Re: What's new with Oberon/F?

pfister@oberon.ch
Wed, 27 Nov 1996 10:45:59 +0100

>you're spending effort on seemingly obscure things like Direct-to-Com,
>SQL database access, the new realtime Portos real-time operating system,

Concerning the Direct-To-COM compiler, we have used it for ourselves to
implement the OLE support within Oberon/F. Without the DTC compiler we
would not yet have OLE support. Selling it as a product makes sense since
we focus on component software; under Windows this means COM.

Database access is required by about 90% of all business applications, so
Sql was an absolutely crucial addition and also demanded by many customers.
We are listening to our customers.

Another request from our customers was improved documentation, and
therefore we are currently writing a tutorial introduction to Oberon/F. The next
Tribune will also ship in January.

Denia/Portos was an acquisition opportunity which opens us a door into the
industrial automation market. This sector is highly important around here,
is more open to innovations, uses more outdated tools, and is more fragmented
than the commercial sector. We are working on an approach that won't tax
our own resources too much. More on that next year.

>will become readily available to Oberon/F developers as OLE components.
>At least I hope so - can Omi confirm this is a feature we can expect to

Extended COM and OLE support are *the* most important things we are working on;
internally we have working OLE Automation support, e.g. for providing full
access to Microsoft Office. ActiveX control object support is one of the goals
afterwards.

- Cuno Pfister

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Cuno Pfister phone (+41 1) 445 1751
Managing Director fax (+41 1) 445 1752
Oberon microsystems, Inc. email pfister@oberon.ch
Technoparkstrasse 1 web http://www.oberon.ch
CH-8005 Zurich
Switzerland