[VISTA] Microsoft to offer production-ready Vista technologies

  Microsoft to offer production-ready Vista technologies   Microsoft releases 
'Go-Live' versions of Web services, workflow software  By Paul Krill
http://ww6.infoworld.com/products/print_friendly.jsp?link=/article/06/01/18/74264_HNmicrosoftgolive_1.html
January 18, 2006     Setting the stage for its planned Windows Vista desktop 
OS, Microsoft on Wednesday will release production-ready versions of Web 
services and workflow technologies slated for inclusion in Vista.
   
  The vendor will offer "Go-Live" versions of Windows Communication Foundation, 
which is Microsoft's Web services technology, and Windows Workflow Foundation, 
which provides a workflow engine. Windows Communication Foundation formerly was 
known by the code name Indigo. 
   
  These two technologies and the Windows Presentation Foundation technology for 
building rich client interfaces are part of Microsoft's WinFX managed code 
framework. The Go-Live licenses will be included as part of a January Community 
Technology Preview of WinFX on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). 
   
  Although the two technologies are still classified as being in an early 
release phase, they can be used in production environments, said Ari Bixhorn, 
director of Web services strategy at Microsoft.
   
  "These special builds [of Windows Communication Foundation and Windows 
Workflow Foundation serve as] the green light for customers to deploy these 
technologies," Bixhorn said.
   
  Expected to be Microsoft's most enterprise-class version of Windows, Vista is 
due to ship at the end of the year. But WinFX technologies also will function 
with the existing Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 platforms.
   
  The primary intent of the Go-Live deployments is to allow for testing in 
real-life applications. "Customers have told us the reason they want Go-Live 
releases is so they can test their applications in a live production 
environment," said Bixhorn.
  Microsoft has positioned Windows Workflow Foundation as a platform for 
building software to model business processes. Windows Communication Foundation 
is intended to keep Microsoft at the forefront of Web services development.
  "Windows Communication Foundation dramatically reduces the amount of code 
that developers have to write when building service-oriented applications," 
said Bixhorn.
  The Go-Live software gives developers a head start on Vista, said Ronald 
Schmelzer, senior analyst at ZapThink, in an e-mail.
   
  "Apps built with this Go-Live version of the software will run on Windows XP 
and Windows Server 2003, bringing Vista capabilities to apps before Vista 
actually launches," Schmelzer said.
   
  New features in the Go-Live release of Windows Communication Foundation 
include a service configuration editor, for tweaking settings, and a service 
trace viewer, for viewing messages being sent between multiple services. The 
Go-Live release of Windows Workflow Foundation features new policy activities 
to evaluate complex rule sets and a new file format based on XAML (Extensible 
Application Markup Language). Microsoft's usage of XAML as a way to specify 
business processes is unique, Schmelzer said.
   
   Microsoft is not releasing a Go-Live license for Windows Presentation 
Foundation because this software does not require the type of scalability 
testing necessary for the other two technologies, according to Microsoft. The 
early version of Windows Presentation Foundation being offered on Wednesday has 
support for frame-based animations as well as support for applications accessed 
through a browser.
  In other developer-related news at Microsoft, the company's Visual Studio for 
Devices and .Net CF (Compact Framework) teams are eyeing improvements in mobile 
application development, according to Microsoft executive S. "Soma" Somasegar's 
blog . Somasegar is corporate vice president of the company's Developer 
Division. Mobile improvements are anticipated in the planned Orcas release of 
the Visual Studio tools platform.
   
  "The Visual Studio for Devices team will continue to invest not only in rapid 
application development, but also in addressing end-to-end life cycle 
management. The device emulator is another area where will continue to invest 
and enhance," Somasegar wrote. "Also, the team is also working on delivering an 
integrated development experience with SQL Mobile, Windows Mobile, and Windows 
CE SDKs," he said.
  "The .Net CF team is already planning and doing some incubation work on 
taking some of our new API Frameworks down to device size," Somasegar wrote. 
"Another thing that is high on the list of things to get done is the addition 
of improved 3-D graphics, sound, and cooperative gameplay APIs, all geared 
towards the best gaming experience on devices" he added.
   
  No timeframe for shipping Orcas has been set yet, according to a Microsoft 
representative.
   
  Microsoft also plans to make its Windows Live  and Office Live  
Internet-based services available as rich development platforms, Somasegar 
said. "Developers will be able to customize, enhance, and innovate on top of 
these services," he said. As part of its Internet services plan, the company 
anticipates improvements to Visual Studio in the area of building and consuming 
services.




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