From Navision To MicrosoftFebruary 13, 2004

Michael Nielsen, Product Unit ManagerMicrosoft Business Framework, Copenhagen

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Michael Nielsen CV• 1986 Master of Science in Engineering (DTU)• 1986 UNIX Developer with Knudsen & Johnsen• 1987 Joined Navision Software• 1987 Developer, Navision 1.x report writer• 1989 Developer, AL-Language• 1990 Developer, Navision 3.x IDE• 1993 Program Manager, Navision Windows

client• 1995 General Manager of Tools department• 1997 Director of Product Development• 1998 Director of System Architecture• 2000 Director of Navision Research• 2002 Product Unit Manager, MBS Frameworks• 2003 Product Unit Manager, Visual Studio

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How it all started! (1984)

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PC Plus (1985) - Ease of use• PC based• Document style look and

feel• Online help• Exception handling• Low on demand for

computer resources

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PC Plus v1 (1985)

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Navigator v. 1 & 2 (1987)- Multi-user• Client / Server• Transactions • Versioning• OLAP• Programmable report writer

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Navigator 3.x (1990) - Development platform• AL Programming language• Function libraries• Design tools - Forms, Tables, Reports• Structured exception handling• Resource management

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Navision 3.5 - Cross platform• Support for UNIX and Windows NT• ODBC• C-Toolkit• Third party SQL support for Oracle and

Informix

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Navision Financials - 1st Prototype (1992)

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Navision Financials - Standard UI• Windows 95 look and feel• Compatible with Microsoft Office • Microsoft Access like development tools• Microsoft logos

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Navision Financials 1.0 - Released Product (1995)

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Navision Around the World

Local Navision companies

Partners

Navision reached companies all over the world. In 2002 Navision had local companies in 30 countries and partners in 94 countries.

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The Merger (2000)

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Joining Microsoft (2002)

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Moving to Visual Studio (2003)

Microsoft Business Framework is part of Visual Studio!

• Leverages the familiarity of Visual Studio• Introduces abstractions related to the

application domain• Guides the developer (“prescriptive-ness”)• Uses the model as a master – not the code• Keeps the freedom to code• Uses concepts from Intentional & Aspect

oriented programming

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Model-driven architecture – The next wave (2004)From Code based OO programming to

modeling

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