Cloudy Days Ahead
Midori, Midori, Midori what the hell is Midori?
Let’s get the basics down first:
1. Smoothly scalable, concurrent use of any “available” processing hardware.
2. Near-instantaneous data synchronization platform.
3. Built-in application virtualization, by fully abstracting hardware resources.
4. Seamless storage pooling between “the cloud”, on-premise servers, desktop & mobile clients.
5. Cross-site & cross-device identity & authentication services.
You can see how far-reaching these core tenets are. So, you’ll understand why Midori is still in its “infant” phase. However, the low-level stuff is slowly being pushed out through major Microsoft platforms silently. That way, Microsoft will really be able to “flip the switch on” one day, and boom! Skynet! :-)
The full scope of the project is known to very, very few people within Microsoft. Other teams at the company may today be building components of it into their products without even knowing or grasping the role these components may one day play. And no, Microsoft will not talk about it until things are fully in place, which may not happen for at least another five years. This project is meant to be a long-term platform building investment, and the company will not play the marketing game with its competitors where this thing is concerned.
So, while we may not find out anything substantial about Midori for another few years, we can still attempt to see the components that are being pushed out today.One of these is called the Microsoft Sync Framework. It now powers Windows Sync in Windows 7. It is integrated into Sharepoint 2010. It has influenced enhancements to ActiveSync in Exchange 2010, but Exchange will not incorporate it fully until the next version. It will form the data-sync pillar of Midori.
A second pillar is a little bit behind in terms of capability and reach. Expect that to change after PDC this year. I’m talking about Identity Services. This is much more far reaching than Windows Live ID especially in terms of programmability. It is not a single “product” per se, but encompasses a variety of techniques such as tokens, password auth, SIDs etc.
The third pillar for storage pooling & processing concurrency is currently surfaced in Windows Azure, specifically through the fabric controller. Midori in its full form will be able to access storage & processors on any device that has a minimum set of .NET framework components available. Expect these components to be pushed through with .NET 4 on the Windows PC, in more limited fashion with Silverlight 4 on other operating systems and to devices based on Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3, such as Windows Mobile 7 powered devices, the next and final generation of Zune hardware, and the next iterations of Xbox and Microsoft Auto.
The fourth pillar of app virtualization and seamless transition from web-app to RIA to desktop app can be seen in the Live Operating Environment. This will make its way (with limited capabilities) through to consumers via the next release of Windows Live Essentials. App-V & XP-Mode in Windows 7 & Server 2008 R2 gives us a glimpse into the ongoing virtualization work. This will play a bigger role in Windows 8 & 9 as the primary way to support legacy apps and keep backward compatibility. Eventually, all non-Midori applications will be run in a seamless way in virtualized spaces.
I will leave you with two more things. These are a bit fuzzier right now, but hopefully their role will become clearer in future.
The first is the PlayReady DRM system. Currently built into Silverlight, Zune and Media Center, this system is very quietly being integrated into consumer electronic devices. Right now, that means some IPTV systems that use MediaRoom, some Nokia S60 devices, some Blackberry devices, some Blu-ray players and so on. It will probably be never allowed into the Apple or Google ecosystems however. This seems to be its biggest pitfall. PlayReady enables managed copies and media-state synchronization, but how it will succeed without iTunes support is beyond me.
The second is “Who will pay for Midori and how will they do it?” My guess is Midori is meant to allow Microsoft to finally turn its desktop OS and applications into subscription services. Everyone knows that the holy grail of income in the industry is subscriptions. They ensure a steady, guaranteed flow of income unlike one-time sales. Whether customers will like the idea is an open question. And it also remains to be seen how hardware partners will react when Midori intends to make their products even less important in the customers’ minds.
A final note, Jonathan Shapiro recently joined the Midori project. Wonder who’ll join next?
I’m out.
I wrote this in a hurry to push it out ahead of PDC, so I may not have linked to all the right places. Please comment/tweet to let me know where I should link to your respective stuff.
