Michael Stiefel
InfoQ
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Past articles by Michael:
Compliance and the California Privacy Act
On January 1, 2020, the California Privacy Act came into effect. Many companies have not complied with the law, and the long term effects of the legislation are unclear. → Read More
How to Mitigate the Pain of Getting and Giving Feedback
Giving feedback is hard since social and physical pain share neural circuitry. Feedback feels painful. Sarah Hagan’s 2018 QCon talk uses scientific research to show how to give feedback properly. → Read More
Grady Booch on the Future of AI
According to Grady Booch, most current AI systems are about pattern matching of signals at the edge and inductive reasoning, not true Artificial Intelligence. During his second day keynote at the 2018 QCon San Francisco, "Building the Enchanted Land", he explained his view that AI today is a "system engineering problem with AI components." → Read More
Azure Machine Learning Services Now Available
Microsoft has announced the general availability of the Azure Machine Learning service. Azure Machine Learning automates machine learning to make it easier to build, train and deploy models. The service is generally available now, with pricing to go into effect February 1, 2019. → Read More
Will Cloud Computing Kill Open Source Development?
While open source development is not going to disappear, the future of commercial open source is not very promising. Cloud providers are adopting open source software without necessarily adding value, or supporting future development. No industry consensus exists on the best way to fund open source development. Many continue to believe that open source software should be free. → Read More
California Creates Consumer Privacy Act
California has enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018 which, starting on January 1, 2020, would grant consumers several rights with respect to information about them that businesses collect, store, sold, and share. This is the first legislation of its kind in the United States. → Read More
New York Creates Task Force to Examine Automated Decision Making
New York City has created an Automated Decision Systems Task Force to demand accountability and transparency in how algorithms are used in city government. The final report of the task force is due in December 2019. This task force is the first in the United States to study this issue. → Read More
Can People Trust the Automated Decisions Made by Algorithms?
The use of automated decision making is increasing. These algorithms can produce results that are incomprehensible, or socially undesirable. How can we determine the safety of algorithms in devices if we cannot understand them? Public fears about the inability to foresee adverse consequences has impeded technologies such as nuclear energy and genetically modified crops. → Read More
Microsoft Graph: Connect to Essential Data Every App Needs
Yina Arenas, Principal Program Manager for the Microsoft 365 Ecosystem, gave a session on how to use Microsoft Graph to connect to application data. Using Microsoft Graph, developers can help users to focus on tasks to be accomplished, rather than applications to run. The talk focused on the Build 2018 announcements, getting started, what tools to use, the main APIs, and tips and tricks. → Read More
Build 2018: .NET Overview & Roadmap
At Microsoft Build 2018, Scott Hunter, Director Program Management, .NET and Scott Hanselman, Director Community, .NET gave a session on the future of .NET. The thrust of the presentation was that .NET can be the platform for building any kind of application: desktop, web, cloud, mobile, gaming, IoT or AI. Your existing language skills are not wasted and can be used in new areas. → Read More
What’s New in Azure Machine Learning?
Matt Winkler delivered a talk at Microsoft Build 2018 explaining what is new in Azure Machine Learning. The new improvements come in several areas: making development easier, single container deployment to make the dev/test loop faster, using the SDK from the Azure Notebook for control, as well as helping people get started solving a particular problem. → Read More
Microsoft 365 and the Future of App Development: Microsoft BUILD 2018 Second Day Keynote
The second day keynote focused on how Microsoft 365 is the future of app development. Although the talk was focused on the merging of Enterprise Mobility Services, Microsoft Office, and Windows 10 in Microsoft 365, the underlying Microsoft Graph platform will have much wider use as ubiquitous computing, the union of data and AI, and multi-sense and multi-device experiences become more prevalent. → Read More
CEO Satya Nadella Gives the First Day Keynote at Microsoft Build 2018
Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft delivered the first day keynote at the Microsoft BUILD conference in Seattle today. The first part of the keynote was about the opportunities and responsibilities facing Microsoft and the technology community today. The second part presented the focus of the conference: the intelligent cloud and the intelligent edge, specifically Azure and Microsoft 365. → Read More
US Supreme Court Declares Microsoft Case Moot, Microsoft Delivers Emails to US Government
After the United States Congress passed the CLOUD Act, the United States Justice Department dropped its previous request for a search warrant. The United States Supreme Court then declared the Microsoft email case moot. The Justice Department went back to court, however, and got a new search warrant based on the new law to replace the one it originally got in 2013. → Read More
U.S. Congress Passes CLOUD Act - New Legislation Might Make Microsoft Supreme Court Case Moot
On March 23, 2018, the CLOUD Act became law in the United States. It clarifies how US and foreign countries can gain access to data stored in cloud servers in each other’s jurisdictions. Companies such as Google and Microsoft facing requests for data they have stored in foreign countries support the legislation. Privacy and human rights activists have criticized the measure. → Read More
Oral Arguments before Supreme Court in Microsoft Cloud Computing Case Focus on Legal Issues
On February 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments on the Microsoft cloud computing case. A ruling against Microsoft could require companies based in the United States to hand over to law enforcement data stored on foreign servers. U.S. based organizations might then not be able to provide cloud computing services to foreign countries. → Read More
Could the United States Supreme Court Constrain Cloud Computing?
A U.S. Supreme Court decision could change the future of cloud computing by making U.S. companies subject to law enforcement demands for data from foreign servers. If the court rules that the data must be handed over, it is uncertain if the U.S. Congress would change the law, and what the actual content of a new law might be. This law would be still subject to interpretation and litigation. → Read More
Panel on the Future of AI
A SF QCon panel on the future of AI explored some issues facing machine learning today. The areas explored: critical issues facing AI right now, how has technology changed the way people are hired, how do non-leading edge companies make the best use of current technologies, what is the role of humans in relation to AI, and what are exciting new breakthroughs on the immediate horizon. → Read More
.NET Core and .NET Standard: What Is the Difference?
.NET Standard is an API specification that defines what Base Class Libraries must be implemented. .NET Core is a managed framework optimized for building console, cloud, ASP.NET Core, and UWP applications. Each managed implementation (such as Xamarin, .NET Core, or the .NET Framework) must implement their BCL according the .NET Standard. → Read More
Microsoft .NET Architecture Guidance Released
Four application architecture guides are available from Microsoft's Developer Division and the Visual Studio product teams. This guidance covers four areas: Microservices, Docker, Web Applications with ASP.NET Core and Azure, and Enterprise Applications Using Xamarin Forms. Each guidance is contained in an eBook. There are two end-to-end reference applications that the guides use as examples. → Read More