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Microsoft tools quarterback looks forward to winning season
- By Rich Seeley
- September 1, 2004
 Building “developer momentum” for .NET tools and Windows server products was a key theme when Eric Rudder, Microsoft senior vice president of servers and tools, gave a pep talk to financial analysts earlier this summer.
Citing analyst surveys indicating growing popularity for .NET tools vs. their Java competitors, Rudder said: “I think we have a well-known, understood phenomenon in the industry that we have the best tools. I think developers are clearly responding.”
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Microsoft is working hard to build developer team spirit on its MSDN Web site, he said. By integrating its tools and servers, Rudder added, Microsoft is helping developers and IT work from the same playbook.
Although Microsoft has not always been known as a team player, Rudder emphasized that the firm is working with partners and even rivals, such as IBM and BEA, on Web services standards. He noted that he has received positive feedback from customers since Microsoft buried the hatchet with Sun earlier this year.
Topping the list of Microsoft team players in Rudder’s talk was SAP and the extensive technology partnership designed to help .NET developers work with the German ERP vendor’s products. “We’re going to have Web service architectures extending SAP -- in fact, you can write .NET apps to maximize your SAP investment -- that’s been incredibly well received by customers, and I expect that work to accelerate over the next year,” Rudder told analysts.
From his perspective, 2005 is looking like a winner.
About the Author
Rich Seeley is Web Editor for Campus Technology.