REDMOND, Wash., September 2, 1998 — Expanding the tools available for developers to create business software applications, Microsoft announced two new products at Developer Days ’98 this week.
The company announced the availability of Visual Studio 6.0, a suite of software development tools that enables developers to create solutions for Windows and the Web. It also announced a new version of Microsoft Office 2000 Developer, which provides developers with the tools needed to build and deploy solutions that work with Microsoft Office 2000.
Microsoft made the announcements at its annual Developer Days conference, held at 33 sites throughout North America. The conference is a one-day event intended to educate the developer community about new Microsoft technology offerings. Held in more than 120 cities in 51 countries, Developer Days draws more than 75,000 attendees worldwide, making it the largest one-day developer event in the industry.
“The mission really is to go out and touch developers with great information and give them some level of insight into Microsoft’s newest technologies,” said Morris Beton, director of Microsoft’s Developer Relations Group. “We’re trying to reach a lot of people in a way that’s comfortable and convenient, and update them on the latest things going on.”
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates discussed Microsoft’s commitment to enterprise computing during the conference, and demonstrated new features of Visual Studio 6.0. These include new versions of the tools needed to build enterprise and Web-based applications as well as improved integration among these tools to make it easier to integrate applications within the corporation. He also announced Microsoft 2000 Developer, which includes new features that will make it quicker for developers to build custom solutions that work with Office.
Gates used Developer Days as an opportunity outline his vision for a corporate “digital nervous system,” in which all of a company’s information systems work together efficiently, in much the same way as the human nervous system. Microsoft is helping developers build digital nervous systems by providing them with the tools needed to integrate their computer systems and leverage the Web, Gates said.
“The digital nervous system vision is a transformation in the way business is done,” Gates said. “It’s an opportunity to take advantage of the talents of employees in a new way and reach out to customers.”
Following Gates’ keynote speech, developers had the opportunity to attend seven product sessions led by Microsoft Developer Network regional directors-volunteer experts who educate developers about Microsoft technologies. These sessions were designed to help developers understand how they can use Visual Studio to build distributed, Web-based solutions on top of the Windows NT operating system and integrate these solutions with their existing systems.
Developer Days is one of many developer education and training events that Microsoft offers through MSDN, the Microsoft Developer Network. More than 2 million developers use resources provided by MSDN, which include conferences, software subscription programs, technical Web sites, books and magazines.
