is the first commercially available surface computer from Microsoft Corp. It turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, interactive surface. The product provides effortless interaction with digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. In essence, it’s a surface that comes to life for exploring, learning, sharing, creating, buying and much more. Soon to be available in restaurants, hotels, retail establishments and public entertainment venues, this experience will transform the way people shop, dine, entertain and live."

This is a very experiential product and I invite you to visit the Microsoft Surface web site.

Or you can check these Videos on YouTube.