Microsoft Oslo shifting to the data side

Last year, I heard Brian Loesgen compared Oslo, Microsoft's modeling strategy, to an onion, with many layers of features. Lately, it appears there is another layer to Oslo forming, which ties the platform closer to Microsoft's data programmability stack.

Darryl Taft reveals that Microsoft has been shifting Oslo, originally intended to support SOA development, toward the database. He quotes Microsoft engineer Doug Purdy, who admits that the reference to Oslo as a new version of BizTalk "really confused customers." He adds that "We started using the term 'Oslo' for only the modeling platform pieces of the overall vision."

At its core, Oslo supports a modeling language and a repository, which are surrounded by layers of tools and other functionality.  Oslo refers to the modeling platform, and other pieces of the overall vision have migrated into the next version of the .NET framework, Visual Studio and the capabilities that Microsoft “Dublin” will add to the Windows Server application server.

Purdy notes that over the past year, "it has become increasing clear to us that the modeling platform is aligned in a deep and fundamental way with the data programmability stack (ADO.NET, EF/EDM, [Entity Framework/Entity Data Model] Astoria, etc.)." As a result, the focus of Oslo has shifted to the database, emphasizing its role of supporting metadata stored within the database. For this reason Microsoft has decided to merge Oslo with its Data Programmability team, which includes EDM, EDM, EF, Astoria, XML, ADO.NET, and tools and designers. The Oslo group will work on Quadrant, the repository and M, according to Taft's report.