You've just built a killer app. Now you have to get the word out to the highest number of people. You've built your site, greased your sales channels, put the right ads in the right publications. But there's a catch: you've inadvertently limited your potential customer base to desktop app users because you built a desktop app.

Traditional technology markets would dictate just such a strategy: you build your bread and butter desktop application. Then later, assuming it's become a runaway success, you think about extending your technology reach to other mediums like mobile devices and perhaps as a hosted or subscription based software service.

But you can do more. A lot more. Today's users demand more versatility in when, where, and how they use your product. Maybe they need to sync your app with a mobile client or access it through a Web UI. Perhaps even integrate key components of your product with a custom integrated solution of their own that ties together several other systems.

Most platforms can't handle this kind of versatility. In fact, neither could Microsoft until relatively recently. As user needs have evolved, so has the Microsoft stack, giving you and your company new opportunities for extending your company's crown jewels (your code base), into new markets and platforms.

This overview gives you a rundown on new ways to package and deliver your solution, and the technologies you need to make them work. The great news is that most of the software you need is available for free in the form of add-ins and SDKs for Microsoft Visual Studio®. In fact, with Visual Studio as your base, you'll find that you can build implementations of your solution for just about every conceivable traditional and emerging market.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
You're probably already familiar with coding client and/or server applications, and most products start from this base. In Microsoft Windows®, you most likely use unmanaged Visual C++ or managed Visual C# or Visual Basic® .NET. Visual Studio 2005, the IDE of choice for Windows-based development, lets you code in all three, as well as Visual J#. With Visual Studio Extensibility features, like add-ins and packages, you can also code in a wide assortment of other languages, like Perl, Cobol, RPG, Fortran, or just about anything else you've heard of.

Nowadays, when building applications for Microsoft Windows, you can maximize your code more efficiently if you architect it from the start to separate core logic from presentation as much as possible. This is the key to using the Microsoft stack to open up market opportunities. How you do this separation will become more obvious as you gain familiarity with all the possible outlets for your code.

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Microsoft Windows Vista
Microsoft has been asking "Are You Ready?" for Windows Vista® for over a year now. Now that it has been released, it's a good time to make sure your code is up-to-date, if it's not already. You'll need to consider the big new features like User Account Control (UAC) and .NET 3.0 Framework. But you also need to look at the small things, such as making sure your app shuts down properly if the user closes his laptop, as well as offering up a real-time view of your app for use with Windows Flip and Flip 3D (alt-tab).

To make sure you reach this market, your first goal will be to earn that "Works with Windows Vista" logo. The "Innovate On" program outlines a step-by-step process for ensuring app compatibility.

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