REDMOND, Wash., March 18, 1997 — More than 45,000 developers are gathering at 95 Developer Days events around the world tomorrow and over the next few weeks to view and receive technical training on Microsoft® Visual Studio
™
97 development tools, Microsoft Corp.’s recently announced tools suite for integrating client/server solutions and Internet technologies. Microsoft also announced that the estimated retail price (ERP) for Visual Studio 97, Professional Edition, will be $999 ($499 upgrade), or $1,499 ($999 upgrade) for the Enterprise Edition. Both the Professional and Enterprise editions of Microsoft Visual Studio 97, as well as the individual Visual Tools products, are scheduled to be available by the end of the first quarter. For complete pricing and upgrade information, please visit the new Visual Tools Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/visualtools starting March 19, 1997.
“We have always been committed to providing developers with the best tools and training to take advantage of the rapidly changing computing infrastructure,”
said Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corp.
“Our vision for applications development is to make it easy for developers to integrate client/server and the Internet, as well as make it easy to build robust, multitier enterprise solutions that can take advantage of existing systems. Developers are the heart of the industry and very important customers for us.”
Developer Days events are taking place at more than 95 locations in 45 countries including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Israel, Thailand and the United States. The events feature a keynote presentation by Bill Gates in which he outlines how the Windows® operating system is incorporating support for the latest hardware enhancements and how businesses are building on their solutions and IT infrastructure on Windows.
Comprehensive Set of Tools for Integrating Client/Server and the Internet
Visual Studio 97 delivers a comprehensive, open and scalable set of developer tools. The Professional Edition and the Enterprise Edition of Microsoft Visual Studio 97
include the following:
-
Version 5.0 of the Microsoft Visual Basic
® programming system, the world’s most popular rapid application development (RAD) system for creating Windows-based applications -
Version 5.0 of Microsoft Visual C++
® , the award-winning C and C++ development system used to build many of the world’s best-selling Windows-based applications -
Version 1.0 of Microsoft Visual InterDev
™, an integrated Web application development system for building and managing data-driven Web applications that generate HTML accessible from any browser on any platform -
Version 1.1 of the Microsoft Visual J++
™ programming system, for creating cross-platform Java
™
Applets and applications and integrating Java with ActiveX
™
technologies -
Version 5.0 of Microsoft Visual FoxPro
™, the award-winning relational database management system with a datacentric, object-oriented language -
Microsoft Developer Network Library , the complete source of product documentation and information
To support teams of developers building multitier solutions, the Enterprise Editions of Visual Studio 97, Visual Basic 5.0 and Visual C++ 5.0 also include the following:
-
Developer Edition of Microsoft Transaction Server 1.0
-
Developer Edition of Microsoft SQL Server
™
6.5 -
SQL debugging
-
The Visual SourceSafe
™
version control system 5.0 -
RDO 2.0 for high-speed access to ODBC databases
-
Microsoft Visual Database Tools
Additional tools, such as the new Microsoft Visual Modeler, will be available for Enterprise Edition customers on the Web.
“We’re very excited about the great new products in Visual Studio 97,”
said David Mendlen, director of development, Ameritech Cellular Services.
“The collection of features in this suite is remarkable. The native code compiler in Visual Basic 5.0 , the database capabilities in Visual InterDev, and the performance improvements in Visual C++ are all industry-leading features. Taken together, they’re incredible.”
New Web Site Specifically for Evaluating New Microsoft Visual Tools
Microsoft is introducing a new Visual Tools Web site http://www.microsoft.com/visualtools – to complement the launch of Visual Studio 97. The site includes information on the Microsoft development strategy, complete evaluators guides for Visual Studio 97 and each of the individual Visual Tools, development scenario white papers that explain where to apply the specific tools, and a glossary of technical terms.
Third-Party Support for Visual Studio
More than 1,300 companies currently provide add-ons and ActiveX Controls for Visual Studio 97. Many of these companies plan to announce new and updated products on March 19, 1997. A full list of companies with third-party products that are making announcements can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/prodinfo/new.asp starting March 19, 1997.
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 , Windows , Visual Basic , Visual C++ , Visual InterDev , Visual J++ , ActiveX , Visual FoxPro and Visual SourceSafe 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.
For more information, press only:
Christian DeNike, Waggener Edstrom, (206) 637-9097, [email protected]
Rebecca Lackman, Waggener Edstrom, (206) 637-9097, [email protected]
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
Addendum: Microsoft Visual Studio 97 Pricing Information
Pricing information for Microsoft Visual Studio 97 and the individual products follows. For complete pricing and upgrade information, please visit the Visual Tools Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/visualtools starting March 19, 1997. Reseller prices may vary.