By James E. Powell
Microsoft to Internet fans: The future is 32-bit, period. If you
want animation, 3-D virtual reality, video and multimedia content,
it's time to upgrade to Windows 95 or NT.
The company's new ActiveX technology lets developers integrate
Internet functionality into all their applications. (In case you're
wondering, ActiveX controls are essentially what used to be the
OLE controls in Visual Basic scripting and OCXes.)
The specs call for progressive rendering and reduced size and
should work with Java. Microsoft says ActiveX controls help developers
add financial transaction objects or spreadsheet applets into
HTML pages, or call the Active-Movie API for audio-video file
playback.
At the same time, Microsoft released a beta version of its Internet
Control Pack, a set of ActiveX controls that works with Access
and its "Visual" tools, as well as third-party tools
such as Borland's Delphi. The controls have a wide reach, providing
support for ftp and e-mail via SMTP/POP3, plus a full-featured
Web browser and an interface to the Winsock API. More than 100
firms have already pledged to develop content, applications and
tools based on ActiveX.
Of course, Microsoft is touting Internet Explorer 3.0 to view
those releases. But that's not the only option: NCompass Labs
of Vancouver is working on a Netscape add-in that will work with
ActiveX.
Still, the real key to ActiveX's success may be its application
to intra-nets, now gaining steam as the cost-effective way to
build networked apps. Users can also work within browsers to view
spreadsheets or make database queries that are part of the ActiveX
Documents technology.