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Good morning and happy Sunday!
I have a new website to announce this morning, and a new development in the web server market to discuss.
***Microsoft buys a web server
Microsoft has acquired two products from a small Berkeley software company, ResNova, http://www.resnova.com/, and hired the development team that was working on the software.
The products are WebForOne and Boulevard, low-end and high-end web servers for the Macintosh.
The Mac web server market is moving quickly. Quarterdeck shipped WebSTAR 2.0 last week, with a myriad of new features, including a built-in Java Runtime, which presents an interesting opportunity for cross-platform Java developers.
The Microsoft deal realigns the flow of power in the Mac web community, and begins what's sure to be a struggle for leadership between Quarterdeck (which is crippled by financial problems) and Microsoft (which is not). Apple figures in here somewhere.
Up till now, the clear leader in this market has been WebSTAR, with Apple waiting in the wings with an almost-announced low-end product. Microsoft says that it plans to market the low-end product only, but the dividing line of the feature sets will be interesting to watch as their software evolves. What interfaces will they support or not support? Can we achieve tighter integration with content tools and scripting systems? It seems natural that Microsoft's web server will conform to the Denali spec, and ActiveX will fit in here somewhere.
Microsoft continues to hire the best Mac people. Congratulations to Alex Hoppman and and the other Resnovas, I think the move makes sense for them. I've used WebForOne. It's excellent software. I'm sure they'll continue to kick butt now that they work for Microsoft.
And, since Microsoft plans to give away the server software, as it does with its client, it clearly must be seen as a strategic move, not a way to gain revenue.
Interesting!
***The Classified Ads Server
On Friday we opened a new website -- a Classified Ads server. It's halfway between a Guestbook and a BBS. It's software that you can use to broadcast your wants. In a civilized way, of course. ;->
The new server is at http://www.scripting.com/ads/. It's reasonably self-explanatory. While others may focus in other areas (we plan to offer the software for sale), our server specializes in the job market for web developers. So, if you have a job for a web master, designer, author, CGI script writer, Java appleteer, PhotoShop bitboy (or girl!), or some other position related to building and maintaining websites, please post an ad on the server. If you're looking for such a job, you can broadcast your wants too. And if you have a product or service to offer, please check out the Announcements category.
The site explains more. It's designed to be easy to navigate, not overwhelming or complex, and visually pleasing. I hope the web community uses this new resource. Ads are free during the startup period. We may charge a reasonable fee for ad placement as the service grows.
Thanks for checking it out!
Dave Winer
PS: Please don't look up appleteer in the dictionary. Like opinioniere, which I used a few pieces ago, it's a new word.