The "Orcas" release of Visual Studio (VS), designed to support WinFX (a key component of "Longhorn"—the next major upgrade to Windows), may not ship until six months after Longhorn, according to the vice president of Microsoft’s tools division, Soma Somasegar. Although this is a setback for developers who want to jump on the WinFX bandwagon as early as possible, they will still be able to target WinFX using VS 2005, which is due in mid-2005, albeit without some of the tools that would make development easier for corporate developers.

Caught Between Yukon and Longhorn

WinFX is a new set of APIs based on the .NET Framework that are designed to replace many of the aging Win32 APIs that have been in use since the introduction of Windows NT in 1992. Recent changes to Microsoft’s Longhorn plans include removing some features and making other elements of WinFX available on Windows XP. The changes suggest that the company is increasingly serious about shipping the OS update at the end of 2006.

This revised schedule leaves Microsoft’s tools division between a rock and a hard place. It must focus on completing VS 2005 (code-named Whidbey), which is currently not due to ship until mid-2005 along with SQL Server 2005 (code-named Yukon), but that focus reduces the effort the team can put into the significant new tools that will be required for WinFX and Longhorn.

Even with the additional breathing room given by Somasegar’s recent statements, Microsoft has only 24 months from the planned ship date of Whidbey and Yukon in which to produce Orcas. Although this may sound like a lot of time, it is far less than the 44 months Microsoft took to produce the original version of VS.NET. Similarly, although VS 2005 will only have taken about 24 months to ship (assuming it ships on time), Orcas is likely to be more far-reaching. Microsoft has given no details on its plans for Orcas, but certain tools improvements will almost certainly be necessary:

XAML Designer. Developers building user interface (UI) applications using WinFX will need a graphical designer that supports XAML (pronounced "zamel" and rhymes with "camel"), an XML-based syntax for creating applications that run on the new WinFX graphics subsystem (code-named Avalon). Although Avalon can be accessed through a traditional API—in other words, as a set of functions that perform tasks such as creating windows and buttons—Microsoft appears to be encouraging XAML as its preferred approach, primarily because of its basis in XML. Experience has shown that despite XAML’s XML origins, many developers will need more than a text editor that understands XML—they will need a graphical WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) designer to help them build applications.

Avalon in Windows Forms Designer. In addition to providing a new designer based on XAML, Microsoft will need to update the Windows Forms Designer to allow some, but not all, of the newer Avalon UI components to be incorporated into existing Windows Forms applications. Even though Avalon and XAML will replace Windows Forms as the strategic GUI technology, Microsoft must provide at least some limited way of moving Windows Forms applications forward; otherwise, it risks discouraging developers from building Windows Forms applications in the first place.

Indigo tools. Developers who want to build Web services with WinFX will use "Indigo," the main application-to-application communication component that supports emerging protocols for Web services reliability and security. Developers will want VS tools that support Indigo to locate, design, and integrate external Web services into their existing applications as well as to build new Web services. One alternative available for developers is the Web Services Enhancement (WSE) toolkit, but WSE lacks the integrated VS support most corporate developers require and is an interim measure aimed at providing Web services capabilities for "bleeding edge" developers willing to accept a lower degree of version-to-version backward compatibility. Until Indigo is released and has VS support, Microsoft may find that corporate developers are unable to move to new Web services protocols as quickly as either they or Microsoft would like.

System Definition Model (SDM) support. Orcas is Microsoft’s next major chance to include important VS support for its Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), an effort to simplify management of Windows systems. Under the DSI, Microsoft is developing application deployment and monitoring technology that uses SDMs, components supplied by the application developer that document an application's requirements, architecture, and monitoring and management capabilities. Without VS support, corporate developers will find it difficult to create SDM descriptions of their applications, hampering the effectiveness of DSI.

Windows Installer 4.0. Orcas will need to be updated to support Windows Installer 4.0, the Longhorn version of the OS component that handles application installation, customization, and patching. The tools team has also been working on an alternate application installation technology known as ClickOnce, and has said that some of the limitations of the current version of ClickOnce will be removed in Longhorn.

Given the complexity of these tasks, and the strain placed on Microsoft’s tools division by the announced schedule, Orcas seems likely either to ship later than currently planned or without supporting all of these functions. Either way, well after the release of Longhorn and WinFX, developers will still have to rely on VS 2005 and other older tools for at least some WinFX and Longhorn development.

Role of VS 2005 Stretched

Although the list of tools needed for WinFX and Longhorn is long and the time available to Microsoft’s tools division limited, there are mitigating factors.

First, the WinFX technologies are based on the .NET Framework and Common Language Runtime (CLR), and although VS 2005 will not include specific support for any of the WinFX technologies, it does support building .NET applications. Therefore, developers will be able to use VS 2005 to build applications that use technologies such as Avalon and Indigo, but doing so will be like trying to build VB applications without the Windows Forms Designer. ISVs are already familiar with this approach, so the late arrival of VS tools is unlikely to hinder the development of commercial WinFX applications, such as Office. But it is likely to complicate matters for most corporate developers who have grown accustomed to the ease of development of VS’s tools.

The second possible mitigating factor is one that Microsoft would in all likelihood prefer not exist: slow uptake of Longhorn by corporations. If Microsoft is unable to convince corporate buyers that the new WinFX features and applications warrant deploying thousands of new PCs or upgrades, the arrival of updated VS tools is unlikely to change their minds.

Resources

The change in Longhorn plans is described in "Longhorn Components on Windows Roadmap" on page 3 of the Oct. 2004 Update.

Details on ClickOnce can be found in "ClickOnce Aims to Ease Installation" on page 24 of the Apr. 2004 Update.

WSE is described in "New Web Services Toolkit" on page 23 of the July 2004 Update and "Web Services Specifications Inch Forward" on page 26 of the Nov. 2003 Update.

For an overview of Longhorn, including Avalon and Indigo, see "Longhorn Preview Focuses on Developers" on page 3 of the Dec. 2003 Update and "WinFX: The .NET Framework Takes Center Stage" on page 18 of the Dec. 2003 Update.