PRESS RELEASE
NeXT SOFTWARE
COMPLETES TRANSITION FROM NEXTSTEP TO OPENSTEP
NeXT Customers Now
Able to Deploy on Windows NT, Solaris and other UNIX platforms.
Redwood
City, Calif.- June 25, 1996 - NeXT Software, a leading producer of application
development environments for the Internet and Enterprise, announced today that
the company has completed its OPENSTEP initiative,
delivering on its promise to "open" NEXTSTEP, its industry leading
object-oriented application development environment. OPENSTEP is used to quickly
develop and deploy dynamic multi-tier applications across diverse operating
systems. Customers can now upgrade their NEXTSTEP development environments to
OPENSTEP and will be able to deploy their applications on their platform of
choice - including Windows NT, Solaris, HP/UX, DEC UNIX, and Mach. OPENSTEP
enables developers to produce dynamic, scaleable, multi-tier applications that
integrate with legacy systems and adapt to business changes with
ease.
"OPENSTEP enables customers to quickly satisfy their changing
business needs and overcome IS integration challenges " says David Butler,
Director Product Marketing. " Migrating from NEXTSTEP to OPENSTEP is a natural
transition for our customers who want to continue using NEXTSTEP's proven,
object-oriented application development tools, but have end-users that require
deployment on Windows NT. With OPENSTEP, NeXT is delivering on its promise to
support Windows development and deployment."
From NEXTSTEP to
OPENSTEP
In November 1993, NeXT committed to "open" NEXTSTEP and
publish OPENSTEP in conjunction with Sun Microsystems. OPENSTEP is an API to an
object layer based on NeXT's advanced object technology. OPENSTEP-compliant
environments provide a distributed, object-oriented application environment,
allowing business objects and applications that use the OPENSTEP APIs to be
ported across multiple platforms regardless of the underlying operating
system.
Different Flavors of OPENSTEP
OPENSTEP Developer
4.0 for Mach, OPENSTEP User 4.0 for Mach and OPENSTEP 4.0 for Windows are
currently shipping.
OPENSTEP Developer 4.0 for Mach comprises NeXT's
industry-proven development tools available on NEXTSTEP, ported to the OPENSTEP
standard. OPENSTEP Developer for Mach tools have been improved to better support
the development of OPENSTEP applications. For example, Project Builder (the
application that manages software projects and streamlines the development
process) integrates a project browser, a full featured code editor,
language-savvy symbol recognition, sophisticated project search capabilities,
header file and document access, build and debugging support, and a host of
other features. With Interface Builder (NeXT's graphical development tool)
developers can connect graphical and non-graphical objects together, whether
they are OPENSTEP pre-built objects or custom business
objects.
Applications developed with OPENSTEP Developer for Mach can be
easily deployed on Windows NT, Solaris, HP/UX and Mach.
OPENSTEP User 4.0
for Mach combines the OPENSTEP object frameworks and NeXT's own operating
system, Mach. It contains all of the same features available in NEXTSTEP User
3.3 including a workspace manager, a mail application, NetInfo (a network
management tool), Display Postscript, and international support. New additional
features include Samba, PPP, Perl5 and Taylor UUCP support. In addition to
implementing the OPENSTEP specification, the product offers improved performance
support for distributed objects, object messaging and improved memory
management. These improvements are coupled with cleaner, simpler API conventions
which improve programmer productivity.
With OPENSTEP 4.0 for Windows,
customers can deploy OPENSTEP-compliant applications on Windows NT. Developers
simply recompile and link their source code, and the application becomes a first
rate Windows application--sporting the Windows 95 look and feel.
OPENSTEP
Developer for Windows is currently shipping as a widely available beta release.
NeXT's proven development environment will soon be shipping on Windows NT. With
OPENSTEP Developer for Windows, corporate developers can build business critical
applications on Windows NT and deploy them across heterogeneous
environments.
Also shipping are three products that complete the OPENSTEP
offering for the development of dynamic multi-tier applications: EOF 1.2, PDO
4.0 and D'OLE 4.0.
Enterprise Objects
Framework (EOF) provides integration of business objects with relational
databases like Oracle, Sybase, and Informix.
Portable Distributed
Objects (PDO) allows the deployment of server-based business objects on
Solaris and HP/UX. Objects communicate transparently with each other using a
powerful transparent distribution mechanism. With the PDO 4.0 release,
developers gain enhanced frameworks support; adherence to the OPENSTEP standard;
improved performance in distributed object messaging and the ability to "plug
in" different transport layers for object-to-object messaging.
D'OLE provides
integration with OLE applications through OLE Automation. This makes it possible
for departmental Windows-based applications to scale to the enterprise. In the
D'OLE 4.0 release, developers gain OPENSTEP compliance, improved OLE/COM object
to NeXT object messaging performance and enhanced frameworks
support.
NeXT Software, Inc.
NeXT delivers an open
development environment for building custom applications for both the World Wide
Web and the Enterprise. NeXT's development software adds value to today's
business by shortening the development cycle, working with an organization's
existing technology, supporting current and emerging standards, and enabling
organizations to grow and change with ease.
Providing its customers with
a combination of award-winning software and professional services, NeXT
delivers real-world solutions.
NeXT Software, Inc. is headquartered in
Redwood City, California, and has offices in North America, London, Paris,
Munich, and Tokyo. For more information please call
1-800-TRY-NeXT.
Trademark Info:
NeXT, the NeXT logo, NEXTSTEP,
and OPENSTEP are trademarks or registered
trademarks of NeXT Software,
Inc. All other trademarks mentioned
belong to their respective
owners.