I've got this theory and it seems like all the pieces kinda fit together: Microsoft building an open standard CLR, Novell building Mono so that .Net apps can run on multiple platforms, Microsoft slowly warming up to open source and dynamic languages with Iron Ruby and the CodePlex foundation, and Microsoft's new Azure cloud services. Now, how could Microsoft think it can compete in the cloud services arena when so many big players are already entrenched and actively building up their technologies?
There's only one way. They need leverage. They need us, .Net developers. Microsoft has known for a long time that the future of computing involved the Internet but has failed to develop a technology that would make them leaders in the same way Bill Gates recognized that micro-processors were going to be the next big thing back in the, er... what, early 80s?
With cloud services popping up left and right, Microsoft probably thinks that this is it! It might be too late, but they have no choice. The threat of the Internet browser being the OS of the future is looming over them and they can't ignore it, lest they become one of those old dinosaurs that die with their obsolete technologies. So Azure is coming and Microsoft will try to stay young and hip and hang out with the young ones.
But it's got one advantage that the others don't. There are a lot of .Net developers in the world and finding a way to get them to develop on Azure, along with the monthly bills, might very well make Microsoft relevant again. But can it do more than that? Well, what if Linux developers could write .Net applications? What if Ruby enthusiasts could write .Net applications? What if Python developers could write .Net applications? With Mono, the DLR, IronRuby and IronPython, Microsoft can very well convert a lot of developers to its new platform.
And that is why I think Mono developers are safe from litigation from Microsoft. It benefits the behemoth not to turn those people away. Everyone that is somehow linked to .Net is a potential for extra monthly revenue, and who would purposefully slash away at their potential market? I think Microsoft has come to realize that with the current state of the web, it has lost its monopoly on everything except corporate IT, and even that under threat. IE won't save them, ASP.Net won't save them, SQL Server won't save them. Azure just might, though, if Microsoft plays its cards just right.
Posted
Oct 10 2009, 12:16 PM
by
Louis Salin