On June 22, 2000, Microsoft Corp. announced a new strategy and vision for the company known as .Net, which it claimed would completely change the way companies use the Internet and transform Microsofts business. Neil Charney, the director of Microsofts Platform Strategy Group, talked to eWEEK Senior Editor Peter Galli last week about how far the company has come with its .Net and Web services vision, what this means for customers, and what Microsofts future vision for .Net and Web services involves.
When Microsoft launched its .Net initiative and vision three years ago, company officials talked about the proliferation of Web services. While many companies are experimenting with Web services, they still cite problems with application integration and say standards are lacking. Where are we with the evolution of Web services at this time?
We have made huge progress on the basic Web service infrastructure and interoperability: XML, SOAP, UDDI, WISDL. But on top of that were a set of specifications that would really enable a secure, reliable and transacted Web services. From an industry perspective, an incredible amount has taken place since we first launched .Net three years ago, when the concept of Web services was uncommon and misunderstood. A lot of our work over the past few years was communicating this new paradigm in computing and the other was delivering standards that would make this new computing model possible. Weve come a long way as an industry in embracing this model of computing and delivering the necessary pieces and protocols that are there.
But we still have a long way to go.
I think the place where the attention is now focused is around the vertical implementations or schemas. Vertical industries are evaluating and adopting Web services as a model, whether its the automotive or pharmaceutical industry, and understanding how those industries can implement this model is where a lot of the work on the standards process side is going. When we talk about customer implementation, there is no question that from an IT perspective, integration is the No. 1 concern. It has been estimated that for every $1 people spend on software, they spend between $8 and $20 on getting that software integrated. So, finding a solution to the integration challenge has been a primary focus for our customers. The adoption of Web services goes specifically to address that challenge.
Analysts and customers still maintain that Web services standards are lacking for delivering data over unreliable networks, securing data in transit, and for monitoring and controlling transactions. They also say ever-shifting Web standards is a big impediment to their adoption of Web services. Do you agree with this?
I disagree. We have really delivered a set of standards and protocols, and Microsoft has focused on architecture to make sure they work together. When we write the specifications, we make sure its engineered for simplicity, ease of use and functionality as well as making sure it meets the needs of the customer. When you look at the specs around reliability, transactions and security, a lot of thought went into ensuring these met the demands of the industry.
The whole idea behind Web services and XML is extensibility and the ability to innovate. The industry and customers have been clear and aligning around the common definition of SOAP, XML, UDDI and WISDL. Customers want the implementations to talk to one another, so when you see the vendors aligning around those key standards and protocols, thats a key benefit for customers as they dont have to do that integration following the purchase of a product. If you look back from where we were three years ago, its been incredible progress. But, is there more work to do? Absolutely. Users need to know how Web services will impact what theyre doing but also the opportunities it creates. Now that the basic plumbing architecture is out there, the vertical industries can now start to build on top of those.
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Why do you think Web services have not taken off the way Microsoft executives predicted two and three years ago?
There are certain areas where customers have implemented and are there, starting with Dollar Rent A Car and moving up to customers like the Port of Miami where they are using handheld Pocket PC devices to integrate with their back-end systems. So we have examples of customers implementing today. Regarding the vision painted three years ago, it was firstly just that, a vision. It was really trying to articulate the characteristics of this new model of computing, what it would deliver at the end of the day. A broad vision was painted that is certainly a vision that has kept us focused over the past few years of connecting information, people, systems and devices. Were very much committed to that vision. We also had to first lay down the protocols and standards. We all like instant results, but the reality is that it was a complex challenge to really shift the entire industry away from visualization of information through a browser into a much more flexible experience with data and information.
Are we 100 percent there yet? Absolutely not. Its the kind of thing where we are going to keep innovating and delivering. The first phase targeted the developers, delivering the tools and technologies to enable them to start building these solutions, while the next phase over the past year has been providing businesses with an understanding of the value of back-end integration and why it is important to their business. The real next phase is when we start to see the face of these Web services, where consumers are really able to experience applications in which information is integrated and happens. As businesses start to invest and business applications start to integrate via Web services, thats when the end user and consumer start to benefit most strongly.
Do you see a lot more consumers and businesses using Web services over the next year?
I do, and the irony is the consumer as an end user wont know that Web services are enabling many particular experiences. You wont experience the technology as much as the solution, but your experience will be a much more connected one. Take companies like Airborne Express, where customers no longer need to go to its Web site to track packages and see where they are. Users can now integrate directly into my task list in Outlook and see the current status of each of those packages. So I think we are starting to move to a situation where end users will start being able to consume these services more easily. Were certainly doing a lot of work around Office to enable that. Microsoft has been delivering the tools, and as we move forward with our own products you are starting to see that infused directly into the products themselves. We are a platform company and as these products and technologies become more widely available, you start to see the solutions ecosystem built on top of them.
What do you think it will take to see more businesses adopting and using Web services internally as well as externally?
More companies are implementing Web services than we realize. Many of our customers have found out that there are actually groups of their IT folks integrating via Web services today. Those are the best people to learn from as they are able to integrate and get results right away. What happens is that it takes on a grass-roots development within the company.
When Microsoft first talked about its Web services vision, it talked about an application hosting component as well as the providing foundation services to paying subscribers over the Internet. The consumer .Net My Services initiative didnt fly, and Microsofts hosted subscription software initiatives have also faded away. Are these forever gone for Microsoft, or were they just introduced too early?
We continue to be committed to the .Net My Services vision. We learned a lot from that model and got feedback from folks about how they would like to see those services managed and operated and in their own interest in managing and operating those services. The work that we have been doing recently is around providing that infrastructure that will enable different companies to implement and work on that. Some of our current services like Map Point are a great model for us of how to deliver services over the Web, and that is still something we see both ourselves and partners playing a significant role in. Thats a great ecosystem that we think still has the opportunity to develop. Part of the prerequisites there were infrastructure services needed to be running and protocols to enable that. Microsoft certainly continues to be interested in enabling and delivering that vision. How we do that, stay tuned, were committed to that vision.
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Microsoft has said it hoped that the .Net platform would be a powerful competitor and maybe even trump Sun Microsystems Java platform. But some analysts say the slow growth of Web services has prevented you from driving adoption of the .Net platform the way you would have liked. How do you respond to that?
It has opened up the conversation in a much more productive way. It no longer needs to be all Java or all Microsoft or anyone else. Companies are realizing that Web services allow them to make investments based on fundamental issues like is it cost effective? Does it do what I want and need it to? Do I get a return on my investment? Can I have it quickly and leverage the existing assets I have? So, Web services have enabled companies to look at more of a aservices-oriented architecture in the way they build their applications. In some cases that investment has been in Java; in others, companies want Web services flexibility and look to .Net for that. But it allows them to evaluate the different tools and technologies across the board.
Has customer adoption of the .Net platform met your expectations?
Yes, were pleased with the rate of adoption and success that weve seen out there, with a lot of data showing that we are the preferred Web services vendor as we didnt bolt this on as an afterthought. We really rearchitected Visual Studio .Net around that product, while SQL Server has those technologies as well.
Many people are saying that the term “.Net” has almost vanished from product names and Microsofts vocabulary, particularly after the last rebranding effort removed the .Net moniker from product names. This has created the perception among some that .Net was a failure and that Microsoft has abandoned it.
I think it is important to emphasize that .Net is our Web services strategy across the company and is fundamentally something we are absolutely committed to. When we shifted to Windows we made a lot of noise about that move, and in some ways weve done that with .Net. But as that became infused in everything we do, we are no longer using it as a version moniker. Its an assumed capability in every product. So we moved away from the .Net version component, but we are making sure that it is part of all of our products moving forward. Windows is the platform, and we can optimize on that platform. What .Net brings to the table is the ability to extend that solution out to any platform or programming language or application that speaks Web services. That really gives customers flexibility.
What is Microsofts top priority with .Net for the company over the next year?
Continuing that integration within all of our products and as that Web services stack gets higher and higher in capabilities in terms of security, reliability and transactional capability, you will see that infused in more of our products. So, really, deeper integration, productivity has always been a focus so we are going to make sure its easy to use and deploy the service-based applications. Thats where we are focused currently and moving forward and enabling that vision that we described three years ago.
So are you saying that Microsofts “digital lifestyle” vision of continuous Internet connectivity involving smart clients and integrated Web services is a possibility in the next year?
The next year, the next three to five years. There is no question we are all currently living digital lifestyles, but the question is how well those different digital experiences work with one another.
Are people becoming less concerned about the privacy and security of their personal information around Web services?
No, I think that is a constant concern and one we need to always keep in mind and to which we remain committed. The personal owning of that data and owning that personal information is something consumers and customers are very clear about. Weve been doing a lot of work around our security efforts that we really see as being important as a part of this. Were doing that in the industry standards work were doing along with other companies like VeriSign, as well as in our own products and technologies.
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