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Microsoft has released a set of new software development kits for the Open Data Protocol to “make it easier for developers to access data from the cloud to create more compelling cross-platform Web applications,” the company announced March 16.
At its Mix conference for Web designers and developers, held in Las Vegas, Microsoft released the new SDKs “to enable developers to build immersive, cross-platform Web and mobile applications that use data delivered from the cloud.” Microsoft described OData as “an HTTP and Atom-based approach to data portability,” and said the new SDKs are “for a number of languages and platforms including .NET, Java, PHP, Objective-C (iPhone and Mac) and JavaScript.”
In an All About Microsoft interview regarding OData, Microsoft Software Architect Doug Purdy discussed the technology and some of Microsoft’s plans for it. According to a March 16 post by ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley:
““There are scenarios where users/developers might want to “mash up” consumer and enterprise data exposed via OData, Purdy said. He cited, as an example, a company that might want to get advertising and subscription data from Twitter or Facebook …Around the time of the November PDC, Microsoft realized “we needed to decouple the (OData) protocol from our implementation,” Purdy said. Microsoft is currently evaluating whether to take OData to a standards body, like IETF [Internet Engineering Task Force] or W3C [World Wide Web Consortium], to make OData an “official” standard, or whether it will continue to champion the protocol as a de facto standard.”“
Microsoft’s March 16 statement continued:
““In addition, Microsoft announced the second Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Microsoft code-named “Dallas,” an information marketplace powered by the Windows Azure platform, which provides developers with access to third-party datasets that can be consumed by Web and mobile applications. By making content and data available with an OData feed via “Dallas,” developers can access and monetize their data under their terms and pricing, which can be can built into applications to deliver unique user experiences.”“
Microsoft concluded, “Developers can take advantage of more than 30 data sets from content providers, including NAVTEQ, Pitney Bowes Business Insight, Weather Central and Zillow.com, available on the Dallas information marketplace. Developers can access the OData SDK at http://www.odata.org and download Dallas CTP2 at http://www.Microsoft.com/Dallas.“