Muglia: Microsoft's future is 64-bit

Virtualization and the 64-bit platform are key areas in Microsoft's future technology infrastructure development plan - an assessment by Bob Muglia, director of Microsoft's server and tools division.

Excerpts from an interview with C.Net magazine by Bob Muglia, vice president of server & tool division, who is responsible for Microsoft's entire product development orientation.

- This year, Microsoft made some important statements, including implications for 64-bit, and that in the future there may be some products that only work on 64-bit platforms. Can you tell us in which areas the 64-bit platform will be applied in the next few years?

18 months ago, we completed the 64-bit version of Windows Server, and we have also continued this process to ensure that the first and last applications applications can work properly. on 64-bit platform. There are a number of areas, especially those related to device drivers, that still exist some 64-bit compatibility issues.

We have also released 64-bit applications, and one of the first major applications is SQL Server 2005. We realize that 64-bit is the inevitable direction because in addition to full scalability. They also provide outstanding performance for users.

Looking forward, we will launch Longhorn (the next version of Windows Server operating system) in the second half of next year with 32-bit and 64-bit versions. That will be the last time we release the 32-bit version. From this point, plus a year or so, all products remain 64-bit.

When Exchange Server 2007 is completed, it will be the first major server application that Microsoft builds on the development path of only 64-bit applications. It was a difficult decision for us, but for the sake of customers we have chosen this direction.

- Where will Microsoft integrate Microsoft Managed Services management services?

Over time, some of our customers will treat IT as a service. This is different from consulting services, and we need to differentiate the distribution of software in the form of services rather than a standard consulting service (personalized service).

We think this trend will take place in many areas, and it has been discussed many times since 2000 and up here. At this point, it has not been successful because the infrastructure is not ready and clear, and the software is not ready yet. However, it is clear that this trend will take place, and we need to make sure that Microsoft software is used in this process.