Microsoft tries to allay enterprise fears about Windows Phone 7

On Computerworld, By Matt Hamblen.

LAS VEGAS - Some users of Microsoft's Windows Phone Series 7 will face a major hurdle when the mobile OS appears in devices during the 2010 holiday season -- it isn't backwards compatible with Windows Mobile 6.5 and earlier versions.

Microsoft may not view the lack of compatibility as a hurdle because it is looking for the new software to take it in a drastically new direction. However, enterprise adopters of earlier Windows Mobile might see things differently.

To its credit, Microsoft will allay some enterprise fears with its promise to support Windows Mobile 6.5 for a long time. Michael Chang, the senior product manager on Windows Phone 7, yesterday reiterated earlier vows made by CEO Steve Ballmer and others to keep on supporting Windows Mobile 6.5.

We will continue to support, ship and sell 6.5, Chang said in an interview at the CTIA Wireless conference. Windows Phone 7 is a departure and a break at a code level. Doing so wasn't an easy decision. It's a tough decision to move away from a platform like Windows Mobile, but one we were willing to make.

Ballmer has said Microsoft screwed up on Windows Mobile, and the company apparently hopes that the new Windows Phone 7 can help restore Microsoft's slipping share of the mobile operating systems market.

Asked whether Ballmer is pushing the Windows Phone 7 team to attain specific market share numbers, Chang said, not publicly.

Jeff Bradley, senior vice president of devices at AT&T, said that his company is looking forward to having Windows Phone 7 devices use its network. Other major U.S. carriers have endorsed the Microsoft OS as well.

Windows Mobile has become the enterprise standard OS for certain vertical segments," Bradley said in an interview. However, he added, "it has fallen back. But give Microsoft credit. They've taken 6.5 and made a break for something new. They've raised the bar substantially with Windows Phone 7.

Bradley noted that Microsoft's move to develop a Windows Phone 7 interface that's similar to its Zune digital media player likely won't be an allure to many users. Zune has not been widely adopted, he noted.

Even so, Bradley said he expects that Windows Phone 7 will have a browser that is very, very comparable to any smartphone on the market.

Chang said that while Microsoft expects to offer a rich multimedia experience on Windows Phone 7 devices, the OS initially won't include Adobe Flash player. We won't support Flash at general availability, although we do have a very deep relationship with Adobe, he said.

Chang said that adding consumer friendly features like multimedia support and rich browsing to its mobile operating system doesn't mean that Microsoft will abandon its place as a supplier of enterprise handhelds, including some rugged ones.

We think of this OS as an extension & of our scope, Chang said. I wouldn't say we are building a consumer phone at the expense of our heritage work productivity. We are taking that and adding to it features that include entertainment and a focus on a new experience. Windows Mobile was all about productivity, but we had relied on someone else to deliver a great experience. Not anymore.

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Microsoft Rides Windows 7 To Another Solid Quarter

By Kevin McLaughlin, ChannelWeb

Microsoft didn't do badly in its fiscal 2010 third quarter, certainly a lot better than it did in last year's Q3 when it reported the first quarterly revenue decline in company history. But in the eyes of investors at least, Microsoft's results were less than stellar.

As expected, Microsoft's results were buoyed by Windows 7. The Windows and Windows Live division reported revenue of $4.4 billion, up 28 percent from the $3.4 billion it reported in last year's quarter. Given the Microsoft's OEM channel accounts for about 80 percent of total Windows revenue, this jump is linked to sales of new PCs.

"Business customers are beginning to refresh their desktops and the momentum of Windows 7 continues to be strong," Kevin Turner, COO, Microsoft, said in a statement.

For the quarter ended March 31, Microsoft's net income rose 35 percent to $4.01 billion, or 45 cents per share, compared to $2.98 billion and 33 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. Overall revenue during the quarter was $14.5 billion, up six percent from the $13.6 billion the company pulled in during the year-ago quarter.

Despite the strong numbers, Microsoft investors were apparently not satisfied, as Microsoft shares were trading down 40 cents at $30.98 in after-hours trading.

Microsoft's Server and Tools division revenue was $3.5 billion, up two percent from last year, while Microsoft Business Division revenue dropped six percent to $4.2 billion during the quarter, which the company attributed to $305 million in deferred revenue for its Office technology guarantee program, which allows customers that buy Office 2007 in advance of the Office 2010 launch to upgrade to the new version.

Online Services division revenue grew 12 percent to $566 million due to a 19 percent jump in online advertising revenue, according to Microsoft. This number includes a $154 million charge for transition expenses stemming from Microsoft's search partnership with Yahoo. Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division revenue was up slightly at $1.66 billion.

"Windows 7 continues to be a growth engine, but we also saw strong growth in other areas like Bing search, Xbox LIVE and our emerging cloud services," said Peter Klein, CFO, Microsoft, in a statement.

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Oracle acquires AmberPoint

By David Worthington

Oracle today has announced its acquisition of AmberPoint, a maker of SOA management software.

AmberPoint's SOA Management System solution is focused on resolving issues in application performance and transaction monitoring. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to close during the first half of this year, according to Oracle.

AmberPoint has partnerships with HP, Microsoft, Parasoft, SAP and TIBCO. Oracle will continue to support multiple platforms "even if the relationship ends," and it will support OEM agreements going forward, the company said in a conference call with the press.

"My guess is that Oracle will terminate many of these relationships," said Anne Thomas Manes, vice president and research director for Burton Group. AmberPoint, which is the "clear leader" in the SOA management market, is an "excellent acquisition" for Oracle, she added.

"I view SOA management as the most useful piece of SOA infrastructure an organization can buy, yet very few organizations have bought one," Manes said.

"The big vendors have universally promoted ESB as the foundation of a SOA infrastructure, and they've traditionally played down SOA management. I have the opposite perspective; SOA management should be the foundation of the infrastructure, and ESBs are less important."

Oracle intends to integrate data from AmberPoint’s governance runtime into its Fusion middleware products, including Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracle SOA Governance and Oracle SOA Suite, the company said.

"We expect the addition of AmberPoint's products to Oracle Fusion Middleware SOA Suite will provide stronger end-to-end governance that allows customers to manage the entire life cycle of SOA-based solutions, providing visibility and management across heterogeneous environments," said Thomas Kurian, Oracle executive vice president of product development.

"I doubt that Oracle will start to downplay ESBs, but I expect they will start to aggressively promote SOA management," Manes said.

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Windows 7 Embedded adds multimedia modules

By David Worthington

Windows Embedded 7 Standard, an embedded edition of Windows 7, introduces new multimedia modules, energy saving options, and management capabilities for specialized enterprise and consumer devices.

Microsoft shipped Windows Embedded 7 Standard in late April at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose. Several of its partner's solutions and its own reference hardware were demonstrated during the conference.

Those included multi-touch kiosks built with Intel hardware, industrial automation products from Siemens as well as Microsoft's concept of set-top boxes for integrating PC and Web-based multimedia with televisions. Partners have been working with Windows Embedded 7 since September, when a preview version was released.

The primary focus of Microsoft's embedded products has been on enterprise-class devices, but Microsoft is now targeting the consumer marketplace with new Windows Media Center components and Windows Presentation Foundation-based UI controls, said Ashwin Kulkarni, senior product manager for Windows Embedded.

Developers also have access to Windows 7's multi-touch, Windows Flip 3D navigation and Windows Aero user interfaces. Other technologies found in Windows Embedded 7 Standard are Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol 7.0, Windows Media Player 12 and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1.

The core product footprint is 400MB, Kulkarni said. Microsoft's development tools take dependencies into account as images are created, he said.
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Microsoft sets rules for Windows Phone app distribution

By David Worthington on SDTimes

New Orleans — With an eye to the consumer market, Microsoft has unveiled the policies that will govern how consumer and enterprise applications are distributed in the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Yesterday, at its TechEd conference, the company revealed that developers would have no limit on the number of paid applications that can be submitted to the store. Developers will receive five free submissions per registration; further registrations will cost US$19.99 each.

Marketplace business models will provide for ad-supported, free, “freemium” and paid applications. Distribution can be public or private. Private distribution is available for a predefined set of people to review applications, which was done with an eye to the enterprise, said Brandon Watson, director of developer experience for Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft will furnish development partners with Windows Phone 7 devices in July, he said. Applications will be written in a hybrid version of Silverlight 3, which includes elements of Silverlight 4, he said. HTML 5 will not be supported.

Developers can port Silverlight 4 desktop applications to Windows Phone 7; however, they should optimize for the experience that they are delivering, Watson said. Windows Phone 7 will introduce a new interface called “Metro,” which exposes application notifications through tiles on the phone’s desktop.

Further enterprise functionality will become available through integration with Active Directory and support for policies. There will be more opportunities to extend functionality in the future, Watson said. “Those are just the tip of the spear.”

Microsoft is unaware of whether third-party component makers are building controls for Windows Phone 7, Watson said. “They all probably want to be first to market when the phone is available,” he remarked.

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Silverlight, WPF at forefront of DevExpress plans

By David Worthington

.NET component and application framework maker Developer Express will place a greater emphasis on Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) this year, according to its 2010 road map, announced on Tuesday.

DevExpress' Silverlight components will deliver full design-time support for Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend 3. Upcoming Silverlight 3 controls will include charting, data editing and a scheduler. A Silverlight 4 printing control will also be introduced.

"We feel we are late to the party, but then again, Silverlight is changing a lot," said DevExpress CTO Julian Bucknall. Aside from controls, the company is integrating Silverlight into its eXpressApp Framework, he added.

Some of its upcoming WPF controls will include final versions of DevExpress' pivot grid and layout manager, data editor, ribbon, report view, and scheduler.

DevExpress' embrace of Silverlight and WPF comes at the expense of Windows Forms development. Bucknall said that WinForms controls are being deemphasized, but development will continue with more chart types, VS 2010 and Client Profile support for controls, as well as new user interface styles to match the appearance of Windows 7 and Office 2010.

VCL (Visual Component Library) controls will be likewise updated with additional views and similar user interface options for the Microsoft stack.

DevExpress will continue to forge ahead to update its existing ASP.NET controls, and it will begin to deliver new controls that exploit the new capabilities that will be introduced by .NET 4.0, Bucknall said. He is being more circumspect about developing components for ASP.NET's Model-View-Controller pattern, but the company will introduce a navigation bar and tab control nonetheless.

Lastly, new editions of the company's next IDE productivity tools, including CodeRush and Refactor Pro, will be released later this year around the time that VS 2010 ships, Bucknall said. "There were big changes in Visual Studio 2010," he added.

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Cloud Computing Must Have Proper Governance

Cloud computing has taken off as a trend in enterprise IT, but analysts say proper governance is necessary for companies to realize the full benefits of on-demand systems.

New, relatively unmanaged and untamed technologies always draw the same analogy: the wild, Wild West. That's what was said about the Internet 15 years ago and several subsets of computing technology, which tend to be unregulated when they first emerge. So is the same situation with the Cloud.

As firms move from hosted, dedicated servers to the looser virtualized environment of Cloud computing, that old wild, wild west feeling is starting to come back, and if people are going to feel comfortable using cloud services, they must be rules and governance set down for proper administration. So says IT research firm Ovum in a report by Enterprise IT Planet.

Cloud computing has already established itself as the next disruptive technology in the enterprise, but IT governance in the next few years will be vital as companies feel their way through the transition away from on-site software applications to cloud-based options, independent research firm Ovum said in its latest report.

The benefits of the Cloud -- lower costs, a smaller data-center footprint and immediate access to multiple applications for a distributed, international workforce with minimal fuss -- are also some things that can expose companies to degrees of risk that simply weren't possible during the heyday of locally deployed software installations.

Cloud computing is here. Running applications on machines in an Internet-accessible data center can bring plenty of advantages. Yet wherever they run, applications are built on some kind of platform. For on-premises applications, this platform usually includes an operating system, some way to store data, and perhaps more. Applications running in the cloud need a similar foundation. The goal of Microsoft’s Windows Azure is to provide this. Part of the larger Azure Services Platform, Windows Azure is a platform for running Windows applications and storing data in the cloud.

Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. To deploy a new solution, most of your time and energy is spent on defining the right infrastructure, hardware and software, to put together to create that solution, Cloud computing allows people to share resources to solve new problems. Cloud computing users can avoid capital expenditure (CapEx) on hardware, software, and services when they pay a provider only for what they use.

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