Daniel Dixon
Hi, As Marc introduced me, I’m Dan, the EMEA Windows Live Product Specialist. I look after the evangelism and best practise within our Messenger, Hotmail, Mobile & Spaces products ensuring we make the most out of any new products and optimise what we have currently to offer. I’ve worked for Microsoft for 8 years now & for that time I’ve been responsible for our communication products. It’s amazing how things have shaped end emerged even during this time and for my first blog I thought I’d use an example.
You may remember back to when there was a world without the internet, without mobile phones, PDA’s, etc… A time when some of us would have been playing TV Tennis with our Atari games machines – or maybe even that belonged to my elder brother. Earlier this week a family emergency meant I needed to get to my local hospital as soon as possible. I was in a meeting, presenting actually, when the Messenger toast popped up with a question from home asking if I was there… I replied I was sat in a meeting then carried on. However I was wondering all along if I should have asked what was wrong. When I left the meeting I checked on Messenger in the foyer; my wife who had sent the message was showing as ‘away’ from the pc. I quickly called home, that was engaged so I rang her mobile – we spoke and I needed to get the next train.
Sat on the train– the only available seats on the train were in the ‘quiet’ carriage I signed back into Messenger on my mobile and was able to find out more details, where I needed to go etc. I was able to remain immediately contactable for the duration of my journey; right down to the taxi journey home. I also had an email with instructions of what I needed to do, who needed collecting from school and when, which was ideal as I could take this with me, read it at any point as it was all on my phone – no sticky backed notes on our fridge!
Needless to say, everything was ok in the end and I managed with ease to remember and do everything that was on the list. Without the technology we have and embrace today which even now is taken for granted everything would have been much more of a panic to say the least. Do we ever pause to realise how we’re using multiple devices and screens without even thinking? To be able to be alerted on my pc of urgent matters, even if during a meeting was something back in the days of the early game console I mentioned earlier just would not have been possible. If we think back to what it would be like back then – well it doesn’t even bear consideration. Once you had left the house, that was it! You weren’t contactable whilst on the move & if you needed to reach anyone, well, you’d use the public phone?…..well, imagine that? We’re nearly all contactable at any point during the day or night, whether on the move, at home or in the office. If we’re in an area where you cant speak then it’s possible to be contacted via Messenger or email whilst on the move and via a number of different screens and devices & anything written during that time will provide a reference, record or instruction that’s there in your hand. The devices and technology which we rely upon and use day in day out support us more than we sometimes realise and we don’t even stop to think, what it would be like with our lives today if all those years ago, communication technology had peaked with the fax machine and, well….that was it!? Now we are able to consume media in several different ways and for so many different reasons whether it be streaming video, email, interacting with ads, catching up via Messenger or social networking – it all revolves around staying connected in a near seamless environment.
Thanks for reading, Dan
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