Overview

One thing can be said about Microsoft: It never stands still. The rate at which new products and technologies are churned out from the Redmond production mill never ceases to amaze.

As with all companies, Microsoft s ideas come and go in distinct waves. Client/server was done thoroughly for many years, from the early days of Microsoft LAN Manager to Windows NT. At that time I was working as a product manager at Microsoft U.K., responsible for the evolving Structured Query Language (SQL) Server RDBMS product on both Windows NT and OS/2. Innovation in those days was relatively slow as new features were added and improved, but because SQL Server was never seen as mainstream, this was a quiet backwater filled with database and developer tool enthusiasts.

The launch of Windows NT in August 1993 started to wedge open the corporate door for Microsoft as it started to transition from the desktop to the server. Gradually the snowball started to gather pace, as Windows NT encroached further and further into the traditional systems glass house.

At about this time, the Internet was starting to evolve from the world of academia to the world of commerce. Little by little, organizations started to realize the potential of the Internet and World Wide Web for commercial purposes. But Microsoft was nowhere to be seen.

As an organization Microsoft may be seen as visionary, but the Internet passed it by until the well-documented Internet strategy day on December 7, 1995, when Bill Gates announced:...