In remarks on the Java Lobby site, Roger Voss, recently of Microsoft, described his
feelings that "XML/distributed Internet computing paradigm was just a non-starter to me." At the same time, a thread on
comp.text.xml
brought some strong skepticism to Microsoft's upcoming Next Generation Windows Systems (NGWS), thin clients built on
XML.
While in some respects the post appears to be an effort to draw attention to his own plans for replacing this XML-based
infrastructure, it provides some descriptions of work inside Microsoft which, while in some ways unsurprising, provides an insider's
viewpoint on the approach Microsoft is taking with regard to XML:
"At Microsoft I worked on stuff where the emphasis from on high was adopting XML for pretty much
everything related to data flow between nodes, and especially a heavy emphasis on multi-tier distributed computing architecture.
This means apps (proxy objects) downloading and executing client-side and piping data back to a middle-tier
where business logic (the real objects) execute server side in the context of some distributed transaction
monitor."
Although he acknowledges that "Yes, I see some good roles for XML for data conveyance," he doesn't seem to
have much excitement for "XML as a replacement of HTML over HTTP though." This stands in fairly clear contrast
to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's recent remarks that:
"And the key to this change we see in the Internet, and the key, frankly, to a lot of other opportunities that I
think are essential to all in terms of taking advantage of the Internet, will be what we might well call the XML generation, what we
think of and we need to make all this clear as the NGWS generation, Microsoft's next generation platform efforts, or what you
could well think of as the generation of the next Internet user experience."
Meanwhile, on comp.text.xml, an invitation to explore
NGWS brought some complaints from Matt Sergeant (and others) about the whole enterprise:
"This is not a wheel that needs reinventing or replacing with something slower. I can't wait to see a thin client
that communicates bitmap graphics over SOAP... :-)"