Microsoft Corp has finally decided to license its Visual Basic for Applications development tool now that it says it can guarantee version 5.0 will be a more stable technology than previous cuts. Microsoft admits it had a difficult time putting VBA in its own products, such as Excel, but said version 5.0 will be more stable and offer ISVs a full development environment instead of just a coding language. VBA is a programming tool that software companies can embed in their applications to make it easier for developers to customize applications and better integrate with Microsoft’s own applications. It wouldn’t say whether 5.0 will have completely compiled code as was expected, but promised applications with VBA will be able to host ActiveX controls. Had Microsoft licensed VBA 18 months ago, it might have warded off rival technologies such as Borland’s Delphi, Oracle’s PowerObjects and IBM’s now-in-beta VisualAge for Basic. Seven software companies have licensed VBA 5.0 so far – Adobe Systems Inc, Autodesk Inc, Micrografx Inc, NetManage Inc, Rockwell Software, Sagent Technology Inc, SAP AG and Visio Corp. VBA 5.0 will be included in new versions of Microsoft Office and Visual Basic. Before Microsoft’s decision to license VBA, about 100 companies went to Mystic River Software Inc and Summit Software Co for their VBA clone technology. Microsoft has struck a deal in which the two will license the software and provide technical support. Mystic River, which licenses its Softbridge Basic Language (SBL) technology to companies such as Business Objects, Cognos and Borland, says it will still have a market for SBL because many ISVs use Unix and OS/2, which VBA doesn’t support. It’s expected to build new products in conjunction with its new licensees.
