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MS reveals its latest vision

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CIOL Bureau
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Microsoft has revealed its latest vision of the future and is calling it Microsoft.NET and centers around the idea of making powerful application software available online and getting pieces of software to interact with each other, both within computing devices as well as over the Internet.



For example, you could scribble a hand-written note on a personal digital assistant hand-held device and tell the computer, verbally to deliver it to a specific person. The device will subsequently figure the location of that person and deliver the message to whatever device is available, from pager to cell phone to desktop computer. Similarly, a scheduling program could work with e-mail, instant messaging and cell phones to remind business partners about an upcoming meeting. Microsoft.NET idea is to let users tell devices what they want done, and have the computers do it.



It will take several more years before Microsoft’s vision will become reality, but chairman Bill Gates said he is betting the future of the company on the strategy. "We have the opportunity to take this vision of a digital world and apply the magic of software to make this a reality. You could say it''s a bet-the-company thing. It is far more ambitious than anything we''ve done in the past."



Much of the plan may have to be scrapped if Microsoft loses the antitrust case and is ordered to be split into two. Components of both the operating systems, Internet and applications sides of the company are deeply involved in the development of the products to enable this vision to become reality.



For example, in one of the first phases of the implementation of the .NET strategy, Microsoft will offer its most popular assets, the Office suite of applications and the Microsoft Network online service over the Internet. A user could write a Microsoft Word document and integrate it with an Excel spreadsheet or other Microsoft software’s through a Web browser on a handheld organizer with a link to the Internet. And the document can be accessed later from a different computer.



As part of the transformation, Gates announced that Microsoft Network Web sites and services will become MSN.NET, and will continue to offer free online e-mail, bill paying, appointment management and instant messaging. They will be integrated with Windows.NET, Office.NET and a suite of tools that customers can use to build their own products. Gates got early endorsements from Compaq and Dell for the new strategy. Even an old Microsoft enemy, Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape Communications welcomed the new program. Andreessen is now chairman of start-up Loudcloud. "Loudcloud is excited about .NET because it is directly in line with our vision of a world of networked services. It will provide a great foundation for next-generation Internet applications and services, which will further enable Loudcloud to provide innovative new infrastructure services to our customers."



Despite all the hoopla, analysts point out that Microsoft is far from being visionary with the .NET strategy of Web-based services. Oracle has invested heavily in providing similar services to corporations, and Sun Microsystems is expected to launch a Web-based office suite built around the StarOffice package by the end of the summer, two years ahead of Microsoft’s service.

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