What Microsoft did not realise at the time was that there was a chance to provide this capability database and functionality externally for any developer building on the Microsoft platform.
The company did, however, eventually see this chance to push the software out to the developer community. "We announced at the MIX09 conference in March the public availability of what we called the mobile device browser file, which is an XML file containing all of these devices and browser capabilities, and it's integrated into the ASP.net web development platform so that anyone building a website can use this file to automatically optimise their site for any kind of phone and they only have to build one version of the site."
So why did Microsoft get so involved in pushing out a product that can help all developers within and outside the company?
According to Stevenson, the rationale was twofold. The company wanted to help developers get through some of the confusion of building a site for the mobile web. "We wanted to make their lives easier in terms of providing 'one size fits all' websites, except it's not really one size - it's dynamically optimised websites that make it easier for developers to build-up mobile sites and services. The second thing was we wanted to make it easier for them using Microsoft's ASP.net framework."
Work on the mobile web continues at the European Development Centre. Stevenson says the facility is working on a "bunch of projects". The company will continue to add to the capability database and engage with the developer community to make it easier for them to target different mobile devices, he adds.
"Internally, my group has just released the latest version of Hotmail for mobile phones and is working on a new version right now. We're also updating Microsoft's mobile services. The company is really making a big investment in the mobile space."
Originally published by EAMON McGRANE.
(c) 2009 Irish Times. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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