If you're interested in a new commercial-grade Web application server product which includes a commercial license of MySQL 4 embedded, please read on. We're excited to provide a version of Lasso with MySQL 4 built-in. This yields superior performance and provides tighter security and easier installation and maintenance. Thanks in advance for your interest.
Enjoy!
Bill
--------------------------------- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 9, 2003
BLUE WORLD ANNOUNCES LASSO PROFESSIONAL 7
Support for embedded MySQL, Unicode, SOAP, image manipulation, data caching, and more to position Lasso Professional 7 as a leading Web application server.
Bellevue, WA--September 9, 2003--Blue World Communications, Inc.--pioneers of the Web Data Engine(tm)--today announced Lasso Professional 7, a significant upgrade to its award-winning Web application server product for building and serving data-driven Web sites. Lasso Professional 7 introduces support for various industry standards while maintaining the ease-of-use and robust security that have won Lasso the support of thousands of Web developers worldwide.
"Lasso Professional 7 provides Web application developers a tool specifically designed to meet their most demanding needs without compromising ease-of-use, offering unprecedented productivity and flexibility," said Bill Doerrfeld, CEO of Blue World. "Compliance with the latest industry standards positions Lasso Professional 7 at the forefront within the rapidly evolving Web application server tool arena."
Lasso Professional 7 New Features
Lasso Professional 7 (LP7) provides all of the features expected in an advanced Web application server, including the following new features:
Embedded MySQL 4 Database Server - Includes a full commercial license of the MySQL database server embedded into the Lasso Server application. The embedded Lasso MySQL database server provides numerous advantages to the Lasso MySQL database provided in LP6 including greater performance, support for transactions, tighter security, and easier installation and maintenance.
Internationalization and Localization - LP7 is now Unicode compliant, supporting hundreds of languages and character sets. Numbers, dates, and currencies can now be represented in localized formats.
Dramatically Enhanced Performance - New byte-code compiler, algorithms and architecture provide vastly improved performance. LP7 outperforms virtually all other middleware products, in many cases by wide margins.
SOAP/WSDL/XML Support - Facilitates communication with Web services via XML-based standards for data exchange. Supports SOAP calls so Lasso can be a Web services host. New XML implementation provides dramatic performance increase for both large and small documents while operating within a smaller memory footprint.
Image Manipulation - Get information about images, resize images on the fly, create thumbnails, create watermarked images, or convert images from one format to another automatically.
Apache 2 Web Server Support - Supports Apache 2 on Mac OS X (in addition to Apache 1.x) and Red Hat Linux.
Caching for Enhanced Performance - Performance when communicating with slower databases can be dramatically enhanced through easy-to-use caching tags. Allows data served from databases such as FileMaker Pro to be served at speeds rivaling data served from MySQL databases.
Enhanced and Simplified PDF Tags - Existing PDFs are now editable. PDF tags have been streamlined and take advantage of new features provided in an updated iText library. Now its easy to add dynamic content to existing PDF-based templates.
Enhanced Database Communication - Programmatically control data source connections and transaction support via enhanced inline functionality. Ensures appropriate submission of data via Commit and Rollback routines. Manipulate database results as an array of returned records.
Enhanced File Manipulation - Simplifies file manipulation with files now treated as objects. Provides enhanced performance for repeated access to the same file.
Enhanced Network Communications - Simplifies network communications with network elements now treated as objects. Provides TCP and UDP support, listeners, and persistent connections. SSL support allows secure communications.
Multi-Server Support - Facilitates load balancing and clustering by allowing multiple LP7 servers to share session data.
LassoApp Maintenance - Lists open LassoApps within Lasso Administration for easier maintenance.
Lasso Administration Enhancements - Streamlined interface focuses on administration tasks (e.g. Setup, Utility, Support) and provides new sections for controlling LassoApps and caching control settings.
Remote Installation Support - Facilitates remote installation via the command line on Mac OS X.
Lasso Security Enhancements - Can now check authorization against specific usernames and groups or against a custom username and password.
LCAPI - New LCAPI calls support Unicode strings providing enhanced performance and internationalization support.
Macintosh Support - Supports both Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. Compiled using GCC 3.3 with optimized support for the PowerPC G5 processor in addition to providing support for existing G3/G4 processors.
Backwards Compatibility - All LP6 compatible solutions will run in LP7 without modification. The installer instantly upgrades LP6 servers to LP7 with all settings intact.
Enhanced Installer - Enhanced installer now automatically configures more Web servers on Mac OS X (e.g. Apache 2, Apache 1.3 and WebSTAR V) and no longer requires IIS to be running on Windows.
Enhanced Error Reporting - More informative error reports provide information about included files. Tag and page parameters are now reported. Multiple parsing errors are reported at once.
Open Source - New open source components include Lasso Connector for Apache 2 and all new built-in LDML-based custom tags (e.g. caching, validation, security, and link tags).
Platform, Database and Web Server Support
Lasso Professional 7 supports Mac OS X 10.2 and 10.3 running Apache 1.3, Apache 2 or WebSTAR V. LP7 also supports Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000 running Internet Information Services versions 5 or 6. Support for Red Hat Linux 9 with Apache 2 will be made available soon after the initial release for Macintosh and Windows.
Beta Testing
Lasso Professional 7 is currently undergoing extensive testing by Blue World and members of the Lasso Partner Alliance. Parties interested in receiving early access to Lasso Professional 7 are strongly encouraged to join the Lasso Partner Alliance. Details are available at http://www.LassoPartner.com.
Availability and Pricing
Lasso Professional 7 is scheduled for release in October, 2003 at $999 for the electronic download edition. Registered customers who own a license of Lasso Professional 6, Lasso Professional 5 Standard Edition or Lasso Web Data Engine 3.x may upgrade to Lasso Professional 7 for $399, $499 and $599 respectively. New and upgrade sales of Lasso Professional 7 will commence upon the product's release.
Free Upgrades
Customers who purchase a new or upgrade version of Lasso Professional 6 between September 9, 2003 and the release of Lasso Professional 7 will receive a free upgrade to Lasso Professional 7. Qualified customers may request their free upgrades via the Blue World Store upon the release of Lasso Professional 7. Customers who upgrade from Lasso Professional 5 to Lasso Professional 6 will save $100 by upgrading prior to the release of Lasso Professional 7. Lasso Professional 6 will no longer be sold upon the release of Lasso Professional 7.
About Blue World
Blue World Communications delivers cross-platform software tools allowing Web developers and designers to quickly build and serve powerful data-driven Web sites. Blue World provides Lasso Professional, Lasso Studio and the Blue World ListSearch service in fulfillment of its mission to bring business to the Internet(tm).
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(c) Blue World Communications, Inc. Lasso, Lasso Studio, Lasso Professional, Web Data Engine, ListSearch, Blue World Store, bring business to the Internet, and Blue World Communications are trademarks of Blue World Communications, Inc. Other company names, brand names and product names may be trademarks of their respective holders.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Doerrfeld [EMAIL PROTECTED] Blue World Communications, Inc. http://www.blueworld.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Build and serve powerful data-driven Web sites with Lasso Studio and Lasso Professional.
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