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Microsoft makes 'M' interoperable with OMG-compliant software


By David Worthington
December 3, 2008 — 
Microsoft may appear to have taken a proprietary path with the creation of its M modeling language, but in reality M will be interoperable with the Object Management Group’s specification for domain-specific languages, the company says.

M is a low-level XML-based language that is designed to let developers use domain-specific languages (DSLs). It is a core technology of Microsoft’s Oslo initiative for model-driven development within Visual Studio. M is interoperable with OMG’s Unified Modeling Language (UML), a standardized, general purpose modeling language.

Microsoft has made M available under its Open Specification Promise, an irrevocable commitment by Microsoft not to assert its intellectual property rights for covered technologies.

The company joined OMG as a contributing member in September. It endorsed UML as part of the move, but it did not adopt OMG’s MetaObject Facility (MOF) specification for defining domain-specific languages.

Steve Cook, principal architect of Visual Studio Team 2008 System Architecture Edition, acknowledged Microsoft’s decision not to conform to the MOF standard but added that M does not constitute the full extent of its modeling technologies. Microsoft’s UML implementation and DSL tools, which are included in the Architecture Edition, are not based on M, and they support metadata exchange between models in the same way that MOF does, Cook said.

Microsoft is also in the process of aligning its DSL tools with M, he added. Until recently, M was on a separate track and life cycle.

“The core value of MOF is the way that it defines the XMI [XML Metadata Interchange] model interchange language,” he said. “Our tools will support XMI interchange in the way that MOF does.”

In doing so, Microsoft would be providing for interoperability, said OMG chairman and CEO Richard Mark Soley. “That would mean [Microsoft’s] tool can output models that can be read by any other compliant tool, and vice versa, as long as it’s MOF-compliant XMI.

“We never intended for UML to be the be-all and end-all,” Soley added. “Microsoft has its own mechanism [for defining DSLs], and [that mechanism] is not conformant to the MOF standard. It does not have to be, because they are supporting UML also and use the UML profile in their tool.”

However, Microsoft’s decision to go its own way on DSLs drew a rebuff from IBM, which questioned Microsoft’s commitment to OMG’s higher-level industry-specific UML profiles.

In late October, IBM issued a statement that acknowledged Microsoft as contributing to the OMG’s UML initiatives, but it added that Microsoft’s support was vague and lacking a full compliance suite. IBM has maintained that Microsoft must also support vertical extensions of UML.

“Microsoft still seems to be missing the connection of UML to TOGAF [The Open Group Architecture Framework], DoDAF [the Department of Defense Architecture Framework] and MODAF [the U.K. Ministry of Defence Architecture Framework]—stringent industry-specific standards that have been very important to IBM’s work with the OMG,” the statement reads.

OMG’s Soley countered, “One does not need to support TOGAF, DoDAF or MODAF to support UML.” All three, he said, are modeling methodologies representing enterprise architectures. An upcoming OMG standard UML profile for DoDAF/MODAF will standardize a method for DoDAF/MODAF architecture modeling with any compliant UML tool, he noted.

Microsoft did not return a request for comment by press time about whether it would support vertical UML profiles. Cook, however, called Microsoft an active participant—along with IBM—in UML’s road-map group. He said that Microsoft would focus on “cleaning up” how UML gets extended for various purposes, adding that the company would look to resolve ambiguities that leave some aspects of the specification open to interpretation.

“UML is the right set of standards in the industry,” added Norman Guadagno, director of product management for Visual Studio Team System.

Both IBM and Microsoft are positioned to influence the evolution of UML, and both acknowledge that they must work together.

Indeed, IBM tempered its rhetoric since its October statement. “Microsoft will come to OMG and have proposals on how to adapt the UML standard to the market as they see it, and we’ll have healthy discussions,” said Greg Sikes, director of enterprise architecture and systems modeling for IBM Rational. “They will bring good ideas and a fresh perspective that we will discuss with other members.”

Sikes added that from IBM’s perspective, UML must become “easier for customers to digest” by hiding some of its complexity, and work on the standard must focus on evolving UML for vertical markets.

Soley likewise acknowledged vertical markets’ importance, saying that “85% of what OMG does now” is in vertical applications and that such work has a more immediate impact for Microsoft than lower-level technology areas. “Modeling standards are important, but a bank cares more about the higher level that is relevant to them,” he said.

Vendors may have their own interests, but there are no big bangs on OMG’s agenda, said Microsoft’s Cook. “We prefer doing incremental things rather than broad-scope things, and IBM is on the same page,” he said.

Revision of version 2.3 of the UML specification is in progress, he said, and could be finalized as soon as next year.


Related Search Term(s): modeling, UML, XML, IBM, Microsoft, OMG


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