The Future of Microsoft Distributed Systems Technologies

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The Future of Microsoft Distributed Systems Technologies

It is important to note that the current Microsoft suite of technologies discussed so far in this paper (ASMX, WSE, ES/COM+, System.Messaging/MSMQ, and .NET Remoting) will remain an important part of the platform for many years to come. None of the technologies discussed so far are going to be removed from the Windows platform any time soon and you can feel secure in the knowledge that many of these technologies are receiving continued investment to ensure their integration with future technologies.

But what about the future? What's coming next?

A Brief Introduction to "Indigo"

"Indigo" is the codename for Microsoft's next-generation distributed systems technology, built on Web services. "Indigo" unifies the most important capabilities of Microsoft core distributed technologies (ASMX, WSE, Enterprise Services/COM+, System.Messaging/MSMQ, and .NET Remoting) into one clean framework and infrastructure, significantly simplifying the process of building distributed, Service-Oriented systems. For an introduction to "Indigo", see the MSDN whitepaper, Introducing "Indigo": An Early Look.

"Indigo" is a very important part of Microsoft distributed systems technologies and following the guidance presented in this paper will greatly ease your adoption of, integration with, and upgrade to this powerful technology.

"Indigo" will be contained within "WinFX", a package containing the .NET Framework 2.0, "Avalon" (Microsoft next-generation UI technology) and "Indigo". WinFX will be released alongside Windows "Longhorn" in 2006, and will also support Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The WinFX beta program begins in the summer of 2005 and will be preceded by a Community Technology Preview (CTP) release in March 2005.

Much more detail will begin to emerge about "Indigo" from March 2005 onwards and you should regularly visit the Longhorn SDK Web site, as well as the MSDN Web Services Developer Center to keep up to date with the WinFX Beta and CTP releases.