Sun, Microsoft in One-upsmanship Duel Over Web Services Page 2

Redmond, Wash.’s Microsoft, after airing its XML-based Web services plan
across the state, may beg to differ. It made perhaps the
most important announcement about its Web services push yet, which is that
the company’s hallowed code for the .NET Framework and
Visual Studio .NET has been released to all conference attendees, which
means the tool may soon be released on a wide scale.
Microsoft said the release effectively caps a beta period during which more
than 2.5 million developers tested the upcoming product.
Microsoft is also expected to announce business partner pricing for .NET My
Services.

“Our mission is simple: enable developers to be at the forefront of the XML
Web services revolution with powerful, productive tools
that deliver business value fast,” said Bill Gates, Microsoft founder,
Chairman and Chief Software Architect. “Customers are
demanding a software platform that not only delivers world-class client,
server and service solutions, but also makes it easy for
these solutions to work with each other and with existing investments. .NET
delivers on these goals, breaking down the complexity of
integration and helping developers use the power of XML Web services to
solve business problems quickly and effectively.”

Like Gartner, Jupiter Media Metrix, too, believes Web services will be a
valuable driver for cutting internal applications costs.
And the research firm also believes successful, interoperable implementation
is a ways off.

“Visions of companies dynamically ‘discovering’ and collaborating with
suppliers and partners through Internet-facilitated
interactions is still within reach but the most realistic opportunities for
companies over the next 18-24 months is to use the Web
services software for cutting costs,” said David Schatsky, research director
and senior analyst, Jupiter Media Metrix.