DENVER, Oct. 12, 1998 — Microsoft Corp. Chairman and CEO Bill Gates said today that a record number of applications will be optimized for the Microsoft® Windows NT® 5.0 operating system when it is launched. He also predicted there will be more applications available at launch than for any operating system in history, including the Windows® 95 operating system.
Gates made the prediction to more than 6,000 software developers attending Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) Oct. 12-15 in Denver.
“The day Windows NT 5.0 ships, there will be more than 60,000 commercially available applications supporting it,”
Gates said.
”
Furthermore, there will be three times as many
Windows NT 5.0-specific applications than there were Windows 95-specific applications when that operating system launched. This kind of application support is unprecedented. In its first 18 months of availability, we predict the number of applications supporting Windows NT 5.0 will grow to over 100,000.”
Gates was in Denver to kick off the PDC, which brings together the world’s top independent software developers to learn more about Microsoft’s operating system and platform strategies and directions. This year’s PDC is sponsored by Casio Computer Corp., Compaq Computer Corp., Creative Labs Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and the MSDN
™
developer program.The conference this year is focused on showing software developers how Windows NT 5.0, Microsoft’s next version of its operating system, is lowering the cost of building distributed applications. Presentations throughout the week will demonstrate how Microsoft is lowering the cost of deploying applications and making those applications more manageable while lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO) for customers.
“With Windows NT 5.0, we are making it easier to develop distributed applications,”
Gates said in his keynote address to the developers.
“We are lowering the cost of development and management of applications. This means you can develop applications faster and easier. Your customers will save money because these new applications will be easier to manage.”
Gates talked specifically about how Microsoft is innovating and enhancing Windows NT to address the evolving requirements of its software development community and customers. Gates said that much of what’s new in Windows NT 5.0 is a direct response to Microsoft’s efforts to listen to its developers and implement their suggestions.
Gates demonstrated the new features using applications being developed by several software developers. He also showed a videotape featuring comments from several large corporate customers who said that they will require that future Windows NT-based applications be optimized for the newest version of the operating system and include new manageability features.
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“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.
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