Mac catches Vibe for new Java tools
Visix Software Inc. this month rolled out its Java application development tool for the Macintosh.
The company is now shipping Vibe Enterprise, a $1,995 high-end Java development environment. The product is also available for Windows 95 and NT, Solaris, AIX, Linux, HP-UX, OS/2, and Irix platforms.
Product Manager Skip Sauls said Vibe Enterprise is not targeted at users of Symantec Corp.'s Visual Cafe or at Webmasters seeking to add Java to their Web sites. Rather, Saul said, it is designed for traditional programmers who want to use Java to build large applications.
Vibe Enterprise includes an integrated development environment, Vibe DE, as well as classes from Visix's Galaxy C++ development tool. The package also comes with a debugger, a compiler, editing tools and interface-construction tools, Visix said.
The company also sells Vibe DE separately for $299; that product competes more directly with Symantec's Visual Cafe and Roaster Technologies Inc.'s Roaster, Sauls said.
The included Vibe "runners," Visix's own Java virtual machine, are required to run applications developed with Vibe; users can distribute its runners freely. The software is based on Version 1.0.2 of the Java Development Kit from Sun Microsystems Inc.
Developers can build Java-based database and business applications using Vibe, Visix said. The software can connect to databases that are compliant with the Open Database Connectivity specification, and the package includes a graphical query builder and classes for forms and fields.
"Instead of having to deal with messy SQL code, it's all highly visual," Sauls said. He said Mac developers can use Vibe to provide access to databases developed in Microsoft Access, which does not run on the Mac.
Visix said the product is specifically designed so that developers can create an application on one platform and deploy it on multiple platforms. In addition, Visix said it will release Vibe Net, which will provide CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) services, later this year.
Visix Software Inc. of Reston, Va., can be reached at (703) 758-8230 or (800) 832-8668; fax (703) 758-0233; http://www.visix.com.