October 2007

Foreword

Dear Architect,

As software architects, we often face technology decisions early on in the development process. Fat or thin client? Mobile or desktop? Local installation or Web application? Instead of choosing based on “or”, what if we could pick something using “and”? Why do our choices have to be constrained to one particular technology, when the best solution is often a mix of both? That’s the concept behind the theme of this issue of The Architecture Journal: Software + Services.

This issue’s article lineup explores a new vision of Software + Services, as outlined by Microsoft Chief Architect, Ray Ozzie, in his keynote at MIX 07 this year.

We lead off this issue with Don Ferguson, who you may recall was our featured architect in Journal 11. Don shares his views on the architectural aspects of how to relay messages across the Internet using an ISB – or Internet Service Bus.

Following Don, and as part of our profile series, we are excited to share an interview with Ray Ozzie himself. In his interview, Ray shares some of the details of the Software + Services vision and what it’s like to be Microsoft’s chief software architect.

After Ray’s interview, we get a technical overview of Project Astoria from Pablo Castro. Astoria is a new service that exposes data to Web clients within a corporate network and across the Internet. Kevin Sangwell follows with his thoughts on the implications of services consumption by enterprise IT, which lead on nicely into an article on mashups in the enterprise by Larry Clarkin and Josh Holmes.

To wrap up this issue, Chip Wilson and Alan Josephson explore the use of Microsoft Office as a platform for Software + Services. Finally, Gianpaolo Carraro’s amusing analogy asks the question, What if architecture was a planet? In his piece, Gianpaolo takes an intra-world perspective to reveal more about the benefits of using Software + Services.

Here at The Architecture Journal, we like to “practice what we preach.” To help demonstrate this, we’re proud to announce a new offline experience for the Journal, called the “Journal Reader.”

Demonstrating many of the principles highlighted in this issue, this new reader is a locally installed application that enables you to take every issue of the Journal into a searchable, immersive, and easy-to-read experience. The application synchronizes with our content management services so that you’ll automatically have access to the latest Journal issues without needing to download PDF files or checking online.

We receive a lot of feedback from you about how you read the magazine and hope that this new service offers a unique and useful way of reading the magazine. In early November, you’ll be able to download the reader and get more details from our Web site, http://www.architecturejournal.net.

Simon Guest

Articles in This Issue

The Internet Service Bus

by Donald F. Ferguson, Dennis Pilarinos, John Shewchuk

Learn the architectural aspects of relaying messages across the Internet using an Internet Service Bus.

Architecture Journal Profile: Ray Ozzie

Ray Ozzie is Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect. Ray shares his vision for a Software + Services world, and some of his thoughts on becoming a software architect.

Project Astoria

by Pablo Castro

Astoria is a new technology for creating services that expose data to the Web. Learn the details of this new technology that doubles as software and service.

Implications of Software + Services Consumption for Enterprise IT

by Kevin Sangwell

Read thoughts and recommendations on the implications of services consumption for enterprise IT departments.

Enterprise Mashups

by Larry Clarkin and Josh Holmes

Mashups are not just for end users and consumers. Learn how to create mashups against multiple data sources in the Enterprise.

Microsoft Office as a Platform for Software + Services

by Chip Wilson and Alan Josephson

As a client platform, Microsoft Office can work well with the Software + Services vision. Explore how this has been accomplished through a set of real world examples.

A Planet Ruled by Software Architectures

by Gianpaolo Carraro

Join us on a tour of Architectopia, a world where different computing paradigms define civilizations.

Download this issue here

This article was published in the Architecture Journal, a print and online publication produced by Microsoft. For more articles from this publication, please visit the Architecture Journal Web site.