Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Development
    • Development

    An Eye on the Future

    By
    Peter Galli
    -
    December 2, 2002
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Now that the antitrust legal action against Microsoft Corp. has been settled, users are hoping the Redmond, Wash., software company can focus on the road ahead.

      More than anything, customers want to see Microsoft live up to its promise of continued interoperability and help make its next generation of software and hardware work together.

      “We need tool kits, software development kits and the like to help with that. Like any leader, Microsoft must be clear on their vision,” said Bob Duerr, president of Integrated E-com, in Naperville, Ill., which provides customer relationship management, e-CRM and e-commerce business solutions.

      “Why cant I easily export my PC-based [Microsoft] Outlook phone book to my cell phone or to my home phone? Why is unified messaging specific to a single system and a desktop?” Duerr pondered. “Why does my family have different calendars that do not speak to one another? Why does my sons school not have the ability to send me a school calendar that can be easily loaded into my calendar? Microsoft must be clear on their vision, and they have been most unclear about what .Net really is.”

      Microsoft also needs to change its focus. “The question is, how much more can an operating system do?” Duerr asked.

      Dave DeBona, an IT consultant for a national brick-and-mortar and online retailer in Columbus, Ohio, agreed. What the industry most needs to see from Microsoft is continued integration and interoperability initiatives on all fronts, DeBona said. “In particular, I would like to see more visible movement on making .Net available on other platforms,” he said.

      John Persinger, an internal network administrator for Source4 Inc., in Roanoke, Va., said he wants to see Microsoft lead the industry, particularly with .Net development tools. But, Persinger said, most important, its products need to work better and be more secure.

      To answer those challenges, Rick Devenuti, Microsofts CIO and a corporate vice president, told eWeek editors here last month that Microsoft is already stepping up the way it tests and runs products internally. It has some 6,000 servers at 450 sites worldwide, making it an enterprise customer itself.

      “Our No. 1 priority is to be Microsofts first and best customer. We will run the business on beta software and are the first customer to understand whats right and wrong with our product and whether its ready to ship to our customers,” Devenuti said.

      Products such as Microsofts upcoming Windows .Net Server family are being run internally with a number of key enterprise applications, adding a level of testing before being shipped to customers, he said.

      But Source4s Persinger remains skeptical, saying he does not expect Microsoft to change its behavior toward customers and partners or to alter its business practices, despite the recent antitrust settlement.

      “The sad thing about court cases over nontangible items is that its very easy to lose sight of what the actual goal is, and by the time its done, people can, and usually are, fooled merely by the perception of change rather than real results,” Persinger said.

      The justice system has allowed Microsoft to move on and do business as usual, he said.

      Integrated E-coms Duerr said the end of the litigation has probably forced Microsoft to look hard at its market and redefine what the company is. But, like any battleship, it will take them a long time to turn the ship, he said.

      “They have a strong, deep legacy of integrated products that will not be untwined. It will be on a going-forward basis that the impact will come,” Duerr said. “But they clearly do not identify with their customer groups, from the users of the operating system and Office; to those enterprise customers and their concerns about integration, communication and security; to developers who use their tools for add-ons to the operating system and VARs and resellers.”

      The settlement most likely will make Microsoft be more careful about how it integrates and distributes its products, a move that will affect its developers as well as the marketing and sales departments, he said.

      Source4s Persinger said he looks forward to greater clarity about Microsofts “next big thing”—its .Net initiative. Applications as a service is an area that will need a strong Microsoft push to move into use, he said.

      Although Windows will remain on the desktop of most consumers and in the office and although developers will continue to develop for Windows, Duerr said, Linux- or Unix-based network operating systems will gain strength.

      “Application providers will still build to the Windows desktop, even if they use a Unix- or Linux-based database or engine in the back office,” Duerr said. “Microsoft will continue to overpromise and underdeliver, I fear, while integration will undoubtedly remain an issue.”

      DeBona said he has already started to see subtle changes in Microsoft, mostly in how the company presents itself and its products. The one change he hopes to see more of is fewer software fixes and patches that have to be released, he said. He is also encouraged by Microsofts Trustworthy Computing initiative.

      “I know from personal experience it is time-consuming and difficult to change the way developers develop, but it can be done,” he said.

      Moving forward, DeBona said he expects Microsoft to partner or purchase key technologies that will further its platform.

      “I personally would like to see continued integration and interoperability initiatives across all fronts. In particular, I would like to see more visible movement on making .Net available on other platforms,” he said.

      Microsoft executives have also said the development cycle for upgrades is not always long enough. Jim Allchin, Microsofts group vice president of platforms, told eWeek earlier this year that the company wants to make Longhorn, the next version of Windows, “a very significant release. We are going to have a reasonable development cycle for this version, which means a lot of innovation can take place.”

      Peter Galli
      Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second largest banking group in South Africa before moving on to become Executive News Editor of Business Report, the largest daily financial newspaper in South Africa, owned by the global Independent Newspapers group.He was responsible for a national reporting team of 20 based in four bureaus. He also edited and contributed to its weekly technology page, and launched a financial and technology radio service supplying daily news bulletins to the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which were then distributed to some 50 radio stations across the country.He was then transferred to San Francisco as Business Report's U.S. Correspondent to cover Silicon Valley, trade and finance between the US, Europe and emerging markets like South Africa. After serving that role for more than two years, he joined eWeek as a Senior Editor, covering software platforms in August 2000.He has comprehensively covered Microsoft and its Windows and .Net platforms, as well as the many legal challenges it has faced. He has also focused on Sun Microsystems and its Solaris operating environment, Java and Unix offerings. He covers developments in the open source community, particularly around the Linux kernel and the effects it will have on the enterprise.He has written extensively about new products for the Linux and Unix platforms, the development of open standards and critically looked at the potential Linux has to offer an alternative operating system and platform to Windows, .Net and Unix-based solutions like Solaris.His interviews with senior industry executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux operating system, Sun CEO Scot McNealy, and Bill Zeitler, a senior vice president at IBM.For numerous examples of his writing you can search under his name at the eWEEK Website at www.eweek.com.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Careers

      SThree’s Sunny Ackerman on Tech Hiring Trends

      James Maguire - June 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Sunny Ackerman, President/Americas for tech recruiter SThree, about the tight labor market in the tech sector, and much needed efforts to...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×