3.6 QA: A time to recap and reflect

3.6 Q&A: A time to recap and reflect

	Q: Will Microsoft be a major player vis--vis Web services?
	Q: What is the relationship between Microsoft and IBM when it comes to Web services?
	Q: What is Microsoft s attitude toward Java?
	Q: Are Web services developed with Microsoft s Visual Studio .NET 2003 platform independent?
	Q: Are there any valid reasons to be concerned about Web services deployed on Windows servers?
	Q: Is it possible to port a Web service developed to be deployed on a Windows server to another platform (e.g., Linux or UNIX)?
	Q: What is Microsoft s .NET?
	Q: What then is .NET Framework?
	Q: What are the major advantages of Windows Server 2003 over previous Windows servers?
	Q: What exactly is .NET Passport?

Answers

	A: Yes, incontrovertibly. Microsoft already is one of the key players when it comes to Web services, and this role is unlikely to diminish in the coming years . Microsoft has had a hand in the development of most of the pivotal Web services standards (e.g., SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, BPEL4WS, WS-Security, WS-Coordination, and so forth). Furthermore, Microsoft is one of the four companies around the world providing a UDDI Business Registry (UBR) to facilitate Web service location and identification using UDDI. Microsoft s strategic .NET initiative is highly Web-centric, and Microsoft is already offering at least one bona fide programmatic Web service ”namely, MapPoint Web Service. If all of this alone is not enough, Microsoft claims that more than a million developers use its Visual Studio software development methodology. One has to assume that some of these are already hard at work developing Web services using Visual Studio .NET ”which Microsoft touts as a premier means for Web service creation. The bottom line here is that Microsoft, whether one likes it or not, will continue to be a powerful and pivotal mover and shaker when it comes to Web services.
	A: There is a beguiling love-hate, co-opetition relationship between Microsoft and IBM when it comes to Web services. As shown in Table 1.1, Microsoft and IBM have collaborated extensively when it comes to the development of the pivotal Web services “related standards. No other two companies have done as much as Microsoft and IBM when it comes to promoting and propagating the Web services vision and technology. However, this camaraderie ends markedly and abruptly when it comes to marketing Web services “ related products. They are at loggerheads with each other. IBM is all Java and Microsoft is all decaf. Microsoft claims .NET is the best way to develop and deploy Web services, and IBM disagrees, vehemently.
	A: Microsoft was never a big fan of Java. The hallmark platform independence of Java is of no real interest to Microsoft. It only supports and endorses one platform ”that being Windows. Unlike IBM, Sun, and H-P, it is not a purveyor of computer hardware systems. Consequently, Microsoft always appeared to see Java, rightly so, as a threat to its platform-specific strategy. Lawsuits by Sun to get Microsoft to become more Java conscious have, in effect, backfired. Rather than agreeing to try to be Java compliant, Microsoft, at least for the time being, has decided to sever all ties with Java. In February 2003, Microsoft claimed that it will stop including a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in all Microsoft products as of January 2004. It is also withdrawing its Java-oriented, but Windows-specific, Visual J++ product. The noninclusion of JVMs by Microsoft will not, however, mean that Java support will not be available on all popular Microsoft products. Various organizations, led by Java.com, are already providing proven and free JVM downloads for Microsoft products such as Windows XP.
	A: No, they are not platform independent in terms of where they can be deployed and executed. Web services, as well as other applications developed with Visual Studio .NET 2003, will only run on Windows systems. This, however, does not preclude them from being used by applications running on other platforms. Consequently, the sacrosanct platform independence of Web services is not violated in that the Windows specificity of Web services developed with Visual Studio .NET are still freely interoperable with applications running on all other platforms.
	A: This could be a potential concern if a Web service running on a Windows server is going to be repeatedly invoked by a high-volume, mission-critical application, serving tens of thousands of concurrent users, and running on a mainframe or large UNIX server. The performance, reliability, and scalability of the Windows server may not be adequate to match the 99.999% availability and response-time criteria demanded by the mission-critical application. Security vulnerability of the Windows server could also be a concern if sensitive information, such as credit card numbers , is to be sent to the Web service from the mission-critical application.
	A: This, to a large extent, is contingent on how much Windows-specific technology ”for example, Microsoft COM objects or the ASP scripting scheme ”is used by the Web service. In general, given enough time, money, and patience, any piece of software, especially if written in a popular high-level language such as C or C++, can be ported from one platform to another. In some cases, however, such a port might end up being akin to a total rewrite. The pivotal issue here is cost ”and the cost will be greater as the amount of Windows-specific functionality increases .
	A: .NET is meant to encompass all of Microsoft s initiatives that pertain to XML, Web services, and post-Y2K e-business. .NET is not a single product. It is an umbrella term , which spans a plethora of products ”in this case Microsoft software offerings for clients (both desktop and mobile), servers, application suites (e.g., Microsoft Office XP), services (e.g., .NET Alerts), and software developer systems.
	A: .NET Framework is the program execution layer of .NET. It is the programming model within the .NET initiative for building, deploying, and running Web-based applications, smart client applications, and XML Web services. The .NET Framework, Microsoft claims, is the first software environment built from the ground up to provide native support for XML Web services in addition to other more traditional types of applications.
	A: Windows Server 2003 is faster than prior versions when it comes to file server and Web server transactions. It is also significantly more scalable in that it can support 64-way SMP configurations with up to 512 GB of memory. It also supports 8-node clustering with dynamic load balancing and failover protection. It is also meant to be more secure, by design and default, than prior versions, including Windows 2000.
	A: .NET Passport is Microsoft s now-beleaguered single sign-on service for the Web. Passport obviates the need for repeated logons to various Web sites, applications, and services using different user IDs and passwords. With Passport a user is authenticated once per Web session. Once authenticated, that user can automatically log on to Web sites and services that support Passport without needing to identify himself or herself again. Passport as such is a valuable and compelling service. There was an adjunct to Passport, known as Passport Wallet, which could be used as a secure, digital repository for credit card information. Passport-authenticated users could then use the credit card information contained in their digital Wallet for e-commerce transactions. Following security exposures, Microsoft has now withdrawn the Wallet service. The true security of Passport also continues be questioned, with people still managing to uncover disturbing holes in this supposedly highly secure service. Consequently, Passport s credibility is tarnished and its future is under a dark cloud.