1. Microsoft Announces Availability of MSN Investor 1.0
REDMOND, Wash. – July 16, 1996 – Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of MSN Investor 1.0, a new Internet resource for personal investors located on the World Wide Web at (http://www.MSN.com/investor/) A no-charge service of The Microsoft® Network, MSN Investor provides tools and information to help people more easily track and follow their personal investments.
This initial release of MSN Investor has several key features, including a Portfolio Manager, Quote Lookup, Market Summaries and Top 10 Lists, to help people manage their investments and track the market. The Portfolio Manager allows users to keep multiple portfolios and monitor the securities they’re interested in so they understand the performance of their investments. Quote Lookup provides delayed price quotes for stocks, options, mutual funds and market indexes on request. Market Summaries and Top 10 Lists keep people informed about the performance of the market, including the status of the leading market indexes such as the Dow, NASDAQ, AMEX, Russell and S & P, as well as the top winners and losers of the day.
MSN Investor is available at no charge (other than the cost of connect time through an Internet service provider) and located on MSN’s World Wide Web site at (http://www.MSN.com/investor/) .
Microsoft and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The Microsoft Network is operated by Microsoft Corp. on behalf of Microsoft Network LLC.
2. Microsoft Hardware Group Teams With Keysoft Microsoft Natural Keyboard Offered as Part of Corporate Productivity Enhancement System
REDMOND, Wash.
July 16, 1996 The Microsoft® hardware group today demonstrated its continuing commitment to provide consumers and corporations with efficient business solutions by announcing its plans to work with Keysoft. Keysoft will provide the Microsoft Natural® Keyboard to participants in the Keysoft Performance Enhancement System, a computer performance program aimed at improving employee productivity.
The result of 18 months of ergonomic testing and market and usability research, the Microsoft Natural Keyboard permits users to maintain a more relaxed, natural position while keying. Since its introduction in July 1994, the Microsoft Natural keyboard has become a leader in ergonomic keyboards.
Keysoft offers corporate executives within insurance, finance and banking industries a contractual guarantee to improve performance by at least 50 percent. Keysoft’s program also provides a comprehensive health and safety curriculum that stresses the importance of workplace ergonomics.
Microsoft and Natural Keyboard are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
3. Visual
C++ 4.2 Subscription Ships With Enhanced Support for ActiveX Technologies and Internet Development
REDMOND, Wash. – July 16, 1996 – Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of version 4.2 of the Microsoft® Visual C++® development system and tools, the latest subscription update to Visual
C++. This release eases development of Internet applications. It includes additions to Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), the C++ framework for writing applications for the Windows® operating system, support for the popular data-binding technologies, significant heap optimizations in the C run-time library, and the new Standard C++ library from Plum Hall Inc. This update includes support for the Windows
NT® and Windows
95 operating systems.
The following new features have been added to support Internet application development with Visual C++:
-
Additions to MFC libraries are designed to make it easier to create applications that take full advantage of ActiveX
™
Technologies. They include support for the new WinInet Library APIs, used to create richer, Internet-enabled applications; support for Active Document Servers, which allow applications created with VisualC++ 4.2 to plug into any ActiveX Document Container, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0; and support for Asynchronous Monikers, the technology used for downloading ActiveX Controls over the Internet. The Visual C++ wizards, tools that make it easier to create and manage the infrastructure of a Visual
C++ application, have been updated to reflect the new Internet support.
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Improved MFC support for ActiveX Controls enable users of Visual
C++ 4.2 to create faster, Internet-enabled controls that meet the OCX96 guidelines, which include drawing optimizations, flicker-free activation, windowless objects, and nonrectangular objects. MFC now also supports simple and complex data binding.
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The Standard C++ Library from Plum Hall has been added to Visual C++ in version 4.2. It encompasses the latest ANSI C++ extensions, including the Standard Template Library (STL) and a new iostream library. The Standard C++ Library provides new functionality, such as numerous algorithms that manipulate C++ objects, and a migration path for developers who want to move to the new standard iostream.
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Improved heap management in the C run-time library, enhanced in response to customer demand, presents a dramatically faster technology for applications that rely on small block memory allocations.
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Improvements in ODBC support, including support for multithreading and bulk row fetching as well as improved support for transactions, are among the important changes that have been made to the MFC open database connectivity (ODBC) classes. Visual C++ 4.2 includes controls that users can bind to local or remote data sources. Also in Visual C++ 4.2, MFC provides a means to bind simple and complex data controls to any ActiveX data source control.
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HTML Syntax Coloring , the Visual
C++ text editor that now colorizes HTML keywords, eases development of Web pages integrated with ActiveX Controls. The Visual C++ image editor can now read and write both GIF and JPEG file formats.
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Crystal Reports
™ report generator offers the option to export report files, including graphics, as HTML, so they are automatically ready for access from the World Wide Web.
Visual
C++ 4.2 will be demonstrated at the upcoming Visual
C++ Developers Conference, cohosted by Microsoft and TPD Publishing in San Francisco, July 22-24. The conference will cover all areas of Visual
C++ development, including client/server application and Internet development. For more information, please visit http://microsoft.com/visualc/ or (http://ww.vcd.com/) .
Microsoft Visual
C++ 4.2 is the only Microsoft development tool that provides customers with three timely releases a year though the Visual
C++ Subscription program. Nonsubscribers can receive this release by licensing the Visual
C++ Subscription product by calling
(800) 719-5577 (United States and Canada only). For new users, the Visual
C++ Subscription is available for approximately $499. Users of all previous versions of Microsoft Visual
C++ can upgrade to Visual
C++ Subscription for approximately $299. Users of competitive products can upgrade to Visual
C++ Subscription for approximately $349. All prices listed are for the United States; outside the United States, contact your local Microsoft subsidiary.)
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 C++, Windows, Windows NT and ActiveX are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Crystal Report is trademark of Crystal Computer Services.
