Microsoft often has been tagged as a tech laggard that achieved its success by co-opting the innovation of others. But one technology where it's hard to dispute Microsoft's leadership is Web services.
Redmond was among the earliest to recognize the potential of developing software in a new way that enables applications written with code for different operating systems to communicate with one another. That way, partner outfits can get their computer systems to work seamlessly. Moreover, companies can introduce new technology and make them work with their older systems, and do so with far less hassle.
That's the promise, anyway. Getting on for five years years after Microsoft unveiled its Web-services gambit, dubbed .Net, it remains more vision than reality. Microsoft has several customers that have developed applications using .Net technology. But widespread use of Web-services technology is still a ways off.
That's because Microsoft and its rivals have been busy creating a foundation on which Web services will run. It's arcane, mind-numbing technology. But without the foundation -- technical standards that the industry agrees to use in order to push Web services forward -- the business would never emerge.
