Microsoft Monday made a dramatic change in its Active Directory strategy, saying it will ship a stand-alone version of the software separated from the operating system that finally delivers on its promise to create a Web-based directory. At the Burton Group's Catalyst conference the company laid out a roadmap for Active Directory's future, including a version called Application Mode, a pure Lightweight Directory Access Protocol-based directory to support Web applications. The company also said convergence of its directory and database is inevitable as it tries to create a universal data store, and that it will ship Microsoft Metadirectory Services (MMS) 3.0 early next year as the first step in that convergence.
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