REAL Software Inc. has announced plans to support Linux with its release of REALbasic 5.5, the forthcoming upgrade to its development environment that’s already available for Mac and Windows.
REALbasic already includes a Visual Basic Project Converter which helps ease the transition of code from Visual Basic to REALbasic. That software will work on Linux as well, according to the company. REALbasic 5.5 Professional will be able to cross-compile to Linux the same way as how it works now for Mac and Windows. The company noted that some platform-specific controls, like QuickTime, will not be supported, though the “complete REALbasic language” will be provided for Linux users.
REAL Software president and CEO calls the decision to support Linux “an evolutionary step” that came about as a result of the work his company did with REALbasic 5’s release. “Our vision for REALbasic has always been to help people create software more easily, regardless of their computing platform,” said Perlman.
The new version of REALbasic 5.5 is anticipated for release in the first quarter of 2004. REAL Software also plans to offer a beta test program that will be open to all users; that program is planned for Q4 2003.