Microsoft pulls the plug on Popfly

Just got this email announcing discontinuation of Popfly:

I’m writing to thank you for registering and using Microsoft Popfly. I’ve been fortunate enough to see all the innovative mashups, Web pages, and games created by the Popfly community since we launched Popfly two years ago. It has truly been a pleasure to watch the spirit of creativity flow through a growing Popfly community over the life of the product.

It’s with a heavy heart that I share some news with you today: on August 24, 2009, the Popfly service will be discontinued and all sites, references, and resources will be taken down.

After August 24th, your access to your Popfly account, including any games and mashups that you’ve created, will be discontinued. However, Microsoft is still very much dedicated to helping you express your creativity and pursuing a path to software development. If you’re interested in refining your skills in Web applications, please visit Microsoft Web Platform Installer. For those interested in programming on the Xbox, then please visit Microsoft XNA or Microsoft Kodu. And for those who are interested in Windows programming, please visit Microsoft Express.

Thanks again for your support and please don’t hesitate to contact us at popfly@microsoft.com if you have any questions.

Regards,
John Montgomery
for the Popfly Team

Goodbye to Popfly!

Student Daze – Connecting Student Partners Worldwide

Once again, I’m writing this up on a plane on my way back home. The last two days (25-26 Sep 08) has been absolutely phenomenal at Student Daze 2008 – Microsoft Student Partners Summit 2008 v1.0. Why is it called Student “Daze” rather than Student “Days”? I’m not really sure, but I think it has something to do with so many people having jet lag.

Student Daze brings a selection of MSPs around the world into Microsoft’s Headquarters at Redmond, Washington in the USA. We are given the opportunity to connect and chat to other MSPs, find out what it’s like and what’s happening in the academic scene around the world.

We also get to meet some of the greatest people from Microsoft, like Joe Wilson (again!) and Scott Guthrie, plus a sneak preview into amazing new software that’s yet to be released. Sorry, but you folks out there will need to wait until the upcoming PDC to see it. Any leaks? Well, read on for more about Popfly, Mesh, XNA, Silverlight, cloud computing and more.

Let’s get into what actually happened after the break!

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