Vision of "s + S": Install "Windows" for the Internet [draft]

Bill Gates said in the PC age 20 years ago: "We need to have a PC on every household's desk ". 20 years later, Windows has been deeply rooted in the hearts of every PC user. At the same time, Windows has also provided a stage for the development of PC software. now Bill Gates handed over Microsoft's leading technical flag to Ray rozzie. called "the top programmer in the universe" by Bill, he proposed the "S + S" strategy. as Microsoft's most ambitious technology strategy in the Internet age, can we continue writing the PC myth of bill? It has become the focus of attention.

 

First glance "s + S"
"S + S" is the abbreviation of software + services. This policy divides Microsoft products or services into two parts:
Software: mainly refers to the front-end display layer, including desktop clients (such as Vista and office) and smart/mobile terminals (such as Windows Mobile). Services: mainly refers to the backend data module, including cloud computing services (such as Windows Live and exchange online) and Enterprise backend (such as BizTalk)

Microsoft is trying to connect desktop software and Enterprise Server software environments built over the past 10 years to the Internet. from the original single local installation and deployment + licensed software business model, expanded to the cloud-based computing + rental of computing resources software model.

Take the common desktop software outlook and server-side software Exchange Server as an example. "S + S" provides users with a variety of options.
Select the traditional C/S (Client/Server) application model. The exchange server end is false inside the Enterprise, mail push, event reminder, and other exchange applications are running behind the firewall.
Select the service mode of thin client and remote services cloud computing. enterprises bypassed the IT department and threw it structure management issues to service providers. Enterprises only need to deploy lightweight services and access services through browsers.
The traditional implementation and remote implementation models are mixed. enterprises can deploy the client outlook and Exchange Server locally, and can also call remote services.

 

"S + S" was born in the SAAs era"
When talking about "s + s", you cannot mention SaaS (software-as-a-service ). SAAS is the most promising new software application model in the past few years. the SAAs era is coming to us.

Three things have taken place in this era: the cost of IT computing resources is getting lower and lower, and computing power is doubling. The IT computing platform turns to the Internet, which gives people the ability to access all these resources and connect to all employees, and the cost is extremely low or even no cost. The Earth has been flattened, and IT technology has narrowed the distance between people and enterprises.

The background of this era puts forward a new demand for the development of software technology: software requires a new delivery method. In the case of "software as a service", the software simply runs on a remote server and is accessed over the Internet. The software requires a new form of organization. In the SOA service-oriented architecture, software services from inside and outside the firewall are combined. The software requires a new application model. Under the "Web2.0 participation architecture. The more people collaborate to use the application, the more meaningful and valuable the application is. Focus on building software for end users based on their needs.

As a result, SAAS has been born out. Let's take a look at the differences between SaaS and traditional software applications.
License: in traditional mode, you are usually granted a permanent license and you have full ownership of the application. SAAS applications are generally licensed to use, and charges are collected based on the number of times of use.
Location: In the traditional mode, applications deployed internally are installed in the enterprise's IT environment. SAAS applications run in Saas service providers.
Management: the traditional model is that the enterprise IT department is responsible for providing IT services, which is a heavy workload. SaaS applications are fully managed by suppliers or SaaS owners.
 
Through the above discussion on "s + S" and SaaS, we will find that the common goal of both is to promote the transformation of enterprises to a service-centric model migration. The biggest value of service-centric is that enterprises can not only consume services from Internet cloud computing, but also provide services to Internet cloud computing. Different enterprises can share valuable IT assets with each other to achieve a win-win situation.

 

What is the "S + S" Software Service-Oriented answer?
Software services provide a beautiful picture for enterprises. at present, there are many SaaS providers. Google's desktop and Amazon's AWS are both representative products of SAAS. Both individual and Enterprise Services have achieved remarkable results. However, the problem is how to unify the software service standards. take salesforce.com, which is very familiar to everyone. it adopts private service establishment standards. To develop services based on the salesfoce.com platform, enterprises also need to use the specific language of the salesforce.com platform. if there is no uniform standard for all cloud computing service providers. in the end, it may be difficult to achieve the ideal software servitization.

The vision of "s + S" is to copy the Windows-based standards accumulated over the years to cloud computing on the Internet, becoming a software service standard.
Development Standards: Microsoft's biggest bet in the past decade. NET is still the pillar of Microsoft.
Software Establishment Standard: The potential of Microsoft's WCF makes it the basis for Microsoft's SOA software establishment.
User interaction standard: the new-generation user experience technology represented by WPF and Silverlight forms the user interface model in S + S.
Client standard: Microsoft Office has become the most familiar client software for Internet Service Access in enterprise applications.

Let's look at "s + S"
After understanding the vision of "s + s", we will find that the software in "S + S" is not software in the traditional sense. It is a new generation of software that can be deployed at zero cost. This is the key to the success of "s + S. There are multiple methods to achieve zero-cost software deployment. Ria is a mainstream solution. Microsoft's Silverlight and Adobe's air are currently the main Ria solutions. Another way to solve this problem is to make efforts to popularize the "Ubiquitous" software, such as turning Office into the "S + S" Software End. Since office is widely installed, the deployment and maintenance of new applications can also be zero cost ." The service in S + S is not a simple "final service ". When most people hear a saying like "service" or "Saas", they will think that the service refers to "finished service ). They believe that a service provides the functions required by end users-out-of-the-box, simply open a browser, log on, and perform the operations in steps. For example, Windows Live, office live for small businesses, and dynamics live CRM are all valuable services for users, individuals, and IT organizations. In addition, Microsoft also proposed the concept of "attached service". For example, one of the main functions provided by the recently released office live workspace is actually remote document sharing. If office is installed on your client, if you collaborate in the same way as many other office users by email attachments and encounter version control problems, office live workspace provides you with a remote service. This service enables you to effectively share these documents across firewalls of different enterprises. Finally, there is a very meaningful service for developers-building block service ). Users may never see these services because they are intended for programmable interactive end-user services. Taking Windows Live as an example, some Windows Live terminal user services are open to developers in a programmable manner for calling. We collectively refer to them as Windows Live platforms.

 

The future of "s + S"
According to Ray rozzie's "S + S" strategy, "s + S" has four pillars of development: Experience and delivery), federation, and aggregation ):
In terms of experience, "s + S" covers three key customer components: easy-to-deploy browsers, rich clients, and Microsoft Office software on the information work platform.
In terms of delivery, "s + S" provides a variety of delivery methods to allow customers to choose the form of Software Delivery.
In terms of alliances, "s + S" is a cross-organizational, bottom-up approach, and data, business logic, and service connections form an organic whole.
In terms of aggregation, "s + S" has reached a new development level, aggregating services, data, and user experience. First, it is based on services, establish SOA on the basis of services, and then build office commercial applications on the basis of SOA, as the actual user interface.

 

 

If you are still making a trade-off between traditional software models and remote cloud services. At least for now, "s + S" provides a "fish and bear's paw" answer that allows the Internet to be installed with windows.

 

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References:
David Chappell: Software + services in the Microsoft Word
Http://www.davidchappell.com/blog/index.html

Msdn: software as a service (SAAS): enterprise perspective
Http://www.microsoft.com/china/msdn/library/architecture/aa905332.mspx? MFR = true

Meng Yan's blog: from Saas to S + S: to retreat
Http://blog.csdn.net/myan/archive/2007/11/27/1903804.aspx

Ark, programmer magazine: software is not enough-a glimpse of Microsoft's + s strategy