Why is Fujitsu investing in providing COBOL integration for the Microsoft .NET Platform?
The Microsoft .NET Platform provides programmers with exciting new technologies for development of powerful Web applications. Fujitsu is committed to providing COBOL developers with powerful tools to move their legacy applications forward.

From the corporate perspective, Fujitsu has a high-level, global relationship with Microsoft. With Microsoft's new infrastructure, we can provide a state-of-the-art development environment and set of tools for COBOL programmers.

Why is Fujitsu the first COBOL vendor to announce support for the Microsoft .NET Platform?
Supporting the Microsoft .NET Platform is not a simple effort. We have one of the largest, if not the largest, development teams in the world devoted to COBOL compilers and associated tools. This, together with our relationship with Microsoft, puts us in a leading position.

How should COBOL application writers prepare themselves for building applications using the Microsoft .NET Platform?
If they are not already using Fujitsu COBOL they should move to that environment now. That way they will be familiar with our development tools and be sure that they are not using vendor-specific extensions to the COBOL language that will cause problems in the Microsoft .NET environment.

When will COBOL support for the Microsoft .NET Platform be released?
You should expect the release of the new support to be at approximately the same time as the release of the Microsoft .NET Platform and Visual Studio development tools.

When will more details about the Microsoft .NET Platform and Fujitsu's support be available?
Microsoft is scheduled to release more detailed information beginning with the Professional Developers Conference (PDC 2000) to be held in Orlando, Florida from July 11-14, 2000. Details of Fujitsu's support are also scheduled to be provided at that time. Fujitsu Software intends to hold a session at PDC 2000 describing the new support and will also be represented on the exhibitors' floor.

Will a Japanese or English version be released first?
Both the Japanese and English markets are important to us. You should not see significant differences in the timing of our releases of English and Japanese products.