Omnis Studio 3.3 is now available to supported developers, while the full product CD will become available in April. This version builds on the many enhancements added to the product to increase web and database connectivity. Omnis Studio 3.3 provides a stable and cost-effective environment with which to build multi-tier and web applications for all popular platforms and database systems.

Specifically, Omnis Studio 3.3 provides a solution to the Mac OS X byte range locking issue (experienced with previous versions of Omnis Studio 3 running on Mac OS X servers), a number of enhancements for DAMs, as well as a number of smaller enhancements and fixes. The 'Omnis Data Bridge' allows Windows and Mac OS 8.6/9 clients to access an Omnis data file located on a Mac OS X file server; this is available to Studio 3.3 supported developers only. In addition, there is a new direct Sybase DAM on the Mac OS X platform, plus there's a new method $fetchinto that allows the conversion of the Fetch next row command to the new multi-threaded DAMs.

Please contact your local sales representative if you want to upgrade to Studio 3.3 or to get more information. In the meantime, you can download an evaluation version of Studio 3.3 from here.

By Mark Phillips, Omnis Product Manager
The North American Omnis Conference, AmerOmnis by name, concluded on March 19 and was by all accounts a great success. The venue, service and accommodations were excellent. Following in the European tradition, the conference was convivial, technically intense and virtually free of sales pitches. It was a great compliment to have some of the most active and technically astute developers in the Americas involved, not to mention several from Europe and Southeast Asia. There were many new faces, including some Pick developers, not to mention a few old ones who are new to the AmerOmnis conference.

A seasoned developer wrote to the Omnis List "The sessions were very good and the presenters were all very enthusiastic in their presentation." Sessions covered SQL, Omnis 7 to Omnis Studio conversion, externals and components; all were presented by developers active in the trade. IBM, Frontbase and Openbase offered interesting and useful sessions, taking full advantage of the opportunity to meet the developers. David Swain's Omnis Studio 101 track was well attended and continues as a perennial favorite. Computer Dynamics gave fascinating sessions on the use of XML, Web Services and .NET, successfully presenting complex topics in a simple manner. The web deployment sessions offered by Fred Haislmaier and Caroline Wilkins, Phd., stimulated a lot of discussion in the halls about internet based applications.

The conference organizers continue to improve the conferences, and this one is no exception. This year added a session on business practices first presented at the OzOmnis conference. David Ferri and David Lewis offered a great deal of information about the software business. In addition, new sessions such as Dan Rittinger's "Transaction Modeling" session and a session on application modeling using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) offered Omnis developers a look at system design techniques.

Gwyneth Gibbs, VP of European Operations for Raining Data, presented the overview of the Omnis Studio product and Raining Data. The preview of Omnis Studio v4 was very well received. In particular, demonstrations of the new browser interface, custom folders for code segments and enhanced support for non-visual Java classes were met with applause and enthusiasm. The SAP initiative announced at CeBIT was mentioned in the presentation, and generated many positive comments.