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Software Philosophy
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| Power vs. Ease of Use |
Too often, this is presented as a dichotomy. You lose one to gain the
other. We don't believe it.
We believe software that is easy to use for the beginner need not
constrict the expert. All our software is designed to be usable straight
out of the box, with no configuration necessary. Yet, we believe that
software should do what you want it to, and not be limited to what
the authors had in mind when they created it. To that end... |
| Run-Time Extensible |
Our software is run-time extensible. Words such as extensible
are thrown around today in a careless manner and typically are diluted
from their original meaning. Our idea of extensible software is:
Extensible software permits major new functionality to be added any
time, by ourselves or any capable 3rd party, without the application being
re-compiled, re-delivered, or re-installed.
Our software binds its features at runtime. New features can be
added by simply dropping them into the appropriate directory. They then
appear transparently, as if they were compiled into the program to begin
with.
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| Configuration |
Almost everything about how our software works is configurable. To be
fair, the level of configuration possible in our software can be
bewildering to the uninitiated. Many proponents of modern software design
claim that configurability should be kept to a minimum to avoid confusing
users. However, ShadowWorks Software rejects the concept of catering to
only the lowest common denominator. We have attempted to allow an
unparalleled level of configuration without requiring it.
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| Modern UI Technology |
Our user interfaces make extensive use of features such as object drag &
drop, bubble-help, datatypes, and graphical user interfaces. No
config-file editing or other such complexities are ever necessary.
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| Software for Power Users |
Our goal is to create software that is the most powerful of its type,
anywhere, on any platform.
Our only current or planned software offerings are for the Amiga platform.
Our target machine base is:
- 68040 or better
- Graphics card supporting at least 800x600x8-bit
- 8 Mb RAM
- OS 3.0 or better
We are aware there are many low-spec machines out there, and our software
should run, although perhaps not optimally, on any 68020+ machine with
OS3.0 installed.
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