MSM-Workstation: Last Farewell?

by Chris Bonnici

MSM-Workstation v2.0 caused a stir in the M world. Not only was this product an innovative way with which to develop M standalone applications that could be distributed royalty free, but it provided M developers the incentive to move to GUI programming. Even though there are other GUI tools on the market, no one integrated with Micronetics’ database as tightly as this product. Another factor is that the GUIness feels like an extension of M. Topping all was Micronetics’ decision to provide the full version for free. The queries and feedback we’ve had (and Micronetics can confirm this) is proof of the enthusiasm surrounding this product. Micronetics demonstrated its commitment to the product by working hard to improve it. For example, new features appeared in the final release that were not present in the Beta. In many commercial development projects once a product is feature closed, nothing new will make it into that version. Micronetics worked doubly hard to correct bugs while at the same time adding functionality.

Workstation is made up of two components; the C coded M engine and the GUI front end. The front end was developed with workstation itself (much like C compilers being written in C). Both products today belong to InterSystems. Over the past week, InterSystems laid off Micronetics personnel and hit hard are those assigned to Workstation. We had said that Micronetics had a long term plan for Workstation, which, over a period of time would have paid interest, but InterSystems does not seem to think the same. InterSystems is betting everything on Caché and the company has never been focused on the low end of the market. Besides, InterSystems could calculate that this baby has not been given the time to evolve and dropping it will only hurt the bottom line a little (the net of which could end up being a profit).

So what’s in stock for Workstation? There are two possible destinies:

1. Let it die a natural death. The GUI market is developing rapidly and as many of us know (from the slow route M took to get into this arena) the product will probably die due to lack of further evolution. This path will not be looked upon very kindly by the M world. On the other hand, InterSystems can use this as an indirect signal to market that it’s not wise to go with other companies.
2. Place the GUI front-end source into public domain (as Sun has done with Java). The M engine would also be made available in compiled form with information on how to hook to it. Eventually InterSystems would update the engine allowing one to remotely hook onto Caché databases.

Option 1 is a steel reinforced concrete wall. Dead-end.

There are numerous benefits for InterSystems in going with option 2. Primarily, this approach will reassure the M world that even though it might not consider a product worth developing itself, it is not abandoning the product. It will also soften some of the criticism and fears that this acquisition has brought with it. It might give the MDC something to do and fears that this body no longer has a purpose in life will be eradicated. It will also provide a second alternative to those who are suggesting a GNU version of M. Adopting the route taken by Netscape, InterSystems will allow the product to be developed at near zero cost. If there is a change in company direction, the community-developed product will be bundled with its own products while privately enhanced versions will point to its own database engines. New entrants into the market will not benefit from this move, as the M engine itself would be the property of InterSystems (besides not being available in source). If at some point in time it decides to halt Workstation, all it has to do is withdraw the M engine from public domain.

If this source available GUI product performs better than InterSystems expects, we envisage firms (for example those made up of redundant Micronetics employees) who will offer support and training for this product and enhance it with features. The readjusted benefits of the M world, automatically become the benefits of InterSystems allowing the company to attack other markets.

Will this baby live or die? As stated in the commentary of MWM (which went online a couple of weeks before this extraordinary edition), there is a feeling that the M world is gaining momentum and that things are happening. The wheel is in motion, but will it accelerate or decelerate. Only the moves by InterSystems can tell us.

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