Microsoft Likes "Architecture"

David Schatsky | April 09, 2003, 04:50 PM

I've been crazy busy lately but wanted to go on record with a reaction to the stuff Microsoft showed me last month in Redmond. Bill spoke to us about how important architecture is to the company. (No surprise coming from the Chief Software Architect.) What unfolded over a couple of days, though, was a view of Microsoft mirroring a broad IT trend: rationalizing technology assets to get better value.

Across industry, companies are looking to simplify their IT infrastructure and assets, consolidate platforms, unlock value through smart integrations. A lot of Microsoft's initiatlves, relating to their "Jupiter" work and Sharepoint Services and other things (eventually moving to a single data store for an incredibly wide range of products) is inspired by this same imperative.

A journalist tracking Microsoft recently asked me what the killer app is that will arise from all of these initiatives. Sure, they've got some hot things going on with InfoPath and OneNote. But I think Microsoft's opportunity is not about delivering a new killer app. It's about unfolding a killer architecture. The efforts under way are about evolving their technology from primordial soup to double helix, an architecture as pregnant with potential as DNA (pardon the reference to the short-lived MSFT catch phrase). If they get it right, their architecture will spawn so much value that they won't have to produce a killer app to reap killer rewards.

Watch.