By Clifford Colby
Oracle Corp. said it will ship by the end of the month the next Mac version of its Developer/2000 client-server development kit. The company, however, continued to back away from previous commitments to fold OpenDoc into its tools.
The Developer/2000 suite lets users create forms, reports, charts and diagrams. Oracle said the update, Version 1.2.1, will for the first time let developers deploy their applications on 680x0 Macs, although development will be possible only on Power Macs. Since the initial version, users could develop and deploy only on Power Macs. Oracle said the update will improve performance and memory management.
Looking ahead, Oracle said it will release in mid-1997 Version 2.0 of Developer/2000, which will gain the ability to deploy applications on the Web. However, the company said it has rethought its commitment to deliver OpenDoc tools for the Mac. The company previously stated it would include OpenDoc capabilities in Developer/2000 early in 1996 (see 06.05.95, Page 18).
"I wouldn't count it out, but the demand from our developers for OpenDoc is not there at this time," said Steve Ehrlich, director of tools product marketing for Oracle. "Unless that changes, we are not going to invest in it."
Oracle earlier this summer retreated from its promise to fold OpenDoc into the next release of its Power Objects application development tool (see 06.17.96, Page 8). Version 2.0 of Power Objects for the Mac is slated to enter beta shortly and ship by the end of the year. The upcoming version will be the first to run native on Power Macs; Oracle initially promised to release a Power Mac version of Power Objects by the end of 1995.
Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif., is at (415) 506-7000 or (800) 672-2531; fax (415) 506-7200; http://www.oracle.com.
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