Last Thursday (3.19) at Microsoft MIX09 in Las Vegas, NV Roundarch presented our Interactive Experience Award to Scott Guthrie of Microsoft. We were very excited to present this award to Scott because of his ground-breaking efforts in Web development including the creation of the Microsoft .NET platform, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Microsoft Silverlight. Our team at Roundarch has been extremely impressed with just how far Silverlight has developed in a little over a year. At MIX09 Scott announced some of the exciting new features of Silverlight during his keynote, including support for running Silverlight applications out of the browser, dramatic video performance and quality improvements, and features that radically improve developer productivity. Microsoft is betting that Silverlight 3 combined with the continued innovation in Visual Studio and Expression Blend, empowers .NET developers to create cutting-edge Rich Internet Applications and media experiences. Since Roundarch is always trying to push the boundaries of RIAs in order to deliver exceptional experiences for our clients, it is very encouraging to see Microsoft pursue this technology so aggressively.

It was really a blast to see Scott, “the Gu,” connect with some of his fans. He is clearly respected and admired by his peers and it was great to have the opportunity to spend some time with him in an environment where he was able to interact with them directly. He truly energizes people with his innovative ideas and approachable style.

Jeff Maling, President and Chief Experience Officer of Roundarch, presented the award just prior to a Q&A held by Scott in the 3rd Place lounge. There were about 200 people in attendance and there was a palpable energy in the air when Scott entered the room.

Scott Guthrie and Jeff Maling

“I am honored to accept the Interactive Experience Award from Roundarch, a company that shares Microsoft’s vision for encouraging innovative, dynamic and intuitive digital experiences,” said Guthrie. “Silverlight is changing user experiences on the Web, and when combined with the tooling in Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Studio, Microsoft is making it easier and cheaper than ever to build and deploy interactive and cutting-edge applications. It’s exciting to see that work recognized.”

Scott Guthrie

The Roundarch Interactive Experience Award is given to companies and individuals that best represent the advancement of Web experiences through the integration of user-centric design and advanced technology. Previous award winners include Max Carnecchia, president of Interwoven; Jeremy Geelan, Sr. Vice-President of SYS-CON Media & Events; David Mendels, former Senior Vice President of the Enterprise and Developer Solutions Business Unit at Adobe; David Temkin, Founder of Laszlo Systems; and Coach Wei, Founder of NexaWeb Technologies.