Application development must move from being focused on creating point solutions to serving the connected, distributed enterprise, said Microsoft yesterday, at the start of Professional Developers` Conference 2003 in Los Angeles.
Steven Van Roekel, director of platform strategy, said the role of his group was to ensure development in Microsoft`s seven business areas continued moving from being function-oriented to process-oriented, from employing tightly coupled programming to loosely coupled programming, from delivering built-to-last applications to ones that are built to change, and from functioning within application silos to connecting and preserving existing systems.
"Applications must be written to understand Web services," he added, illustrating the point by drawing an analogy between Web services and hi-fi systems. "The RCA cable at the back of your system allows plugging in your favourite other-vendor speakers, turntable and more," he said. "Web services are the RCA cable of application development as services."
Web services enjoy broad industry support and employ open standards. Applications developed using them run across the spectrum of supporting platforms, prompting research and consulting firm Forrester to comment this year that "the pay-off is huge - using Web services cuts the [integration] time and cost by a factor of 10".
Whereas Web services standards like XML, Soap, WSDL and others have been defined as long as three years ago, broad industry support is starting to gather speed now, and customers are starting to use these standards, said Van Roekel.
Getting started
Web Service Enhancement (WSE) is a tool that "gives customers a leg-up" on using this technology, said Van Roekel: "We understand there will be a certain amount of flux [in standards]. Using WSE, the customer will be supported for three years. And once a set of standards emerge [from W3C or OASIS standards bodies], this will be rolled into the .Net framework and gain broad support."
Van Roekel had extensive advice for customers: "XML-schematise your world," he said, referring to the need for XML data. "Understand the distributed nature of applications [as a service rather than a single-platform solution]. Plan on a Web services backbone, since all your partners are going the same way. Bridge Web services to old systems and extend them, build your Web services skills and start Web services pilots."
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