OS/2 World Taking Shape: Microsoft Reports Significant Support for Next-Generation Operating System

REDMOND, WA • October 21, 1987 • Microsoft Corporation reports a strong early commitment to the Microsoft® OS/2™ operating system on the part of third-party and corporate software developers. More than 3,300 OS/2 Software Developer Kits (SDKs) have been shipped since June. More than 3,000 developers have attended Microsoft technical seminars worldwide on OS/2. These comprehensive seminars have been held in major U.S. cities and in England, Germany, France, and Italy. Another U.S. conference begins today in Dallas, with final international OS/2 conferences slated for the fall in England, Germany, France, and Japan.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft vice president of systems software, said from the Dallas conference, "The excellent response from the software development and corporate communities is a clear indication of the worldwide acceptance of OS/2 as the PC systems platform of choice for the next generation of applications."

Ballmer also affirmed that the final release of version 1.0 of the SDK will ship on time, in November. Following this, the next OS/2 SDK to ship to developers will contain the OS/2 Presentation Manager code, the graphics-based user interface that OS/2 shares with Microsoft Windows 2.0 and Windows/386. The OS/2 Presentation Manager specification was shipped to developers in July.

Diversity of Developers Reflect OS/2 Versatility

Developers taking up the OS/2 standard are as varied as they are numerous. Approximately 60 percent of the OS/2 developers surveyed by Microsoft are third-party software vendors developing applications to be sold in the packaged PC software market, and 40 percent are corporate developers writing in-house applications.

Among software vendors that have announced support for OS/2 are such software leaders as Ashton-Tate, Lotus Development Corporation, MicroPro International, Oracle, AutoDesk, Borland International, Ansa, and Informix Software, Inc.

Microsoft estimates that more than 1,000 corporate developers are planning for or actively working on OS/2 applications at this time.

Mobil Oil Company, for example, is using OS/2 as the systems environment for a geologic workstation being developed by its Global Exploration and Producing Services group. The workstation will run applications such as word processors and scientific software, utilizing the multi-tasking capabilities, MS-DOS® compatibility, and abundant memory of OS/2.

Among third-party developers, MicroPro International is coming out with an OS/2 version of its popular WordStar® 2000 Plus word processor. They will demonstrate the product at Fall COMDEX.

Informix Software, Inc., makers of database management systems and programming tools, is currently building three products around OS/2: Informix-4GL, a Cobol-replacement caliber 4GL, Informix-SQL, a multi-user database management system, and Informix-ESQL/C, an embedded SQL facility for the C language. All will be available in prerelease versions in November.

Susan Nurse, OS/2 product manager at Informix, says her company was drawn to OS/2 by its performance and its emergence as a standard. “Informix supports operating systems standards such as UNIX®, VMS®, and MS-DOS, and we see OS/2 as the next standard operating system environment. OS/2 allows us to unleash the power already inherent in the multi-user versions of our products. The multi-tasking and virtual memory features will also free users from the memory limitations of MS-DOS."

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ "MSFT") develops, markets and supports a wide range of software for business and professional use, including operating systems, languages, and application programs, as well as books and hardware for the microcomputer marketplace.

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Microsoft, the Microsoft logo, and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International.

UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.

VMS is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.