Summary
Today, Microsoft announced its plan to buy Xamarin. Xamarin is a company that makes it possible for developer’s to use C# (Microsoft’s programming language) in order to develop applications that are compatible with Windows, Android, iOS, Linux, and OS X. Although Microsoft has engaged in several partnerships with Xamarin, this acquisition has been seen as Microsoft’s indication that it is serious about cross-platform support. Over the past few years, it has also stared supporting Linux on its cloud, open sourced its .NET framework, and released a free version of Vision Studio, which runs on Linux, OS X, and Windows.
One of the concerns with Microsoft’s plans, which was outlined by this article, is that this could be an “acquihire.” An acquihire occurs when a larger company buys out a startup in order to gain their talented engineering, not their products. However, Microsoft has insisted that this is not the case and they intend to utilize Xamarin in order to work toward their goal of standardizing its software.
Relevance
This article relates to our class because it discusses Microsoft’s strategy to innovate its technology in order for its code to be compatible across several different operating systems. This will allow programmers the ability to share their applications on a much wider scale and reach more users.
Importance
This article is helpful for us as MIS professionals because this step towards cross-platform support is breaking down the walls that have kept various technologies from working cohesively together. As technology develops, it is important that we find ways that allow users to efficiently connect without being inhibited by incompatible code.
Source: http://www.wired.com/2016/02/microsoft-expands-empire-beyond-windows-xamarin-buy/
You say that, "Microsoft has insisted that this is not the case and they intend to utilize Xamarin in order to work toward their goal of standardizing its software." But what do you think of their claim?
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