Re: Com+ and Financial Transactions

[Steve Cohen <stevecoh@mcs.com>]

As far as I know, which isn't too far, the deal is, of course, that Microsoft is pushing
COM (which used to be called OLE and sometimes ActiveX) as its form of "binary objects."
Object-oriented programming was supposed to enable the holy grail of "reuse" in the
software industry, but it turns out that this reuse may only be achievable within an
organization and then only with difficulty.  You're reusing source code, you see, and only
those who have access to the source code and the knowhow to understand  are able to get the
benefits of reuse.

If objects could be used in their compiled binary form, then you'd get closer to what the
corporate managers and others who embraced Object-oriented programming were after in the
first place: replaceable, pluggable bits of logic that could be deployed wherever they were
needed - "software ICs".

COM is Microsoft's entry into this game.  COM, however, is felt to be too difficult to
learn and use.  COM+ is an upcoming attempt to make it easier to use and smooth out some of
the bumps.  I don't know much more about it than that.  The Transaction server is an
attempt to deploy these technologies more specifically in the realm of database
manipulation.


CORBA is in some ways a similar initiative by the anti-Microsofts.  Their big disadvantage
when compared to COM is political:  CORBA is promulgated by a consortium, a standards body,
that must and does fight it out to achieve a consensus.  Microsoft is under no such
obligation: COM is whatever they say it is.  It has therefore been able to move more nimbly
and gain market share over CORBA for that reason alone.  Java Beans are another attempt to
achieve the same sort of reuse using Java.  One question I'm particularly foggy about is
what if any links there are between Java Beans and CORBA.

It's just my personal opinion but haste makes waste and Microsoft, as always, is releasing
technologies before thinking all the implications through.  However, and perversely, this
continues to serve them well in the marketplace.

The reason I want the government to step in is because, ultimately, the directions
Microsoft is taking us in will not be good for the industry or for society at large.  In
this field, Microsoft has been able to drive the market in directions that may be for good,
may be for ill, but the only consistent thing about them is that they're good for
Microsoft.  And that's too high a price to pay.


Charles Behney wrote:

> http://www8.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0413/13com.html
>
> PCWEEK has an effusive piece on COM+ features and Microsoft Transaction
> Servers. Can anyone fill us non-programmers in on the basics of what COM
> and these transactions servers represent in the strategic virtual
> universe of Microsoft? What about the other architectures like CORBA and
> the javabeans?
>
> .............
> .............
>
> > "I'm used to writing procedures, which is what you're taught in C and
> >               carry forward with C++. [COM+] is different," said Craig Andera, a
> >               systems programmer at GMAC-RCF, in Bloomington, Minn.
> >
> >               "The more you learn, the more you realize that [Microsoft] may have a
> >               better way," Andera added. "But it will take time to get people to come
> >               around to look at how this could be easier."
> >
> >               Microsoft likely will release the beta of COM+ 1.0 concurrently with
> >               Windows NT 5.0 Beta 2, which is due by the end of this quarter.
> >               Microsoft may include a software development kit with the COM+
> >               beta, sources said.
> >
> >               Microsoft plans to provide in-depth previews of both COM+ and NT
> >               5.0 at its TechEd Developers Conference in New Orleans during the
> >               first week of June.
> >
> >               The Redmond, Wash., company is casting COM+ as a component
> >               services architecture featuring event, queuing, security and
> >               load-balancing services, along with an attribute-based programming
> >               model.
> >
> >               All of the services are activated by "interceptors" that monitor
> >               components and determine what services are required.
> >
> .......
> .......
>
> CAB