Microsoft Extends Visual Studio 2005 Features For Partners

The Redmond, Wash., software giant last week announced a toolset and framework that plugs into the Whitehorse application modeling technology in Visual Studio 2005 Team System. It allows integrators to build custom application and Web service models for specific business processes and vertical/horizontal practices.

The new framework, which supports Domain Specific Languages (DSLs), will enable Microsoft's systems integration partners—including Unisys, Siemens, EDS and Capgemini—to develop custom modeling tools for business processes, thereby allowing them to more effectively take on competitors such as IBM Global Services, partners said.

"Microsoft's support for the incorporation of [DSLs] and related visual designers into Visual Studio [2005] is an important innovation," said John Parkinson, chief technologist for the Americas region of Capgemini. "DSLs represent the next generation of productivity and speed to deployment for a wide range of vertically oriented automation scenarios. Integrating multiple third-party DSL capabilities into Virtual Studio.Net allows developers to leverage tools and processes they are already familiar with."

The tool is part of Microsoft's Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) program, which allows systems integrators, ISVs and tools vendors to integrate tools, components and languages into the Visual Studio IDE.

As part of VSIP, Microsoft also plans to debut in the next beta of Visual Studio 2005—due in the first quarter of next year—a Data Designer EXtensibility feature that will give developers and integrators a better design center for SQL Server, confirmed Prashant Sridharan, Microsoft's lead product manager of Visual Studio 2005. Data Designer EXtensibility extends key data features to any data source or provider.

Microsoft acknowledged it originally planned to make the Whitehorse modeling component in Visual Studio 2005 Team System a tool for enabling business analysts to do more development, but was unable to meet that goal in this release. Support for DSL will help fill that gap, Sridharan said.

"It was originally our goal to build out the business-process analysis [into Whidbey], but version 1.0 won't do that," said Sridharan, noting that Unisys is developing a number of designers for all of their practices.