Monday, February 11, 2008

Microsoft Missing Mashup Momentum

While industry momentum is pushing companies to open up their application libraries, Microsoft for the most part continues to be Microsoft. Keeping this proprietary view will only diminish its importance in the Web 2.0 world.

Microsoft created the Popfly tool for non-programmers to mashup multimedia content, but as the NYTimes points out, it is based on its Silverlight technology.

We are in a new world where mixing and matching content through widgets is expected. The visibility of leveraging existing applications -- most of which were purchased -- will pay for any development cost or loss in intellectual property.

Windows' and Office's dominance will likely continue, and tapping into those millions of lines of code online will further entrench users' commitment to staying with the platforms. Put text formatting or data manipulation tools in the hands of today's mashup crowd, and amazing things will happen.

The open-source alternatives are getting closer in their capabilities, and users are getting accustomed to the free and freely available via mashup paradigms. Opening parts of the library to all is the best long term strategy.

Posted By John Gartner at 08:17 AM
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