Interoperability at MIX09

 

Well, it came as no surprise that interoperability was a big part of the discussion at MIX09… at the keynote, in the breakouts, on the blogs, on Twitter, etc. Of course interoperability is a key consideration any time that you talk about cloud computing. Let’s be clear: Interoperability between the services platforms, the identity providers, the mashable services, the social networks and so on is now an integral part of the landscape.

MIX is a very special annual conference where Microsoft attempts to bridge the worlds of technology, design, entrepreneurship and business. Zooming into technology, we could draw much more interrelated circles, but my point is not to give a holistic view. Instead, I’ve highlighted a few sessions for you that are going deep into interoperability scenarios.

I’ll start with Vijay Rajagopalan’s session
“Build Applications on the Microsoft Platform Using Eclipse, Java, Ruby and PHP!” where he presented:

• Microsoft’s approach to Interoperability: 6-7 minutes that really helps to explain how and why Microsoft is going this direction!
• Silverlight interoperability with the Eclipse Tools for Silverlight project, with the new Mac support (see my post Eclipse Tools for Silverlight (Eclipse4SL): now for Mac developers) and a sample integration of Silverlight and PHP
• Azure Services Platform Interoperability and .NET Services, where Vijay demos the Java SDK for .NET Services (Jdotnetservices) and the Ruby SDK for .NET services (check also John Shewchuk’s session below for more on .NET Services/Interoperability)
  • Slide 38 at approx 31':
    
• A prototype of PHP Tooling from Eclipse for Windows Azure, enabling developers to browse the Windows Azure Storage, and publish a PHP application that would leverage the FastCGI support in Azure (see Using 3rd Party Programming Languages via FastCGI).
  • The Azure Storage Explorer in Eclipse at approx 46'  
    

Speaking about Azure, from the moment we kicked off our cloud computing effort, openness and interoperability stood at the forefront, we spelled it out clearly with Azure (see http://www.microsoft.com/azure screenshot below), and we mean it as this post illustrates.

The next session I’d recommend is Shaun Hirschman & Michael Joffe’s
“Running PHP on Microsoft Servers and Services: Windows + PHP, explore the possible”

As Michael states in the opening, everybody is aware that PHP runs on Windows, but you don’t necessarily know all the legwork the Microsoft has been doing to enhance PHP on Windows, as well as all the interoperability touch points between PHP and Microsoft’s technologies. So in this session you’ll get the big picture. In particular don’t miss these demos:

• Web Platform Installer: getting all you need to build your web applications in one simple and customizable installer, including popular web applications like WordPress.
• Live Services + PHP: extend PHP applications (WordPress in the demo) by adding your Live Contacts and syncing blog content with Live Mesh

Finally, I invite you to check out John Shewchuk’s session A Lap around Microsoft .NET Services, where he is doing “something a little wacky” as he said!

John demonstrates interoperability scenarios with .NET Services (which is part of the overall Azure Services platform) combined with different languages and platforms. John’s demos show how to leverage the Access Control Service & the Service Bus, with an application built using Python+JQuery running on the GoogleApp engine and using Yahoo as the OpenId provider. These are great scenarios involving notifications and federated identity across firewalls boundaries and heterogeneous systems.

Further down the talk, I also really liked the Facebook (PHP)/CinemaMIX (ASP.NET) application allowing users to invite friends to share (view/edit) your Netflix video queue. That’s cloud interoperability in action

This is only a short selection of the sessions tackling Interoperability. There are many other interesting sessions to discover, so get lost at http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09 and have fun!

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere  - Sr. Technical Evangelist