Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : MSFT Internet Explorer vs. NSCP Navigator -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Harvey Allen who wrote (24073)	4/21/2001 7:24:39 PM
From: Harvey Allen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

It was mainly this trend towards computing centred on networks that prodded Microsoft into launching its ambitious .NET plan last June. This is an effort to establish an alternative web-services platform, albeit one with a uniquely Microsoft flavour, since the company cannot afford either to abandon its cash cow, Windows, or to let go of its proprietary past. Although the firm’s managers insist that .NET is based on open XML standards, it is nonetheless tied to Windows and leaves Microsoft essentially in control. So far, however, much of .NET exists only on colourful slide presentations to impress Wall Street and, more importantly, to lure software developers back from the Java world and keep others from jumping in. Microsoft’s most precious off-balance-sheet asset has always been the huge number of programmers creating applications for Windows, thus making the platform more valuable. That is why in the past the company has always put a lot of effort into making life easy for them. It is also why most .NET announcements so far have been aimed at making the platform attractive to developers. Microsoft has just unveiled a set of “building blocks” code-named HailStorm that include key services, such as keeping track of a user’s location or storing his personal information, that developers can use to build their own services. And this summer, Microsoft will release a set of top-notch developer tools called Visual Studio.NET. Microsoft’s recent decision to settle its four-year-old lawsuit with Sun over Java must also be seen in this light. Sun had sued Microsoft, claiming that the software giant violated a licensing agreement by creating a version of Java that would work well only on Windows. The settlement now draws a clear line between the competing camps, forcing developers to take sides. Microsoft will, in essence, abandon Java and is encouraging programmers to switch to its own Java-like language, C# (pronounced C-sharp). It is much too early to tell which camp will win the day. The game is certainly the Java crowd’s to lose. Their platform is pretty much in place, and unlike Microsoft they do not have to drag large numbers of established developers, consultants and users from the old world of PC software into the new universe of web services. Yet Microsoft has successfully played catch-up before, even if its methods have sometimes been questionable. And it has every incentive to make .NET a success: if it fails, it risks losing its dominant position in the computer industry, just as IBM did in the 1980s. The firm has already cranked up its formidable marketing machine. Hardly a week passes without another .NET event or deal. Microsoft might even get some help from its competitors. They too have yet to prove that they are serious about “co-operating on the standards and competing on the implementation”, as Sun puts it. The history of the operating system Unix, which fragmented into incompatible versions because Microsoft’s rivals could not agree on standards, is a cautionary tale. If they start bickering again, customers might opt for .NET after all. At least they can be sure that it will be fully integrated, because that is where Microsoft excels. It is unlikely, though, that any one company will dominate web services in the way that Microsoft has ruled the world of the PC—at least as long as firms stick more or less to open standards. And more than ever, there will be opportunities for integrators of all sorts, as the article will show. economist.com