A History of Innovation, a Path to the Future March 1994 Visual
C++ Strategy The Microsoft Visual C++ development system family
of products meets the need of developers to develop
sophisticated Windows-based applications quickly. It also
protects existing investments in the Microsoft Foundation Class
Library (MFC) and the Windows API and establishes a clear path
to developing 32-bit applications for Windows that run on
multiple software and hardware platforms. With the Visual C++
development system family of products, Microsoft’s strategy is
to provide the shortest path for developers to access the full
power of Windows, the smallest and fastest executables, and the
safest investment for the future. These fundamental principles
have guided the development of Visual C++ and will continue to
do so in the future. In order to deliver on these promises, we
have chosen to focus our development efforts as follows: C++ is
the language we will focus on for the long term. We will
implement new features in the language