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Microsoft
Releases Visual Basic for Applications Version 6.0 To Software Vendors
VBA 6.0 Offers Greater Power, Flexibility and Security As
Well as Easier Integration Into ISV Software REDMOND, Wash. - April 28, 1999 -Microsoft
Corp. today announced the availability of the Microsoft® Visual
Basic® for Applications (VBA) version 6.0 development
environment to third-party software vendors through the VBA licensing program.
VBA 6.0 is a powerful development technology for rapidly customizing packaged
applications and is a core component of Microsoft Office 2000. VBA 6.0 offers a
host of new features that extend the reach, flexibility and security of
application customization while making it easier than ever for software vendors
to integrate it into their products.
VBA 6.0 opens the door for new and more powerful
line-of-business solutions using new features like multithreaded VBA-based
projects, developer productivity add-ins, and support for digital signatures. To
make it easy for ISVs to evaluate VBA 6.0, Microsoft is unveiling its updated
VBA Web site - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vba/
- where software vendors can obtain software tools and documentation for easily
integrating VBA 6.0 into their products.
"The new features in VBA 6.0 - such as development
environment customization, support for digital signatures and multithreading -
enable a wide range of application architectures, from rich-client to
multitier," said Tod Nielsen, vice president of developer marketing at
Microsoft. "As VBA licensees continue to extend their platforms to enable
new 'buy and customize' scenarios, Microsoft is committed to advancing VBA
technology to meet the needs of both ISVs and their customers."
Support for Extending the Reach of VBA
VBA 6.0 extends the reach of VBA beyond its traditional
strength on the client to a variety of multitier application architectures, as
well as to solutions that integrate multiple VBA-enabled products.
"We're very excited about the new multithreading
capabilities of VBA 6.0, especially when combined with the multitier
architecture of our Xfactory product," said Tim Davis, vice president of
marketing for USDATA. "Using VBA 6.0 to customize the business logic of
Xfactory objects running under Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) has allowed
USDATA to provide our customers with the flexibility, performance and
scalability that the manufacturing industry requires."
"We are excited about the speed and ease in which
corporate developers can enhance and extend solutions based on iGrafx
Professional," said Ken Carraher, vice president, enterprise solutions,
Micrografx Inc. "Furthermore, with a common model in VBA 6.0, it is
extremely easy to integrate their iGrafx-based solutions with other VBA-enabled
products such as Microsoft Office 2000. This ease of integration is a huge win
for companies deploying VBA solutions."
Balancing Power and Security
VBA 6.0 includes features that enable secure distribution of
powerful customized solutions and protection against macro viruses. VBA 6.0 also
provides enhanced intellectual property protection for developers.
"Security and protection against macro viruses is a key
concern for our customers," said Derek Burney, executive vice president of
engineering at Corel Corp., developer of CorelDRAW and the WordPerfect office
suites. "Support for digital signing of VBA projects, and the protection it
gives our customers, was a prime factor in our decision to host VBA 6.0."
Greater Customization
VBA 6.0 enables ISVs to customize the development environment
to optimize it for the needs of their customers, combining the benefits of a
familiar technology with tools aimed at specific development needs.
"When it comes to writing VBA code to automate Visio we
want Visio developers to be as productive as possible," said Mike Gelon,
director of solutions marketing and consulting, Visio Corp. "That's why
we'll be taking advantage of the IDE extensibility features of VBA 6.0 in Visio
2000 to support customized wizards and add-ins optimized for the Visio
developer."
Easier Integration Into ISV Applications
To better enable ISVs to integrate VBA into their packaged
applications quickly, Microsoft is making available a comprehensive set of tools
and documentation - called the Visual Basic for Applications 6.0 Software
Development Kit (SDK) - to simplify and speed integration, including:
"Every business has unique accounting and resource
planning needs, so providing our customers the flexibility to tailor their
solution is a key requirement for Solomon IV. Integrating VBA 6.0 into Solomon
IV provides even more power and flexibility for our customers," said Vern
Strong, senior vice president, development systems, Solomon Software Inc.
"We were very pleased with how easy the VBA 6.0 integration technology made
this process. Time to market is critical to our success and it was very easy for
us to integrate VBA 6.0 within our development schedule."
VBA 6.0 Availability for ISV Evaluation
ISVs obtain the VBA 6.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) as the
first step toward integrating VBA 6.0 into their applications. The VBA SDK
includes an evaluation version of VBA. ISVs that wish to include VBA with their
packaged products must sign a separate license agreement with Microsoft. Vendors
interested in evaluating the VBA SDK free of charge* can order it online at the
new VBA Web site (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vba/).
About Microsoft VBA
A member of the Visual Basic family - the language used by
over 3.2 million developers worldwide - Visual Basic for Applications is the
development environment in Microsoft Office and is available to third parties
through the VBA licensing program. There are currently over 80 shipping
VBA-enabled applications from ISVs in dozens of vertical and horizontal markets. Copyright (C)
1998-1999 The Active Network. All rights reserved.
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