Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming An Underlying Operating System: Windows

An Underlying Operating System: Windows

Because these Web services and applications that use Web services run on computers and because computers have peripherals, we still need an operating system. Microsoft suggests that people use Windows. Specifically, Microsoft is adding XML Web serviceÐspecific features to its Windows line of operating systems, and Windows XP and the servers in the Windows .NET Server Family will be the versions best suited for this new service-driven world.

Specifically, Windows XP and the Windows .NET Server Family products have integrated support for Microsoft .NET Passport XML Web service. Passport is a service that authenticates users. Many Web services will require user authentication to access information securely. When users log on to a computer running Windows XP or one of the servers from the Windows .NET Server Family, they are effectively logging on to every Web site and Web service that uses Passport for authentication. This means that users won’t have to enter usernames and passwords as they access different Internet sites. As you can imagine, Passport is a huge benefit to users: one identity and password for everything you do, and you have to enter it only once!

In addition, Windows XP and the Windows .NET Server Family products have some built-in support for loading and executing applications implementing the .NET Framework. Finally, Windows XP and the Windows .NET Server Family operating systems have a new, extensible instant messaging notification application. This application allows third-party vendors (such as Expedia, the United States Postal Service, and many others) to communicate with users seamlessly. For example, users can receive automatic notifications when their flights are delayed (from Expedia) and when a package is ready to be delivered (from the U.S. Postal Service). I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hoping for services like these for years—I can’t wait! Helpful Products: The .NET Enterprise Servers As part of the .NET initiative, Microsoft is providing several products that companies can choose to use if their business logic (services) find them useful. Here are some of Microsoft’s enterprise server products:  §Microsoft Application Center 2000  §Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000  §Microsoft Commerce Server 2000  §Microsoft Exchange 2000  §Microsoft Host Integration Server 2000  §Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000  §Microsoft Mobile Information Server 2002 An Underlying Operating System: Windows It’s likely that each of these products will eventually have a “.NET” added to its name for marketing purposes. But I’m also sure that over time, these products will integrate more .NET features into them as Microsoft continues the initiative. Microsoft XML Web Services: .NET My Services Certainly, Microsoft wants to do more than just provide the underlying technologies that allow others to play in this new world. Microsoft wants to play too. So, Microsoft will be building its own set of XML Web services: some will be free, and others will require some usage fee. Microsoft initially plans to offer the following .NET My Services:  §.NET Alerts  §.NET ApplicationSettings  §.NET Calendar  §.NET Categories  §.NET Contacts  §.NET Devices  §.NET Documents  §.NET FavoriteWebSites  §.NET Inbox  §.NET Lists  §.NET Locations  §.NET Presence  §.NET Profile  §.NET Services  §.NET Wallet These consumer-oriented XML Web services are known as Microsoft’s “.NET My Services.” You can find out more information about them at http://www.Microsoft.com/MyServices/. Over time, Microsoft will add many more consumer services and will also be creating business-oriented XML Web services. In addition to these public Web services, Microsoft will create internal services for sales data and billing. These internal services will be accessible to Microsoft employees only. I anticipate that companies will quickly embrace the idea of using Web services on their intranets to make internal company information available to employees. The implementation of publicly available Internet Web services and applications that consume them will probably proceed more slowly.