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Microsoft adds 'M' to Open Specification Promise


By David Worthington
October 28, 2008 — 
In a move to popularize its "M" modeling language, Microsoft has added it to the Open Specification Promise, paving the way for third-party implementations. The OSP is an irrevocable promise by Microsoft not to assert its intellectual property rights for covered technologies.

M is an XML-based modeling language that is designed to permit developers to use domain-specific languages, and it is the core of its Oslo initiative for model-driven development within Visual Studio.

Microsoft is engaging the developer community for feedback, Burley Kawasaki, director of Microsoft's Connected Systems Division said in an interview. He explained that Microsoft wants to cultivate “structure and rigor” around M that may help it take the language to a standards body. However, he admitted that the company has not decided whether it will take that step.

Further, Microsoft has acknowledged that OSP does not automatically cover future versions of a specification. The company reserves the right to consider each new version on a case-by-case basis.

“Frankly, if they want to build momentum around a standard, they need to lessen concerns about ongoing intellectual property issues. The OSP may not please everyone, but it is certainly clearer than no policy,” remarked RedMonk analyst James Governor. Microsoft is a client of RedMonk’s.

Arguably, Microsoft is putting forth an alternative to Unified Modeling Language, a standardized general-purpose modeling language. Microsoft recently joined the Object Management Group, which oversees UML.

"IBM believes that a domain-specific architecture—which, by the way, can easily and effectively be represented in the UML—would instead provide a foundation around which a product line or even an entire industry can rally, thus offering a platform for interoperability," said Grady Booch, IBM Fellow.

“I don’t think that’s quite right,” said Steve Martin, director of product management for Microsoft's Connected Systems Division.

He explained that M was created to solve the problem of developers needing to create domain-specific languages, and that M is a “great way to do that.” He noted that Microsoft supports many modeling specifications, including BPEL, BPMN and UML.

“Of course IBM has its own view of what a standard needs to be and how it should be created,” said Governor. “But Microsoft has every right to put a technology forward and try to build a community around it. Has UML delivered on all of its promises? I don’t think it has.”

He noted that OSP does not equate to standardization and that some would argue that any true standard requires more than one implementation.


Related Search Term(s): modeling, Oslo, XML, Microsoft


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