Microsoft Life Squared

There's no place like home...

Few people are needed in the office, which also no longer requires masses of adjacent space for storage of parts, or warehouse men either. Stock is instead held by the distributor with whom most dealings are electronic and automated. Yes, the disti's a convert, too, and sends stock directly to Marsh Marine's customers packaged in the firm's own livery.

Out on the road, smart mobile communicators are at the centre of the technology that ensures jobs go smoothly. Engineers are electronically sent their assignments – each automatically matched to their job experience and current location. So, that means, no more of the old, "I've never seen one of those winches before and, anyway, I'm in Bristol and can't get to Isle of Wight until tomorrow".

Well, he's going to have to go there sometime, because, even if Marsh Marine's engineers are at different ends of the country, they can tap into the firm's online database of manuals and exchange fitting tips.

These tips can be produced by extracting and annotating sections of manuals while the grunts talk over the phone and view the same information. Tips from more experienced hands can also be saved into the system to prevent the wheel from having to be re-invented - or at least redrawn all over again for someone else's benefit.

There's real-time mobile interaction between engineers and head office, too, so everyone stays in touch with everyone else even though face-to-face meetings are far less common than in the old days.

Things are so efficient – and profitable - that the IT-literate boss (and his reduced workforce) are indeed able to put in shorter hours than dad and the old gang. And, wouldn't you know it, MS technology gives them and their families the chance to make better use of extra leisure time.

Also, as that big screen in the café is used by one of Marsh Marine's "award-winning" engineers to demonstrate, if they're parents, the internet and well-structured educational web sites allow them to keep abreast of their kids' progress and commitments. Timetables and marks can be monitored, as can upcoming homework and school events. Teaching staff can be reached by email, as well, should the need arise.

All this, though, is really only a series of warm-up acts. The real star of the show is the boss man's luxury home – more accurately a few rooms of it. Our guide here is Rick's wife Jenny, a senior fund-raiser for a major charity. Technology (and understanding colleagues) allow her to do much of her number-crunching at home.

There, Jenny's work and the charity's books are protected from prying eyes and the fingers of the Marsh's highly computer-literate young son by a personal security switch that let's only Jenny access the PC.

But what tour members were all waiting for (and your good selves now, we suspect) was, the LIVING ROOM!

Here - and you should be told that we toured on the day that Xbox 360 was launched in the UK - the centre of attraction was, er, well, actually, massively interactive IPTV. This was routed to a large high-definition flat screen by a hi-fi-look-alike media centre PC running what looked to be a very responsive version of Windows Media Center Edition.

Microsoft, Alcatel and BT are all in bed together over interactive IPTV – technology with tantalising possibilities that's on limited trial now. However, despite the trials and Microsoft's mocked up demonstrations, compelling IPTV is still a year or three way and being held back by a fairly common chicken-and-egg situation.

It will only become practical once significantly faster download and upload speeds become widely available at reasonable prices. But there won't be much pressure from consumers for such speeds until the technology that needs them is understood and in demand.

Jenny showed us some of the treats in store. For instance, watching TV shows in the online company of distant friends and chatting with them and texting one another about what you're watching or anything else that comes to mind.

Okay, you've been able to do that for years with a mobile phone and an ordinary TV set but comms costs are likely to be included in the service. The interactivity, though, extends much further.

It will be possible to create your own programme compilations and share them using PCs equipped with twin tuners, good interactive programme guides and personal video recording software. That assumes, however, that some tough wrinkles with digital rights management are ironed out.