Microsoft signs three year deal with ActiveState

Microsoft Corporation signed a three-year deal this week with ActiveStateTool Corp, makers of the Perl implementation for Windows 9x and NT, tocontinue Perl development on Windows. Perl is a popular Web scriptinglanguage on UNIX-based computers, though it has been largely surpassed onthe Windows platform by Microsoft's own Active Server Pages, making thisagreement rather interesting. Under terms of the agreement, ActiveState willport those Perl features that are missing on Windows over to the Microsoftplatform and implement Unicode support. A beta version of this work will bereleased this summer.

"We are very pleased to continue this relationship with Microsoft," saidDick Hardt, CEO of ActiveState. "It's further recognition that ActiveStateis the technical leader in the Perl arena and the premier supplier ofprofessional Perl tools and services."

Perhaps. But that doesn't explain why Microsoft would be interested in atechnology that is largely irrelevant on Windows, other than as a way toallow UNIX developers to more easily make the transition to Windows.According to an ActiveState FAQ, "Microsoft knows Perl is an important toolfor their customers. They know this first hand as they are a heavy user ofPerl internally. They want Perl to work well on the Windows platforms andtake advantage of platform features on Windows."

Very peculiar indeed