“It’s not often that I see software that really changes my world. It’s even rarer that I see software that I know will change the world my sons live in” said Robert Scoble after a recent trip to Microsoft. He says that Microsoft is working on something that is life changing and it’s something that had an emotional impact on him. Scoble says there have only been a few times that he’s seen software that had an emotional impact on him like the Apple II in 1977, Microsoft’s Excel, and Photoshop. So what is it that Microsoft is working on that made him cry? He’s got everybody talking about it, and people will probably continue to talk about it until February 27th because he’s under an embargo until then.
I pulled out a few statements from his blog posting that reiterate the impact the software could have:
- “While watching the demo I realized the way I look at the world was about to change.”
- “Why torment you with a post like this? Because it’s my way of making sure that stuff that really is extraordinary gets paid attention to.”
- “Heck, and if there were a constant stream of stuff like what I saw yesterday Yahoo wouldn’t be resisting going to Microsoft. They’d +want+ to go to Microsoft.”
- “The thing these two guys did won’t have a business impact the way, say, Microsoft Office did. There isn’t a business model here. But does every damn thing need a business model?”
- “Could they have done this at a Silicon Valley startup? I doubt it. Venture Capitalists won’t see enough business value in what they are doing.”
He also mentioned that if he were to tell people today what it was they were working on without showing a video of the software in action, people would tell him that it was lame. He says actually seeing it will cause you to have an emotional impact like it did for him.
Given all of these non-direct clues, you can’t help but wonder what it might be. Any guesses? Remember, there’s no business model which eliminated several of my early guesses.
Note: He says it’s not anything that Microsoft has done before which rules out the following: operating systems, productivity apps, data centers or databases, video game consoles, or anything else that’s been done in the past.
Either they discovered the solution to all the problems in the world, or Scoble is trying to build massive hype for nothing. Well, apart from driving thousands to his blog
Probably a Zune phone omg! …eh probably something lame, we shall see.
I don’t think anything coming from microsoft can make me cry.
Uhm…
Actually, most of microsoft products DO make me cry!
I think it’s the “Microsoft Surface” computer
@Ashley:
I have yet to see a product from Microsoft that will change the world my sons live in. Most of their products have been copied from other existing products, (i.e., MS DOS, Windows).
I also guess that it’s Surface. I’m still blown away by it. Hopefully Ryan/Ashley will write about it when someone figures out what it is, because I know I’ll forget by the time the product comes out.
It can’t be Surface. He mentions it as another cool thing they’re working on in his blog.
I know what it is! I found the website before it was officially launched… [mslinux.org]
I think it might be a smart A.I. program with voice recognition. It would be able to do almost anything just by you telling it to. It would change our role as computer users to computer supervisors. That’s something that I think could change the world like he said.
It’s definitely not the Microsoft Surface as bob89 pointed out. Scoble said that it’s something we haven’t seen before, and the Microsoft Surface was even demonstrated at CES. From what I gather he compares it to a lot of software, which leads me to believe that it is a software application. I with bob89 that it is some sort of A.I. program.
Here is the link where Microsoft will release it
[microsoft.com]
Could it be an Ultimate Extra that turns the mouse pointer into a crayon?
Another reason it isn’t Surface is that Surface does have a business model, if you think about it.
Not sure about AI either because it was said that if written about (without seeing)it would be called lame. I think you can describe AI that is ‘life changing’ without someone calling it lame. Just have to describe what all it can do. I think it’s going to be something unexpected. But I’m only guessing. Personally I say it’s just more hype..but I’m a bit of a skeptic.
If Microsoft are giving Windows for free, I’ll cry.
From what I’ve heard that is something different.
I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon.
I just read over at TechCrunch [techcrunch.com] that it is their new WorldWide Telescope. It’s a desktop app that lets you explore space. The data is coming from Hubble.
But you know, is Scoble getting moist about something from Microsoft really all that strange?