REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 18, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the Enterprise Edition of the Microsoft® Visual Studio
™97 development tools, its recently announced tools suite, as well as Enterprise editions of the Microsoft Visual Basic® programming system version 5.0 and the Microsoft Visual C++® development system version 5.0. The new Enterprise editions of all three products are scheduled to be introduced March 19, 1997.
Microsoft created these Enterprise editions to provide development teams with tools for designing and building multitier solutions that tap the opportunities of the Internet and integrate with existing software and hardware investments. For developers who are creating this next generation of enterprise solutions, Visual Studio 97, Enterprise Edition, is the most complete Microsoft tool offering.
The new Enterprise editions of Visual Studio 97, Visual Basic 5.0 and Visual C++ 5.0 include Microsoft Transaction Server 1.0, Microsoft SQL Server
™
6.5, the Visual SourceSafe
™
version control system 5.0, and the Microsoft visual database tools. In addition to these products, the Enterprise editions of Visual Studio 97 and Visual Basic 5.0 will also contain the new Microsoft Repository 1.0.
“Microsoft provides a strong foundation for scalable, enterprise solutions with Microsoft BackOffice
™family applications running on the fastest-growing server operating system, Windows NT® Server,” said Jim Allchin, senior vice president, personal and business systems group at Microsoft. “With Visual Studio 97, Enterprise Edition, developers have a comprehensive set of tools for building multitier applications that take full advantage of this platform.”
Support for Team-Based Development and New Microsoft Repository
Visual Studio 97, Enterprise Edition, integrates support for development teams, the design of large-scale solutions and integration with large data stores. Team development features
-
Visual SourceSafe 5.0. Visual Studio 97, Enterprise Edition, includes Visual SourceSafe 5.0, an enhanced version control and management system for software and Web site development projects. It ensures that developers, webmasters and end users can work together in teams while protecting versions of code in the development project.
Support for Microsoft Repository
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Microsoft Repository 1.0. The Microsoft Repository is a database that stores and shares components, models, objects and relationships along with their descriptive information. It delivers important capabilities in five key areas to client and server environments: reuse, tool interoperability, team development, data resource management and dependency tracking. The Repository resides on Microsoft Jet and Microsoft SQL Server.
New database tools
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Visual database tools. The data environment in Visual Studio 97, Enterprise Edition, enables developers to visualize and edit all the key database objects to be used in an application. This data environment includes a data dictionary of all the relevant database objects such as tables, views and stored procedures, as well as editors for the query designer, stored procedures and debugging. These enable developers to completely integrate database development into a Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment.
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Integrated SQL debugging. With Visual Studio 97, Enterprise Edition, a developer can interactively debug and view SQL stored procedures in Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 from within Visual Basic and Visual C++ using the debugger.
Build Scalable Solutions With Visual Studio 97
The Enterprise Edition of Visual Studio 97 provides support for multitier development with new transaction, data management and performance enhancements. Multitier support enhancements
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Microsoft Transaction Server 1.0, Developer Edition. Visual Studio 97 includes Microsoft Transaction Server, which provides an easy way to develop and deploy scalable, multitier applications for Windows NT Server. Developers build server applications as single-user ActiveX
™
components using Visual Studio 97 and deploy the components in Transaction Server as reliable, multiuser applications. Transaction Server masks the complexity of server programming from the component developer, providing automatic support for distribution, transactions, security, and scalability across the Internet and client/server networks.
Data management enhancements
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Remote Data Objects (RDO) 2.0. RDO provides an easy-to-learn and powerful interface to ODBC data sources. The new version of RDO in Visual Basic 5.0 and Visual C++ 5.0 offers up to a 20 percent performance improvement over the previous version.
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Microsoft SQL Server 6.5, Developer Edition. Visual Studio 97, Enterprise Edition, also includes Microsoft SQL Server 6.5. Microsoft SQL Server, which is tightly integrated with the rest of the Microsoft BackOffice family, is the ideal database engine for powering Web sites and client/server applications that scale up to the enterprise.
Performance enhancements
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Faster performance and productivity. All the new versions of products in
Visual Studio 97 offer faster performance. The performance of existing programs created with Visual C++ will typically increase about 10 percent after they are recompiled using Visual C++ 5.0. Further, Visual Basic 5.0 with its new native compiler now provides performance that is very close to that of Visual C++ in language execution. The Visual J++
™
development tool continues to be the fastest implementation of Java
™
on the market, compiling at 10,000 lines per second, with the fastest Virtual Machine (VM) as well. Programmer productivity is also increased due to enhancements such as Wizards that automate the process of completing common tasks such as creating Active Documents or Web applications and faster compile times.
Both the Professional Edition and the Enterprise Edition of Microsoft Visual Studio 97 include Visual Basic 5.0, Visual C++ 5.0, Visual J++ 1.1, the Visual InterDev
™
Web application development system version 1.0, the Visual FoxPro
™
database management system version 5.0 and the Microsoft Developer Network Library, Special Edition.
Developer Days Official Venue for Unveiling Visual Studio 97
Microsoft Visual Studio 97, Enterprise and Professional editions, are scheduled to be introduced March 19, 1997, at Developer Days, a developer training event spanning 88 cities and 45 countries. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/devdays/.
Product Availability
Both the Enterprise Edition and Professional Edition of Visual Studio 97, as well as the standalone Visual Basic 5.0 and Visual C++ 5.0 products, are scheduled to be available at the end of the first quarter of 1997. Customers who license Visual Basic 4.0, Enterprise Edition, or Visual C++ 4.2, Enterprise Edition, after Jan. 27, 1997, are eligible for a free upgrade to Visual Basic 5.0, Enterprise Edition, or Visual C++ 5.0, Enterprise Edition, (shipping and handling charges apply). For more information, visit the Visual Studio 97 Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/vstudio/
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 Studio, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual SourceSafe, BackOffice, Windows NT, ActiveX, Visual J++, Visual InterDev and Visual FoxPro 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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