One of the main issues currently facing developers industry-wide is the difficulty of creating data-rich applications, a difficulty that arises from the tremendous differences between query languages used to access data and programming languages commonly used to write applications. A quick browse through the computer programming section of any bookstore provides evidence of this issue. Books are divided into sections that address different types of programming, such as XML, database and object programming, revealing a world of distinct domains. Developers writing applications that access data from relational (SQL) or hierarchical (XML) data sources must be adept at traversing very different language syntaxes to get the job done.

To reduce complexity for developers and help boost their productivity, Microsoft today announced a solution for the .NET Framework called the Language Integrated Query (LINQ) Project, a set of language extensions to the C# and Visual Basic programming languages that extends the Microsoft .NET Framework by providing integrated querying for objects, databases and XML data. Using LINQ, developers will be able to write queries natively in C# or Visual Basic without having to use other languages, such as Structured Query Language (SQL) or XQuery, a query language for accessing XML data. The announcement was made here at the Microsoft Professional Developers 2005 Conference, where Microsoft is making available a Tech Preview containing pre-release versions of the various components of the LINQ Project.

PressPass spoke with Microsoft's Anders Hejlsberg, technical fellow and chief architect of C#, and Paul Vick, technical lead for Visual Basic, to learn more about the LINQ Project.

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Thousands of software developers at the sold-out Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2005 today got a preview of a new, redesigned user interface (UI) that will debut in several core applications of the next version of Microsoft Office, code-named Office “12.”

While the Office applications have increased tremendously in power and added functionality in response to customer needs, the core UI has remained substantially unchanged for nearly 20 years. The command bar in Microsoft Office Word 2003, for example, looks much the same as the command bar in Word 2.0 did in 1998. In fact, the new UI is the biggest, most visible change to the way the core Office applications work since the introduction of the toolbar in 1997.

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Microsoft Corp. this week will try to gain ground on competitors Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. by unveiling a new Web development platform on which developers can add new search, mapping and instant-messaging features to online products from the MSN division.

The set of APIs (application programming interfaces) will be announced at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC), the vendor's biannual developer gathering, which is scheduled to be held in Los Angeles beginning Tuesday, Sept. 13, according to Microsoft.

Analyst surveys put Microsoft a distant third behind Google and Yahoo in the Web search market, and the MSN business unit has been working intently and releasing new Web-based products and services to catch up to those companies. Google, in particular, has been in Microsoft's sights with its online search, mapping and other services.

A recent MSN release in this area was a beta of Virtual Earth, a new mapping tool similar to Google Maps. Both Virtual Earth and Google Maps allow users to find locations or businesses by address and other search criteria, and both use both street-map and satellite-map views. Microsoft also made a major revamp of its MSN Search engine last June in an effort to take on the Mountain View, California, search giant, but the tool has not yet caught on widely with users.

Microsoft has traditionally had a strong development community to support and increase adoption of its products, and it's likely that with the new MSN APIs, the vendor is trying to leverage that community to make gains in an area where it needs to catch up to some of its competitors, said Rikki Kirzner, partner with research firm Hurwitz & Associates.

Kirzner expects Microsoft to make other announcements at this week's conference intended to give developers more open access to previously proprietary technologies in an unprecedented way. "A lot of steps they're taking reflect serious thinking about how to solve development issues in ways that benefit customers and developers more than ways that benefit Microsoft," Kirzner said.

The MSN APIs that Microsoft will open for developers this week include the MSN Search Web Services API, which gives developers access to functionality for Web site content search results, local attractions, maps and directions, digital satellite images and other information.

Microsoft also will open an API for its MSN Virtual Earth beta that enables third-party companies to build commercial applications using the tool. Through the API, businesses have the opportunity to make money by placing advertisements on their sites in a revenue-sharing model, the details of which Microsoft plans to release at a later date.

Another API to be released this week, MSN Messenger Activity API, allows developers to create applications that can be used as extensions to MSN Messenger so users can connect in more ways with people on their contact lists. Microsoft also will introduce MapPoint Web Service 4.0, which gives developers customization options for MapPoint that include new mapping functionality, extended geographic coverage and language support.

 

Via InfoWorld

 

 

Microsoft will debut at this week’s Professional Developers Conference a new Windows Vista beta targeted at developers and Release Candidate 1 of Visual Studio 2005.

In addition, the Redmond, Wash., software giant will debut a new software development kit for Windows Vista client, planned new workflow services for Vista and a context-sensitive “ribbon interface” for Office 12, sources said.

The availability of the developer’s release and SDK of Vista, as well as Visual Studio 2005 RC1, represents significant milestones for developers and solution providers as Microsoft prepares to release its wave of Longhorn products in 2006.

At PDC, much of the focus will be on the “Longhorn/Vista and Office 12 user experience,” said one Microsoft insider.

The Windows Vista Platform SDK, for example, will offer APIs that connect to Windows workflow services and Auxiliary Display devices.

Sources close to Microsoft said the company intends to release the first limited beta of Office 12 in November and a broad beta in March. Microsoft released the first beta of Windows Vista in July and early bits of the WinFS file system last month.

While Microsoft plans to officially launch both Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 on Nov. 7, Windows Vista and Office 12 are not expected for release until late 2006.

The company has added a variety of new development hooks into its core Windows and Office platforms that will make development easier for business analysts, workgroups and solution providers.

Additionally, the Windows Communications Foundation Web services toolset and Windows Presentation Services graphics toolset—part of the WinFX programming model in Longhorn—will enable partners to build and integrate more user-centric Web services and graphically intensive applications into the client, partners said.

Because they focus on end-user features, the new tools make the Windows and Office platforms more programmable by solution providers.

“This will give us customization and configuration capabilities we haven’t had before,” said Michael Kogon, president of Definition 6, a Microsoft Gold Certificate Partner in Atlanta. “Because the base software is being developed for user outcomes and is user-activity driven, that’s where customization is key. We can start looking [now] at new software design.”
 
Via CRN

 

 

The news came like an ocean liner out of the fog: Oracle will buy apps rival Siebel Systems.

And with that on Monday morning, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison completely pre-empted Microsoft's semi-annual PDC developers show and any news that might be forthcoming.

The timing was clearly not fortuitous. A traditional (boring) company might have waited for its big users show--Oracle OpenWorld is next week. But noooooo Ellison dropped the bomb just as PDC is gearing up in L.A.

Super genius.

Not that this deal hadn't been bandied about for years, it's just that you had to wonder how far even Ellison was willing to go in pursuit of unseating SAP as biz apps kingpin. (Oh and stick it to Microsoft).

The answer is, pretty damn far. After writing a check for more than $10 billion big ones for PeopleSoft (and J.D. Edwards), and spending comparative petty cash on TimesTen, Oblix, parts of Context Media etc., Larry and the gang have gone for the gusto in Siebel Systems and its CRM expertise. Oh yeah, and Seibel's two-plus billion in cash.

Siebel, by the way, has allied itself with both IBM and Microsoft on middleware. Wonder where that strategy is headed now?

And, imagine the psychodrama going on behind the scenes between Ellison and former protegeTom Siebel. Oof.

An added benefit is it distracts from Salesforce.com's big announcment event kicking off today in San Francisco. Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff wasted no time sending out his take: "Oracle put Siebel investors out of their misery today. We have been doing that for Siebel customers for years."

Cynics might also say this news overshadows reports of Ellison settling a 2001 insider trading case. Check out this New York Times story which reports Ellison may settle with yet another big check: This one a $100 million to charity. Interesting.

Via CRN

 

 

 

 

Microsoft will show an early version of its next-generation graphics and animation toolset at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) next week in Los Angeles, internetnews.com has learned.

The product, code-named Sparkle, is still in development and it's unclear whether it will be ready to ship with Windows Vista next year.

But industry-watchers say built-in animation and graphics tools could offer developers an alternative to Macromedia's  popular Flash MX and Director MX animation tools.

A Microsoft spokeswoman declined comment on speculation of news coming out of PDC. A Macromedia spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

"It's a good concept and the integration with Visual Studio [Microsoft's platform for designing for Windows, Web and mobile device applications] is nice," said the source, who has seen the version of Sparkle that will be unveiled at PDC.

Despite its code name, the toolset lacks polish, the source said. Still, it should be far enough along to give PDC attendees a view of the underlying concept and how it might fit in with other industry offerings.

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An examination of Microsoft internal documentation this weekend reveals that the software giant is prepping a number of major end-user features for Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn), many of which had not yet previously been revealed. Here's a rundown of many of the features we can expect in the various Windows Vista product editions (for more information about the editions, please refer to "Windows Vista Product Editions Revealed," URL below).

As noted in that previous article, Microsoft is created 7 versions of Windows Vista for end users (9 if you count the N Editions that will target European markets). To differentiate these products, the company is carefully matching feature sets to the expected markets that will adopt each product version.

Two low-end versions of Windows Vista, Starter Edition and Home Basic Edition, will not feature the much-vaunted Aero user interface that will adorn all other Vista versions. Instead, these versions will utilize a lower quality, XP-like user interface that is more appropriate for the low-end hardware that infrequent PC users and those emerging markets might utilize. Starter Edition and Home Basic Edition will also lack the rolodex, tab previews, and task bar previews features that other Vista editions will offer.

A new version of Internet Information Services (IIS), now called Microsoft Windows Web Server, will be included with the business oriented versions of Windows Vista only (Professional, Professional N, Small Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions). These versions will also include other unique features, such as a Windows Fax client, and the ability to join an Active Directory domain. However, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition will be able to join new home-oriented domains offered by a new Longhorn Server version codenamed Quattro.

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In the space of a couple years, the architecture track has swelled from a handful of sessions and a couple of panels, to a first class citizen of the overall Tech-Ed experience. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) made its presence felt from Steve Ballmer’s keynote, to the last minute chats at the conclusion of the conference, and in almost every after-hours conversation in hotel lobby lounges during the week. While Microsoft’s branding of SOA as “Connected Systems” did tend to muddy the conceptual water at times, the message is clear… hardly anyone is talking about the same thing when talking about service-oriented architectures.

Some ideological conflict seems to be centered not on the message-based architectures and patterns – which seem to be achieving defacto acceptance as the ultimate meaning of service-oriented architecture, but on the role of applications in a service-oriented architecture. For some architects, the word “application” simply means a set of rich user interfaces that tap into an underlying, asynchronous command-processing pipeline in a service-oriented utopia. This perspective rings with Sun Microsystems’ mantra, “The Network is the Computer” – in effect suggesting the service set is the application. For others, applications are applications, services are services, and that service infrastructure may connect distributed applications and make them reusable, but applications and services are inherently different and separate while still taking their respective places as essential and successive units of decomposition of the enterprise informatic wholarchy.

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