The Web, Ozzie make their mark at Microsoft

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Making Silverlight tools available to .Net and scripting programmers over the course of this year will likely create more so-called rich Internet applications, or Web applications with interactive features.

It will also likely heighten competition with Adobe as well as other, similar tool providers such as Nexaweb and Laszlo Systems.

Right now, Microsoft has the advantage of offering complementary online services like Silverlight Streaming, something that only the software giant, Google and Yahoo have the resources to do right now, the Burton Group's O'Kelly noted.

But Google and Yahoo don't have the same development tool infrastructure as Microsoft. Microsoft also has a complete line of server products to sell to companies looking to build their own Web-based businesses.

Adobe sees Microsoft's investment in rich Internet applications as an indication of how hot the field is, said Kevin Lynch, Adobe's chief software architect.

Last week, Adobe said it will create an open-source project around its Flex development tool. Lynch added that Apollo, its software for running Web applications on desktop PCs, has captured the imagination of developers, but Microsoft doesn't have an equivalent.

Regarding Microsoft's stated commitments to make its software cross-platform, Lynch said Redmond has a bad track record. The company used to create a version of Internet Explorer and Windows Media on the Mac but both were canceled.

"If you look at the DNA of the companies, cross-platform is Adobe's DNA and Windows is Microsoft's DNA," Lynch said. "Something like that doesn't change overnight...It's up to developers to decide how much they want to rely on those statements."

Privately, Microsoft executives said the company's efforts to work with other platforms and open-source technologies are part of an ongoing transition at the company, one that Ozzie endorses.

Although the company will continue to have its naysayers, the latest details on its Web strategy will likely prompt people to take a closer look, O'Kelly said.

"For people who are trying to deliver software value on the Web and different devices, Microsoft will (now) get serious consideration," O'Kelly said. "This is a moment where it's clear Ray (Ozzie) is putting his signature on Microsoft."

[Sniche]

Should spend more time fixing their OS's

Rushing another product to market to upstage Apple and not
Adobe for this is in Apple pipeline and ready for the new iTune
updates. Silverlight will end up just like every other M$
product, a complete mess. Every product that M$ has launched
it past six years , the Xbox, Zune, XP, WinCE, Vista and
WinServers, I could keep going but really it isn't worth it. None
of these have been a successfully finished product.
interesting reading go to
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/
RDM.Tech.Q2.07/1F637A5F-21F3-45FB-
A31A-3485952C05A7.html
extract from site
?Xbox
?Media Center and MSN TV
?Windows Mobile and WinCE PDAs
?Origami and the Tablet PCs
?the Zune

... all of which have been resounding failures as products.

[shldvebnacwby]

OS may have been a flop but others weren't

First, the Xbox is a newcomer to the video game market and has managed to win over huge chunks of it in a relatively short time. The 360 is a good gaming system and it would be hard to call either of these a "mess"

Second, the Zune is an awesome media player. Bigger screen, which is also very difficult to scratch, and better sound quality than the iPoo, videos are actually worth watching, and it has a built in radio tuner. It has all this and the same capacity as the iPod for the same price. It also has managed to take almost 10% of market share in less than a year. Not a failure at all.

Vista has been a flop but XP has turned into a relatively stable operating system that isn't as bug infested as people make it out to be. Oh, and don't forget that it actually has a TWO button mouse. That's something (cr)Apple had to copy from pcs.

[Siegfried Schtauffen]

What makes Vista a flop?

There are more Vista users than Mac OS users. Does this mean that Mac OS is a flop? Additionally;

1. Apple didn't write iTunes.
2. I have an Xbox. I know many people who have an XBox. I know no one with a Mac. The first Xbox overall was a slight profit. But Microsoft really don't care; like the media center edition and the Zune it was an experiment just to enter the market.
3. In what way is Windows Mobile a failure? It is no more a failure than PalmOS is. It is a niche product, just like the iPhone will be. (Unless they reduce the price.)

[Renegade Knight]

Taking Care of Customers

You would think that taking care of customers would be on the list of things that the "New Microsoft" would like to do.

I didn't see that anywhere in this article. Bigger, Better, and More of the Same is not going to keep MicroSoft in business.

MicroSoft has also started engaging in practices that actually cost customers money and interfere in fair use. Biting the hand that feeds you is never good practice. That's where their real battle is going to be waged.

[wildchild_plasma_gyro]

Open up Microsoft

Microsoft you know it's not a triangle and that 3 is far beyond us at the moment so open up with no fear of emf and let the world evolve and you will prosper i know it in my curvy old bones to be the one.

[ppgreat]

Color me skeptical

I'd be more inclined to believe all of this new-found openness if
you could author it on other OSes independent of other MS
products.

Oh, and if Ballmer were gone.

[t8]

We don't need .net

LAMP, AJAX are better than .not.

We don't need .not.

[RonaldWL]

Yippy

Wow, Microsoft is trying to take over another established market. You make this sound like something different? They sure now how to innovate.

[Lucky Lou]

Cross-platform... yyyyeah...

I love the idea that there will be a lot of cross-platform capabilities,
and I hope they get there. Currently their Expressions page has no
Mac authoring software. Their Expression Media is the only Mac
compatible tool, and that's just because they bought iView
MediaPro software which has always been Mac anyway. There's at
least a Silverlight plugin for Mac, so hopefully more will come.
Probability of that happening is another thing altogether.

[MSSlayer]

Just like Zune

Not only is Zune a piece of crap, if you include all the hard drive based media players it might have 3% of the market.

This new attempt to replace Flash will be just as successful.

The sooner MS dies the better for everyone.