Web services development kit

Microsoft yesterday released a technical preview edition of the Microsoft Web Services Development Kit which includes the latest Web services specifications such as WS-Security, WS-Routing and WS-Attachments. The kit, or WSDK, is already available as a free download to users of the MSDN developer program. WSDK enhances Visual Studio .Net and the .Net framework by allowing developers to add support for Web services specifications to existing Web services applications. The WSDK goes beyond the basic Web services standards like SOAP and XML to include security, a key stumbling block to the uptake of Web services applications. Also included in the WSDK is the routing specification that allows applications to route XML-based services through intermediaries, as well as the ability to add attachments to the SOAP messages.

A new report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) says more than 80% of US households rely on portals such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo for critical Internet services. But, the study says, to succeed in this market, portals need to do more than deliver eyeballs to their partners: they must capture users` digital identities. "Success for AOL, MSN and Yahoo depends on more than the delivery of more page views and registration of users," says the report. "They must create deeper relationships with their subscribers, touch more aspects of their lives and be more indispensable than any other medium." One of the new challenges facing the portal industry, says IDC, is the migration of the existing customer base to broadband, something that Yahoo and MSN are working on very hard through partnerships with SBC and Verizon respectively.

Caldera announced yesterday that it will now be called the SCO group. The company says the move aims to bring its name in line with the brand recognition it has achieved through the acquisition of SCO Unix. Among the products that will be affected by the change are Caldera OpenLinux, which will now be called SCO Linux, and Caldera OpenUnix which becomes SCO UnixWare. The company also announced an unusual buy-back programme called SCOx. Through what is called an Xtreme Rewards Option, SCOx gives channel partners a "buy-out" strategy for their SCO business, allowing partners to sell their SCOx business back to SCO whenever they want.

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