News

Mash-Up Tools, Updated IE Beta Bow at Mix06

Microsoft released a refreshed Beta 2 preview of Internet Explorer 7 along with key beta development tools at Mix06, the company’s first-ever Web site developer and designer conclave kicked off in Las Vegas on Monday.

The releases include the latest community technology preview for Microsoft’s “Atlas” tools for building applications that use the new Windows Presentation Foundation built upon asynchronous JavaScript and XML technologies (AJAX).

Atlas is an ASP.NET 2.0 framework for building cross–browser, cross–platform AJAX applications. The company also announced it feels Atlas is stable enough to issue a “go-live license” that lets developers put their Atlas applications into production.

Chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates kicked off the week-long event by sketching out for attendees a vision of how developers can use Web technologies to create what he refers to as “the programmable Web.”

The term “Web 2.0” is also often used to describe the ability to use programmable Web sites as components in larger, seamless applications. Combining several Web pages, or parts of them, on a single page using program code is called a “mash-up,” a capability that Atlas aims to enable.

Gates also said that the company already has the next two versions of IE in work, though he didn’t divulge anything further, except to say that future IE revs will be much more frequent than in the past.

“We are very immersed in this idea of the browser as a platform . . . . when we think of IE you'll see us be more explicit about the user interface portion, which is the piece that will be revving very rapidly,” Gates told the crowd of about 1,700 attendees.

Besides AJAX, among the technologies Microsoft will tout this week are the Simple List Extensions (SLE) for RSS (Really Simple Syndication) information feeds, which will be supported in both IE7 and Vista. For instance, SLE could be used to enable third-party applications to take advantage of Outlook calendar information transmitted via RSS.

“When you think about RSS as the start of a programmable Web, as you expose APIs to your Web sites, amazing things can happen,” Gates added.

About the Author

Stuart J. Johnston has covered technology, especially Microsoft, since February 1988 for InfoWorld, Computerworld, Information Week, and PC World, as well as for Enterprise Developer, XML & Web Services, and .NET magazines.

Featured

  • Microsoft Offers Support Extensions for Exchange 2016 and 2019

    Microsoft has introduced a paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program for on-premises Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, offering a crucial safety cushion as both versions near their Oct. 14, 2025 end-of-support date.

  • An image of planes flying around a globe

    2025 Microsoft Conference Calendar: For Partners, IT Pros and Developers

    Here's your guide to all the IT training sessions, partner meet-ups and annual Microsoft conferences you won't want to miss.

  • Notebook

    Microsoft Centers AI, Security and Partner Dogfooding at MCAPS

    Microsoft's second annual MCAPS for Partners event took place Tuesday, delivering a volley of updates and directives for its partners for fiscal 2026.

  • Microsoft Layoffs: AI Is the Obvious Elephant in the Room

    As Microsoft doubles down on an $80 billion bet on AI this fiscal year, its workforce reductions are drawing scrutiny over whether AI's ascent is quietly reshaping its human capital strategy, even as official messaging avoids drawing a direct line.