Microsoft Getting its Cool Back?

Microsoft was having an Open Door day today. The event was held at Sarit Centre and Westgate mall in Nairobi. Microsoft displayed a range of publicity suites and products. The products are for the today’s consumer who might be corporate or individual and it just makes work easier.

I first met Louis Otieno, Microsoft East Africa, General Manager at the first Strathmore ICT conference in 2001. The event was held at KICC. There were many speakers but none of the presentations was as captivating as the one done by Louis Otieno. He was this young cool guy who was just new at Microsoft.

Not much happened at Safaricom apart from selling us very expensive but really neccessary software which has forced the population of this country to turn into pirates of the same. So today, Microsoft had an almost informal one-on-one with Developers, Clients, Partners and the Media. The event, Open Door, is one of the 14 Microsoft experimental showcases taking place in Africa in the period of 2010-2011.

Some stats from Kevin Connoly’s Presentation;

Louis Otieno told me that infact, they are taking developers seriously and there are things which Microsoft might not have done rightly but the company has a different way it thinks it can engage with the common man and not focus so much on corporates. Microsoft is looking to tap into the local developer’s expertise to create more local apps to be available on the Windows Marketplace.

The company has also unveiled the Windows Live Essentials 2011 which are available for FREE download from Microsoft Website. The Live Essentials have great apps for productivity like Windows Live Mail, Live Movie Maker, Live Messenger, Live Photo Gallery, Live Mesh, Live family Safety and also Live Messenger.

Microsoft team also were displaying the Xbox Kinetic which is such a cool game console. This is the only gaming console which can make me come back to be a serious gamer I was in early to mid 2000. I used to beat every single gamer in KU and Kenya School of Monetary Studies those days.

I honestly believe that Microsoft is getting its “cool” back.