Coding for Vista
Microsoft is saying that nearly 1,000 global ISVs have committed to developing applications on Windows Vista. The company's list includes 15 of the top 25 global ISVs.
In a news release on the number, Microsoft called attention to Trend Micro, which has a beta available for its PC-cillin Internet Security using new security features in Vista, and SolidWorks Corp., which makes computer-aided design software that takes advantage of Vista's 3-D graphics capabilities.
Microsoft has several programs to encourage ISVs to code for Vista, including Project Glidepath for tiny software development companies, a Windows Vista Developer Jumpstart Kit and the Certified for Windows Vista logo program.
One thousand applications is a nice round number. It pales in comparison to the third-party application numbers Microsoft used to report for new Windows releases. But it's not bad, I guess, with so much development targeted for browsers as the platform these days.
Still, (with credit to Directions on Microsoft analyst and RCP magazine columnist Paul DeGroot on this question) it would be nice to know how many of these applications are really leveraging new capabilities in Vista versus just being updated so they run under Vista's more restrictive User Account Control features.
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 13, 2006 at 11:57 AM