Expersoft Corp is planning to build Object Linking & Embedding E 2.0 support into its XShell distributed object management system, creating a program that it says will be able to link OLE 2.0 and the Object Management Group’s Common Object Request Broker Architecture. XShell now is fully Common Object Request Broker Architecture-compliant. The San Diego, California-based company said its goals specifically include linking NT and Unix workstations and applications. Target date for general release of the Object Linking & Embedding/Common Object Request Broker Architecture version of XShell is not until the third quarter of next year, with beta releases going out to select customers sometime before that. Expersoft said it is working on a routine for the new version of XShell that will automatically generate OLE 2.0 interfaces for objects defined in the Common Object Request Broker Architecture Interface Definition Language. It will generate Object Linking and Embedding custom controls which activate remote network services under Common Object Request Broker Architecture. The new software, to be called XShell/OLE, will map between its own multiple inheritance mechanism and Object Linking & Embedding’s interface aggregation model, automatically transforming Object Linking & Embedding method invocations into Common Object Request Broker Architecture-compliant XShell object requests, the company said. The whole issue of OLE 2.0 and Common Object Request Broker Architecture compatibility has been thorny and somewhat controversial, with Microsoft Corp insisting that together with Digital Equipment Corp it is building semi-compliance with Common Object Request Broker Architecture but citing basic architectural differences that it insists prevent full Common Object Request Broker Architecture compatibility. And earlier this nonth, Microsoft executives also repeated earlier explanations about not making changes to OLE 2.0 just to satisfy Common Object Request Broker Architecture specifications, saying that such a move would trigger the wrath of the few developers that have already begun working on OLE 2.0 programs.
