Microsoft Announces Java User Migration Path to Microsoft .NET

JUMP to .NET Facilitates Java Developers' Transition to Web Services On the Multi-Language .NET Platform

Redmond, Wash. -- Jan. 25, 2001 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced the Java User Migration Path to Microsoft .NET (JUMP to .NET), a set of independently- developed technologies and service offerings to enable programmers to preserve, enhance and migrate Java language projects onto the Microsoft® .NET Platform. JUMP to .NET enables Microsoft Visual J++® customers and other programmers who use the Java language to take advantage of existing skills and code investments while fully exploiting the Microsoft platform today and into the future. JUMP to .NET provides the easiest transition for Java developers into the world of XML-based Web services and dramatically improves the interoperability of the Java language with software written in a variety of other programming languages.

"With JUMP to .NET, the Java language joins over twenty other programming languages from Microsoft and third party vendors supporting the .NET Platform," said Sanjay Parthasarathy, vice president of platform strategy at Microsoft. "The principle of integration is fundamental to Microsoft .NET. JUMP to .NET further underscores our commitment to interoperability and choice of programming language for building Web services."

Multi-Faceted Approach Provides Customer Flexibility

JUMP to .NET gives customers a number of paths for migrating their Java language investments to the .NET Platform. Existing applications developed with Visual J++ can be easily modified to execute on the .NET Platform, interoperate with other .NET languages and applications and incorporate new .NET functionality. Further, developers familiar with the Java language syntax can use it to create new .NET applications or migrate existing code entirely to the C# language. JUMP to .NET consists of three sets of tools and a service offering:

• Interoperability support -- a set of tools that enables many existing applications built with Visual J++ to be easily and mechanically modified to work with the .NET Platform. Once modified, applications can be easily extended to take advantage of new .NET functionality, such as native Web Services support.
• Programming tools support -- a set of tools, hostable in the Visual Studio.NET integrated development environment, that allows developers to use the Java language syntax to directly target the .NET Platform.
• Automated conversion from Java source code to C# -- a tool that automatically converts existing Java source code into C#, migrating both language syntax and library calls. Any code that cannot be converted is flagged within the Visual Studio.NET integrated development environment to help developers easily find and quickly address any remaining conversion issues.
• Migration services -- paid consulting services offered by Microsoft to apply the JUMP to .NET technologies to specific customer projects. Microsoft will also support other consulting and integration organizations that wish to provide service offerings using JUMP to .NET.

By supporting multiple programming languages and providing seamless integration among different languages, the .NET Platform maximizes a scarce resource for every organization: skilled programmers. With the .NET Platform, organizations can harness a diverse set of developers' skills and use the language most appropriate to a particular task. Further, because the .NET platform takes advantage of existing code, organizations can exploit new technologies without having to rip and replace existing systems or require wholesale retraining of personnel.

"Alibre is very excited that Microsoft is providing Visual J++ developers a rich and economical migration path to the higher-performance .NET Platform," said Steve Emmons, vice president of technology at Alibre Inc. "We now have greater flexibility to choose the language that best suits our needs on a component-by-component basis with unprecedented interoperability."

Availability and Pricing

A beta release of the JUMP to .NET tools is expected in the first half of 2001, with a final release in the second half of the year. The tools will work in conjunction with Visual Studio.NET. Pricing for both tool and the migration services will be announced later this year, as will availability for the migration services.

JUMP to .NET complements the announcement earlier this week that Microsoft would continue to ship and support Visual J++ after the settlement of the litigation between Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.

JUMP to .NET tools and services are the property of Microsoft Corp. and are not associated in any way with Sun Microsystems.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.

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