Microsoft Application Platform at a Glance

“To stay on the map you've got to keep showing up.” -- Peter Gallagher

Periodically I create a map of the Microsoft application platform.  (Here is my previous map of the Microsoft application platform.)   Making the map helps me stay on top of the platform, identify potential changes to architecture and design strategies, and anticipate trends.  It also helps me figure out where to invest my time and energy.  It also helps me see potential customer confusion.

Here is my latest map of the Microsoft application platform:

Category	Items
Application Infrastructure	.NET Framework Base Class Libraries (BCL) Common Language Runtime (CLR) Language Integrated Query (LINQ)
ALM (Application Life-Cycle Management)	Visual Studio Team System Visual Studio Team Foundation Server
App Frameworks / Extensions	Enterprise Library Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)
Cloud	Windows Azure Windows Azure DataMarket (“Dallas”) Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio App Fabric SQL Azure
Collaboration / Integration / Workflow	SharePoint Server Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) Microsoft BizTalk Server
Data Access	ADO.NET Core ADO.NET Entity Framework ADO.NET Sync Framework LINQ to SQL OData WCF Data Services WCF RIA Services
Database Server / Storage	SQL Azure SQL Server SQL Server Compact
Desktop	WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) Silverlight (Out-of-Browser) Windows Forms
Developer Tools	Microsoft Visual Studio Microsoft Expression Studio Microsoft Visual Studio Express Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server
Games	XNA D3D Win32
Identity	WIF (Windows Identity Foundation) (Geneva) Active Directory Federation Services (Geneva Server) Card Space
Languages	Common Language Runtime (CLR) Dynamic Language Runtime Visual Basic Visual C# Visual C++ F# Iron Python IronRuby
LINQ	LINQ to Entities LINQ to SQL LINQ to XML LINQ to DataSet LINQ to Objects
Manageability	Systems Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
Office	Office 2010 Visual Studio Office Development Projects Office 2010 PIA (Primary Interop Assemblies)
Parallel	F# Parallel Extensions for .NET PLINQ Task Library
Phone	Silverlight for Windows Phone XNA Framework Windows Phone Developer Tools
Services	Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) WCF Data Services (ADO.NET Data Services, Astoria) WCF Web APIs WCF RIA Services ASP.NET Web Services (ASMX)
Web	ASP.NET Web Forms ASP.NET Web Pages (WebMatrix) ASP.NET MVC Silverlight SharePoint Server CSS HTML / HTML 5.0 Internet Explorer JavaScript (Jscript) / JavaScript (as of IE 9)
Web Server	Internet Information Services (IIS) IIS Express Web Farm Framework
Windows Server	Windows Server Windows Server App Fabric (Dublin + Velocity)

Read more: J.D. Meier's Blog

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