.Net enters formative years
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
First we had Windows 2000, then Windows XP, and now .Net Server, Microsoft's latest and most ambitious effort yet to redefine enterprise computing. But unlike Microsoft's previous server operating systems, the .Net implementation is expected to form not only the optimal platform for all existing applications, but also for a range of as yet unimagined, loosely coupled apps that are today but a gleam in developers' eyes. Although Microsoft has never lacked the ability to dream, the company is still dogged by its assumption that the majority of applications will only run on a proprietary Windows server platform in the future.
According to analysts, the task that Microsoft has set itself is not an easy one. Microsoft is gradually bringing all the elements of next generation Web services components to the table, but it risks sending a message that it owns the entire platform, said Dwight Davis, vice president and practice director at Summit Strategies. "Microsoft is the only company that can tie it all together," Davis said.