What is Oslo and Oslo Announcements at the PDC
Along with my posts on Oslo's Coming Out Party at the PDC and the Oslo Developer Center and CTP Download, I thought I would have this direct, simple post on what exactly Oslo is at this point, and exactly what parts of Oslo have been announced at the PDC. This is an info-only topic. I will have analysis and commentary later.
What is Oslo?
Oslo" is the code name for Microsoft's platform for model-driven applications. The goal of “Oslo” is to provide 10x productivity by making model-driven applications mainstream. The Oslo Modeling Platform provides a fundamental change both in how people create and maintain a solution and in how software runs and controls a system. The platform enables you to develop model-driven solutions that are stored as transparent data in a common repository. The platform provides a complete solution for creating, viewing, and manipulating models both graphically, programmatically, and as data. This enables Oslo to help resolve the problems that companies have with managing the project lifecycle and that software can have with running complex systems./P>
At the core of this platform are domain-specific models, a language, and tools:
• A language, “M”, for authoring domains textually
• A tool, “Quadrant”, for authoring domains visually
• A Repository for managing domain models, including a library of pre-built domain models and languages.
So What is Being Announced at the PDC?
First and foremost, Microsoft is delivering on our promise of providing PDC attendees with a CTP of the full Oslo modeling platform, including the “M” language, the repository, and “Quadrant” for visual tooling; this is an exclusive opportunity provided to PDC attendees to get an early peek at the efforts.
- Announcing availability of a full “M” language specification (“The Oslo Modeling Language: Draft Specification - October 2008”, by David Langworthy, Brad Lovering, Don Box). Limited quantities of the book will be available on-site at PDC; copies can also be purchased through major book sellers.
- New MSDN Developer Center (msdn.microsoft.com/oslo) which will provide a broad range of resources to help developers – this will include labs, whitepapers, screen casts, samples, etc.
- A subset of the Oslo CTP – specifically the “M” language and repository – will be made available broadly on the MSDN Developer Center as part of a package called the “Oslo SDK”; this will enable broad feedback and early access to the core language and base Oslo models.
- Key partners from the Business Process Alliance will be announcing their support for Oslo and previewing early demos at the conference.
Q: What’s the relationship between "Oslo" and Microsoft’s forthcoming cloud platform?
A: "Oslo" is the platform for model-driven applications. “Oslo” does not make a distinction between on-premise or cloud applications. Microsoft’s Cloud platform makes use of models in many areas, including deployment, access control, and workflow. As such, we are working with a number of teams building cloud infrastructure and services to leverage various “Oslo” technologies. We expect to announce more details about this work in upcoming months.
Q: What’s the relationship between "Oslo" and “Dublin”?
A: Microsoft is enhancing Windows Server’s application server role with a set of extensions codenamed “Dublin”. “Dublin” will provide model-driven “Oslo” services with a powerful runtime environment, out of the box. ”Dublin” will integrate with the Oslo modeling platform by supporting direct deployment of the model based services on “Dublin”. “Dublin” will not require “Oslo” in order to operate and provide benefits of hosting WCF and WF services; however, administrators will be able to deploy applications from the “Oslo” repository directly to “Dublin”.
Q: How does "Oslo" relate to BizTalk Server? A: BizTalk Server is already a heavily model-driven platform for enterprise connectivity between heterogeneous systems. "Oslo" is one of the strategic investments that will contribute to BizTalk Server over time. You can expect the investments being made in model-driven development will benefit the BizTalk Server development tools and runtime going forward.
Technorati Tags: Oslo,Quadrant,M,CSD,Connected Systems,SOA,Service Oriented Architecture,Modeling
