ORLANDO, Fla., June 5, 2000 — In his Microsoft® Tech ·Ed keynote address today, Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates demonstrated new features of the next generation of the Visual Studio® development system, dubbed Rapid Application Development (RAD) for the Server. RAD for the Server tools will help developers using Windows® DNA 2000 to accelerate and simplify the creation of rich server-side applications and Web Services.
Developers using Visual Studio RAD for the Server tools can gain improved time to market with fast access to Web Services. Web Services, business functionality exposed in an operating-system-, object-model-, and programming-language-neutral way using Internet standards such as XML and SOAP, simplify the integration of business logic running on any platform. This open architecture is a centerpiece of Microsoft’s strategy for the third phase of the Internet, as described by Gates in his address to the sold-out Tech · Ed conference.
These new server-side capabilities parallel the RAD approach previously used in client-side development. Now developers can drag and drop reusable server components to a design canvas, set properties for those objects and then double-click to write code. This drag-and-drop metaphor for programming is already familiar to millions of Visual Studio programmers who will be able to immediately leverage their skills in building scalable enterprise and Web-based applications.
The next generation of Visual Studio will be available in beta release later this year. In the meantime, Microsoft will provide tools — such as the SOAP Toolkit for Visual Studio 6.0, also announced today — to help developers familiarize themselves with the continued integration of industry standards into Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows DNA 2000 platform.
About Visual Studio
The Microsoft Visual Studio development system includes a complete suite of award-winning tools for building scalable enterprise solutions. These tools provide comprehensive support for building all aspects of a multitier solution based on the Windows DNA 2000 platform. This includes building cross-platform Web applications as well as client/server applications based on the Windows operating system.
About Windows DNA 2000
Windows DNA 2000 is Microsoft’s platform for rapidly building and deploying next-generation e-commerce, line-of-business and Web solutions that easily integrate with customers, partners and existing applications. In addition to Windows 2000, other components of the Windows DNA 2000 platform include Visual Studio, Microsoft SQL Server™ , the COM+ component and programming model and other application services — all best-of-breed products that utilize the deepest developer talent pool and third-party market in the industry.
More information on Windows DNA 2000 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsdna/ .
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