Microsoft last week introduced the next generation of its Web technologies, including beta versions of Internet Explorer 8 and its Silverlight 2 browser plug-in, as well as a hosted Exchange e-mail service and a SQL Server-powered data storage and query-processing service.

In doing so, the company's top software engineer admitted that Microsoft hasn't been crystal clear about its Web technology road map. "It's occurred to me that without being able to see the big picture as each one of these products is introduced, it might seem to you to be just a little bit random," chief software architect Ray Ozzie said during a keynote address at Microsoft's MIX conference for Web developers in Las Vegas.

Microsoft's Web strategy is framed by three principles. First, the Web can serve as a hub for managing "personal experiences" across devices and services. Second, the Web should be an option for business computing. And third, the Web can be used by developers to create new applications. The key ingredients, Ozzie said, are "connected" devices, entertainment, productivity, software development, and business services.

Ozzie tries to put the pieces together

Microsoft plans to begin broad beta testing of services it will host based on the company's Exchange, SharePoint, and Office Communications servers. The online services will come with Online Administration Center, a Web console that lets companies manage and configure them. System administrators can download a tool to run on a local directory server that's configured with both online and server credentials and synchronizes accounts every 24 hours.

That means, for example, that employees in remote offices or temporary workers with Microsoft-hosted e-mail wouldn't notice anything different than employees whose e-mail runs on a business's own servers. Microsoft already is doing this sort of integration with instant messaging.

The push into online services is important for Microsoft as it tries to stave off Google and other competitors offering online alternatives to its e-mail and productivity applications. And at the same time, Microsoft must compete with Salesforce.com and other software-as-a-service vendors that are thriving at its expense in the business applications market.

STILL WAITING

The new data storage and query processing service, SQL Server Data Services, aims to help businesses avoid some of the costs and complexities of developing and provisioning data-intensive applications and mashups on their own.

Microsoft is pitching SQL Server Data Services to small and midsize businesses as a way to off-load costs, to developers looking to avoid infrastructure investments for data-intensive applications, and to enterprises that might want archival and collaborative access to data sets.

Amazon.com broke new ground with its S3 online data services. SQL Server Data Services is Microsoft's response and lays the groundwork for more SQL Server capabilities to be offered by Microsoft over the Web. It's an early example of Microsoft's broader utility computing effort, Ozzie hinted.

Many of the deliverables of Microsoft's Web technology road map aren't quite here yet, but Ozzie promised that's about to change. "Over the course of the next nine months, and progressively into the future, many of the software and services products that we've been developing for quite some time now will finally come to life," he said. For now, customers are still waiting.