What problems will Microsoft's Oslo project solve?

Question

I watched few videos/webcasts about "Oslo" but I still fail to see how it all comes together.

I understand that Oslo is a modeling platform.

What's the process to create a DSL?

Is it more than just a tool to create DSLs?

I understand that MGramma is used to create a DSL's syntax.

What is M language for?

What is MSchema?

After creating an MGrammar and compiling it to .mgx, what's the next step?

Ivy

There is a blogger that blogs intensively about oslo: douglaspurdy.com/category/microsoft – Consumerism

The advantages of using Oslo are discussed here: #312912 – Everard

Answer 1

That Wikipedia article is pretty opaque.

The Microsoft project page for Oslo might be a better starting point. It begins:

About "Oslo"

”Oslo” is the codename for Microsoft’s forthcoming modeling platform. Modeling is used across a wide range of domains and allows more people to participate in application design and allows developers to write applications at a much higher level of abstraction.

IMHO, it does seem more "fully buzzword compliant" than a real product. That said, it looks like there is some kind of demo or technology preview available for download. One might hope that they have included some samples that make it clearer what kinds of problems it is intended to solve.

Kirksey

Answer 2

Think of oslo as an excel/access replacement. Something for end users to model and process their data, without the need of developers.

MGrammer is where things get interesting for us, but the bits that are interesting are more of a v2 thing. You could think of it as excel macros done right.

Ethelred

@Matt: I don't see any analogy with Excel or Access. Oslo is targeted at developers, not end-users. – Precession

@John: As things stand now, it is a data modeling platform. It does have some aspects aimed at developers, but so does excel and access. – Ethelred