Mainsoft Corp says version 1.2 of its MainWin Windows-on-Unix application programming interface, due this month, will be the first major release of its software to benefit from complete access to the Windows source code. The MainWin Cross Development Kit converts applications developed with Visual C++ and the Microsoft Foundation Class libraries, to run under Unix. It boasts increased functionality for the Microsoft Help Engine and 32-bit Microsoft Foundation Classes. The Sunnyvale, California company has a licence agreement with Microsoft Corp enabling it to use Windows source code in its Mainwin Cross-Development kit (CI No 2,386). Only Insignia Solutions Inc, Locus Computing Corp and Bristol Technology Inc have the same access. Mainsoft says the new release enables developers to extend code onto Unix by copying personal computer help files to Unix. The Help Engine plays the file and the MainWin library supports the help application programming interfaces used by the source code to link the application with the corresponding section in the help file. Microsoft Foundation Class 3.0, also part of the Mainsoft licence, is a C++ class library and part of Microsoft Visual C++ 2.0. Microsoft Foundation Class 3.0, excluding Open Database Connectivity, Winsock and Object Linking & Embedding classes has been converted to Unix, and Mainsoft claims that apart from modifications needed because of differences between Microsoft and Unix compilers, its code runs up to 80,000 lines of C++ code unmodified. MainSoft has got London-based Personal Workstation Software Ltd, a former XVT shop, to distribute MainWin in the UK. MainWin is now up under Solaris, SunOS, HP-UX, Irix, Digital Unix and AIX.
