Windows NT developers will soon be able to Purify their development code, when Los Altos, California-based Pure Software Inc launches the NT version of its Purify run-time error detection software. Purify uses object code insertion technology, developed and patented by Pure Software founder, president and chief executive Reed Hastings. The technology enables Purify to be inserted into an application, where it looks at the object code as it runs the application. It can then identify run-time memory errors, and tell the developer exactly where the error has occurred. Purify does not need the source code of a program, unlike competing error-checking technologies such as Malloc wrappers. This enables developers to identify errors in third party software, for which they may not have the source code, as well as in their own code. Pure Software said run-time memory errors account for a large percentage of program crashes, and are both very damaging, and very difficult to identify. It believes it set the standard for run-time error detection in the Unix world when it launched Purify in 1992. The company said the word Purify has now entered developers’ vernacular, with departments not accepting code unless it has been ‘Purified’. It is now hoping to do the same for Windows NT developers, and says it is in talks with Microsoft Corp to help promote the software in the Windows world. It does have competitors already in this market, but said that none runs the thorough checking at object code level that Purify does. Beta copies for NT will be available next week, and the product is due to ship next quarter. The UK list price will be #1,020 per user, but Pure said there will be a promotional discount of up to 40% when the product is launched and volume deals will also be available. The company says a Windows95 version should be ready in six to nine months, and NT versions of all of its software, including Quantify and PureVision, will follow.
