It’s no secret that Microsoft is desperate to become more relevant in the Internet world. The recent failed attempt to acquire Yahoo was just the latest in a series of efforts to at least maintain some semblance of competition with Google, which quite frankly is kicking Microsoft’s butt in that space. So why then is Microsoft not doing more to leverage what in my opinion is probably its single most powerful asset - the tens, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of developers out there in the world of enterprise who know nothing but Microsoft tools?

I was reminded of how strong Microsoft’s hold on these developers is the other day when I tried to recruit an old colleague to work on a startup project with me. I succeeded in getting him on board but he wasn’t willing to even consider looking at ruby on rails, python or PHP. Having been a desktop application programmer for close to 10 years, he was willing to learn something new - web development - he just wasn’t prepared to do so in any language or framework that wasn’t familiar. Basically, he wanted something that didn’t involve too steep a learning curve. Now even if you think that this kind of ‘loyalty’ is misguided or based on ignorance, you would have to agree that Microsoft would be foolish not to take advantage of it.
I have personally worked in several software companies and know of many more that employ hundreds of developers like my old colleague, to build and maintain purely windows based desktop applications. Many of these developers know nothing else but Microsoft technologies. While I don’t suppose that too many of them are pro-actively pursuing careers or startup opportunities in web development, this is where I think Microsoft can come in.

Now I know for a fact that Microsoft regularly organises well-attended events during which it shows off upcoming technologies  and tools to its developer community. From what I have heard most of the desktop application developers only pay cursory attention to the web-related products and are understandably more interested in desktop ware. But what if Microsoft managed to persuade a large proportion of these developers to move into web development? Might it not begin to stand a chance of building a strong and competitive web-developer following? I suppose my point is that since Microsoft is never going to win the hearts and minds of the current web (2.0) development crowd from the likes ruby on rails, python, PHP, it might as well build a whole new one.

So how might Microsoft go about building this new class of web developer community? Well, by building an ecosystem around web applications built using Microsoft tools. It should offer startup capital to startups using its technologies. I note that this is already happening to some degree but it needs to be extended to current non-web developers. Furthermore, it should offer free SEO, advertising, advice etc. It should steer them towards monetisation using its advertising platforms. Whatever it does, what is most important is that Microsoft should be the one to introduce these developers to the wonderful world of web 2.0 or 3.0 or whatever you want to call it - holding their hands every step of the way.

So how likely is it that Microsoft will heed any of my advice or similar? Not very likely if you believe ex-Microsoft employee Robert Scoble, who has given up on Microsoft, saying that it just doesn’t listen to anyone anymore and that any advice given to it is just a waste of time.