Those of you who follow me here or on Twitter will know that I was invited for meetings this week at Microsoft UK’s campus in Reading (Berkshire).  I thought I’d write this visit up for you and split it into two articles across Windows7News and our sister site gHacks.  You can read part 1 of this article there.

I had several meetings throughout the day which included Ian Moulster, Product manager for Windows and IT Pro Evangelist Simon May (seen below relaxing after lunch).

Me and Simon May (IT Pro Evangelist)

I passed on a long list of questions from gHacks and Windows7News readers for them to mull over and I’ll publish the replies as soon as I get them back.  We chatted about Windows 8 however and it quickly became clear that nobody at Microsoft will call it that.  It’s not an official name yet so all conversation with Microsoft was about “Windows Next” which is the official code name for the product.

Windows Next is clearly extremely secret and, sadly, no amount of prodding got me any information other than what’s already been leaked because, to be honest, they didn’t know any more than I did.  Redmond is clearly keeping Windows Next under very tight wrap, though we did discuss what might be possible nearer to any official announcement 

It was great to see Microsoft senior staff not only welcoming feedback and input from me but actively asking my opinion on subjects ranging from Windows features, webcasts and marketing to the MVP program.  I did genuinely feel as though Microsoft is a company that is actively listening to IT professionals and, as I now have many more contacts within the company than I did before, regular feedback is something I’m very happy to provide.

As part of my day at Microsoft I was given a tour of the campus, including the technology centre where, as you can see, I got to have a good play with Surface.  I was hugely impressed with this technology not for what you can do with it, because there aren’t many actual applications to be honest, but for the attention to detail.

For instance, when you tap and item on screen with your finger to open it, sensors on the device automatically detect which way round your finger is to always make sure that the content is facing the right way.  This is just one of the great features and we looked at the forthcoming Surface 2 which will scan documents when you do nothing more than place them on the screen.

The technology centre is seperated into zones, each one a different location (home office, work, home lounge etc.) where the company can showcase all of its hardware and software.  While nowhere near as big as the technology centre in Redmond which contains an entire digital home, it’s very comprehensive and contains every Microsoft technology, always ready for live demonstrations.

There was a great deal to see and do at the Microsoft campus and, while I can’t tell you the details of the specific meetings that I had, there’s some very exciting stuff coming down the pipe where I’ll be appearing and speaking at some Microsoft events.  On top of this there will be some special give-aways for readers here at gHacks and Windows7News, more on that in a couple of weeks.