David Coursey
What's the MS monopoly that REALLY matters?
   It's...
   David Coursey,
   Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
   Thursday, February 14, 2002 Talk back!

   Ordinary people don't pay too much attention to software-development
   tools. And this is just the way Microsoft likes it. Why? Because while
   the world argues, debates, and even sues over Microsoft's dominance
   over things like Web browsers and operating systems, it's able to
   quietly control the hearts, minds, and digital tool chests of the
   people who create the software we use every day.

   And why would Microsoft want to do that? Well, controlling
   developers--and the tools they use--is just the most insidious way it
   stamps out competition. Programmers get hooked on Microsoft's tools
   because they're so easy to use. After that, they tend to use other
   Microsoft products, too. As time goes on, it becomes more and more
   difficult for developers to follow a competitor's path.

   IFRAME:
   http://www.zdnet.com/fcgi-bin/becky/ifc/RGROUP=2160/CREATIVE=a74456




   I AM REMINDED of this on the occasion of Microsoft's launch of its new
   Visual Studio.Net, its next-generation suite for people who build
   software applications for a living. It supports 20 programming
   languages--including Microsoft's new C# (say C-sharp)--and is cool
   enough that even a non-coder like me can appreciate the advance it
   represents.

   Last summer I spent a day playing with a beta release of the software
   and was impressed at how helpful VS.Net is in making the
   sometimes-arduous task of software development a bit easier.

   More importantly, at least from Microsoft's strategic view, is that
   Visual Studio.Net is the first tool that gives programmers the ability
   to develop the Web services that everyone--everyone being IBM, Sun,
   and Microsoft--seems to agree are the future of software development.
   (See my recent column for more on why Web services are a big deal.)

   If developers take a liking to its new tools, Microsoft will be in an
   excellent position to rule the Web services world. Developers who use
   Visual Studio.Net will likely also choose to use--and design software
   for--other members of the .Net family. I'm talking about .Net servers,
   and services such as Passport, Microsoft's controversial
   user-authentication scheme. See how this works?

   I CAN'T WRITE ABOUT the advent of the Web services era in computer
   programming without mentioning something: Lots of other people thought
   of this before Microsoft.

   Getting into this too deeply will require a level of technical detail
   that will result in drowsiness for all of us, so just accept my word
   that a lot of what Microsoft calls Web services could previously be
   implemented in Unix.

   And Sun's Java programming language/environment has been promising Web
   services since its introduction. Of course, Sun didn't call these Web
   services until recently--it started using the term only after
   Microsoft made it cool.

   Say what you will about Microsoft, but the company has an amazing
   ability to get the industry pointed in the same direction. Microsoft
   usually isn't the company that first discovers a new direction, but
   once Redmond latches onto a concept, amazing things can happen.

   WE'VE SEEN THIS before. In late 1995, when Microsoft noticed it was
   lagging on the Internet, it made Internet development Job No. 1. In
   little more than a year, the Net became a key component of all aspects
   of Microsoft's business. More recently, Microsoft has named both Web
   services and security (or Trustworthy Computing, as Bill Gates calls
   it) its current top jobs. Expect to see some serious advancement in
   these areas, now, too.

   For years, Sun used the slogan "the network is the computer," an
   intriguing promise the company was never really able to make good on.
   With Web services, this notion--that the computer is a collection of
   distributed hardware and software working together--should finally
   come together.

   But while Sun and IBM will play key roles in the development and
   acceptance of Web services, it will be Microsoft that decides how the
   game is played. And it will do so, at least in part, because it
   controls many of the tools developers will use to build them.

   Should Microsoft be criticized for its domination of developer tools?
   Or is it just good business? Will Microsoft's .Net rule Web services
   like MS rules OSes and Web browsers? Or does Java have a chance?

     Next Story

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