While much of the excitement about Web services is about how corporations and e-commerce operations, such as Amazon.com, can use these standard protocols for trading and collaboration, Microsoft wants to get consumer devices like printers and cell phones into the loop.
Longhorn, Microsoft's next-generation version of Windows, will include Web Services for Devices, executives said at the Windows Hardware and Engineering Conference (WinHEC) this week. The specification and device profiles are available now, and will be included in the first beta of Longhorn, expected this summer.
Microsoft's protocol enables easier networking and installation of peripherals. At WinHEC, executives demonstrated how Web Services-Discovery enabled installation of a printer and projector without a search for drivers.
