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Gates Admits 'Misstep' In Parts Of .NET Launch
Microsoft's Broad New Strategy Has Yet To Catch On With Customers
Thursday, July 25, 2002
By DAN RICHMAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Analysts knew it. Customers knew it. Turns out Microsoft Corp. knows it, too.
The software maker acknowledged Wednesday that its .NET strategy -- announced with unprecedented fanfare in June 2000 -- hasn't caught on as quickly as anticipated.
But at a briefing in Redmond for about 100 financial analysts and reporters, the company restated its commitment to the complex initiative and stressed how much progress has been made.
Co-founder Bill Gates said Microsoft has made several errors in introducing its bet-the-company .NET initiative.
"In some respects, we haven't made as much progress as we expected," Gates said. Computer users have noticed "very little" of the effort, he said.
"The .NET strategy in 2000 was 'pie in the sky -- Internet solves everything.' And it hasn't come to fruition," said Christian Koch, an analyst at Trusco Capital Management. "The strategy is still sound, but the implementation has been lacking."
One element of .NET -- My Services, originally called Hailstorm -- envisioned Microsoft as a central repository for personal data about Web users, including credit card numbers. The proposal occasioned a loud outcry from critics who said no company -- particularly not one as vulnerable to security breaches as Microsoft -- should have such a role.
"There were elements of this (Web services concept) that were premature," Gates said. "We made a misstep."
Now, to the extent that such repositories exist, they are managed by individual companies or organizations, Microsoft among them.
Gates also acknowledged that confusion still reigns about .NET's very definition. On Wednesday, he hammered home a new definition: "software to connect information, people, systems and services."
If .NET is nothing more, it is an impressive-sounding brand that can be stamped on virtually every product the company puts out.
Gates recalled, "In September (2000) we shipped our enterprise products. Perhaps labeling those as 'NET.' products was premature."
About the only thing that has always has been clear about .NET is that it relies on four standards to make data more freely discoverable and interchangeable, even among computers running on different operating systems. Most notably, these include XML (Extensible Markup Language), a set of tags that identify elements within text, such as "Title" or "Net Income," so that programs can scan for those elements and interact with them.
Today, "the key standards are in place, in use and working," he said. "The days when you said, 'These two systems have to connect. Bring in 200 consultants at $200 an hour,' are over."
But Microsoft is not the only company pursuing the goal of greater connectivity. Rivals Sun Microsystems Inc., IBM Corp. and BEA Systems Inc. are preparing products that would compete with Microsoft's Web-services offerings.
Gates said Microsoft will introduce .NET products in the next two years that will improve teleconferencing and file-sharing over the Internet. The company is also working on software code-named Greenwich, which group President Jim Allchin said will allow full-screen videoconferencing and make it easier for users to share files.
Gates said Microsoft on Wednesday released a beta (experimental) version of its Windows .NET Server, the Windows operating system for running corporate networks and Web sites. The finished version will be completed this year, Microsoft said.
The company also mentioned the next version of the company's SQL Server database product, code-named Yukon, which is intended to make it easier to manage distributed data.
A brief demonstration was given of Windows Media Center -- a PC-based television that is intended to bring .NET-style information to the TV in the living room.
Gates indicated that the company's software Promised Land will be a new version of its Windows operating system code-named Longhorn, which is still at least two years off.
[Note: this story's headline has been corrected since it was originally published]
This report includes information from Bloomberg News and The New York Times. P-I reporter Dan Richman can be reached at 206-448-8032 or danrichman@seattlepi.com
Gates Admits 'Misstep' In Parts Of .NET Launch
Microsoft's Broad New Strategy Has Yet To Catch On With Customers
Thursday, July 25, 2002
By DAN RICHMAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Analysts knew it. Customers knew it. Turns out Microsoft Corp. knows it, too.
The software maker acknowledged Wednesday that its .NET strategy -- announced with unprecedented fanfare in June 2000 -- hasn't caught on as quickly as anticipated.
But at a briefing in Redmond for about 100 financial analysts and reporters, the company restated its commitment to the complex initiative and stressed how much progress has been made.
Co-founder Bill Gates said Microsoft has made several errors in introducing its bet-the-company .NET initiative.
"In some respects, we haven't made as much progress as we expected," Gates said. Computer users have noticed "very little" of the effort, he said.
"The .NET strategy in 2000 was 'pie in the sky -- Internet solves everything.' And it hasn't come to fruition," said Christian Koch, an analyst at Trusco Capital Management. "The strategy is still sound, but the implementation has been lacking."
One element of .NET -- My Services, originally called Hailstorm -- envisioned Microsoft as a central repository for personal data about Web users, including credit card numbers. The proposal occasioned a loud outcry from critics who said no company -- particularly not one as vulnerable to security breaches as Microsoft -- should have such a role.
"There were elements of this (Web services concept) that were premature," Gates said. "We made a misstep."
Now, to the extent that such repositories exist, they are managed by individual companies or organizations, Microsoft among them.
Gates also acknowledged that confusion still reigns about .NET's very definition. On Wednesday, he hammered home a new definition: "software to connect information, people, systems and services."
If .NET is nothing more, it is an impressive-sounding brand that can be stamped on virtually every product the company puts out.
Gates recalled, "In September (2000) we shipped our enterprise products. Perhaps labeling those as 'NET.' products was premature."
About the only thing that has always has been clear about .NET is that it relies on four standards to make data more freely discoverable and interchangeable, even among computers running on different operating systems. Most notably, these include XML (Extensible Markup Language), a set of tags that identify elements within text, such as "Title" or "Net Income," so that programs can scan for those elements and interact with them.
Today, "the key standards are in place, in use and working," he said. "The days when you said, 'These two systems have to connect. Bring in 200 consultants at $200 an hour,' are over."
But Microsoft is not the only company pursuing the goal of greater connectivity. Rivals Sun Microsystems Inc., IBM Corp. and BEA Systems Inc. are preparing products that would compete with Microsoft's Web-services offerings.
Gates said Microsoft will introduce .NET products in the next two years that will improve teleconferencing and file-sharing over the Internet. The company is also working on software code-named Greenwich, which group President Jim Allchin said will allow full-screen videoconferencing and make it easier for users to share files.
Gates said Microsoft on Wednesday released a beta (experimental) version of its Windows .NET Server, the Windows operating system for running corporate networks and Web sites. The finished version will be completed this year, Microsoft said.
The company also mentioned the next version of the company's SQL Server database product, code-named Yukon, which is intended to make it easier to manage distributed data.
A brief demonstration was given of Windows Media Center -- a PC-based television that is intended to bring .NET-style information to the TV in the living room.
Gates indicated that the company's software Promised Land will be a new version of its Windows operating system code-named Longhorn, which is still at least two years off.
[Note: this story's headline has been corrected since it was originally published]
This report includes information from Bloomberg News and The New York Times. P-I reporter Dan Richman can be reached at 206-448-8032 or danrichman@seattlepi.com