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January 6, 2004

My notes from Microsoft VC summit 11/19/03

Here are some of my notes from the Microsoft VC event, November 19, 2003

Favorite comments:

"What the hell are you leaving us?" Chad Waite, OVP

Notes:

Big bets at the platform layer:
1. For interoperability web services
2. Data store XML unified
3. Smart client
4. Trustworthy computing, security.

What do we do in those bets.

On Interoperability:
1. Web services 1.0 in standatrds now
2.0 later
Then longhorn with Indigo

Unified data store path:
1. SQL server
2. Yukon
3. Longhorn NFS new file system

Smart Client, presentation layer:
today: Web Forms
Whidby implementation of visual studio
Longhorn Avalon and Aero Tui)
Longhorn API is all .net framework

Trustworthy computing:
1. Not as clear a path

Last quarter .NET usage surpassedJjava usage for first time. 38 percent vs 24 percent. We turned the corner in terms of platform, developers and customers. Now drive momentum.

Win XP was not a dev platform. We are putting all dev platform stuff in Longhorn. 10 years of it. The rate of cloning of windows apis by linux will slow with longhorn. The intergrated platform is hard to replicate. Longhorn is a platform for development. That will compete against linux os only.

Go to longhornblogs.com and pdcbloggers.net

Longhorn API or WinFS is the next step of Win32. It is that simple.

Longhorn has
Aero UI
Avalon, the database
Indigo, the XML interconnect
Win FS
RTC
Fundamentals
All wrapped in APIs.

Longhorn does not require new Hardware, but could take advantage of new HW for trusted computing portions.

Microsoft Business Solutions, Darren, Mbsisv@microsoft.com

First MBS application ships 6 months after Longhorn ships. This is the Great Plains, etal group.

Targeting Small biz to corporate.
Four acquisitions integrated into one unit.

Msft will build the pieces everyone needs.
Four industry solutions, mfg, distribution, prof serv, retail.

MS will build, ERM, CRM, SCM, Analytics.
MS will do 2 digit SIC codes, not do 4 digit or 6-8 digit SIC code industries. The 2 digits that ms will do is four industry solutions above. Will not today do state and local gov, telco, energy finance, etc.

Anoop Gupta, VP RTC group.

RTC is in JeffR's Information worker group (office).

RTC business unit has two products, Live Comm Server 2003, Live Meeting. These products are about presence based multi-modal collaboration with context and seamless transitions between real time and non real time.

Partners:
IM Logic for name space and compliance.
Descartes vertical ap for truckers.

Areas for future RTC enhancement. PC and phone integration.
Enhanced meetings.

Roadmap
Live meeting 2004
Live communication 2004
Softphone and OPA 2004

Presence + I'm + av + web conf 2005
Iworker comm client 2005
Ringcam

RTC goes into Office Longhorn

For all this to work, ms will have to work with Cisco, Nortel, Nokia and others who are not friendly. This is going to be hard. Microsoft will not adopt CCX from Cisco. Msft wants standards.

Conclusions:

I left after the first three presentations. It was clear that Microsoft was there to sell their vision of the platform to VCs. When we asked the obvious questions of "what should we invest in" they said what they always do: "Reportind and Vertical Applications". Outside Crystal Decisions, I haven't seen any really valuable companies created at that layer. They are going to do the big verticals and leave the small ones to the start-ups. Many start-ups that are partners today (like IM Logic) will be road kill when Longhorn comes along. Microsoft is going directly after the businesses of Oracle, IBM, BEA, PeopleSoft, SAP, Macromedia, Borland, RedHat, even Google. They are sucking so many things down into the OS that there is little left.

Posted by Martin at January 6, 2004 5:49 PM

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