Thursday, April 10, 2003
Be Free Or Not Be Free
Posted by Andy Sjostrom in "DEVELOPER" @ 12:58 AM
I expressed a few thoughts about Microsoft developer tools a while back. I called the post "Is Free a Make or Break Issue?" and pondered the question "what will happen as new mobile application development tools from Microsoft no longer are free?" A great number of opinions were expressed. My own main concern evolved, and continues to evolve, around the fact that the public hasn't heard from Microsoft about what its plans really are. Since then, I have discussed the question with Microsoft representatives and have given it some more thought. Before I tell you about my conclusions, I will tell you how I got here. First, I need to say that this post is not the "official word" from Microsoft, just my own thoughts and opinions. The topic at hand is, as far as I understand, still under review at Microsoft. Read on and let the discussions continue!
Developer Orientation Drives Revenue
Most agree that Microsoft has been developer oriented since its beginning. The company began its journey with development languages and tools, not with MS-DOS, Windows or Office. The company is respected by both developer tools competitors and its developer customers. Today, the strategy spells .NET and core elements from a developer perspective include a common language runtime, common type system, memory management, and specific components including native support for XML Web Services, XML document management, database management, user interface design all tied together. Again, most agree that .NET is well architected and balanced.
Microsoft is not developer oriented out of any sort of idealism. In case you haven't noticed, Microsoft is - more than anything else - revenue oriented. From a revenue perspective the .NET strategy works in at least two ways:
1. Microsoft development tools attract developers based on the tools' own merits. Development tools are a major source of income for the company.
2. Sales of development tools and languages drive sales of Windows servers, SQL Server, Biztalk Server, and all the other Microsoft servers. Since the various servers expose interfaces that are readily available from the platform and development environments, they are popular choices in corporate IT strategies and attract system architects and developers. My opinion is that aligning development tools and languages from server all the way to mobile device application development is an appropriate and even self-evident strategy. So, in essence development tools are a vital part of the Microsoft business model.
Attracting Developers in Different Ways
Moving on to mobile devices and mobile application development. Microsoft tries to differentiate itself through its development tools in the mobile market, too. The company gladly speaks about the 10,500+ Pocket PC applications and the 190,000+ professional Pocket PC developers (400K+ total). Two of the major reasons behind this fairly rapid adoption are the fact that the development tools, eMbedded Visual Tools, have been free and that they have similarities to other common tools and languages. Microsoft's strategy has been to minimize the threshold to get started. Microsoft still has the strategy to keep that threshold as low as possible.
The idea moving forward is to address the strategy, not with free tools but by leveraging two strong assets: the .NET technologies and the massive number of .NET developers. This is done by integrating mobile application development into a common enviroment and providing common programming languages and concepts. With this strategy, the .NET developers will have access to the tools nescessary to get started in mobile application development directly out-of-the-box and that is a low threshold by definition. The goal is the same but the strategy is different.
Three Different Groups of Developers
The ongoing discussion in the Pocket PC development community relates to what might happen if the new development tools are no longer free, as Microsoft moves all its development efforts, including mobile application development, to the .NET platform. When I look at what might happen, I see three different groups of developers:
1. Consumer Application Developers, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). This group mostly uses eMbedded Visual C++.
2. Corporate Application Developers. This group uses both eMbedded Visual Basic as well as eMbedded Visual C++.
3. Hobbyist Developers. This group mostly uses eMbedded Visual Basic.
Let's take a look at how these groups might be affected:
eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 and eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 continue to be free. Developers using eMbedded Visual Basic 3.0 can continue to target Pocket PC devices including the upcoming Pocket PC 2003. eVC++ 4.0 is the only tool available to develop so-called native applications, even with the release of the .NET Compact Framework. Most commercial off-the-shelf Pocket PC applications are developed using eVC++.
Personally, I believe this won't change within the next year. In case this group wishes to use the .NET Compact Framework, the cost involved is far from prohibitive to make the move. In fact, even if Microsoft did stop giving away eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 it would not cause much of a problem with the Consumer Application Developers. This means that developers in all three groups can continue to use free tools.
The Consumer Application Developers and ISVs are therefore, to a large extent, unaffected by the upcoming changes. Corporate Application Developers and Hobbyist Developers who want to continue to use eVT 3.0 or eVC++ 4.0 can continue to do so, free of charge. Corporate Application Developers are very likely to have access to Visual Studio .NET anyway and a change in policy will have little or no impact on this group. As a side note, one of the more interesting features of the .NET Compact Framework is the support for XML Web Services. eMbedded Visual Tools developers can use third party add-ons to consume XML Web Services. Two examples are PocketSOAP and Odyssey Software ViaXML. The new version of SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition (2.0) is also accessible from eMbedded Visual Tools.
Free Open Source, Linux and Java Options Become a Threat?
An interesting thought on this subject that I will spend some time dealing with the next month or so, is whether or not the change in strategy makes the free open source, Linux and Java options out there more of a threat. I have no answers to this question yet, but you may definitely add your thoughts on that to this post!
Conclusion
In summary, the Consumer Application Developers and ISVs are the least affected since eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 remains free. The Hobbyist Developers are probably affected the most. While the hobbyists are able to continue to use the free tools, they are likely to want to go to the new platform. You rarely find a hobbyist wanting to stay with old tools. The cost is, to this group, definitely an issue. That is, of course, if the hobbyist is not eligible for the Academic Pricing which would make the nescessary tools more affordable.
My conclusions are that since a free Visual Studio .NET could in one way or another risk a million dollars in business, there will be no free Visual Studio .NET. I doubt that the price change will have much of a negative impact on Microsoft's mobile market efforts. Instead, I believe the integration with the .NET platform will have a definite positive impact in terms of technology and the number of mobile application developers.
Developer Orientation Drives Revenue
Most agree that Microsoft has been developer oriented since its beginning. The company began its journey with development languages and tools, not with MS-DOS, Windows or Office. The company is respected by both developer tools competitors and its developer customers. Today, the strategy spells .NET and core elements from a developer perspective include a common language runtime, common type system, memory management, and specific components including native support for XML Web Services, XML document management, database management, user interface design all tied together. Again, most agree that .NET is well architected and balanced.
Microsoft is not developer oriented out of any sort of idealism. In case you haven't noticed, Microsoft is - more than anything else - revenue oriented. From a revenue perspective the .NET strategy works in at least two ways:
1. Microsoft development tools attract developers based on the tools' own merits. Development tools are a major source of income for the company.
2. Sales of development tools and languages drive sales of Windows servers, SQL Server, Biztalk Server, and all the other Microsoft servers. Since the various servers expose interfaces that are readily available from the platform and development environments, they are popular choices in corporate IT strategies and attract system architects and developers. My opinion is that aligning development tools and languages from server all the way to mobile device application development is an appropriate and even self-evident strategy. So, in essence development tools are a vital part of the Microsoft business model.
Attracting Developers in Different Ways
Moving on to mobile devices and mobile application development. Microsoft tries to differentiate itself through its development tools in the mobile market, too. The company gladly speaks about the 10,500+ Pocket PC applications and the 190,000+ professional Pocket PC developers (400K+ total). Two of the major reasons behind this fairly rapid adoption are the fact that the development tools, eMbedded Visual Tools, have been free and that they have similarities to other common tools and languages. Microsoft's strategy has been to minimize the threshold to get started. Microsoft still has the strategy to keep that threshold as low as possible.
The idea moving forward is to address the strategy, not with free tools but by leveraging two strong assets: the .NET technologies and the massive number of .NET developers. This is done by integrating mobile application development into a common enviroment and providing common programming languages and concepts. With this strategy, the .NET developers will have access to the tools nescessary to get started in mobile application development directly out-of-the-box and that is a low threshold by definition. The goal is the same but the strategy is different.
Three Different Groups of Developers
The ongoing discussion in the Pocket PC development community relates to what might happen if the new development tools are no longer free, as Microsoft moves all its development efforts, including mobile application development, to the .NET platform. When I look at what might happen, I see three different groups of developers:
1. Consumer Application Developers, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). This group mostly uses eMbedded Visual C++.
2. Corporate Application Developers. This group uses both eMbedded Visual Basic as well as eMbedded Visual C++.
3. Hobbyist Developers. This group mostly uses eMbedded Visual Basic.
Let's take a look at how these groups might be affected:
eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 and eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 continue to be free. Developers using eMbedded Visual Basic 3.0 can continue to target Pocket PC devices including the upcoming Pocket PC 2003. eVC++ 4.0 is the only tool available to develop so-called native applications, even with the release of the .NET Compact Framework. Most commercial off-the-shelf Pocket PC applications are developed using eVC++.
Personally, I believe this won't change within the next year. In case this group wishes to use the .NET Compact Framework, the cost involved is far from prohibitive to make the move. In fact, even if Microsoft did stop giving away eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 it would not cause much of a problem with the Consumer Application Developers. This means that developers in all three groups can continue to use free tools.
The Consumer Application Developers and ISVs are therefore, to a large extent, unaffected by the upcoming changes. Corporate Application Developers and Hobbyist Developers who want to continue to use eVT 3.0 or eVC++ 4.0 can continue to do so, free of charge. Corporate Application Developers are very likely to have access to Visual Studio .NET anyway and a change in policy will have little or no impact on this group. As a side note, one of the more interesting features of the .NET Compact Framework is the support for XML Web Services. eMbedded Visual Tools developers can use third party add-ons to consume XML Web Services. Two examples are PocketSOAP and Odyssey Software ViaXML. The new version of SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition (2.0) is also accessible from eMbedded Visual Tools.
Free Open Source, Linux and Java Options Become a Threat?
An interesting thought on this subject that I will spend some time dealing with the next month or so, is whether or not the change in strategy makes the free open source, Linux and Java options out there more of a threat. I have no answers to this question yet, but you may definitely add your thoughts on that to this post!
Conclusion
In summary, the Consumer Application Developers and ISVs are the least affected since eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 remains free. The Hobbyist Developers are probably affected the most. While the hobbyists are able to continue to use the free tools, they are likely to want to go to the new platform. You rarely find a hobbyist wanting to stay with old tools. The cost is, to this group, definitely an issue. That is, of course, if the hobbyist is not eligible for the Academic Pricing which would make the nescessary tools more affordable.
My conclusions are that since a free Visual Studio .NET could in one way or another risk a million dollars in business, there will be no free Visual Studio .NET. I doubt that the price change will have much of a negative impact on Microsoft's mobile market efforts. Instead, I believe the integration with the .NET platform will have a definite positive impact in terms of technology and the number of mobile application developers.
