SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 28, 1996 —
— Microsoft Corp. today delivered an alpha version of its highly anticipated Web application development tool, code-named
“Internet Studio,” to more than 2,000 attendees at the Microsoft® Site Builder Conference. A public beta version of Internet Studio will be available for downloading from the Microsoft Web site later this year.
Internet Studio is the complete, integrated development tool for building Active Server Web applications based on open Internet standards. Internet Studio enables developers to take full advantage of server-side processing using Active Server Pages and Active Data Objects – new features of Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) version 3.0. In addition, Internet Studio enables developers to incorporate Active Desktop features such as advanced HTML, ActiveX
™
, Java
™and scripting in the Visual Basic® programming system, Scripting Edition or JScript.
“The vision for Internet Studio is to make it easier to build dynamic Web applications that use server-side processing and corporate databases,”
said Bob Muglia, vice president, developer tools at Microsoft.
“In the past, developers have had to jump through hoops to build such applications. Internet Studio integrates the Active Server and Active Desktop tools in an easy-to-use, visual development environment.”
Internet Studio Makes Web Development Easier, Drives Web Benefits for Businesses
Businesses have rapidly adopted Web technologies for building intranet and Internet Web applications because of the seamless deployment, cross-platform accessibility, and low-bandwidth capabilities they provide. At the same time, the demand for richer, more user-driven and interactive experiences within these applications has increased the complexity of both Web server and client development. For example, connecting Web applications with corporate databases while preserving the security and data integrity required for a mission-critical application has been very difficult.
“Our customers want solutions based on industry standards to address the 70 percent to 80 percent of their internal development that requires database access,”
said Ken Miller, chief technology officer of 32X Inc., a leading solution provider.
“Internet Studio provides the solution they’re looking for by delivering platform-independent HTML to the front-end browser and easy, reliable access to virtually any database on the back end.”
Internet Studio Builds Upon
Active Server Platform
Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0 provides server-side scripting (with both VBScript and JScript), state management and access to Active Server Components. Internet Studio provides a work space for building the Active Server Pages that provide these features to Web applications. In many cases, Internet Studio automatically creates the logic and Active Server Pages for the developer.
Active Server Components are any COM-based component that runs on IIS. For example, a financial analysis component (developed as a dynamic-link library [.DLL] or executable [.EXE] component) could be integrated into the Web application using Internet Studio to provide investment results that are returned to the client as standard HTML. Active Server Components can be developed in any COM-enabled tool, including future versions of Microsoft Visual Basic , theVisual C++ development system, the Visual J++
™
development tool and third-party tools.
Integrated Data Connectivity Tools
Internet Studio enables developers to add data connectivity to their Web applications, making their sites smarter and more interactive. Internet Studio provides this functionality through the use of the following features:
-
Design-time controls, a new class of ActiveX Controls that automatically generate the HTML and server scripting logic necessary to add database functionality
-
Microsoft Active Data Objects, a new feature of IIS 3.0 that provides server-side database access to any ODBC database, including Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server
™, Microsoft Access, the Microsoft FoxPro® database system and IBM DB/2 -
Data View and Query Designer tools, which work with any ODBC database
-
Database Designer tool, which brings the ease of Microsoft Access table-definition tools to the creation and modification of Microsoft SQL Server databases
Team-Based Development With Internet Studio and Microsoft FrontPage 97
Internet Studio is specifically designed for developers, and looks and works like other products in Microsoft’s line of visual development tools. Internet Studio uses the same project model as the Microsoft FrontPage
™ 97 Web authoring and management tool so Web developers and Web authors can collaborate on the same projects and Web sites. They also share the same WYSIWYG HTML and Microsoft Image Composer editing tools.
“We have been working with an early, prerelease version of Internet Studio and are very excited by its development capabilities,”
said Jonathan Kutchins, president of Exeter Group Inc.
“The combination of Internet Studio and Microsoft FrontPage 97 offers a true team-oriented development platform. Our nonprogrammers and programmers can work simultaneously on the same Web site, using tools tailored for their specific needs.”
Pricing and Availability
Microsoft is scheduled to release a beta version of Internet Studio in the fourth quarter of 1996 and is targeting the commercial release for 1997. Pricing has not yet been announced. For more information, visit the Internet Studio Web site.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
ì
MSFT
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) 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, ActiveX, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J++, FoxPro and FrontPage 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.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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