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By Colleen Frye

Software architects are busy these days thinking about Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Enterprise Service Buses (ESBs) and Web services – all important things. But if they want users to connect to their applications on an emotional level, those architects need to start paying more attention to the user experience, according to Simon Guest, group program manager for architecture strategy at Microsoft.

In his TechEd session, “Putting the User Back into SOA,” Guest said architects need to be thinking about the issues of visualization, foundation, and context, in order to build truly successful systems. He highlighted several Microsoft tools and platforms that enable architects in this quest.

Visualization refers to the ways in which users interact with the architect’s system. In the Microsoft world, these visualization strategies will soon be supported by infrastructure foundation that handles some of the complexity of system building. Those platform technologies go under the names of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). Until last week these pieces were collectively known as “WinFX,” but they will soon be referred to as .NET Framework 3.0 in Microsoft circles.

In the visualization area, Microsoft has fashioned WPF, one that supports Ajax-style application interfaces (now, under the umbrella of the “Atlas” tool set) built using ASP.NET. Along with WPF, Microsoft is relying on XAML (Extensible Markup Language), a markup language to declaratively represent the user interface for Windows applications, to improve communications between the interface designer and the application developer. Guest says there is some overlap between Ajax and XAML, but says they have separate roles. For example, he suggested Ajax is not robust enough to do the 3D modeling that some high-powered financial services organization would desire.

Guest said architects also need to think about context—the goals of the application, what the user is trying to do, and how duplication can be avoided. New types of applications that include instant messaging along with Web services give users a familiar way to work and an easy way to access back-end applications.

Finally, Guest said organizations need a new methodology for creating the user experience, which includes prototyping with IT, the user/business analyst, and the UI designer. Within this area, Microsoft offers the new Microsoft Expression suite of design tools—Graphic Designer, Interactive Designer, and Web Designer.

The user experience of software was one of the major themes at TechEd. The theme will be heard again as Microsoft moves toward launching its next version of Office.

For some, the user experience is just part of the equation in system building. Session attendee Bruce Cottle, principal architect at Aspect Software in Chelmsford, Mass., said user experience is important, but one of the barriers to creating better user experiences is the “time to market” pressure.