Last December, I read The Road Ahead, by Bill Gates. In this
thought-provoking book, Gates speculates about how the Information Highway will
affect our futures. He sees Microsoft's success riding on its ability to prevail
in this emerging market. The book does not, however, reveal Microsoft's plans to
ensure this success. That revelation came at the March 1996 Professional
Developers Conference, where Microsoft announced corporate infrastructure
changes and the ActiveX technology.
First, Microsoft's Personal Systems Division (PSD), which managed Windows
95, no longer exists. The Windows 95 team is now under the Business Systems
Division, which manages all NT products. Brad Silverberg, former PSD manager, is
now manager of a new Internet Division that is focusing on ActiveX, a collection
of tools and technologies, including VBScript, Network OLE, Internet Information
Server (IIS), Internet Explorer 3.0, IIS Connectors, FrontPage, Internet Studio,
and Jakarta (Java development)--see "Windows and Databases Meet the
Inter(intra)net," page 28.
You can expect Microsoft to develop all Internet-related software
simultaneously for Windows 95 and Windows NT. For example, Microsoft plans to
combine the Windows Explorer (file manager) with the Internet Explorer (Web
browser), so that even the core features of the operating system are Web aware.
This combination product (code named Nashville) will be released for NT and 95
simultaneously. Microsoft will heavily emphasize the newest BackOffice products,
Exchange Server and IIS.
Many people predicted Netscape would be fatally wounded when Microsoft
announced it was giving away IIS. But reports of Netscape's death were greatly
exaggerated. Netscape rebounded by creating SuiteSpot, a group of Internet
products that includes a Web server, a development environment (LiveWire Pro)
with integrated database connectivity, a mail server, a news server, a catalog
server for indexing content, and a proxy server for enhanced enterprise intranet
security. SuiteSpot is a comprehensive strategy that has Microsoft's complete
attention.
The Internet frenzy has created some interesting industry tension. With
SuiteSpot, Netscape is setting up to compete with Microsoft's ActiveX, while
IBM, Informix, Verity, Sun, NeXT, Oracle, and others hedge their bets and play
both sides. They all want to be ready for future corporate application
development on intranets. Soon, Web access will move from a nice-to-have
feature to a must have. Internet technologies are set to provide
distributed, three-tiered client/server, cross-platform, object-oriented
development, and more. Soon, we will all be developing intranet applications, an
area expected to grow from 2.2 million servers to 150 million by 1998.
For all the players, Windows NT, messaging, and intranets have become vital
to future success.
End of Article
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