REALbasic to Support Cocoa, Apple's Framework for Mac OS X Software Development, in 2009

AUSTIN, Texas, USA (August 12, 2008) — REAL Software, provider of REALbasic and REAL SQL Server, cross-platform software development tools for Mac, Windows and Linux developers, has announced that REALbasic will support Cocoa, Apple's framework for Mac OS X software development. As they announced at REAL World, the REAL Software User Conference, REAL Software has engineering resources devoted solely to Cocoa development. Cocoa support will be in beta in the first quarter of 2009 and will begin shipping mid-2009.

"We put a lot of effort into keeping REALbasic a modern product," stated Geoff Perlman, Founder and CEO of REAL Software. "Carbon was great technology for the switch from Classic Mac OS to Mac OS X. Now it's important for us to lay the foundation for our future on the Mac and that is Cocoa."

Most REALbasic users will get the benefits of this modernization without having to make changes to their projects. Current REALbasic projects should recompile without any problems. Users will not need to learn the Cocoa APIs - they will continue to use the same REALbasic language they use today. REALbasic plugins that have no user interface should work without any modification. Plugins that have a user interface will need to be rewritten in Objective-C using the Cocoa APIs.

With support for Cocoa will also come a number of new features including editfields that support spell-checking, however applications built with this first release of Cocoa will still have the same User Interface as applications have today, but will be built with the Cocoa framework. Future releases will include more Cocoa specific features, but users can access those framework-specific features, like Core Animation, with this first release via Declares.

More information about this will be available in Q1 2009, when Cocoa is in beta. To join the REALbasic Beta Program, please visit the REAL Software Feedback System: http://www.realsoftware.com/feedback/.

About REALbasic

REALbasic is a full-featured software development environment suited to creating a wide range of applications, from utilities to enterprise-class applications. REALbasic Personal (formerly Standard) Edition for Windows or Mac is priced at $100. REALbasic for Linux Personal Edition is offered for free. REALbasic Professional Edition, required for cross-platform deployment, is $500. All versions of REALbasic are available now and can be downloaded directly from REAL Software at www.realsoftware.com/download.

About REAL Software

REAL Software provides REALbasic and REAL SQL Server, for developers who want to create and deliver cross-platform software for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. REAL Software was founded in 1996 and is based in Austin, Texas. For more information visit www.realsoftware.com or call 512.328.7325.

©2008 REAL Software, Incorporated. REAL Software, REALbasic and the REAL Software cube logo are registered trademarks of REAL Software, Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders in the United States and other countries.