Microsoft's prospects...
As a veteran of MSFT and Sun, I have a few perspectives that may be enlightening to this group.
Microsoft does indeed stand at a crossroads. It is very much like the previous ones such as the shift to Windows 3.0. At that point end; users, businesses and most importantly developers embraced the vision that Microsoft evangelized for the industry. A standardized platform for delivering value through software would enable consumers to increase productivity, businesses to decrease costs and increase opportunities and developers to code efficiently for the largest market possible.
Windows achieved that in personal computing, client server and for the majority of the web site throughout the commercial world.
The new inflection point is web services. This represents a shift as large as the GUI. The ability to aggregate internal and external processes, data, and customer facing presentation is a fundamental shift in the programming and business models of the world. Microsoft is uniquely positioning to tackle this challenge and most importantly is well on the way to fulfilling it with tangible technologies. The languages, frameworks, methodologies, infrastructure, services, etc. to make this a reality are being tested in the real world today. Any time, any where on any device computing at the the least possible cost for consumers and businesses. It is a dramatically larger challenge and opportunity than MSFT and it's partners addressed in 1990.
What's different this time around is that instead of defining a single environment as Microsoft, Sun and Oracle have based their success on in the past, interoperability based on Internet standards such as http, XML and soap are the new platform for providing the benefits of the Internet based computing. Microsoft gets it and is actively producing product to back it up. The entire line of .Net Enterprise Server back this up with core XML functionality embedded. IE, Office, SQl Server, Exchange and Biztalk are all XML to the bone.
VisualStudio.Net changes the Windows programming model for the first time in ten years to one of language independence, true object orientation, and XML/soap interop.
Are we betting the farm? Sure, just like we did on the GUI 10 years ago and subsequently left our competitors in the dust. This time the competition is at the server where Oracle and Sun who are currently reaping the benefits of their old paradigms are ill positioned for the next wave. What happens when the developers and businesses can consume data and services from anywhere and don't care what it runs on? Sun and Oracles premium prices will be hard to command. What will these new sources of Internet productivity base their business on? The most efficient, scalable, cost effective, and market viable platform available...
Microsoft.Net
Most importantly it presents opportunity for developers, software vendors, DotComs, and end users to control their Internet experiences and business prospects. Unlike Sun or Oracle's models where everything is purchased from one company (hardware, OS and software services infrastructure in Sun's case or database, applications and consulting in Oracle's) or centralized in some Orwellian nightmare, the vast majority of control and money invested in .Net solutions is in the hands of end users, businesses and the ISV/WEB/IHV communities.
Keith |
