Microsoft to open Apps Marketplace for Sharepoint 2010

This is a revolutionary step for Microsoft. Christian Finn, Sharepoint product manager, has announced that the company will open App marketplace for Sharepoint 2010 - something similar to Salesforce's AppExchange. So the army of Microsoft-oriented developers will get access to the large customer base of  Sharepoint users. The App store will evolve out of The Gallery (a resource within Sharepoint 2010 that serves as a central place for templates) and will be in available for installation by admins and users (under the admin control). Besides the App marketplace, Sharepoint 2010 will make the developers happy by closer integration with Visual Studio 2010, enhanced Silverlight support, new opportunities for integration external applications and data sources (with the help of Business Connectivity Services) and large lists optimization feature.