Ahhaha, It has been a long time since your last posting. How about a comment on the following:
interactive.wsj.com
July 24, 2001
Tech Center
Microsoft's Ballmer Sees XML
As Key to Growth, Innovation
By DON CLARK
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said a new software technology called XML will be as important as the personal computer and the Internet in driving the industry's growth and spurring innovation.
XML, which stands for extensible markup language, is an increasingly popular way to make Internet-based software that can perform tasks collaboratively with little human intervention. It is the foundation of Microsoft.NET, a broad new computing platform that Microsoft is promoting to software developers.
1Microsoft to Expand Access to Windows CE Source Code
2XML Promises Seamless Exchange of Information Between Systems (June 1)
XML will "put the consumer in the driver's seat," Mr. Ballmer said at the Internet Summit here, by allowing them to make better use of data that can now only be read by navigating toward multiple Web pages. It also will help Microsoft manage an important shift to a business model that is based more on selling services than licensing software, Mr. Ballmer said.
Mr. Ballmer was addressing a skeptical audience, composed mainly of entrepreneurs and technology investors. Queried before his speech with the aid of an audience-response system, 36% of respondents described .NET as another would-be Microsoft "monopoly that would strangle innovation," the most popular among several choices listeners were offered.
In response to questions, Mr. Ballmer insisted that the company would make its .Net platform work along with other companies' XML offerings, including with International Business Machines Corp. But he admitted that Microsoft was having trouble working with rival Sun Microsystems Inc., which sued Microsoft over a contract for using Sun's Java software technology.
"Sun is too litigious I would say for us to work with," Mr. Ballmer said.
Despite the wide gloom in the technology industry, Mr. Ballmer said there will be more technological change in the next 10 years than in the previous 10, creating many opportunities for entrepreneurs. And he said he sees no sign that Microsoft's customers are cutting important technology projects, with the possible exception of companies in the hard-hit telecommunications industry. Mr. Ballmer said Microsoft will spend $5.3 billion on research and development in the next 12 months, which he predicted will be the highest among technology companies over that period. |
