November 24th, 2009

Can (and will) Microsoft keep Silverlight compatible across platforms?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:47 am

Categories: .Net Framework, App Compatibility, Apple, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Linux, Novell, PDC 2009, Silverlight (wpf/e), Windows Mobile, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft Corp., COM, ActiveX/COM/COM+/DCOM, Middleware, Microsoft Windows, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Enterprise Software, Software

As Microsoft made plain at its Professional Developers Conference last week, there’s no end in sight to the list of new features and functionality it plans to add to Silverlight.

Some developers who have been on the fence about whether they should be developing Windows applications using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) or Silverlight applications see a light at the end of the tunnel of confusion. Microsoft is adding more and more WPF features to Silverlight (and vice versa). But as Tim Anderson, an IT journalist/blogger noted last week, there is a downside to this strategy: By adding technologies like COM support to Silverlight, Microsoft is doing damage to its story that Silverlight is a cross-platform browser plug-in that supports Windows, Mac — and, thanks to the Mono folks at Novell , Linux — equally.

(The Register’s Gavin Clarke and I talk more about the risks of making Silverlight better on Windows than other platforms during our latest episode of the Microbite podcast.)

The COM object support that Microsoft is promising for Silverlight 4, the version of Microsoft’s Web application framework/plug-in due to ship by mid-2010, is applicable to Silverlight running on Firefox or Internet Explorer on Windows only. Neither Mac OS X nor Linux support COM.

Microsoft officials were quick to note that adding access to COM components was a customer request, not something Microsoft did in a vacuum. When I asked Microsoft about its plans to keep Silverlight in sync across platforms, a spokesperson sent me the following statements:

“In Silverlight 4 we addressed over 8,000 customer feature requests. One specific request was adding support for accessing COM components, enabling common enterprise scenarios such as automating Microsoft Office and providing developers easy access to hardware capabilities such as scanners and security card readers.”

But check this out: Microsoft officials say they are evaluating how to add some kind of COM component access to the Mac version of Silverlight. From the aforementioned spokesperson:

“Unfortunately, the Mac offers no support for COM interfaces and we’re actively evaluating options to get COM-like features on the Mac.”

There’s no further word on when or how Microsoft plans to add this kind of support to Silverlight for the Mac.

Meanwhile, it looks like Novell’s Developer Platform Vice President Miguel de Icaza is itching to create support for the new Silverlight 4 functionality to future implementations of Moonlight, the Novell/Mono team-developed implementation of Silverlight for Linux. After the PDC, de Icaza blogged:

“For the Moonlight team, this means that there is a lot of work ahead of us to bring every Silverlight 3 and 4 feature. I think I speak for the whole Mono team when I say that this is exciting, fascinating, challenging and feels like we just drank a huge energy boost drink.”

Microsoft’s latest Silverlight moves mean that Silverlight is evolving to become a universal run-time for Microsoft’s Common Language Runtime (CLR), the heart of .Net, according to de Icaza. Developing a desktop suite of Silverlight apps isn’t just a pipe dream, de Icaza said; it’s a real, doable project.

Some developers are already dreaming of the possibility of a Silverlight operating system. (For some reason, I think the Windows team might try to derail that effort before it could ever happen, but who knows?) Microsoft has more immediate and pressing concerns, though: It needs to keep Silverlight in sync across platforms if the company plans to play up the “available everywhere” piece of its Silverlight message.

November 20th, 2009

Will Microsoft's Silverlight dampen the appeal of Google's Chrome OS?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:40 am

Categories: .Net Framework, App Compatibility, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Google, Internet Explorer, OEMs, Silverlight (wpf/e), Web 2.0, Windows client

Tags: Google Inc., Microsoft Silverlight, Operating System, Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation, Microsoft Corp., Google Chrome, Chrome OS, Web Browsers, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems

I’m not one of those ready to write Windows an RIP certificate now that Google has finally taken (some of) the wraps off its Chrome OS. In fact, after reading through industry watchers’ questions and Google’s answers about it, I’m thinking that Chrome OS may not look quite so appealing by the time it rolls out in late 2010. Here’s why.

First, as others have noted, Google’s Chrome OS is a new windowing system layered on top of Linux that is being customized to run on netbooks. Chrome OS is an “extension to Chrome,” the company’s browser, in Google execs’ own words. Google officials are billing Chrome OS, among other things, as a way to provide Web applications with the functionality of desktop applications.

Microsoft offers an extension not just to its browser, Internet Explorer, but also to Firefox, Apple’s Safari and Google’s own Chrome. That extension is Silverlight. Among other things, Silverlight is a vehicle for providing increasingly complex consumer and business apps via a browser.

At the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) this week, Microsoft rolled out its strategy and plans for Silverlight 4, the version of its browser plug-in that is slated for final release by mid-2010. Silverlight 4 is adding support for data binding, enterprise networking and printing, and lots of other features that are likely to make the platform more appealing to folks writing not just single-function, lightweight Web apps, but enterprise apps, as well.

Silverlight is a slimmed-down, cross-platform version of Microsoft’s Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) programming model. Each successive iteration of Silverlight includes more and more WPF functionality (and vice versa).

Some day — Microsoft won’t say exactly when — Silverlight and WPF are going to merge into one Web programming and app delivery model that, most likely, will be known as Silverlight, Brad Becker, Director of Product Management for Microsoft’s Rich Client Platforms, told me this week at TechEd. Now that the two share the same compiled assemblies, tools and the like, that idea isn’t really so far-fetched. Until that happens, Microsoft plans to continue to offer both WPF and Silverlight, steering developers of more complex, resource-intensive applications toward WPF and Web-centric app developers toward Silverlight.

When Google execs were asked during this week’s press conference where they shared more information (but no code or systems) about the Chrome OS as to whether Silverlight would be able to work on Chrome OS, they said no comment. Maybe they see Silverlight might be more foe than friend of the Chrome OS.

I understand Silverlight is not an operating system. But some Google watchers are questioning whether the Chrome OS is actually an operating system, either, or just a glorified browser. Unlike Silverlight, which can run on a variety of PCs and soon, phones, Google OS is going to be a dedicated Linux-based netbook OS that will only work with certain predesignated peripherals. Microsoft already offers a netbook OS — Windows — which doesn’t force you to run all apps inside your browser — and which works with lots of different devices.

Would you go so far as to say the Chrome OS is going to be more of a Silverlight competitor than a WIndows one? I’m thinking right now that may seem a bit far-fetched, but as more and more apps are designed to run in Silverlight, maybe not….?

November 10th, 2009

New tool aids .Net developers in writing Linux, Mac OS X apps

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 8:48 am

Categories: .Net Framework, App Compatibility, Apple, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Novell, Open source, Visual Studio 10 ("Hawaii")

Tags: Mono, Developer, Linux, Tool, Teamprise Add-on, .Net, Development Tools, Microsoft Visual Studio, Productivity, Open Source

Not all .Net developers are writing Windows apps. Some (besides Miguel de Icaza and his merry band of Mono folks) may be interested in writing Linux, Unix and Mac OS X apps, too.

On November 10, Novell rolled out the final version of a new Visual Studio add-on aimed at these developers. Known as Mono Tools for Visual Studio, the product comes in three flavors: A Professional Edition (individual) for $99; Enterprise Edition (for one developer in an organization) for $249; and Ultimate Edition for $2,499 which includes a limited commercial license to redistribute Mono on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and includes five enterprise developer licenses.

Mono Tools for Visual Studio allows developers to port their existing .Net Windows apps to non-Windows operating systems, as well as to write brand-new apps. The new product is based on Mono — which is an open-source implementation of .Net — but doesn’t require it.  Novell has been testing externally Mono Tools for Visual Studio since September.

The goal of Mono Tools for Visual Studio is to make it easier for programmers to use Visual Studio’s testing, debugging and deployment features, which may be more familiar to some developers than the open-source-specific tool alternatives, said de Icaza, Mono project founder and Vice President of Developer Platforms at Novell.

The new Mono Visual Studio Tools also enables integration with SuSE Online, a tool for building and testing turnkey virtual appliances that are based on SuSE Linux Enterprise Server or openSuSE.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced some tool-interoperability news of its own; the Redmondians are buying Teamprise and plan to make it an add-on to Visual Studio. The Teamprise add-on is designed to allow Java developers using Eclipse-based development environments to collaborate with .Net developers via Team Foundation Server.

November 4th, 2009

Microsoft does a 180 on Exchange 2007 support (in a good way)

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 2:33 pm

Categories: App Compatibility, Corporate strategy, Exchange Server, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server"), Windows server

Tags: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Windows, Servers, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware, Mary Jo Foley

After notifying customers and partners that Exchange Server 2007 wouldn’t be able to run on Windows Server 2008 R2, the latest version of WIndows Server, the Exchange team has reversed its decision.

In a posting on the Exchange Team Blog, Microsoft officials said they’d heard the negative feedback loud and clear. Customers didn’t want to be forced to move to Exchange 2010 before they were ready, just so as to be able to run a version of Exchange on Windows Server 2008 R2.

To fix the problem, Microsoft is prepping an update that will be out some time next year. From a November 4 blog posting by Kevin Allison, General Manager of Exchange Customer Experience:

“In the coming calendar year we will issue an update for Exchange 2007 enabling full support of Windows Server 2008 R2. We heard from many customers that this was important for streamlining their operations and reducing administrative challenges, so we have changed course and will add R2 support. We are still working through the specifics and will let you know once we have more to share on the timing of this update.”

One Exchange 2010 caveat that seemingly hasn’t changed: Users who want to run Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 together must upgrade to Exchange 2007 Service Pack (SP) 2.

Microsoft is slated to provide customers with Exchange 2010 final bits starting the week of November 9. Microsoft released to manufacturing Exchange 2010 in early October.

October 27th, 2009

Microsoft makes final version of Windows compatibility toolset available

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 12:28 pm

Categories: App Compatibility, Corporate strategy, Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server"), Windows Server 2008/ Windows Server Longhorn, Windows client, Windows server

Tags: Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

In September, Microsoft unveiled a beta of a toolset that was designed to improve compatibility between Vista and Windows 7 (as well as Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2). The Redmondians made available on October 27 the final version of that tool, known as the Platform Update for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.

The Platform Update — which is a set of runtime libraries — includes the Windows Ribbon and Animation Manager Library; DirectX updates for hardware acceleration; DirectCompute for hardware-accelerated parallel computing support; the XPS printing library; the Windows Automation API; and the Windows Portable Devices Platform, which standardizes data transfers across apps and portable devices.

Microsoft officials said the primary target for the Platform Update (on the client side, at least) are developers doing “games and multimedia applications that take advantage of the new features in DirectX 11, and a lot of mobile phones that wirelessly sync with music applications like Rhapsody using MTP over Bluetooth,” in the words of a corporate spokesperson.

Microsoft is planning to make the Platform Update to all Windows Vista customers over Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), System center Configuration Manager and “other third-party desktop management tools” so that developers who use the Platform libraries in building their products “can feel confident knowing it is broadly deployed.”

Here are the pertinent informational links on what was released today:

Platform Update for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 client update

Windows Management Framework Core

October 22nd, 2009

Microsoft to ease Windows 7 upgrades to netbooks with USB key solution

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 10:19 am

Categories: App Compatibility, Channel, Code names, Corporate strategy, OEMs, Resellers, System builders, Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Corp., USB, Netbook, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware, Mary Jo Foley

Remember the rumors earlier this year that Microsoft was going to deliver Windows 7 on a thumb drive? Well, the rumors were correct — sort of…

On October 22, Microsoft announced it will enable netbook users who want to upgrade from XP (or Vista) to Windows 7 to use a special version of Windows 7 preloaded on a USB stick.

(I have no idea whether this has any connection to the rumored “StartKey” project I wrote about back in 2008. StartKey, the way it was originally portrayed to me, was more of an initiative to put Windows and Windows Live settings on a USB stick.)

Microsoft officials confirmed to News.com that it will make available an online tool, starting on October 22, “that will walk users through the process of moving a downloaded copy of Windows 7 onto a USB drive, be that a memory stick or portable hard drive.”

Microsoft officials sent me the following statement when I asked for more details on the new tool:

“A recurring question is whether we’re going to provide any special tools to help customers install Windows 7 on PC’s that lack a DVD drive, such a netbook PC. Today, Microsoft is announcing the upcoming availability of a free tool to help our netbook PC customers (without DVD drives) install Windows 7. Once a customer has purchased and downloaded their copy of Windows 7 from the Microsoft online store, they can use the tool to create either a bootable USB drive or a DVD using the download. This new resource, known as the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT) will be freely downloadable from the Microsoft Store as well as the Microsoft Download Center beginning on October 22nd.

“This tool will be available to support localized versions of Windows 7 including Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Customers who want to learn more about the USB/DVD Download Tool can visit www.microsoftstore.com/win7usb.”

There’s more information about and a screen shot of the new tool in this Windows Team Blog post, as well.

October 13th, 2009

Custom PC makers finally get Windows 7 preinstallation kit

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 11:57 am

Categories: App Compatibility, Channel, Corporate strategy, OEMs, Resellers, Security, System builders, Windows 7, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Corp., System Builder, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

On October 12, Microsoft provided system builders with the Windows 7 OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) tools and related documentation they need to preload and customize Windows 7 on multiple new PCs.

System builders are custom PC integrators. They are a lot smaller than the 20 or so PC OEMs who received the final Windows 7 bits and tools just days after Microsoft released Windows 7 to manufacturing in late July.

A number of system builders have said they’ve been frustrated that they couldn’t get the OPK until mid-October, given that Microsoft and its biggest OEMs will be launching Windows 7 and making it generally available on October 22. Microsoft officials have said they believed providing the system builders with the code and tools now would give them enough time to get their systems out by October 22.

“The thing about this is that the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) was released about two months ago,” said one system builder. “The only big difference is the labelling in the software (basically just the Autorun application), and the docs. It takes 2 months to do that?”

Microsoft said at the end of September that it planned to allow distributors to provide system builders with the OPK on October 12. Microsoft officials have said that system builders can begin selling Windows 7 systems once they’ve preloaded the final bits, but aren’t expecting that to happen more than a few days before October 22, at best.

Speaking of Windows 7, Microsoft issued the first Patch Tuesday security fixes for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 on October 13.

October 6th, 2009

Microsoft opens Windows Marketplace for Mobile with 246 apps

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 1:38 pm

Categories: App Compatibility, Apple, Channel, Code names, Corporate strategy, OEMs, Windows Live, Windows Mobile

Tags: Phone, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Mobile Operating Systems, Operating Systems, Mobile Applications, Handhelds, Telecom & Utilities

Windows Marketplace for Mobile, Microsoft’s equivalen to the Apple’s iPhone App Store, opened for business officially on October 6 with 246 applications.

Yes, that is nowhere near the more than 85,000 apps in the App Store. But Microsoft officials claimed not to be discouraged by the disparity. At Microsoft’s consumer-focused open-house showcase in New York City today, company officials noted that the company has 753 independent software vendors working on Windows Mobile ports.

Robbie Bach, the President of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Unit, told press and analysts that he was upbeat about Microsoft’s progress.

“Apple had less than 100 applications when it first launched its marketplace,” Bach said. (I did a quick search and found a story claiming that number was actually closer to 500, when Apple launched its store in 2008.)

Bach also claimed it was “kind of goofy” to focus on the absolute numbers of applications in Microsoft’s Windows Mobile store, since the real measure of success is how many of those applications get used.

Bach told press and analysts who attended a private roundtable that there are more than 20,000 applications available for Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 phones — and even if the applications focused on specific business verticals and IT tasks are subtracted, there are still “tens of thousands” of Windows Mobile apps out there.

The newly launched Windows Marketplace for Mobile currently only works with Windows Mobile 6.5 phones, which launched today. Microsoft officials have said that the Marketplace will also be accessible to Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 phones before the end of the year. But that doesn’t mean the current crop of Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 apps get an automatic berth in the Windows Marketplace; they still need to go through the certification and evaluation process.

Windows Live services – other than instant messaging — aren’t are going to be available via the Marketplace. Windows Live Hotmail will be included with all Windows Mobile phones, but the some other Windows Live services will be available preloaded on select phones, since “operators are trying to monetize this space separately,” as Aaron Woodman, Director of Product Management for Windows Mobile told me today. (Note: Corrected my misunderstandings here.)

Read the rest of this entry »

September 14th, 2009

Microsoft Security Essentials or Forefront: Which should a Windows user choose?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:47 am

Categories: App Compatibility, Channel, Corporate strategy, Exchange Server, Management tools, Security, Utility/cloud computing, Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server"), Windows XP, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Corp., MSE, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 7, Security, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

It’s been a while since Microsoft has shared any new information about its free antimalware offering, Microsoft Security Essentials (codenamed “Morro”). But the Softies are quietly setting the stage for the product, which is slated to launch before the end of the year.

A quick refresher: MSE is the replacement for Windows Live OneCare and a superset of Windows Defender. Microsoft officials have said it is meant for consumers who are unwilling or unable to pay for security software. A number of Microsoft watchers are expecting the final version of MSE to debut in October, given that it is meant to work on XP, Vista and Windows 7 — and Windows 7 launches on October 22. More than 400,000 testers have downloaded the test version of MSE, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft has another client-based security offering, its Forefront Client package — which, as of early September, supported Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (but not yet the server core offering). There’s a new version (part of its “Stirling” family), which is currently in its second beta release and expected to launch in final form in the first half of 2010. The final name for the new release will be  “Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010.”

While the core engine of MSE is the same as what’s in Forefront client, Forefront also provides security management capabilities that aren’t in MSE, such as group policy control, NAP integration and integrated host-firewall management. Unlike MSE, Forefront client is not free; Microsoft is selling the product for $12.72 per user or device per year, according to a chart on its Web site. (It’s not clear whether this also will be the price for the new version next year.)

Microsoft is pitching Forefront client as its security offering for business users of any size, from the smallest business to the largest enterprise. It is pitching MSE as being for consumers and not designed for business use.

Here’s Microsoft’s positioning chart, comparing the two offerings. (Click on it to enlarge.)

Forefront is one of Microsoft’s big bets, with the team launching over the next few months a variety of product and service updates. (Here’s a Microsoft-provided Forefront roadmap describing which components are coming when.)

Microsoft made the decision to combine its security and identity teams a year and a half ago, based on the realization that the majority of attacks (86 percent, according to Microsoft’s research) were happening at the application and data levels, rather than the operating-system level.

“We need protection to be more identity-aware, and access to be more security aware,” said John “JG” Chirapurath, a Director in Microsoft’s Identity and Security Business Group. The idea is “protect eveyrwhere and access anywhere, from on-premise or in the cloud.”

I continue to get a lot of questions about MSE pricing and availability from business users, leading me to wonder whether budget pressures might end up playing a big role in terms of which security product customers who plan to use Microsoft’s offerings end up choosing. Any business users out there testing MSE? Does its lack of management capabilities — or anything else about the product — make it a nonstarter for you?

September 10th, 2009

Microsoft releases beta of new Windows compatibility tool

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 11:53 am

Categories: App Compatibility, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Management tools, OEMs, System Center, Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Corp., Beta, Hardware, Tool, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Microsoft Windows 7, Operating Systems, Software

Microsoft is making available beta versions of new tools aimed at hardware makers and software developers who want to develop Windows-7-compatible products while maintaining Vista compatibility.

On September 10, Microsoft opened up the public beta of the Platform Update for Windows Vista. The final version is due in the fourth quarter of this year, according to the Softies.

Weren’t almost all Vista apps supposed to work automatically on Windows 7? If so, why do developers need yet another porting tool? A Microsoft spokesperson sent me the following response:

“The majority of Windows Vista applications test to work well on Windows 7 as we planned by maintaining security, driver and run-time models. The goal of the Platform Update is to help developers and IHVs to write applications or develop hardware that take advantage of Windows7 features (such as Ribbon and DirectX 11) while still being able to target a customer base that includes Windows Vista. Existing Windows features can be expressed by using APIs (application programming interfaces) that are consistent with Windows 7.”

Specifically, the Platform Update — which is a set of runtime libraries — includes the Windows Ribbon and Animation Manager Library; DirectX updates for hardware acceleration; DirectCompute for hardware-accelerated parallel computing support; the XPS printing library; the Windows Automation API; and the Windows Portable Devices Platform, which standardizes data transfers across apps and portable devices.

Who’s the primary target audience for the Update? Developers doing “games and multimedia applications that take advantage of the new features in DirectX 11, and a lot of mobile phones that wirelessly sync with music applications like Rhapsody using MTP over Bluetooth,” the spokesperson said.

Microsoft is planning to make the Platform Update to all Windows Vista customers over Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), System center Configuration Manager and “other third-party desktop management tools” so that developers who use the Platform libraries in building their products “can feel confident knowing it is broadly deployed.” Via a new post on the Microsoft Windows Team blog, Microsoft added that “third-party applications that require the Platform Update for Windows Vista can have Windows Update detect whether or not it is installed; if not, Windows Update will download and install it silently in the background.”

Microsoft also announced today the availability of the near-final Release Candidate test build of the Windows Management Framework. That package — which includes Windows PowerShell 2.0, Windows Remote management 2.0, and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 4.0 — allows IT pros to more easily manage mixed XP, Vista and Windows 7 networks.  The final version of Windows Management Framework also is due in the fourth quarter.