Microsoft Announces Widespread Availability of Visual J++

ActiveX, Performance and the Debugger Have Made Developers Switch to Visual J++

REDMOND, Wash. - Oct. 1, 1996 - Microsoft Corp. today announced the widespread availability of the Microsoft® Visual J++™ development tool, Professional Edition, the first Java™ development tool to create fully Java-compatible applets and provide extensibility with ActiveX™ technologies. Included with Visual J++ is an array of independent Java programming tools and libraries that integrate with and extend Visual J++ to meet a wide range of development tasks. Already, based on the quality and productivity of the extremely popular Visual J++ beta program, large numbers of developers are switching to Visual J++ from other Java development tools. With Visual J++, programmers can create 100 percent Java-compatible multiplatform Java code as well as extend their Java applications with components created in a variety of other programming languages that support the ActiveX specification. Visual J++ is the first Java development tool that lets developers take advantage of the thousands of available ActiveX Controls and components. This means Java now has support for many new capabilities, including database access, distributed systems, high-performance multimedia and integration with existing programming languages.To provide developers with a wide range of Java capabilities, Microsoft has included a number of products developed by independent software vendors, including these:

• AimTech Corp.'s Jamba. Jamba is an exciting Java graphics effects program included with a custom AppWizard that runs within the Visual J++ development environment and helps developers create graphical Java objects that can be used with Jamba.
• Neural Applications Corp.'s E-Mail Wizard. This custom Java AppWizard allows developers to easily create mail dialog boxes to include in Java applets and applications.
• Object Space Inc.'s Java Generic Library. This comprehensive set of reusable data structures and algorithms allows developers to leverage considerable existing code that the basic Java (JDK) classes are missing.
• Dimension X's Liquid Motion. This tool, created with Visual J++, provides a quick way for developers to create 2-D animation in Java, which can then be optimized and extended using Visual J++.
• Bulletproof Corp.'s JDesignPro JDesignerPro creates Java database applications over any ODBC datasource as a custom App/Wizard for Visual J++. Users can quickly build forms, grids, charts, reports and more then edit the code using Visual J++. More than 100,000 copies of the Visual J++ beta have been downloaded over the Internet. This beta version has been extremely well received: Based on the beta, large numbers of developers have switched to Visual J++ from other Java development tools. "Of all the Java development systems we tried, we selected Microsoft Visual J++ because of its speed and ease of use," said Gary Hughes, president of Stargate Video Systems.

"We like using Visual J++ better than Café," said Stephen Blaha, Bali Software Ltd. "Visual J++ has more synergy with other development languages, enabling our programmers to take advantage of the features of these other languages with Java."

"Switching from Café to Visual J++ made Java programming faster and easier because the integration of Visual J++ into the Developer Studio IDE [integrated developer environment] creates a friendly, familiar working environment," said Marc Mercuri, director of interactive development at Data Information Services Inc.

Developers are praising the ability of Visual J++ to extend Java applications with components created in a variety of other programming languages supporting ActiveX. "By integrating Visual J++ into Developer Studio, Microsoft has created a world-class Java development environment," said Jim Flynn, general manager of @Work Technologies. "We are using Visual J++ to create platform-independent ActiveX Controls that can be seamlessly integrated with our existing C++ programs. The wizards make developing Java programs and HTML ultra-simple, and the graphical debuggers in Visual J++ are miles ahead of any other Java product on the market." Availability and PricingVisual J++ is widely available for approximately $99. The product includes the book "Learn Java Now," which teaches the fundamentals of programming in Java, written by Stephan R. Davis. To find out more information about Visual J++, visit the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/visualj/.Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, Visual J++ and ActiveX are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc.

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