Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: If I were Microsoft's Marketing God

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:9/19/1999; 2:06:47 PM
Topic:If I were Microsoft's Marketing God
Msg #:11281 (In response to 11278)
Prev/Next:11280 / 11282

It totally was courageous of them. The level of interest in XML-RPC methods, both kinds, has squared in the last week. They didn't have to put something into this space at all. They could have waited until Sun, IBM or Oracle went first. It would never happen, based on what I've seen at those companies. And Microsoft does listen, more than any other large technology company I've ever tried to work with.

It's also important to keep the conversation going. So far I have seen zero flames about Microsoft's role in SOAP and XML-RPC. I find that amazing. To some extent I think my involvement had something to do with that, because at least some people trust me not to sell them out.

What I want to do next with this is two-fold:

  1. Get support for SOAP and XML-RPC in other influential environments that are distant from Windows, to bring the platforms closer together in the minds of developers and the press. This part of the Internet is really important, but this time we're not factoring out the advantages of each platform, as Java did, we're *enhancing* them, by leaving their cultures intact and providing ways to bridge them together. So the evangelism job gets a little easier, I hope, with MS in the loop.

    For example, would Allaire agree now to implement SOAP or XML-RPC in Cold Fusion? This would be incredible. What about some of the big Linux or FreeBSD-based websites like Yahoo or eBay or HotMail? Any search engines want to build XML-RPC interfaces? The connections to CMSs and search engines are well-understood. It's something we want to offload, fairly desperately. Out customers would love to be able to offload searching too. Want to put ads on the pages in return? We can work something out. All the possibilities are still there.

  2. And think the other way too. Now Microsoft is on the record with SOAP. That means that Microsoft development teams can use SOAP. There's a real opportunity for Microsoft to shine here. I think the juice is now in the next-level-up interfaces. Let's build bridges between our worlds now that we have agreed what the bridges look like.




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