Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Is Free a Make or Break Issue?
Posted by Andy Sjostrom in "DEVELOPER" @ 01:27 AM
Three years ago, not many felt Microsoft posed a serious threat to market leader Palm. One factor, of many factors, was the incredibly poor developer story Microsoft had. The older versions of Visual Studio and the mobile toolkits didn't really qualify as a real developer platform. If anyone caught interest in developing mobile applications, you would have to jump through hoops to get things done. If you first could overcome the poor toolkit implementation, that is.
Then something happened. Microsoft turned around and apparently decided to take the mobile devices market seriously. In my opinion, that shift in attitude happened in late 1999. Enter eMbedded Visual Tools. I remember the first eMbedded Visual Tools presentation I listened to in Redmond. It was a relief to see the improvements and the entirely new approach to development introduced. I was absolutely stunned when the presenter said that the tools would be free. Microsoft had realized, again, that they could not win without applications for their platform. To gain market share, you need to attract developers. Easy.
Today, I often hear Microsoft say: "We are winning in the PDA market!". While I see that Microsoft and their partners do quite well from a revenue perspective, they are still lagging behind in the market. Lagging. Lagging. Lagging. In fact, this is the first time I have ever come across a part of Microsoft that says: "We are winning!" when in fact they do not have more than 50% market share. Instead, it has been more common to hear: "We are losing" despite market share numbers above 50%. This is the healthy paranoia that has gotten Microsoft to where it is today. A paranoia that I have asked for in this market too, for such a long time. Back to tools.
Enter .NET. No more free tools. To develop .NET Compact Framework applications you will need Visual Studio .NET that costs more than $1,000. So far I haven't heard anything about a Visual Studio .NET packaging for mobile devices developers. This new attitude goes well in line with: "We are winning!", but I fear it is way too early to stop "assisting" the developers that are so critical in making this "win" actually happen. Do you agree? Should Microsoft come up with a continued schema of developer assistance, such as free or almost free tools, or are they on the right track charging premium fees for mobile application developer tools?
Then something happened. Microsoft turned around and apparently decided to take the mobile devices market seriously. In my opinion, that shift in attitude happened in late 1999. Enter eMbedded Visual Tools. I remember the first eMbedded Visual Tools presentation I listened to in Redmond. It was a relief to see the improvements and the entirely new approach to development introduced. I was absolutely stunned when the presenter said that the tools would be free. Microsoft had realized, again, that they could not win without applications for their platform. To gain market share, you need to attract developers. Easy.
Today, I often hear Microsoft say: "We are winning in the PDA market!". While I see that Microsoft and their partners do quite well from a revenue perspective, they are still lagging behind in the market. Lagging. Lagging. Lagging. In fact, this is the first time I have ever come across a part of Microsoft that says: "We are winning!" when in fact they do not have more than 50% market share. Instead, it has been more common to hear: "We are losing" despite market share numbers above 50%. This is the healthy paranoia that has gotten Microsoft to where it is today. A paranoia that I have asked for in this market too, for such a long time. Back to tools.
Enter .NET. No more free tools. To develop .NET Compact Framework applications you will need Visual Studio .NET that costs more than $1,000. So far I haven't heard anything about a Visual Studio .NET packaging for mobile devices developers. This new attitude goes well in line with: "We are winning!", but I fear it is way too early to stop "assisting" the developers that are so critical in making this "win" actually happen. Do you agree? Should Microsoft come up with a continued schema of developer assistance, such as free or almost free tools, or are they on the right track charging premium fees for mobile application developer tools?
