rwandering.net
The blogged wandering of Robert W. Anderson
October 15, 2006 at 7:19 pm · Filed under .NET
After I posted WinFx is Dead, I’ve gotten two kinds of comments:
Didn’t you hear that WinFx has been renamed .NET 3.0? What rock have you been hiding under?
Well, yes, I have heard that — my point wasn’t that the name WinFx is dead, it is that the concept of WinFx is dead.
Really, Microsoft has killed the managed Windows API?
What, am I psychic?
I have no idea if Microsoft has killed the managed Windows API. It appears to me that they have. The stated reason for the name change was to clear up confusion in the marketplace. The common belief seems to be that this confusion was that developers didn’t understand how WinFx related to .NET. I believe that the actual confusion was that developers didn’t understand how WinFx (as composed of WCF, WPF, WF, etc.) had anything to do with a managed Windows API.
I am guessing that this name change away from WinFx is indicates that the managed Windows API is dead. John goes further in comment on this post (full comment here):
. . . Microsoft continues to vacilate on this issue. I hear Microsoft execs stand up and proclaim that everything is .NET. Then I see product teams create products without the slightest nod to .NET, using a patchwork of unmanaged code and interfaces dating back to the (early) COM days.
So, Microsoft: you may think that the name change cleared up some confusion. Maybe it did. But as a Microsoft ISV, Gold certified partner, developer, I’ll tell you that I’m confused about how .NET actually fits into the overall product plans.
[tags].NET, .NET3.0, WinFx, Windows, Microsoft[/tags]
Tags: .NET, .NET3.0, Microsoft, Windows, WinFx
October 12, 2006 at 11:21 am · Filed under .NET
IE7 is coming out very soon (some say any day). One thing to be aware of: if you need to keep using IE6, don’t install IE7. This isn’t just an issue in the IE7 installer (i.e., IE7 upgrades IE6), but they cannot both be installed on the same machine.
I trust (and Microsoft really hopes) that this doesn’t affect users in a negative way.
My guess is that the only people who really care about the side-by-side issue are developers. Of course, IT managers will care too, but they can keep IE7 from being auto-updated.
My guess is that this due to COM (because IE programmability is all through COM).
Side-by-side COM is anywhere from hard to impossible. One more benefit for a browser built on managed.
Tags: .NET, IE, IE6, IE7, Microsoft
October 9, 2006 at 8:24 am · Filed under .NET
From mdavey: Longhorn “Server Core” doesn’t have .NET? No managed code.
From the referenced article, Server Core Program Manager
(Andrew) Mason says his development team wants to add the .NET Framework to Server Core, but they first need the Framework team to modularize the code so they can add just the essentials.
Another example of the left-hand not being coordinated with the right. I know I’m mixing metaphors, but it has continued to baffle me that it is taking Microsoft so long to adopt managed code.
Now I think I understand why. And the WinFx to .NET 3.0 name change illustrates the point well:
- WinFx was purported to be the new Windows API. This claim, while supported by various parts of Microsoft was never internalized by the product teams.
- This is actually the message that was confusing people. Customers / developers were not asking “what is WinFx?”, as much as they were asking, “where is the new managed Windows API, WinFx?”.
- But there is no managed Windows API. Managed code is not a core part of the OS (and may never be).
- So, to avoid the topic, WinFx gets killed. Not just the name, but the entire idea of a managed Windows API. Sure, the components of WinFx get shifted to .NET 3.0.
I have posted before that I am OK with the name change. I am, but I am not OK with the death of the managed Windows API.
Now (of course) this blog is all my own opinion, but I want to point out that this is purely an outsiders view of what is going on at Microsoft. As far as I know I am completely mistaken and next week Microsoft will announce some new effort to provide a fully managed API. Or not.
Tags: .NET, .NET3.0, Microsoft, Windows, WinFx
September 25, 2006 at 8:13 am · Filed under Miscellaneous
I particularly enjoyed the latest Gillmor Gang — If 6 Was 9 Gang — I had a front-row seat, so to speak.
Here are some of the highlights, in 4 parts.
Some discussion on the Zune. There was mostly consensus that its success will hinge on the services Microsoft can bring to the table to supply content — Steve argues that Apple has already won this war.
Tags: Apple, Gillmor-Gang, iPod, Microsoft, Zune
June 8, 2006 at 9:16 am · Filed under Miscellaneous
If you are an ISV interested in partnering with Microsoft, I recommend John’s post, Partnering with Microsoft. His advice is top notch.
He follows it up by railing on the Microsoft partner Web sites in Part Deux. This post had me laughing out loud; however, you might not truly get it unless you’ve experienced the pain yourself.
Tags: Digipede, Microsoft
May 24, 2006 at 6:24 am · Filed under Grid Computing, Web 2.0
Many people would like to see an online Office product. Bill Gates says that what people really want are online documents. That is, if Office is available everywhere (with a full-desktop license or through some other interface) then the users need to get to their documents from any machine.
Setting aside this storage requirement (and the services to support it) for a moment, making Office available everywhere requires one of two things:
- An Office Live strategy that actually includes Office products — meaning re-writing or newly written Office applications for the Web (which is apparently what Bill Gates doesn’t think people want); or
- Easy deployment of the existing Office desktop products anywhere.
Isn’t that what Softricity’s SoftGrid product does? From their site:
All applications are instantly available anywhere in the world – from a user’s desktop or a browser . . . whether the machine is the user’s own computer or a device shared by many users; or whether the user is on a high-speed or dialup connection — or even completely disconnected.
In addition, they claim that they can rapidly pull just the part of the application needed by the user (again, from their site):
. . . the Softricity client rapidly responds and “pulls” only the code necessary to start the program from a central Server — typically 20-40% of the total code. This happens without any degradation in functionality or response time; applications launch within seconds, based on application size and connection speed.
So, Office 2007 + Softricity = Office Live?
Is this the real reason Microsoft is buying Softricity? Is this the Office Live strategy? Mr. Ozzie, is this your online strategy? Robert, do I have it right?
Yesterday I wondered about the overlap between Softricity and FlexGo. So, alternatively, Office 2007 + FlexGo = Office Live.
Tags: FlexGo, Microsoft, Office-Live, office12, Office2007, Ozzie, Softricity
May 22, 2006 at 8:26 am · Filed under Grid Computing
FlexGo is a new “pay-as-you-go” service from Microsoft. From their site:
Introducing Microsoft® FlexGo™ – an innovative technology that makes it easier for people with modest incomes in emerging markets to buy a full-featured PC for their families.
Nick Carr calls this a “full-fledged utility computing service for PCs”. While technically correct, calling this kind of service utility computing further muddles an already troubled term — rendering it useless.
Update: apparently Mr. Carr decided this isn’t really utility computing and has changed his post to read “a utility-like computing service.” Good. I feared he had gone around the bend.
Tags: FlexGo, grid, Microsoft, Utility-Computing, WinHEC
May 17, 2006 at 8:28 am · Filed under Miscellaneous
From Don Dodge: Microsoft has unveiled the Microsoft SaaS Lighthouse Program.
This program is designed to help SaaS startups with licensing, technical, and marketing assistance.
I have been talking about this hole in Microsoft Partner Programs for sometime — a little on my blog, but mostly in person to Robert Scoble, Sam Ramji, John deVadoss, and many others. Pretty much every Microsoft person I meet. Microsoft has a good program (called Empower) to help the ISV startup and has, up until now, really had nothing for the SaaS startup. Why is the SaaS startup important? Because Web 2.0 companies are essentially all SaaS startups. Why are Web 2.0 companies important? If you don’t know, well . . . stop reading here.
It is obvious that Microsoft is trailing in the Web 2.0 community — this is embodied in the negative perception of Microsoft I found at a TechCrunch party: “anti-Microsoft” is a buzz word?. Most Web 2.0 startups are making use of free tools to build their sites and view Microsoft’s products (primarily Server 2003 and SQL Server) as being too expensive. While the productivity gains attained using these tools trumps licensing costs, Microsoft still needs programs that will help the adoption of their technology in SaaS startups.
Unfortunately, this program isn’t it.
You see, to get into this program, your company must have venture funding. A few problems with this:
- A venture-backed company can afford the licenses and training. Period.
- A Web 2.0 startup doesn’t start with venture money. In fact, very few startups begin with venture. So, the Web 2.0 startup gets no help from Microsoft until after VC? Kind of obvious, I know, but the startup has probably already built a service and released it before they get serious interest from a VC.
- The venture clause is likely a way for Microsoft to get external validation that the startup isn’t wasting their time and money. OK, but that is no way to increase adoption.
Now, I cannot claim that the purpose of this program is to help Web 2.0 startups (or to increase adoption of Microsoft techologies).
Just to be clear: it doesn’t.
Tags: Microsoft, SaaS, Startup, Web2.0
May 2, 2006 at 11:05 am · Filed under Web 2.0
A lot has been said about Google complaining to the government about IE7 (from NYT).
Don Dodge says that Google’s honeymoon is over. Perhaps this is true. Their complaining about the way search is handled in IE7 does seem disingenuous.
In the past I’ve said that Google’s goodwill will wane. From Dave Winer’s Geek Dinner for Scoble with relevant excerpt here:
Google has enjoyed a great deal of popularity as an answer to Microsoft’s dominance. They have a stockpile of goodwill and trust from people simply because they are not Microsoft. This is not permanent. The bigger they get, the more profitable they are (if that’s possible), the more people they piss off with their own kind of over-reaching, the more this is going to wane.
Google has some great products, of which search is #1. But, please Google, don’t try to lock in your users by complaining. Do it by making your products better.
Tags: Attention, Google, IE7, Microsoft
April 20, 2006 at 5:04 pm · Filed under Miscellaneous
The week of June 19th is really full.
- First, there was SuperNova, which I wasn’t going to go to.
- Then there is BarCamp which I might have gone to.
- Then Marc Canter suggested an unconference in response to SuperNova which has become BloggerCon IV. I RSVP’ed yes to that, though now I’m not sure if I can go.
- Digipede is going to SIA Technology Management Conference in New York. I found out the other day that I’m expected to be at this one.
- Yesterday I was invited to the Microsoft CTO Summit in Redmond on the 21st and 22nd.
I’ll be going to Redmond and I hope to BloggerCon IV.
We need eight days a week, eight days a week, eight days a week.
BTW: Marc: that is the longest post slug I’ve ever linked to. 😉
Tags: BloggerCon, Digipede, Microsoft
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