REDMOND, WASH, July 18, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it would deliver binary and source reference implementations of the scripting engines for Visual Basic® , Scripting Edition and JScript, the Microsoft® open implementation of the JavaScript
™
language. Both technologies will be licensed at no cost to interested parties, and can be ported to any operating system or hardware platform. The support for Visual Basic Script and the JavaScript language in Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.0 enables Internet developers to create highly interactive World Wide Web sites with either scripting language. By making these scripting engines available freely, Microsoft has enabled other browser and application vendors to quickly provide similar functionality at minimal cost, thus broadening the options of the Internet development community.
“Developers want freedom of choice,”
said Bob Muglia, vice president, developer tools, at Microsoft.
“JScript provides capabilities and performance that give developers and software vendors a powerful option for JavaScript-compatible development.”
“By including JScript in its scripting language options, Microsoft underscores its commitment to openness on the Internet,”
said Evan Quinn of International Data Corp.
“This gives developers the option of using a variety of important development technologies, taking full advantage of their current investments while supporting Internet innovations.”
Integration Between Scripts, Java Applets and ActiveX Controls
Both Visual Basic Script and JScript are integrated with Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 using the ActiveX
™
Scripting interface. ActiveX Scripting is a published standard that any application or scripting language can use.
Because JScript uses the ActiveX Scripting interface, developers can script Java Applets using the JavaScript language. The ActiveX Scripting interface allows developers to orchestrate the interaction among a variety of software components on the Internet, including Java Applets and ActiveX Controls written in other languages, using any scripting language that supports this interface.
“ActiveX Scripting means our current professional development tools can tie into the Web browser and script Internet applications,”
said Paul Gross, senior vice president of research and development at Borland International Inc.
“This is a big win for our developers and our users.”
“ActiveX Scripting makes it possible to integrate our development tools into the ActiveX architecture and gain all the benefits of object interoperability with Java Applets or ActiveX components,”
said Bob Zurek, director of product technology at the Powersoft business group of Sybase Inc.
“This means our development community can take advantage of their skills to build great Internet applications.”
Microsoft to Provide Free Source and Binary Code
Beta versions of JScript and Visual Basic Script are available immediately from Microsoft’s Web site for free downloading and distribution at http://microsoft.com/jscript/ and http://microsoft.com/vbscript/ , respectively. Microsoft will also make the source code for the Visual Basic Script and JScript engines available in the near future. Furthermore, Microsoft will provide source reference implementations to both the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for consideration as open Internet standards.
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 Basic and ActiveX are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
JavaScript is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc.
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