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Seeking
to build a base for its .Net strategy, which aims to provide
a new level of Internet-based services to computer users and
businesses, Microsoft launched its Visual Studio .Net programming
tool kit. The new programming tools are intended by Microsoft
to help software developers more easily write programs for
the next-generation .Net platform.
 Speaking
at the official launch of the products, Microsoft co-founder
Bill Gates said the development tools ‘are among the
most important products ever released by Microsoft.’
Indeed, this new software release comes after more than three
years of effort and expense on the software giant’s part,
and it is considered to be crucial to Microsoft’s continued
success.
Yankee Group research director Neal Goldman said that the
success of the tools is key to the continued dominance of
Microsoft’s operating systems. “They can build their
own applications on .Net,” Goldman said. “But to
continue growth in their OS business, they have to get people
to build on their operating system .Net is a way to drive
that.”
According to analysts, the launch not only signals the start
of Microsoft’s .Net strategy implementation, but also
marks a milestone in the battle for software developer support
being waged between the Redmond, Washington-based company
and competitors Sun, IBM and Oracle. The tool kit provides
software developers with an application development system
and a platform for .Net applications built on a native XML
Web services infrastructure supporting public Internet standards.
Goldman, who said Microsoft received solid support for the
Visual Studio .Net tools and .Net Framework when it announced
them, called the software giant’s relationship with developers
a good one. “They’ve got a big third-party partner
network supporting the acceptance of these tools by the developer
community,” he said.
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