Bye, Bye WinOE: Hello Windows Workflow Services

WinOE WOE

In this respect, WinOE, er I mean WWS, follows in the footsteps of Windows Sharepoint Services (or WSS). WSS started out in the SharePoint Portal Server group and ended up in the OS as basic plumbing for collaboration. The workflow work is the product of a collaboration between BizTalk brainiacs and the Windows group, and has occasionally been referred to by Microsoft execs but then gets sucked back under the cone of silence. The latest to refer to the technology was Stuart Kwan, director of program management for identity and access technologies for Microsoft. Say that three times fast.

It'll be interesting if the silence resumes or if Microsoft will further blow out its plans at TechEd next week in Orlando. At any rate, the company is hiring for the effort.

The previous muffling of WWS noise is probably an attempt to allay confusion: At Microsoft it's often politically touchy to talk about where upcoming techs will reside. WWS could show up in the all-encompassing-but-still-distant Longhorn or perhaps parsed out among other servers. Or maybe Office. CRN's last information was that WinOE/WWS would first surface as part of Visual Studio 2005.

Microsoft partners, while acknowledging this is a tad nebulous, said the company does need to rationalize its workflow situation and put all of its effort into one set of technologies. Right now there are several workflow bits and pieces floating around the various groups from MBS to BizTalk.

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