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A consortium of software developers has hammered out the next Windows Sockets specification, extending the de facto standard beyond TCP/IP to support Novell, Inc. IPX/SPX, Digital Equipment Corp. DECnet and Open Systems Interconnection specifications.
WinSock 2.0 builds on the widely used network application program interface (API) standard in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows environment. Applications and network stacks can interoperate through WinSock if both support the API.
The new version is binary-compatible with the current WinSock 1.1 while adding support for the other LAN stacks. The draft spec released last week also supports ISDN, wireless and telephony networks, and multimedia applications.
"Application developers have had to wrestle with too many protocols, and users have to choose applications based on protocol support," said Martin Hall, who coordinates the...