Microsoft Demos Next .Net: Greenwich .Net Messenger, Notification Server

Microsoft

Acknowledging that the company's planned .Net MyServices platform has been "recalibrated," Bill Gates pointed to a number of the former .Net MyServices being repositioned as .Net servers and stand-alone .Net services.

"We made a couple of missteps on this," said Gates, giving the company a grade of C on its XML Web services efforts thus far. "There's very modest progress in terms of that. ... We need a connection between the database and XML capabilities to core, code-named Yukon. We need to tie those store extensions and other XML standard queries to .Net MyServices. We did a bit of a reset."

The software giant plans to launch next year a host of new technologies, including a realtime communication and collaboration server code-named Greenwich, due during the first half of 2003. The Greenwich server will also be spun off as a Web service to be called .Net Messenger, Gates said. Greenwich is based on the Presence Service, planned as part of the former HailStorm platform, which was unveiled in spring 2001.

In addition, while touting the unified XML store of its forthcoming Yukon database, Gates said Microsoft plans to launch a SQL Notification Server this August that is now in beta testing.

The .Net Notification Server is based on the existing .Net Alerts Web Service.

Gates and other Microsoft executives noted that Microsoft is going to integrate XML markup capabilities in its forthcoming Yukon unified store so that users and corporations can exploit the massive amounts of corporate knowledge in the company store.

Microsoft also plans to provide a technology code-named Windows TrustBridge during the first half of 2003 that will federate its own Active Directory to other WS-security enabled directories in the future.

Microsoft's Web-based Passport authentication system and internal AD-based directory will be completed by the shipment of a technology that can glue or federate internal corporate directories to outside directories for seamless e-business, Gates said.

Microsoft executives also noted the importance of forthcoming Web service standards that will revolutionize Web services development, including Digital Image Mime Encoding (DIME) and routing, messaging, transactions and business processes standards due to be delivered by the end of 2003.

Microsoft is also preparing to ship new versions of Visual Studio.Net--its only .Net-branded product now on the market making money--optimized for developers and Yukon, according to a company statement issued on Wednesday. The Everett edition of Visual Studio.Net, version 1.1, is designed to exploit the forthcoming Windows.Net server and will include the Web Matrix code, executives said. The Visual Studio.Net edition for Yukon is due later.

Gates said Microsoft has made solid progress on its .Net platform, but breaking down the barriers between systems, people, software applications and organizations is a long-term goal whose mission is far from being fulfilled. "This is 100 percent a software challenge," said Gates, referring to the design of XML schemas and tools. "This is a software problem, and one of the toughest software problems ever tackled ... tougher than getting to the moon or designing a 747."