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March 23, 2004Is the Microsoft platform too integrated?Posted 1717 days ago on March 23, 2004Those of use who try to keep up with Microsoft's future plans know there's plenty of good stuff in the pipeline. ASP.Net 2.0, Whidbey, Yukon, .Net Framework 2.0. Unfortunately it keeps getting delayed - latest news indicates first half of 2005. It's not a huge surprise. In particular, integrating the Framework with SQL Server (Yukon) must be a mammoth task and one where Microsoft can't afford to fail. SQL Server is a long-running application that requires high reliability and high performance - no .Net memory leaks please. The trouble is, all the products I've mentioned depend on one another, and if one thing is late, then everything is late. Yet I can imagine that ASP.Net 2.0, for example, could be shipped earlier since unlike Yukon it is not major new technology, but a set of incremental improvements. It makes me wonder if the Microsoft platform is now too integrated for its own good. Maybe its time to tease apart these products and allow them to have independent release cycles. Should the database and the web development platform really be so closely linked that one cannot ship without the other? I don't think so. It would also help developers get to grips with Microsoft's new technology if all the products didn't arrive at once. How about it? Re: Is the Microsoft platform too integrated?Posted 1716 days ago by Dave Clarke • • www • Reply
MS products are certainly bordering on becoming too integrated. I like cohesive, loosely coupled (dare I say "lightweight too?) "MS products" - yes they should allow integration between them (a major selling point), but via clean, standardised interfaces. "Dependencies" are bad news, and delaying what are essentially upgrades (albeit substantial in some cases) because other members of "its family" are not yet ready is a shame. |
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Re: Is the Microsoft platform too integrated?
Posted 1717 days ago by Jeremy C. Wright • • www • ReplyI, for one, am all for the idea of splitting Microsoft up. Don't worry, it's not because I'm anti-Microsoft in any way (quite the opposite).
I actually think they'll succeed better as individual product groups. Sure, less friendliness between products, a smaller talent pool, etc... But each set of products will need to stand completely on it's own.
No more XBox and MSN not pulling their weights. Viable products that solve real solutions.
So yeah, the integration is (in my opinion) a touch tight.