Why MSDN publishes more Managed Code than Native Code Information

From time to time, I get queries like “Why is Microsoft forcing managed code on us?” or “Why is Microsoft abandoning native code?” and so on. As MSDN is a key Microsoft public interface to developers, I thought I’d answer that from my own perspective.

 

Being a Program Manager at MSDN offers me a unique position within Microsoft as my specific job (Content Strategist) is to publish content that balances the needs of marketing and the technical product teams with our own knowledge of the target audience and the technologies involved while aligning with Microsoft’s overall business goals. Needless to say, the job can be quite challenging and at times more political than I’d prefer as I’ve been a programmer since the early 80’s and sometimes long for the days of being lost in low-level code as opposed to endless meetings. However, at the same time, I do enjoy my job very much as it enables me to see the business from many different vantage points and to have a basic understanding of why we do some of the things we do. One of those issues is the whole “managed code vs. native code” issue regarding why we promote the former much more than the latter.

 

To start with, I submit to you that there is no black and white here. We’re talking about the amount of information on managed code and managed code tools relative to native code information. In terms of native code, there are over 7,000 new APIs in the Windows SDK and every two weeks, we publish a new chapter to the Windows Vista Developer Story – a 600+ page collection of information on native SDK development. In addition, as we get closer to releasing the Windows Vista and the new Windows SDK, you’ll begin to see even more native code articles. However, most of the native code information is centralized on the Windows Vista and Visual C++ Developer Centers with the majority of information being published by MSDN being focused on managed code. Hopefully, this post will explain why – at least from my point of view.

 

Marketing –At Microsoft we have hundreds of products, but it’s no surprise that the reason we remain the most profitable software company in the world is by virtue of selling two main products - Windows and Office. In addition, it’s critical for the long-term stability of Microsoft that we also have a major impact on the Web.

 

Everything else (especially development tools) is simply a means of accomplishing those goals. An example is the Windows SDK. It’s completely free to anyone that wants to download it as it serves the greater purpose of getting developers to write Windows applications, which in turn sells more copies of Windows. In addition, you frequently see us hold training seminars that, at best, break even and might even lose money. Once again, the goal isn’t making money from these products or functions. The goal is to get information into the hands of developers so that they write Windows applications – or Web applications using Microsoft technologies.

 

There are many more examples – such as the free Visual Studio Express products, free training, free technical articles on MSDN and so on, but you get the point. The focus is always things like, “What can we do to the O/S to enable developers to create the apps they want for their customers?”, “How can we make the development tools easier to use to lower the cost of delivering that software in a timely fashion?”, etc.

 

Having said that, the latest technologies that accomplish the goals of selling Windows, pushing the Web and making it easier for developers to write Windows applications, are things like Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow, etc.  

 

Therefore, most conversations between marketing and MSDN deal with focusing on these newer technologies – in the form of publishing technical articles and whitepapers written by evangelists, promoting training and seminars, providing demos and hands-on labs and so on.

 

Product Teams – This is an easy one as most likely if you’re reading my blog, you’re also a developer and realize that most developers want to work on the latest, coolest thing. Our dev teams are no different. Therefore, internally when our product team developers write for MSDN they’re generally writing about the latest technologies. In addition, the various levels of management for these product teams also focus on requesting that we more heavily promote the latest innovations and features of their products.

 

Target Audience – If you ever want the definitive answer for why we at Microsoft do something, follow the metrics. The Visual Studio and .NET Developer Centers are – by far - the two most popular Dev Centers (in terms of traffic and users). They are followed up by Windows Vista (which is gaining rapidly despite still being in beta) and VB.NET. The meaning is clear. Developers come to MSDN looking for information about managed code and Windows Vista.

 

Therefore, one way of answering the question of why we post so much managed code content (relative to native code) is via the old adage, "We don't make the news; we only report it."  Like any other company we stay in business by meeting the needs of our customers. If customers weren't asking for and responding favorably to this, we’d be going in a different direction. Therefore, it’s simply inaccurate to say that we’re forcing anything on anyone. We’re the ones reacting to what the masses have requested and right now that’s managed code and tools for developing advanced UIs in the fasted time possible.