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Revisiting Whidbey, Yukon, and Beyond
Here's an overview and analysis of the latest developments in Microsoft's server and tools products.
by Peter O'Kelly

Tech•Ed, June 6, 2005

It has been almost five years since Microsoft unveiled its .NET strategy at PDC 2000, and nearly two years since it announced details about Whidbey, Yukon, and Longhorn at PDC 2003. FTP has provided detailed coverage along the way, including a four-part series in 2004 covering Microsoft's past, present, and future platform strategies (see Resources).

This week's Tech•Ed conference is in many ways a major milestone for Microsoft's product strategy, especially for its server and tools products. I'll provide an overview of the latest developments, with a focus on three themes: the degree to which the new Microsoft systems work together, how well Microsoft is doing in terms of bringing its vision to fruition, and some areas in which Microsoft has not yet fully delivered on its earlier announcements.

Tech•Ed's list of products and technology topics reads a bit like an encyclopedia (see Resources), but some of the main themes include:

1. Updates and firm release dates for Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0 (together previously code-named "Whidbey"), along with SQL Server 2005 (previously code-named "Yukon"). The target release dates are well within Microsoft's most recently stated goal (second half 2005), although some of the features expected in the first release of Visual Studio 2005 won't be immediately available (the full Team System tool set, specifically).
2. Elaboration on Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative and related policies such as the Common Engineering Criteria (see Resources), which all Windows Server System products are now required to support. These initiatives ensure Microsoft products all support the same services and policies for management, operation, security, and product updates.
3. Features and release dates for near-term products including BizTalk Server 2006 (with extensions for Business Activity Services and Business Activity Monitoring, for example) and Commerce Server 2006.
4. Some initial details on Office 12, the code name for the next major release of Office (expected before the end of 2006), along with updates for Visual Studio Tools for Office. More specifically, Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System (VSTO) will now provide support for Outlook managed code add-ins that will greatly simplify development of Office-centered applications (for example, business process and content lifecycle management).