Microsoft Ships Visual J# .Net On Schedule

Microsoft

Key features of Visual J# .Net include integration with Visual Studio .Net, Microsoft's toolset to develop applications on .Net, as well as integration with the ..net framework, according to the company. The tool also allows developers to automatically upgrade existing Visual J++ 6.0 projects to Visual Studio .Net format.

As previously reported by CRN, Microsoft slated the tool for release in the second half of 2002.

The tool is available free to existing Visual Studio .Net customers chere and to Microsoft Developer Network subscribers here.

Solution providers have said that Visual J# .Net not only will help Java developers migrate to .Net, but will give them support for both platforms.

Observers have said that Web services will be built either on .Net and Java, particularly the J2EE platform in conjunction with XML. Solution providers said most of their customers will have some elements of both platforms in their IT infrastructure, which makes using XML to facilitate interoperability between them crucial.

Sun Microsystems and other vendors supporting J2EE are undertaking efforts of their own to make it easier for Microsoft developers to migrate to Java. Currently, the Java Community Process (JCP), a panel of vendors overseen by Sun to direct Java standards, is working on several specifications to change the Java language to make it easier for application developers to use Java, Rob Gingell, the Sun executive who oversees the JCP, recently told CRN.

The JCP also recently finalized several Java APIs for XML to support XML processing, remote procedure calls, registries and messaging in Java-based Web services, said Gingell.

BEA Systems, a leading J2EE application infrastructure vendor, also recently made available its WebLogic Workshop J2EE runtime and development environment, which makes it easier for Microsoft Visual Basic developers to build J2EE-based Web services.