At Tech Ed, the Microsoft spokespeople were certain to stress that the company was moving from supporting the developer to supporting development. This may seem like a big case of over analyzing semantics and word parsing. Trust me, this is a major statement.

By publicly communicating the movement from er to ment, Microsoft is saying they are serious about the application life cycle. Microsoft understands and knows the developer, but what about the rest of the players in the application life cycle chain – the development and deployment aspect? This is something Microsoft has been wrestling with for a while. How do they move up the all-important stack from er to ment? Start by introducing products (of course we should expect products from Microsoft) that will attract other members of the life cycle…architects, quality assurance groups, business analysts, project mangers, etc. A big check mark on the product side with Visual Studio Team System, however, Microsoft is still in search of the acceptance and understanding of the other participants in the application life cycle. Hence, their focus on moving from er to ment.

I am encouraged that Microsoft will do more to make this transition than ship products and modify SKUs. Their language will change, it will be subtle at firs but will ultimately be peppered with terms such as “design and architect”. Watch for the outward signs that Microsoft is moving in the direction of supplying, supporting, understanding, and working within the entire application life cycle.

A subtle, yet telltale change going from er to ment. Can Microsoft do it? Their long term success depends upon it.

What’s next?...behavior.
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