Techno Babble

The High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) is a barcode system developed by Microsoft Research.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/hccb/

It’s not a brand new technology though, having been under development for some time – you can read a news item about the technology (dated 19 April 2007) on the BBC website at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6570871.stm

It has become more prominent, however, following the recent release of Microsofts second application for the iPhone – Microsoft Tag.

This application is available for a range of mobile phones including the iPhone and allows a user to take a snapshot of the barcode (tag) with the camera. The tag is then decoded to produce a unique ID which is sent to Microsoft servers and  interpreted to provide an action assocated with the tag such as opening your phone’s web-browser at a specific web address. 

The process is intended to provide users with the ability to easily connect to information related with the placement of the barcode. For example on product literature,

Microsoft Vista Packaging + Tag

Another example would be enabling a  user to automatically upload contact details to their phone by simply taking a snapshot of the tag placed on a business card.

From the publishers point of view, Microsoft provides analytics that show which tags are being read and  when and where they’re being read.

Find out all the details, and try it for yourself at 

http://www.microsoft.com/tag/

or use the following Microsoft Tag … 

http://www.microsoft.com/tag

Other Related Technology

DataGlyphs from Parc Research

http://www.parc.com/research/projects/dataglyphs/

QR code

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code

http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/index-e.html

Software as a Service is defined as software which is delivered over a network (including the internet). It is hosted software which users can access without having to deploy it onto their own hardware.

There is another mechanism being explored which has similar aims to saas – this being virtualisation.

The main reason for exploring these technologies is to allow users to access software in a more cost-effective way.

Items to consider when looking to change packaged software to saas

• change in the business model
• the hosting infrastructure
• impact on the application architecture

These are items which have to be put in place to offer the same functionality when the software is provided as a service rather than “on-premise” software.

Building a saas aplication on a Microsoft platform uses the 2 key software components:

• IIS
• SQL Server

Examples of saas in action include:

• Live Meeting http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/livemeeting/FX101729061033.aspx
  

  Live Meeting enables you to collaborate online with colleagues, customers, and partners in real time, between either individuals or large groups—with just a PC, and an Internet connection.

• eCollege http://www.ecollege.com on-line learning

I recently came across a short video (~15mins) http://msdn.microsoft.com/isv/saasandmicrosoftplatform.asx which succinctly describes the main features of saas and is worth a quick view.