Microsoft Visual Studio.NET out in 30 days: Gates

PRAGUE: Microsoft, the world's leading software maker, is preparing to launch

a new Web applications platform called Visual Studio.NET early next year,

chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates said on Wednesday.

"The product is in its final stages and will be officially released

within the next 30 days," Gates said at a Microsoft forum for software

developers held in Prague. The company's Web site says the product will be

launched February 13 in San Francisco. Microsoft is hoping its new platform,

open for other software firms, will bring businesses huge time and cost savings.

Gates said the long-awaited tablet PC, aimed mainly at business clients,

would enter the market in the second half of next year. Microsoft is developing

it with Acer, Compaq and Toshiba and other firms. The tablet-style computer will

let users jot notes and diagrams as if drawing on paper.