No Webkit for IE, 'œApp Store' definitely maybe and WM 6.5 for sure

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 10 November 2008 05:39

Opinion and Analysis

As reported last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was in town, but statements he made on Webkit and App Store-like software stores for distribution and profits have made waves in the media and developer worlds, while Ballmer has confirmed WM 6.5 is coming before 7.

If you didn’t get a chance to hear what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had to say at the “Power to Developers” conference late last week in Sydney, my write up is here, along with a link where you can watch the entire webcast.

While Ballmer’s talk on developers, cloud computing and the future was certainly of interest, Ballmer’s answers to developer questions is what has been of greater interest to the worldwide media.

It’s often the case that the questions and comments can be even more interesting or important to people than the topic you came to present on initially – and so it was with Ballmer’s Q&A session.

In a question on whether Microsoft would ever use the open source Webkit rendering engine in Internet Explorer, which revolved on the questioner wanting to know whether IE was “still relevant” or not, Ballmer explained that diversity in browsers was a good thing, even though he thought Webkit was “interesting”.

Ballmer said: "I think there will continue to be a lot of proprietary innovation by us, and other people, inside the browser itself. A company like ours needs to have [its own] rendering service. It is important that we have a browser that embraces [Net] standards, but also allows us to have innovative extensions even before the standards bodies go there."

He also explained that Webkit would be something Microsoft might look at, saying: “From time to time, we may take a look at [WebKit], but right now we feel very confident in our browser team and its availability to execute.”

Then came the topic of an App Store environment for developers to promote and sell their wares direct to consumers in the manner that Apple has done it.

Ballmer explained; "I actually will agree that there's some good work, particularly at Facebook and also with the iPhone, where both of those companies have made it easier for developers to distribute their applications.

“[Facebook and Apple have] made it easier to kind of get exposure for your applications. There's not much money being made, but the general concept of giving developers a way not only to get their code distributed, but to really get visibility for the code, is a good idea."

So, will there be an App Store or not, and what about WM 6.5? Will the giant awaken and start throwing its weight around, or will Microsoft let relative minnows keep on eating ever larger portions of its lunch?

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