Talk about Microsoft. NET strategy

Strategy in the waste of the way forward



--Talk about Microsoft. NET strategy



Eric Liu (Liu Ruhong) 2004, sixth issue of the programmers magazine

Signature

Four years is a bucket for history, but for a commercial company, it's enough to regenerate a few times. Proposed from Microsoft. NET strategy has been close to four years now, how we should look at today. NET four years past the course, how to evaluate. NET strategy.





From a professional perspective, the past six months is really crazy, absolutely crazy, at least I am. There are many reasons, but the most important one is actually the changes that our company is experiencing. And today's introduction in a sense can be said that many people, especially me, spent countless sleepless nights, spent countless efforts to seriously think about this change. But in a sense, it was this change that prompted Bill Gates to make important decisions at the beginning of the year. We did spend all of our time thinking seriously about what the next generation of the internet would look like, how to combine so many parts, including some of the development we've done, to keep the world's leading position and become the 100% Bill Gates era.

Microsoft President and CEO--Ballmer

. Net of passion set sail
June 22, 2000, this is a day for all the "Microsoft people" to remember, because from this day on, Microsoft will be the next bet, a bet on all the wealth of the century gambling-this day, Bill Gates to the world to announce the next generation of software and services, that is, Microsoft. NET platform concept and implementation steps. The new generation of Microsoft. NET family products and Technologies replaces the previous "next-generation Windows Services" (NGWS), which covers software developers to help build the next generation of Internet services and to give powerful features to a new generation of smart Internet devices. In addition, Microsoft announced a new product plan based on the. NET platform, which includes the next generation of Microsoft Windows operating system, Windows DNA Server, Microsoft Office, MSN Internet Network Service, and Visual Studio development system.

Such a decision for Microsoft, which was already the world's leading is undoubtedly "betting", the next more than 10 years to the development of their construction of the. NET, of course, it is from that moment, the world's largest software company will also be left to promote the "Great dream."

At that time. NET
What is. NET?. NET What do you have? Some people also think that Microsoft deliberately blurs the concept of reality. NET is a continuation of Windows DNA (Distributed network architecture) and COM + and has not changed in nature. While such an understanding is sometimes biased, the problem is obvious and we are not so easy to understand "what is. NET".

The 2000 Microsoft white Paper defines this. Net:microsoft®.net is a Microsoft XML Web Services platform. XML Web Services allows applications to communicate and share data over the Internet, regardless of which operating system, device, or programming language is in use. The Microsoft. NET platform provides the necessary to create XML Web services and integrate them together. The benefits to individual users are seamless, engaging experiences.

We can clearly see the Microsoft for. NET is a platform for XML Web services, everything is a service, and the next generation of Internet applications will be built on WEB services, and the Microsoft. NET platform is comprised of the following technologies:

L. NET User Experience

L. NET infrastructure and tools

L. NET Service building block

L. NET Device Software





Users are always God, out of the user discussion strategy has no practical significance, in addition to the platform core technology advocated, Microsoft also promised to provide for individual users. NET user experience, which includes:

Windows. NET

MSN. NET

User subscription Service

Office. NET

BCentral for. NET

Visual Studio. NET








From these words we can see that Microsoft can almost add all of its products to the word ". Net", but is it because this is ". Net"?

Everything is. NET
Probably for the sake of reinforcement. NET in people's minds, Microsoft launched a dotnetialization at this time (. NET) movement, almost all traditional, innovative and fictitious products are labeled ". NET".

In order to expand. NET strategy, Microsoft has added the words ". NET" to many of its products that still use traditional technology. The most typical is the. NET Enterprise Server series released at the end of 2000. This set of server software has been hit. NET tag, but with the. NET technology does not have any relationship.

The idea of true innovation is Web Service. Microsoft was trying to push the Web service from the concept into the core of the application.

In addition, Microsoft has invented, or at least prematurely depicted, a number of new products and services named ". NET".

Everything is. NET, and the result is that Microsoft will. NET is known for its brand name, and its real concept is almost no one knows. In addition to providing some support for development tools, other aspects. NET advance a bit contrived feeling, more practical to say. NET strategy is only a platform for the CLR, and other aspects of the conceptual interpretation are far-fetched.









Hard and obscure. Net change finally brought Microsoft into an embarrassing situation,. NET Enterprise server is like a chimera in the water, and the introduction of Office XP In addition to the gorgeous graphics performance interface, there is not much to find and. NET, this is a period of lost and painful years.

Lost
After more than a year's hustle and bustle. NET has been getting hotter, and more and more people are starting to use. NET, at least starting to focus on this platform, C # correct pronunciation is well known. But, I can see, Microsoft's own. NET's attitude has undergone a subtle change. The original plan was too big for even a giant like Microsoft to control. How should I get to the road ahead? Microsoft has also lost its cause.

May 31, 2001 Office XP officially released, it is clearly not "legendary" in the Office.NET. Microsoft stressed that this version of the XP has increased the integration of "experience" (experience) and its network, while "user experience" and network integration are ". NET strategy ". But what is the real improvement? In addition to the original flat-screen graphics menu (which is dramatically like an object to be imitated by many software interfaces in the future), and built-in support for the SOAP Toolkit and its online search capabilities, we find that the Office.NET is vastly different from what we had expected.

Office development takes the form of scrolling, meaning that the next version of Office is already in development before Office XP is published. It is said that the ministry is really developing an ambitious office.net. In this radical plan, all visits are done through Web service, and the integration of applications and networks is unprecedented. Unfortunately, the product eventually miscarried and led directly to the resignation of a vice president. Is it technically too unrealistic or is Microsoft aware that the product is not acceptable to users? We have not known.

If office was too aggressive, what about the application servers that support the IT application infrastructure? Commerce Server 2002,biztalk server 2002,content Management Server 2002 in business applications, and so on, although to a certain extent with the support of the. NET Framework, But it feels a bit of a forced marriage by Microsoft, "in-laws", Visual Studio. NET support for its development is still a feeling of helplessness, and this write server does not provide a complete managed class library, a large part of the functionality still need to be done through COM to complete access. NET is a huge strategy, but in a short period of time hope to complete the migration to a new platform is not so easy, and at this time. NET Enterprise The 2002 version of the server family, although still a server cluster under a. NET name, is simply not a reflection of. NET's previous vision.

At this time the vs.net a bit alone feeling, after all, and other application server's union is not so satisfactory, and in the managed C + + performance is not enough as a system-level development tool, so there are still some people waiting, and will not consider the existing applications all migrated to. NET platform.

All this has not only manifested, but also led to Microsoft's confusion. A technical concept, if not combined with the products that are actually available, becomes a castle in the castles.

















For users, the most important thing is what can actually bring, rather than just bring the concept, experienced the confusion, Microsoft for. NET understanding finally "dust to dust, soil to Earth", through the spray mirror month, all the way determined to come.





Pragmatic
? On July 24, 2002, Bill Gates admitted in an internal speech that September 2000 was launched. NET Enterprise Server called. NET "is a bit sloppy", and it is from this time that Microsoft really began to rethink. NET strategy is too rampant and beyond the reach of their control.

In the reflection of abandon impetuous, in the pragmatic forward, after two years of noise and reflection. NET is 1.1 points into the real application.

? April 25, 2003, Windows Server 2003, which was named Windows. NET Server, is officially published. Windows Server 2003 was previously four-easy to name, and it was the first Windows operating system built to support the. NET Framework 1.1 and therefore qualified to wear it. NET, but the final name does not include the words ". NET", which is unexpected by many people.

On the same day, Microsoft released the second version of the. NET Framework Development tool, the Visual Studio.NET 2003, after a year of development, the 2003 version was finally accepted by more and more developers, in addition to correcting the 2002 version of some of the details of the error, It is also more robust and well compatible in the class library.

That's the beginning of the moment, VS. NET becomes one of the most powerful development platforms, a multi-language integrated development environment where developers can develop traditional Windows applications, develop Web applications, and provide good support for mobile development, enterprise-class components.

Office.NET is fading away, and Microsoft now understands that wishful design a completely Web service-centric version of Office is not feasible at least today. The latest version of Office 2003 was released on October 27, 2003 with a more conservative naming--office System 2003 enabled. Since office is no longer a pure client software, it is a complete enterprise information application platform, but it still has a long way to go in relation to the mythical Office.NET, but we can be sure that myth is just a myth, and Microsoft already knows what. NET means to the user.

On the server system side, the. NET Enterprise server is a bit of a reputation, more directly a fictitious name. To get closer to reality, Microsoft has named the new server system Windows Server systems, designed to build a deeply integrated server infrastructure, from enabling IT professionals to focus on meeting business needs.

It all shows that Microsoft is in. NET's promotion strategy has tended to be pragmatic. In fact, a new technology must have realistic product support. Microsoft's approach has been to combine new technology with its own strong products, so that end-user demand pushes developers to Microsoft technology. However, at the beginning of. NET promotion, this strategy was not well implemented. Only after this pragmatic phase did Microsoft return to its proper course. Combining. NET technology with the two major products of Windows and Office indicates that. NET has been on the road of steady development.


Future prospects
Longhorn needs to be released by 2006, and we can totally assume that this is what Microsoft proposed four years ago. NET strategy, one of the dreams that we want to achieve is to integrate the Internet while having a very good user experience. Microsoft promised to build these infrastructures within three years, and now it looks like it's going to take one more time, or six years. This so-called completely rebuilt operating system can be called. NET operating system, the Avalon (Graphics Rendering Technology), Indigo (communication subsystem), WinFS (file storage System) and pure. NET programming Interface WinFX.

Believe that 2006 years of Longhorn release,. NET should have been recognized by the industry, and there has been a considerable part based. NET success stories, for. NET FUD (FEAR/UNCERTAINTY/DOUBT, fear/uncertainty/doubt) has vanished, too. NET and the real meaning of the Java-EE stand on the same horizontal line up dialogue.

The Indigo subsystem in Longhorn, however, is a more transparent way to implement the deployment of the system, so "one-write, multiple deployments" is also possible. With. NET proposed that Microsoft has been advocating the smart client technology is also perfect embodiment, this time can not consider the difference between the desktop and the browser, if there is, then only a different way of deployment, and solve the problem is the core of XAML and its and Win32 API equivalent of WinFX technology.

"All is the Web Service", at that time really can do the original. NET strategy wants all subsystems to communicate via Web service (of course, the Web service at that time is no longer the efficiency of today). Anticipation is always looking forward to, after all, there are two years to wait and see, maybe in the future everything changed.

But we believe that the future. NET will succeed, just as Microsoft has always been a success, so today we are not considering whether to use. NET but consider when to choose. NET, of course, every time the choice and give up is a pain.









I don't know if it's intentional or purely accidental, marketing nouns and technical names and generic words all represent the same meaning at the same point in time: past and present, tradition and popularity.

. NET important technical thinking
. NET Remoting
From the COM (Component Object Model) ERA to DCOM (Distributed COM), Microsoft played a role as a catalyst. If COM provides an object communication technology on a Windows platform and is becoming the mainstream of communication and interaction between applications, then DCOM solves the communication and interaction technology of the computer.

COM is focused on the communication requirements between different applications on the same computer, and beyond the other computer, it is not the domain that the initial COM envisioned. Fortunately, communication between programs and across computers differs only in the processing of communication protocols (i.e., positioning problems), and the processing of type differences in data interchange does not differ. So to allow the environment of COM to extend further to the cross computer domain, as long as the proper solution to the needs of computer positioning, there is a chance to overcome. It is also fortunate that COM did not touch the problem of a cross computer at all in its initial design, making it unnecessary to destroy the original architecture by shelving a layer of cross-platform processing on the COM architecture. So COM's network extension DCOM (Distributed COM) appears, dedicated to enable COM components to continue to provide services in the network environment. DCOM is mainly dealing with two issues, the first one is network communication capabilities, the second issue is the issue of permissions. Before COM was to find a specific component on the same computer, DCOM went further to find a computer on the network, followed by the COM mechanism to find the components on the computer.

Here it is. NET, the problem of cross computer also needs corresponding technology to handle,. NET Remoting is a technology that corresponds to DCOM, it lets live in different application domain (AppDomain, one. NET, different execution programs, and objects on different computers can communicate and collaborate smoothly. After accumulating the experience of distributed applications for a long time, Microsoft has no reason to design things more difficult to use. In a sense,. NET Remoting provides a more easy-to-use development architecture than in the past to support communication across computers, eliminating the need for developers to build distributed applications, but such an "excellent" Distributed application framework is not what it should be. Treatment ". Compared to the Java RMI, it is simpler while retaining design flexibility while discarding some of the drawbacks of DCOM, in the context of an environment in which the front and back ends must interact in a stateful manner, while expecting the action of the call and data exchange to be carried out in the most efficient manner possible. NET Remoting is a more appropriate option.

The problem is that Microsoft's own fanatical commitment to XML Web services has left. NET remoting lost in its own position, meaning that the excesses of XML Web services have made. NET Remoting forget the role they should assume, So it becomes a "dispensable" piece in the developer's eyes, at least for many developers, the first thing to consider when creating a distributed application is XML Web Services, rather than an enterprise's internal application, especially if you can control the server and client platforms (for example, completely based on . NET platform, the Web service is unable to demonstrate its advantages because of its efficiency and so on. In terms of technology itself,. NET Remoting is a very good architecture, but in business, this is a failure, after all, the design of a good product and then shelved inevitably "outrageous."

The. NET remoting is precisely the victim of this strategy, although it has the inherent advantages, but still untimely.

Enterprise Services
From a very direct sense, Enterprise services is only a wrapper for COM +, from the usage and technology implementation itself, and VB or VC under the use of COM + services There is no essential difference, and more just a layer of managed code packaging, let. NET developers have the ability to use these services more smoothly.

Compared to the application servers on the Java platform such as Bea's WEBLOGIC,IBM websphere or open source JBoss, Microsoft hopes to be able to take a slice of the enterprise application, but because of its congenitally deficient business, load balancing, Failover and so on technology performance is not so satisfactory, at least the concept of a very clear application server (application Server), although Microsoft more than once emphasized that the operating system itself is an application server, an IT information infrastructure. But from the actual use of developers, this is an "obscure" product.

Although the. NET framework has changed a lot of things, as the most important support technology in enterprise applications--transactions and services--has not been developed to the same extent, I think this is where many large enterprise applications are currently not selected. NET, after all, from Mts--com+--enterprise Services, this way Microsoft is not always providing a very transparent mechanism for developers to control the various links (possibly with Microsoft's long-standing strategy, Just care about the most extensive application rather than the top end of the application, and. NET in the so-called Enterprise services, and competitors to provide a considerable amount of EJB still has a big gap, this is a few days ago Microsoft can not solve the soft rib.

Web Service
From the outset, Microsoft has introduced it as a "play" and has added XML with some fun, and that "XML Web Services" has become. NET strategy is a very important term, as Microsoft's white paper says, "Microsoft®.net is Microsoft XML Web Services platform," Microsoft passed. NET to change the existing Internet structure, "Windows is moving in the past," the propaganda is that the communication between the subsystems are entirely based on web Service, then, as the WIN32 developers have been plagued by the formation of registration, distribution, and so a series of problems can be resolved, and can use more language more platform to develop the application.



"Everything is a web Service," This is a rash move, at least for 4 years ago in the world, and this four years, although the Web Service has many many advantages can let us "praise", but is not "tiger", such as the scale of the performance and security problems also hinder the web Service Eminence, other distributed application architectures can still have their own living space in specific areas.



This time, Microsoft overestimated the Web Service, although the current. NET is the best platform for implementing XML Web services, Visual Studio. NET also provides a top to bottom wrapper, allowing developers to be completely indifferent to the underlying implementation of the Protocol, such as soap, such as object serialization, such as WSDL, because everything can be done automatically in the IDE. We do not deny that because. net,web service has come into application from the concept, and WSE 2.0 is a more Web service with interoperability, but still can not change the view of the developer, Only when the Enterprise extranet application integration or internal heterogeneous platform integration can reflect the advantages, in need of high response and service support applications, WEB service is just a myth.



asp.net
We can't deny that this technology is a disruptive change for developers, from static HTML to CGI to the asp/jsp/php era, we all have to understand HTML, and to understand HTTP, for a high level of developers, need to grasp far more than this, In the era of scripting, we have to be very clear about the details of the implementation, including HTML,JAVASCRIPT,CSS, and server-related request, Response. Most directly, developers must strictly control the production of all HTML and its related content, and the script brings only a more advanced "automation" than the CGI hierarchy.

Then, ASP. NET changes all of this, WebForm allows Web developers to handle page events as well as Windows developers, while fully accessing the powerful. NET Framework class libraries, and the precompiled mechanism solves the inefficiencies that ASPs have been doing for a long time. On the server side of the design, the original ISAPI based on the new implementation of HttpHandler and Httpmoudle, thus providing developers with a highly scalable possibility, and a few days ago more mature weblog engine. Text is the classic of these techniques.

The built-in integration of XML Web Services makes asp.net the best implementation of Web service applications, with quite a few days of web Service is based on ASP.net, and in this regard asp.net has gone far beyond the Java Community's technology, including JSP, including struct, including JSF, and other relevant Web applications, which can be very well integrated in asp.net.

We cannot deny the fact that a significant portion (I personally think is mostly) of the developer turned. NET is because asp.net, for ASP developers, ASP.net provides more powerful features, many in the ASP must rely on component technology to solve problems such as file upload on the new platform has become built-in support, of course, more importantly, rely on visual Stuio.net's powerful integrated development environment can multiply productivity. And the other platform's developers turned to ASP.net I think it's because of the flexible design and its convenient development, I believe that not many people will suspect that ASP.net has been at the forefront of web development.

Of course, nothing is absolutely perfect in the. NET Framework 1.1, which is. NET's second version), too many postback have been a source of complaint for developers, and the use of WebForm development has made it difficult for many developers to handle client-side scripting and all event implementations are dependent on ViewState, so network applications at low bandwidth The constant submission also makes some users feel "annoyed".

The world is not absolutely perfect, but it will be 1.1 points to perfect, perhaps ASP.net 2.0 there are too many things to look forward to.







Ado.net

I believe you will not forget ADO (ActiveX data Object), I think Windows above the database development popular it is not, through a unified interface to achieve access to the database, thereby shielding the complex database access protocol. And there it is. NET ERA, ADO. NET further "evolution" of data access, do not think that ado.net is just an upgrade of ADO, in the technology of ADO provides a managed class library, in addition to the data access framework, there are not many essential associations.



Although the shock of ado.net is far inferior to other technologies, there are still a lot of things we should go to rejoice, after all, innovation is always a good thing, not to mention the innovation brought by this most successful software company, so let's see what it brings:



1. In addition to the traditional ADO Connection,command, we accidentally did not see objects such as the recordset, but instead provided DataReader to handle the forward scrolling data access, the most important thing is to join the concept of the dataset, Because of this, we can achieve a lot of database applications need "Disconnected application", can achieve "inproc-database", and all this, through the dataset can be well resolved.



2. Provides a pool of database connections in a more transparent way, while developers can control how they are run in a way that changes.



3. The only difference between the implementation of the specific adapters is that they are DataAdapter to enable developers to access heterogeneous databases in a uniform way.



4. The Typed dataset makes it easy for developers to map the table and field in a Dataset to a custom class.



5. With good support for XML, all datasets can be serialized or deserialized into XML documents very easily.



Of course, ado.net is not omnipotent, in the Data persistence layer (information presistent Layer) support is obviously not as good as Java, so far there is not a great R/O mapping tool, and the Java aspect of the hibernate has been very mature, ADO. NET 2.0 Objectsapce may be able to change the current situation, let us patiently to wait, although it will take 2005 years.















"We are only 18 months away from bankruptcy", the world's most successful software company for its own warning, so he is always at the forefront, through the concept of pragmatic-the concept of the cycle of change again and again, while changing the world.

. NET changed what?
Microsoft, are you still "Micro"?
The original Microsoft is no longer "Micro", more than 20 years of high-speed growth, the software company started from the PC has long been global, in addition to the PC to maintain an absolute monopoly advantage, in the server market, has also launched the impact of high-end applications, Windows 2000 is the classic of this campaign, according to the consistent strategy, Microsoft relies on its price advantage and the simplest operating interface to Exchange 1.1 points for the "heart" of small and medium-sized enterprises, and for large enterprise applications, although it can not change its "clown" image, but it is obvious that the relationship is increasingly "ambiguous."

A lot of people in the comments industry think that Microsoft is a company that started sales, after all, Microsoft's technology is never the best, but can laugh to the end, we cannot deny that for a long time Microsoft relied on Windows and office sales to support the company's high-speed operation, but. NET strategy is the introduction of Microsoft from sales to service-oriented enterprises. After all, with the development of technology, the operating system and office software on the profit has become more and more transparent, coupled with the impact of Linux and Microsoft's own old products such as Windows 98,office 97 and so is enough "easy to use," the result will inevitably be the enterprise IT procurement costs significantly reduced, Microsoft itself must look for better business models to get a steady income.

Bring the Windows age into. NET Era ", for Microsoft, need to do a lot of, including its own positioning, including how to break the user's worries and fears, of course, has been not very friendly PR image. So. NET strategy has become a new battlefield for Microsoft.

Changed the developer
A lot of people are complaining about new tech updates too fast, if you follow Microsoft always need to constantly learn new technology, and relatively other technical update is not so, at least to maintain a period of stability, this is from C + + so many years of development and Java can be seen.

However, the world is always changing, there are many things are constantly changing, rather than refuse to change and then linger, rather than to embrace change, of course, here is not the blind follow the change, and then become a "language learning machine." 4 years of development,. NET has gradually grown into an application platform that can be used against Java EE, and in the low-end application development, can significantly improve productivity, this is why.

But Microsoft is. NET marketing is not very successful and simply, at least in terms of Web service for the vast number of developers is a misleading, the world does not have an absolute "silver bullet", Java is not,. NET will not be, and the XML Web service in Microsoft's own positioning of the repeated uncertainty also makes people a bit tired.





Bring a new choice, bring higher productivity, bring a new idea, as a front-line developer, we used to choose a tool or platform confused, confused, fanatical, chasing, finally determined or give up.



This world is a world that needs to be constantly explored. NET is also true. In general. NET, experience from fanaticism to confusion, in to pragmatic, and thus gradually towards the mature process.