Offering to be similar to BEA product LOS ANGELES — Microsoft, at its Professional Developers Conference 2003 here, plans to reveal details of a Web services design tool that is intended to be similar, albeit superior, to BEA Systems’ WebLogic Workshop platform, a Microsoft official said.Generically referred to as “Visual Studio Web Services Design Tool,” the product enables visual design and drag-and-drop functionality for modeling and connecting Web services systems, said Prashant Sridharan, lead product manager for Visual Studio at Microsoft. Developers will be able to model operations infrastructure such as routers and datacenter systems for use in Web services applications, according to Sridharan.Part of the company’s Indigo Web services platform, the design tool is due to ship as part of the Whidbey version of the Visual Studio developer tool in 2004. Software Development