Web 2.0 Developer Starter Kit and Sample Application

The Web 2.0 phase of the internet today characterizes a fundamental transition of the web from an ecosystem of system generated online content, to an ecosystem of vibrant services that thrive on pervasive and social user engagement. This shift has disruptive implications that extend beyond the social web where it is largely prevalent today.  The trends introduced by Web 2.0 are constantly evolving to introduce newer models of service aggregation and user engagement with potential to impact enterprise/business operations and consumer lifestyles. Enterprises and Businesses of all sizes and kinds are actively exploring ways to leverage the disruptive models being introduced by the emerging web ecosystem to enhance their core  business functions, optimize IT investments, and foster new internal & external community engagement strategies. There exists a tremendous opportunity for business solutions focused independent software vendors to deliver offerings and services that enable these opportunities. On the consumer edge, Web based alternatives are constantly evolving and challenging the existence of popular ISV COTS/white labeled products. Here again there exist opportunities for ISVs to rethink their product strategies to integrate with and take advantage of the emerging web trends while delivering unique value to consumers. 

Materializing these opportunities will require ISVs to develop a sound understanding of the emerging web ecosystem to evaluate the implications and opportunities in the context of their current and future investments. A wide spread understanding and consensus in the context of planning, architecting, and implementing services for the emerging web is non-existent today. Web 2.0 applications and services are largely viewed today as ad-hoc investments undertaken by social web start-ups initiated by ambitious college kids. The first generation of social Web 2.0 start-ups have emerged and we are now in the early days of the second generation comprising the next wave of web start-ups and forward looking Enterprises/Businesses looking to ride the Web 2.0 wave. There exists a tremendous opportunity for ISVs  of packaged/white labeled products today to embrace the emerging web and deliver services that enable unique value propositions for their existing users  while extending reach to new and potentially untapped users.

The Microsoft Platform Architect Team recently released a Web 2.0 service development starter kit with resources (presentations, white papers, sample code) that provide an overview of the emerging web and drill into the aspects of planning, architecting, and implementing services for the emerging web. This is a useful collection of resources for ISVs to get to speed with the emerging web trends and obtain an overview of planning, architecting, and implementing services for the emerging web.

You can watch this video to obtain an overview of the kit. The kit can be downloaded from here. Feedback/comments on the kit can be sent to kobehelp@microsoft.com.

Thanks

Karthik Ravindran

Platform Architecture Team