Object Windows Library

Object Windows Library

Original author(s)	Borland Software Corporation
Initial release	1991; 33 years ago (1991)
Stable release	OWLNext 7.0.15 / October 31, 2024; 17 days ago (2024-10-31)
Repository	svn.code.sf.net/p/owlnext/code/trunk
Written in	C++
Operating system	Windows, OS/2
Type	Software framework
License	Proprietary with open-source patches
Website	sourceforge.net/p/owlnext/wiki/

The Object Windows Library (OWL) is a C++ object-oriented application framework designed to simplify desktop application development for Windows and (some releases) OS/2.

OWL was introduced by Borland in 1991 and eventually deprecated in 1997 in favor of their Visual Component Library (VCL). Its primary competitor was the Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC). OWLNext,^[1] an open-source project driven by the OWL user community, has continued the maintenance of OWL, ensuring that the library and applications that use it work with the latest version of Windows and modern C++ compilers.