There's a reason Steve Ballmer runs around screaming about developers.
When Windows Vista has its mainstream launch next week, much of the attention will be on what users can expect out of the box. But perhaps more important to its ultimate success are a host of new technologies that are built in to Vista, but only come alive once applications are written that take advantage of them.
Included in this camp are a new peer-to-peer file-sharing service, a new graphics technology, and a built-in system for searching and tagging information. Some early programs offer a hint of these abilities, but many applications that really will harness Vista are still in the early development stages or have yet to be written.
Jay Roxe, a group product manager in Microsoft's developer division, said that the company is seeing a lot of new applications from users who wouldn't normally be considered software developers. But it takes more time for those with existing products, he said.
"There are a lot of people that have existing code bases that will evolve their applications to take advantage of Vista over time, some more rapidly than others," he said.
While some companies are well ahead with Vista-optimised software, others may take months or even years to appear. In part, that's because developers don't want to target a new operating system until a significant part of its users are running the new software.
At this point, many developers are focusing on making sure that their programs will merely run on Vista, rather than adding new capabilities, for example Adobe Systems.
Creators of professional programs have a much harder time just starting over. With Photoshop, for example, Adobe aims to keep the program looking modern, but wants to keep the controls and palettes in the places people expect rather than overhauling the user interface.
John Nack, a senior product manager for Photoshop, said that the company doesn't want to change things in a way that would force its users to forsake the hundreds or thousands of hours of muscle memory they have built up in the current generation of products.
Adobe has released a test version of Adobe Photoshop CS3, the next version of the program, which will support Vista. "If somebody is moving to Vista, I think CS3 is going to be a great fit," he said. "I wouldn't say that you necessarily should upgrade (to Vista) because there is some particular feature we are leveraging."
One of the technologies that Microsoft has been working for years to bring into Windows for years is support for 64-bit computing. The company introduced a 64-bit version of Windows XP a couple of years ago, but it remains a niche product.
Nack said that Adobe would have to see considerable performance gains to justify the effort needed to create a 64-bit version of Photoshop.
The company is already straining to restructure its software to better use the additional processor cores that are becoming standard in PCs. "Making sure the cores aren't going to waste -- that's a big challenge for us," Nack said.
Vista is also creating some new real estate for programmers, in particular the Sidebar that sits on the side of a Vista screen and houses widgets. Roxe also sees promise in its SideShow technology, basically small secondary displays that sit on the outside of a notebook or on a keyboard and offer notifications for appointments, incoming e-mail, and so on. Because SideShow has to be built into new hardware, it may take some time before there are enough people with it to attract significant developer efforts.
"It will be a little bit longer until end users see it, but the sidebar runs right out of the box," Roxe said. He noted that developers are already creating a lot of Sidebar gadgets, in part because the tiny applications are easy to write.
Software makers that write large programs, such as sales force automation or other business programs, also can use a sidebar gadget to complement their existing products, offering a quick snapshot of data without needing to open up the full program or shift windows.
Roxe said he is hopeful that Microsoft's focus on security with Vista will ultimately free developers to spend more time on their creative efforts.
"Since we've reduced the attack surface area, developers have to spend less time worrying about protecting against attacks, which gives them more time to focus on the real purpose of their application."
