Desktop platforms Toolkit

Microsoft courts programmers

Martin LaMonica CNET News.com

Published: 20 Jul 2004 14:55 BST

The success of Microsoft's Windows operating system is inextricably tied to its strong developer division. Since its founding, Microsoft has supplied programmers with the tools to build applications for Windows, the company's crown jewels.

S. "Soma" Somasegar has lived on both sides of the Windows developer fence. After working 15 years at the group responsible for building Windows, he became vice president of Microsoft's developer division earlier this year.

There's a close technical kinship between Windows and Microsoft's .Net development platform -- particularly as the company continues to heap more and more software "plumbing", such as Web services connectivity software, into Windows. And developers are instrumental to getting advanced features such as better search capabilities into commercial applications.

Somasegar's job is to keep those programmers within the Microsoft fold. His strategy is simple: give developers the tools to write code securely and faster than Java and open-source alternatives. Last month, Microsoft cast an even wider net in its developer outreach programme by announcing its Express initiative, a plan to lure amateur programmers.

Somasegar spoke to ZDNet UK's sister site CNET News.com about the company's developers, the impact of open source and how Microsoft plans to entice the development community to devote its energies to the company's next big bet: Longhorn, the next version of Windows.

Q: Should we expect Microsoft to do more code sharing for developers?
A: We are learning as we go along here. If you had talked to me two years ago and asked "are you going to share an early build of your product?" I would have probably laughed and said there is no way I would know how to do that.

We have learned a ton. As we go along the journey, so to speak, let's see what works for our customers, what makes them more effective, and let's do it in a way that makes sense for us and for them.