ISVs Tout Programming Benefits Of Longhorn Windows

Developers roaming the packed corridors at the company's Professional Developers Conference this week said the new capabilities will force traditional Windows developers,as well as solution providers,to move higher up the food chain.

"The technology takes the difficult work of everyday programmers and puts it in the hands of platform developers, opening doors for a new class of developers," said Geoff Preston, chief architect at Telution, a Chicago-based ISV that sells operation support software for the telecommunications industry. "As developers, the trick is to understand how to integrate it all together."

The Avalon presentation services, Indigo Web services code, WinFS file system and WinFX programming model in the next version of Windows will give ISVs, as well as solution providers and line-of-business executives, access to the inner workings of the OS like never before, Microsoft's development executives said.

However, there's plenty of time to get up to speed: The next version of the Windows client isn't due until 2005,at the earliest, Microsoft said. Early bits of Longhorn code were handed out at the conference, but the first beta isn't expected until the second half of 2004.

"WinFX is a direct descendant of the .Net framework so the art of writing applications and managed code is easier. Like the way HTML brought in a new level of Web programmers, it will have the same effect for people without computer science degrees to build really amazing applications," John Montgomery, director of Microsoft's developer division, told CRN during an interview at PDC 2003.

Montgomery said ISVs and solution providers such as Clarity Consulting and Interknowledgy are already tinkering with the WinFX APIs, XAML markup language and Indigo Web services stack on next-generation solutions.

The XAML language offers advanced document presentation services and adaptive, flowable layouts that quickly generate video, images, text and graphics piped through same rendering stack.

"XAML will make it easier for solution providers to sit down with customers and do a mockup UI of the application, " Montogomery said. "Partners told us that it's hard to implement .Net today, and building Web services isn't easy. Indigo uses all the standard Web services protocols and gives a productive programming model."

ISVs who got early beta bits last week are optimistic the changes in Windows will help them developer better interfaces, applications and Web services.

"I see a lot of potential for it. We do a lot of customer UI development, and Avalon will make it so much easier," said Scott Andrew, an engineer at Sonic Solutions, an ISV in Novado, Calif., who stood outside a packed session at PDC 2003. "The big thing coming is Avalon because it will give us a bigger bang for the buck."

Veritas Software, a leading Microsoft storage partner, said the Longhorn SDK and future Windows will allow ISVs to more easily develop end-to-end Web services solution for the mobile workforce.

"There are better tools for deploying applications to remote users," said Michael Ivanov, director of Windows Solutions Product Management at Veritas, who is based in Heathrow, Fla. ""It'll be easier to compile the application in multiple formats, and for multiple devices, and deploy them out to the field quickly."

Microsoft also pushed the WinFS file system and new sidebar feature in the Longhorn Windows for value-added opportunities.

During a session on WinFS at PDC 2003, for instance, an executive touted the ability for solution providers to use the extensible file system to quickly build "stacks" or projects that incorporate and synchronize all relevant data,including document, slides and contacts from e-mail, buddy lists and CRM systems, for specific meetings or trips.

Others pointed out the ability for developers to integrate information agents that can act on data and push out notifications into the Longhorn sidebar GUI, which can alert their clients to changing product inventory levels, flight changes or version changes to a Powerpoint presentation.

One Microsoft partner and custom programmer said the Longhorn technologies will still require expert programming, but there's no doubt application development and Web services design will be much easier going forward.

"You still can't be a nonprogrammer to do this. But before, this stuff was available only to programmers who work at the API level and C++ and now it's becoming more accessible to people who won't go to that level," said Andrew Brust, CEO of Progressive Systems, New York. "It'll scare some programmers."