<s>
The	O
Object	B-Language
Windows	I-Language
Library	I-Language
(	O
OWL	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
C++	B-Language
object-oriented	O
application	B-Application
framework	I-Application
designed	O
to	O
simplify	O
desktop	O
application	O
development	O
for	O
Windows	O
and	O
(	O
some	O
releases	O
)	O
OS/2	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
OWL	O
was	O
introduced	O
by	O
Borland	O
in	O
1991	O
and	O
eventually	O
deprecated	O
in	O
1997	O
in	O
favor	O
of	O
their	O
Visual	B-Library
Component	I-Library
Library	I-Library
(	O
VCL	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
primary	O
competitor	O
was	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Language
Foundation	I-Language
Class	I-Language
Library	I-Language
(	O
MFC	B-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OWLNext	O
,	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
project	O
driven	O
by	O
the	O
OWL	O
user	O
community	O
,	O
has	O
continued	O
the	O
maintenance	O
of	O
OWL	O
,	O
ensuring	O
that	O
the	O
library	O
and	O
applications	O
that	O
use	O
it	O
work	O
with	O
the	O
latest	O
version	O
of	O
Windows	O
and	O
modern	O
C++	B-Language
compilers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
early	O
1990s	O
,	O
Borland	O
dominated	O
the	O
C++	B-Language
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1991	O
,	O
Borland	O
introduced	O
Borland	B-Application
C++	I-Application
3.0	O
which	O
included	O
OWL	O
1.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
that	O
time	O
,	O
C++	B-Language
was	O
just	O
beginning	O
to	O
replace	O
C	B-Language
for	O
development	O
of	O
commercial	O
software	O
,	O
driven	O
by	O
the	O
rising	O
of	O
the	O
Windows	O
platform	O
and	O
the	O
rapid	O
adoption	O
of	O
object-oriented	B-Application
design	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1992	O
,	O
Microsoft	O
introduced	O
MFC	B-Language
as	O
part	O
of	O
Microsoft	O
C++	B-Language
7.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
similar	O
C++	B-Language
application	B-Application
framework	I-Application
for	O
Windows	O
,	O
MFC	B-Language
immediately	O
became	O
OWL	O
's	O
primary	O
competitor	O
in	O
the	O
C++	B-Language
application	O
development	O
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OWL	O
1.0	O
depended	O
on	O
Dynamic	O
Dispatch	O
Virtual	O
Tables	O
(	O
DDVT	O
)	O
,	O
a	O
proprietary	B-Application
extension	O
to	O
C++	B-Language
that	O
allowed	O
the	O
programmer	O
to	O
bind	O
Windows	O
messages	O
(	O
events	O
)	O
to	O
functions	O
(	O
event	O
handlers	O
)	O
in	O
a	O
simple	O
manner	O
and	O
with	O
little	O
run-time	O
overhead	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MFC	B-Language
,	O
on	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
,	O
used	O
a	O
solution	O
that	O
did	O
not	O
require	O
a	O
language	O
extension	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1993	O
,	O
Borland	O
launched	O
Borland	B-Application
C++	I-Application
4.0	O
which	O
included	O
OWL	O
2.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
version	O
of	O
OWL	O
,	O
the	O
proprietary	B-Application
DDVT	O
extension	O
was	O
replaced	O
by	O
response	O
tables	O
,	O
a	O
macro-based	O
solution	O
compatible	O
with	O
standard	O
C++	B-Language
and	O
similar	O
to	O
MFC	B-Language
in	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
April	O
1993	O
,	O
Borland	O
and	O
Novell	O
settled	O
an	O
agreement	O
to	O
port	O
OWL	O
to	O
Novell	B-Application
AppWare	I-Application
Foundation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AppWare	B-Application
Foundation	O
was	O
an	O
API	O
designed	O
by	O
Novell	O
to	O
be	O
cross-platform	B-Operating_System
,	O
allowing	O
the	O
deployment	O
of	O
applications	O
on	O
Mac	O
,	O
Windows	O
and	O
Unix	O
clients	O
and	O
with	O
several	O
network	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
tools	O
for	O
developing	O
in	O
AppWare	B-Application
were	O
OWL	O
and	O
AppBuilder	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Novell	O
expansion	O
plans	O
were	O
reconsidered	O
,	O
AppWare	B-Application
development	O
was	O
stopped	O
and	O
so	O
was	O
OWL	O
for	O
AppWare	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
same	O
year	O
,	O
Software	O
UNO	O
offered	O
a	O
commercial	O
port	O
for	O
OWL	O
2.0	O
to	O
several	O
platforms	O
:	O
AIX	O
3.2.5	O
,	O
DEC	B-Operating_System
OSF/1	I-Operating_System
AXP	I-Operating_System
,	O
HP-UX	B-Application
9.03	O
,	O
Linux	O
1.2	O
,	O
Solaris	O
2.x	O
,	O
Sun	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
4.1.x	O
,	O
and	O
SVR4	O
for	O
x86	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1995	O
,	O
Borland	B-Application
C++	I-Application
4.5	O
with	O
OWL	O
2.5	O
was	O
released	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
it	O
was	O
released	O
before	O
Windows	B-Application
95	I-Application
,	O
Borland	O
promised	O
a	O
free	O
upgrade	O
for	O
any	O
incompatibility	O
present	O
in	O
the	O
final	O
Windows	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
August	O
1995	O
,	O
Microsoft	O
launched	O
Windows	B-Application
95	I-Application
and	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
4.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
then	O
,	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
had	O
already	O
eclipsed	O
Borland	B-Application
C++	I-Application
in	O
shipments	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
clear	O
that	O
OWL	O
was	O
losing	O
ground	O
to	O
MFC	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1996	O
,	O
Borland	O
released	O
Borland	B-Application
C++	I-Application
5	O
for	O
Windows	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
OWL	O
5	O
received	O
a	O
minor	O
update	O
with	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
Borland	B-Application
C++	I-Application
5.02	O
a	O
little	O
later	O
,	O
version	O
5	O
would	O
end	O
up	O
as	O
the	O
final	O
version	O
of	O
OWL	O
by	O
Borland	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1997	O
,	O
Borland	O
released	O
C++Builder	B-Language
and	O
deprecated	O
Borland	B-Application
C++	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
OWL	O
was	O
included	O
on	O
the	O
Companion	O
CD	O
that	O
shipped	O
with	O
C++Builder	B-Language
,	O
but	O
Borland	O
ended	O
maintenance	O
and	O
further	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
library	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
late	O
1999	O
,	O
Borland	O
stopped	O
selling	O
Borland	B-Application
C++	I-Application
and	O
OWL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
effort	O
evolved	O
into	O
the	O
OWLNext	O
open-source	B-Application
project	O
currently	O
hosted	O
at	O
the	O
SourceForge	B-Application
site	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OWLNext	O
is	O
a	O
modern	O
update	O
and	O
extension	O
of	O
OWL	O
with	O
support	O
for	O
the	O
latest	O
Windows	O
versions	O
and	O
modern	O
C++	B-Language
compilers	O
from	O
Microsoft	O
and	O
Embarcadero	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
versions	O
of	O
OWLNext	O
have	O
been	O
released	O
through	O
SourceForge	B-Application
.	O
</s>
