Poet Software Corp thinks it holds the key to turning Visual Basic and Java into development tools for object-oriented applications on the front end, while on the back end it works on a scheme to turn any ODBC Open Database Connectivity-compliant database into an object repository. The company’s claims revolve around a new version of its Poet 4.0 object database management system, which re-emerges this week at the heart of a Poet Universal Object Family suite of database development tools. These tools will include both Visual Basic and Java software development kits, either of which is supposed to make it easier for programmers to use object-oriented technology without wrestling with the intricacies of C++. While it makes that announcement, it’s also quietly going into beta test with what will be Sequel Object Factory, a Poet 4.0 plug-in that maps object models to a relational database and retrieves data from an SQL database and turns it into an object. Poet president and chief executive officer Dirk Bartels told ClieNT Server News that the end result is that any SQL database can store object data. Initially Object Factory, which will be publicly unveiled sometime during the first quarter of 1997, will run only on NT. Unix versions will follow – if there is market demand. With about 80% of Poet’s revenues and 90% of its unit volume now coming from NT sales, Unix versions have been put on the back burner. Bartels said his San Mateo, California company has both ODBC and DB2 Object Factory drivers ready to test, with Oracle Corp drivers still in alpha test. The first pieces of Poet’s new family to hit the market will be the $500 Visual Basic SDK Software Development Kit and $1,000 Universal Object Server, an upgrade to Poet 4.0 whose main features are a new architecture that enables it to work with multiple data stores at the same time and OLE Object Linking Environment support so it can work with Visual Basic. The Object Server runs on NT, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Irix and SCO OpenServer. An upgrade to Poet’s current C++ toolkit is due in January at $500, along with a $140 Client Access Package that is currently being rewritten. The $500 Java kit will hit the market in the second quarter. It is supposed to support loose binding access to Poet databases using the Java object model. Still in development is a rewrite of the Poet client into Java, which will enable tight binding of Java applications.
