Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is a generic term that, according to Microsoft, was first introduced in 2002 by Sonic Software. In a 2005 paper, Microsoft complained that there were a lot of conflicting definitions and it was hard to tell just what it is. (Yeah! I can get on that bus!) Currently, Microsoft's dog in this race is BizTalk Server and the BizTalk ESB Toolkit. Basically, these are services hosted inside the enterprise and a way to make them available.
Internet Service Bus (ISB), formerly called BizTalk Services, is a platform for creating and deploying composite applications that integrate services that other sites provide. According to a paper in the Microsoft Architecture Journal, "The ISB is more like a ubiquitous fabric. The ISB links devices to each others, devices to local servers, Web sites to Web sites, and ESBs to ESBs, and is itself an ESB. The ISB is a platform for 'do-it-yourself' composite applications and business processes. The ISB is also an example of Software as a Service (SaaS)." Basically, these are services hosted by somebody outside the enterprise and a way to make them available. In spite of the generic sounding name, Microsoft has big plans for ISB. Their plan is for all of us to be the farmers while they own the railroad. The "railroad" is ISB.
(If you do a web search, you'll discover that "Service Bus" is also a connector bus service for Microsoft employees in Washington state! But I don't think that's what they're going to be talking about at the Visual Studio 2010 launch.)
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
An agreement between data processing and customers about the target or the minimum quality of the services provided. Things like up-time, response time, and turn-around time for responses are typically included.
Silverlight (Microsoft product)
At Microsoft's page, the definition is as follows:
"Silverlight is a powerful development platform for creating engaging, interactive user experiences for Web, desktop, and mobile applications when online or offline."
When I read that kind of marketing-speak, I think of laundry detergent with miracle ingredient X-42 every time.
Silverlight is a version of WPF - Windows Presentation Foundation - designed to run in a web browser and is intended primarily to be a competitor to Adobe Flash.
SOAP
SOAP was originally the "Simple Object Access Protocol" but now it's officially just SOAP. It's a protocol that lets you use the web to exchange structured data with Web Services, usually using HTTP, the same protocol used for web pages. The content of SOAP messages is XML encoded data rather than web pages, however, so you can use HTTP like a data connection. SOAP is now a W3C "recommendation" (that is, "standard").
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Do you need a spreadsheet just a few times a year? Why buy one? Rent it instead.
The idea is that you use applications over the web on demand instead of buying and installing them permanently on your own computer. Not a Microsoft product, and not even a leading edge technology, SaaS is more a clever marketing idea. Never one to leave dollars on the floor, Microsoft has their own SaaS products. But they're not the first thing you're likely to hear about from your friendly, neighborhood Microsoft salesman.
Sql Common Language Runtime (SQLCLR)
The .NET common language runtime running in Sql Server. This is the component that lets you execute managed VB or C# stored procedures, user-defined functions, aggregates or types directly in Sql Server.
Sql Server Analysis Services (SSAS)
One of the major functional components of Sql Server (the others are the Database engine and Reporting Services), Analysis Services is the engine in Sql Server that makes OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) happen. See Online Analytical Processing or Multidimensional Expressions in this Glossary for more.
StreamInsight (Microsoft product)
"Event streams" are a unique kind of data. An event stream might be the results of an assembly line, financial transactions from a live market, or activity in a network. To handle this kind of data, Microsoft will be introducing a new .NET based technology that they're calling StreamInsight.
Surface (Microsoft product)
Anybody who watches TV these days (or visits a Microsoft sales office) has seen Surface now. It's the software and hardware combination that lets you control what you're seeing by using gesture recognition ... or even objects places on the surface. It's kewl! That's why it's on TV a lot!
T-SQL
Transact-SQL - the version of Sql used by Microsoft (and Sybase). It's proprietary.
Test-driven development (TDD)
Like "agile development", this methodology also relies on very short development cycles. A key difference is that the first thing a developer must do is write a test case, and an automated way of executing it, that defines whatever needs to be done to an existing piece of software. The development is then creating the code to pass the test case.
Test and Lab Manager (Microsoft product)
Test and Lab Manager is a new tool that will be part of Microsoft Visual Studio Team System. You will also be able to get it in Visual Studio Team Test 2010 Essentials and Visual Studio Lab Management 2010. You can do things like automate the navigation of your user interface (in WinForms, WPF and HTML) and create a debug log.
WorkFlow Service (Microsoft product)
There's WF - Workflow Foundation; and there is WCF - Windows Communication Foundation. WorkFlow Services is the happy marriage between the two. In other words, building WCF Services with WF. Now I only have one question. How did WF get away with not including "Windows" in the name? See .NET Foundations for more.
XAML (Microsoft product)
Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) (pronounced "zammel") is a markup language for declarative application programming. It's a key part of WPF and it allows creative web designers to design and creative programmers to program and avoid getting in fist fights about it. The designers use XAML to build their sugar castles and then just pass the code over to the programmers who use a real language - like Visual Basic .NET!
