Windows 8, Windows Phone and apps seem to be the buzzwords at this year's edition of TechEd India, software major Microsoft's annual conference for developers and IT professionals.
Microsoft General manager Windows and Windows Live Emerging Markets Bernardo Caldas, in his address, said there is a huge opportunity for developers as people's home and office devices continue to converge.
The end-user landscape is fast changing and that presents a huge opportunity for developers, he added.
Microsoft has been actively working with developers to build apps for Windows 8.
Windows 8 is the latest version of Microsoft Windows that follows Windows 7. It features a new Metro-style interface that is designed for touchscreen input.
A release date for the finished version of Windows 8 has been set for later this year and the most recent pre-release version is the Consumer Preview, which was released last month.
More From This Section
Metro style apps are designed to be immersive and chromeless, filling the entire screen.
Caldas said the Metro style apps on the Windows 8 platform makes for a "no-compromise experience, be it on a PC, tablet or notebook".
The apps work together, making it easy to search, share, and send content between them. When users are connected to the Internet, Caldas added.
He said the emerging five key trends that drive Windows 8 are form factors, touch, mobility, connectivity and services.
Microsoft is also inviting developers to create apps for Windows Azure, its cloud platform.
Participants also got a glimpse of the upcoming technologies at the event.
Among the devices on display is 'Surface', which is a surface computing platform. It is designed to enable people to use and touch real world objects to share digital content at the same time. The device even 'sees' and responds to touch and real world objects.
The Surface platform has software and hardware products that combine vision-based multitouch PC hardware, 360-degree multiuser application design, and Windows software to create a natural user interface (NUI), Microsoft India Managing Director Sanket Akerkar said.
Akerkar said Microsoft's approach towards technology was driven by personalising, partnering and persistence.
Emphasising on the need to persist and partner with other enterprises, he explained: "We have 600,000 partners globally, 18,000 in India, and our partners make $8 for every dollar we make."