Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner shared hints on what to expect during what he called Microsoft’s “biggest innovation year ever” during Day 3 of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference. Microsoft has been committed to launching Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Visual Studio 2013, SQL Server 2014, System Center 2012 R2 and a host of other “Blue” wave of products during this coming fiscal year. (Microsoft’s FY 14 runs from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014.)
while Tuner didn’t reveal any specific date, here are few things that can be called out from his presentation:
Skype: Support for large meetings; support for enterprise voice (probably in conjunction with Lync integration) integration with Outlook.com and Office 365
Windows Phone: Start screen “innovation”; common app platform with Windows
Surface: New accessories and accessory colors; some kinds of updates to both Surface RT and Surface Pro
Office: Office Windows Store apps (codenamed Gemini, an alpha of what was observed last month)
Dynamics: NAV 2013 R2; GP 2013 R2
Turner also announced that Microsoft will have a total of 101 Microsoft brick-and-mortar stores (a combination of full-size and specialty stores) by the end of 2014. Right now, Microsoft has more than 75 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Turner confirmed Microsoft plans to open Microsoft Stores in China in this fiscal year, as well.
Credit: Cnet
