“Ballmer Screws up WinMo”

Executives of tech companies are not necessarily known for their verbal skills. “Unfortunately, in the case of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer has apparently stated that the development team for Windows Mobile may have “screwed up” Windows Mobile.” – Source. Although venture capitalists and journalists immediately Tweeted about the statement, Microsoft has refused to comment about the statement.

Placing all this in retrospect, it is never re-assuring to note that senior management actively criticizing their own technology in an active manner. However, Windows Mobile is currently undergoing a new version and release update. Placed in context of the recent release, the new version of the Windows Mobile 7 platform is designed to deal with the problems encapsulated in Windows Mobile 6. The new release of Windows Mobile 7 is an important boost for a platform that is currently lagging in market share. Coupled with the release of Restlet is the promotion of Windows Mobile 7’s growth is that Java and the .NET technology will help the growth applications for this platform.

The new release of Windows Mobile 7 was lead by a new team along with a restructuring of the structure of the team itself. Again, the fiasco of Vista along with the explosive growth of the iPhone and Android platform, Microsoft has realized that it needs to promote its products more actively. The Windows Mobile 7 platform is being pushed on developers in the hopes that the stronger revenue model will help spur growth and acceptance of this amongst developers.

In addition to this, Microsoft is pushing its platform on Nokia phones by providing platform specific applications on Nokia’s own OS, Symbian. The overall popularity and acceptance of Nokia phones worldwide will help Microsoft gain much needed market share. There is an inherent threat present that the competition factor will increase between Nokia and Microsoft considering both are attempting to port their applications on to their respective platforms. Regardless, the strategic benefits outweigh the competition factor considering the exponential growth in the iPhone and Android SDK. Microsoft is well aware of this market situation, however, the problem is that the release of Windows Mobile 7 comes at a point where other platforms have taken a first mover advantage.

In conclusion, Windows Mobile 7 seems to be released at a point where it could influence the development of SDKs and platform mobility. Is this a permanent change in Mircosoft’s strategy or a temporary response to the market? Leave your comments and thoughts below.

Restlet the future of Java and .Net

Java and .NET are normally considered two separate domains for programmers; Java being for developing primarily web-based applications while .NET for Microsoft applications. An attempt to merge the two often resulted in a large disasters with reverent vows that such an attempt never be made again.

There is good news; recently Microsoft has enlisted the support of Noelios Technologies, a French consulting firm, to merge the two technologies together.

“Noelios Technologies is shipping a new version of the Restlet open-source project, a lightweight REST [Representational State Transfer] framework for Java that includes the Restlet Extension for [Microsoft's] ADO.NET Data Services,” Jean-Christophe Cimetiere, a senior technical evangelist for Microsoft, wrote in a blog post Sept. 28.

To simplify a rather long complex piece of technical writing, the basic point of this technology bridge aptly named Restlet allows Java programmers to use an API to access the features of .NET. The simplicity lies in the fact that the two technologies still maintain their distinct infrastructure; the new bridge allows them to access each other via simple function calls. As a result, Java programmers can code in the usual classes that they are used to while utilizing the functionality of .NET to create new programs.

In addition to this, the impact on software development is significant. Since the decreasing market share as windows Mobile has meant that Blackberry and WinMo cell phone app development will receive a much needed boost. As a result, the functionality of .NET and Java will allow developers to create more user friendly apps. This upgrade will help boost shares of the stagnant Blackberry and WinMo cell phone market.

However, the impact of this technology may come at a point which is too late considering that the growth of the market is primarily focused on the iPhone and Android SDK. Nonetheless, predictions state the next market for growth will most likely be the BlackBerry and WinMo segment. The current trend of phones is focusing on the concept of cross platform integration or the ability to flash software as per the needs of the user.

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