Ask Group Inc, Mountain View, California has come out with a new generation of application development tools and services under the banner name Ask OpenRoad – for Open Rapid Object Application Development. The company claims that the system enables developers to achieve as much as a 10-fold productivity improvement over current methods. First of the new OpenRoad products and services will include release 3.0 of the Ask Windows4GL graphical application development tool, a next-generation model-based code generator and services consisting of a development methodology and consulting packages for rapid implementation. Ask OpenRoad supports Windows 3.1 and Windows NT, Apple Computer Inc’s Macintosh, OS/2, Unix and Digital Equipment Corp’s OpenVMS; relational databases including Ask Ingres, Oracle, Sybase, DB2 and Rdb and hierarchical databases including IMS and Hewlett-Packard Co’s Allbase, and the iAPX-86, Sparc, Power RISC, Precision Architecture, Alpha and 68000 and 88000 microprocessors. Transaction processing monitors supported include Tuxedo; and third party tools and languages are supported. Ask OpenRoad is based on an object-oriented architecture that provides developers with the ability to create class libraries in an object-oriented proprietary language and do it during development or in run-time mode without the need to exit to a high-level language to obtain desired functionality, the company claims. Ask Windows4GL 3.0 and a new model-based code generator will be available within six to nine months, as will the new services offerings, Ask says. Pricing details and configuration options will be announced within 90 days. Our intent is to provide the best tools in the industry for all database systems, Stephen Weyl, president of the Ask Group’s development tools unit said at the launch. And chief executive Pier Carlo Falotti said the company’s strategy is to promote freedom of choice for users who more and more are using a variety of tools and networks and are seeking adaptability. They do not have to buy the entire line, and could add just one OpenRoad product to their development suite.
