Microsoft Lets Developers See a Little Longhorn

The actual Longhorn operating system, the company's next-generation SQL Server known as Yukon and the company's next-generation development tools code-named Whidbey are as many as two to three years from arriving, but Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles this week represents a key moment as the software company seeks to win and maintain support from Web and corporate developers.

The most important developers -- from Microsoft's perspective -- are the independent software vendors (ISVs) that ultimately will determine the success of the next Windows platform by creating the next generation of enterprise and consumer applications for it, Yankee Group senior analyst Dana Gardner told TechNewsWorld.

"Microsoft's been working toward this for some time," Gardner said of Microsoft's Longhorn and the company's future plans for Web services. "It's time for the rubber to hit the road."

Windows Waves

As his company released thousands of preview copies of Longhorn, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates highlighted how Microsoft's integrated platform approach -- Whidbey tools, Yukon server, Longhorn operating system and "smart" device software -- provides the foundation for a "next wave of innovation."

At the conference, Microsoft platforms group vice president Jim Allchin introduced the application programming model for Longhorn -- called WinFX -- and new Windows platform technologies for developers, including a graphics subsystem known as Avalon and communications technologies for Web services known as Indigo.

Yankee's Gardner said ISV developers likely will be "really trying to determine from Microsoft how real this Web services-oriented architecture is."

Departure from Old Code

Analysts have suspected that Longhorn will be a significant departure from the Windows code of the past, with significant improvements made to stability and access technology. Meta Group vice president Steve Kleynhans told TechNewsWorld that Longhorn will center on a handful of key areas, such as security, the interface and file-storage technology.

Kleynhans said Microsoft faces a difficult task in moving away from older technologies, while at the same time running the risk of making older applications incompatible with the new system or confusing users.

Gardner said that although Microsoft is selling its Visual Studio .NET developer platform as an "integrated stack" that will enable developers to create applications that run better at less cost, the company also is talking about "taking Web services to transactional computing."

"It's not opposed, but these are somewhat incongruent directions," he said, adding that developers and CTOs are wondering how interoperable Microsoft's future components really will be. It appears Microsoft is saying interoperability is good to a point after which development should be all Windows, but that point has yet to be determined, according to Gardner.

Grand Unification

Citing hardware advances and new tools, Gates told PDC attendees that it is an exciting time to be a software developer, referring to Microsoft's heavy investment in making Windows an optimal platform.

Gardner said that although some might be frustrated that Microsoft is talking about its next generation of software before it has even implemented the most recent Office 2003 release, the ISVs must look ahead and perform cost-benefit analysis of the new Longhorn platform.

"Part of that rush is part of the grand unification process, where Microsoft brings together common frameworks, specifications, standards and [application programming interfaces]," he said. "Developers are going to have to get a sense of how good for me is it to align my data on Microsoft's store."