NeXT Computer, Inc. - Questions and Answers - Object World, August 1995; WebObjects - The Power of Objects for the WWW.SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 1995--The following is a series of Questions and Answers from NeXT Computer Inc. relevant to Object World, which is being held in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden this week. What is WebObjects? WebObjects is an environment for interfacing objects to the Internet via the World Wide Web. The technology is based on NeXT's object model using Enterprise Objects Framework The Enterprise Objects Framework (or more commonly, EOF) was introduced by NeXT in 1994 as a pioneering object-relational mapping product for its NeXTSTEP and OpenStep development platforms. for database access and PDO PDO Php Data Objects (PHP extension) PDO Protected Designation of Origin (EC) PDO Pacific Decadal Oscillation (weather) PDO Property Damage Only for object interoperability in heterogeneous environments. Customers now have a truly cross-platform user interface to their existing corporate data infrastructure. WebObjects is database independent and can access information in relational databases such as Oracle and Sybase. In addition, WebObjects can interoperate with OLE/COM and CORBA-compliant applications. How is this different from existing web technology? Existing web tools create static HTML An HTML page (Web page) that displays the same information for all users. Although it may be updated from time to time, it does not change with each user retrieval. Contrast with dynamic HTML. pages and the forms-based interfaces are extremely difficult to interface with existing corporate data. Using WebObjects developers can leverage NeXT's existing object technology which enables you to rapidly build applications that interoperate with CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) A software-based interface from the Object Management Group (OMG) that allows software modules (objects) to communicate with each other no matter where they are located on a private network or the global and OLE/COM object models and can access existing legacy data. WebObjects are not tied to only a web interface and can therefore be deployed in a heterogeneous environment of OpenStep-compliant systems. WebObjects will interface with existing HTTP HTTP in full HyperText Transfer Protocol Standard application-level protocol used for exchanging files on the World Wide Web. HTTP runs on top of the TCP/IP protocol. web servers through the CGI CGI in full Common Gateway Interface. Specification by which a Web server passes data between itself and an application program. Typically, a Web user will make a request of the Web server, which in turn passes the request to a CGI application program. (Common Gateway Interface). To boost performance and flexibility, NeXT plans on offering an object-oriented web server which will be deployable on any PDO platform including Solaris, SunOS, HP-UX HP's version of Unix that runs on its 9000 family. It is based on SVID and incorporates features from BSD Unix along with several HP innovations. (operating system) HP-UX - The version of Unix running on Hewlett-Packard workstations. , Digital UNIX See Tru64 Unix. , Microsoft NT, and NEXTSTEP. How does WebObjects fit into NeXT's corporate strategy from a technology standpoint? WebObjects is an extension of NeXT's object-oriented technology See object technology. . By using the World Wide Web as a common user interface, organizations can utilize existing systems infrastructure to build and deploy applications. What about security? NeXT is committed to supporting the standards required to keep data private. In the short term, NeXT plans on implementing SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) The leading security protocol on the Internet. Developed by Netscape, SSL is widely used to do two things: to validate the identity of a Web site and to create an encrypted connection for sending credit card and other personal data. (Secure Socket Layer) from Netscape as the secure transport mechanism. As new standards arise, NeXT will license and implement those as available. OpenStep-The Volume Object Standard What is OpenStep and how does it relate to NEXTSTEP? OpenStep is the evolution of the API's found in NEXTSTEP today. OpenStep allows organizations to build, deploy, and maintain object-oriented, three-tier client/server A three-way interaction in a client/server environment, in which the user interface is stored in the client, the bulk of the business application logic is stored in one or more servers, and the data are stored in a database server. See client/server. applications for a variety of environments: NeXT's Mach OS, Sun's Solaris, Digital's UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). , and Microsoft's Windows NT (Windows New Technology) A 32-bit operating system from Microsoft for Intel x86 CPUs. NT is the core technology in Windows 2000 and Windows XP (see Windows). Available in separate client and server versions, it includes built-in networking and preemptive multitasking. and Windows 95. OpenStep-compliant objects and applications communicate transparently with each other, regardless of the underlying operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. . OpenStep will be even more distributable, more localizable, more portable, and even more powerful than NEXTSTEP. What are the migration paths to OpenStep and when will they be available? OpenStep is an extension of the AppKit and Foundation of NEXTSTEP. OpenStep Release 4.0 for MachOS will include tools for converting applications written in NEXTSTEP to OpenStep. Developers can develop applications now, using NEXTSTEP, that they can deploy on OpenStep implementations in the future. NeXT's professional services (job) professional services - A department of a supplier providing consultancy and programming manpower for the supplier's products. organization will provide OpenStep migration mentorship when OpenStep 4.0 ships. How is OpenStep different from PDO? OpenStep includes a framework for building object-oriented applications and a user interface which is somewhat consistent across implementations. PDO is the OpenStep object model and is UI independent. OpenStep for Windows-The Power of Objects for Windows What is OpenStep for Windows? OpenStep for Windows allows for the development and deployment of flexible and highly scalable multi-tier client/server applications-both mission-critical and enterprise wide - under Windows 95 and Windows NT to adapt to the changing and growing needs of the enterprise. It consists of an object framework that brings a dynamic and distributed object Distributed objects are software modules that are designed to work together, but reside either in multiple computers connected via a network or in different processes inside the same computer. architecture to Windows 95 and Windows NT. Product name: OpenStep for Windows Release 4.0 Does it support Windows 95 and NT? Did you develop this in conjunction with Microsoft? OpenStep for Windows will run on Windows 95 and Windows NT for the Intel architecture. Applications running on OpenStep for Windows will look and feel like any Win32 application An application written for 32-bit Windows operating systems. See Win32 and 32-bit processing. . NeXT has been working with Microsoft on a technical level to ensure that the OpenStep for Windows is compatible with Windows 95 and Windows NT. How does it work with Windows development tools? Which ones? OpenStep for Windows is designed to run applications developed with OpenStep Developer for Windows or for Unix. OpenStep Developer for Windows is a second generation client/server development environment which allows developers to build, modify, maintain and reuse multi-tier applications built from the object framework. It takes full advantage of the dynamic object nature of the OpenStep framework. In addition, applications developed with OpenStep Developer for Windows are portable across other operating system platforms. PDO-The heart of OpenStep What is PDO? Portable Distributed Objects This article or section has multiple issues: * Its neutrality is disputed. * It does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by citing reliable sources. * It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (PDO) is the underlying object model of OpenStep, the industry standard environment for developing cross-platform object-oriented applications. PDO provides a heterogeneous client/server framework based on objects that can be used today to create multi-tier business applications which are scalable to the entire enterprise. PDO shields the programmer from low-level network protocol details by providing a transparent, dynamic runtime system. PDO also provides a set of object libraries that support object persistence, garbage collection, memory management, and string, array, and dictionary handling. Today, PDO runs on a variety of popular platforms including NEXTSTEP, SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX, and Digital UNIX. Distributed OLE for Windows-Distributed OLE Today What is Distributed OLE (D'OLE) for Windows? Distributed OLE for Windows enables developers to build scalable, multi-tier object-oriented applications using standard Windows-based development tools such as Microsoft Visual Basic and Visual C++. By integrating PDO objects with OLE/COM objects, Distributed OLE for Windows allows Windows client applications to utilize a heterogeneous, enterprise-wide distributed object infrastructure. Distributed OLE for Windows includes an Object Request Broker See ORB. (programming) Object Request Broker - (ORB) Part of the OMG CORBA specification, an ORB's basic function is to pass method invocation requests to the correct objects and return the results to the caller. (ORB) which supports the OLE Automation protocol, providing transparent integration between PDO and OLE objects. OLE objects simply connect to and message PDO objects just as if they were OLE objects. Similarly, PDO objects can transparently message OLE Automation objects in their native language and syntax. With this integration, popular GUI (Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user interface that incorporates movable windows, icons and a mouse. The ability to resize application windows and change style and size of fonts are the significant advantages of a GUI vs. a character-based interface. design tools such as Visual Basic and PowerBuilder can take advantage of NeXT's advanced object technology without modification. How does Distributed OLE for Windows relate to OpenStep for Windows? While OpenStep for Windows provides a complete object-oriented application environment, Distributed OLE for Windows only provides the non-graphical distributed object layer, to be integrated with front-end (user interface) applications created with Windows-based tools such as Visual Basic. It also provides for OLE/COM distribution-hence the name Distributed OLE for Windows. With OpenStep for Windows, the entire application, including the user interface portion is portable across all OpenStep implementations. NeXT's Professional Services-Delivering Real World Solutions What is the goal of the OE program? The goal of the Object Expert program is to: "Ensure that our customers are successfully adopting our technology to solve their business problems." As it turns out, to achieve this goal we must provide guidance in architecture, design, analysis, and development. We also try to mentor our customers such that they can do the same for themselves (technology transfer). What are the statistics on getting to prototype? deployment? This is highly dependent on the scope of the application. For the average system, you can expect 3 months to prototype/pilot and about 9 months of development. But all of this is variable and depends on the complexity of the application, the methodology taken by the customer, and the existing skillset of the development organization. What was the progress made in the first year of the OE program ? First year of the OE program: - Staffed from zero to 21 high quality NS engineers. - Grew from zero to 15 customers. NeXT Computer, Inc. NeXT develops and markets OpenStep and WebObjects for building mission critical object-oriented custom applications for deployment across popular operating systems and the World Wide Web. OpenStep is the first volume object standard for developing and deploying cross-platform three-tier client/server applications. And WebObjects is NeXT's revolutionary database independent development environment for quickly building interactive Web-based applications. NeXT is headquartered in Redwood City, California Redwood City is a suburb located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Redwood City is the county seat of San Mateo County. As of the 2005 census, the city had a total population of 76,000. , and has offices in North America, London, Paris, Munich, and Tokyo. For more information please visit NeXT's web site at http://www.next.com. -0- Note to Editors: NeXT, the NeXT logo, OpenStep, WebObjects, and NEXTSTEP are trademarks or registered trademarks of NeXT Computer, Inc. OLE is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners. CONTACT: NeXT Computer, Inc. Kindle A portable e-book device from Amazon.com that provides wireless connectivity to Amazon for e-book downloads as well as Wikipedia and search engines. Using Sprint's EV-DO cellphone network, dubbed WhisperNet, wireless access is free. It also includes a built-in dictionary. DiGiusto, 415/780-3781 Copithorne & Bellows Charlotte Penner, 415/975-2280 |
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