“Emotions ran high last month when Microsoft Corp., reeling from
antitrust woes and stepped-up competition, rolled out its
make-or-break Internet strategy to the press and analysts. … Now,
company honchos face an even tougher sell: Persuading software
developers to actually write programs for the futuristic
“Microsoft.NET” computing platform, many components of which won’t
come to market for years.”
“One of the biggest questions for developers will be just
how “open” the new platform is — in other words, whether following
Microsoft’s technical ground rules will generate programs that are
tied to its Windows operating system. So far, the jury is out
on that issue.”
“Some industry executives say Microsoft has gone through a major
change in attitude, supporting technologies that can be used with
the rival Linux and Unix systems that are popular among Web
businesses. … Microsoft rivals, of course, remain
doubtful that the company is lessening its emphasis on
Windows. And even the company’s loyal developers say the
company will have to move fast to deliver the tools to build new
.NET applications…”