Contact: Beth Fisher, Regis McKenna Inc. (415) 354-4436
Sally Swift, Regis McKenna, Inc. (415) 354-4464
MACROMIND ANNOUNCES MACROMIND WINDOWS PLAYER
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 27, 1990--MacroMind® Inc., the leading vendor of multimedia software, announced today MacroMind Windows Player, a run-time environment that allows users to playback MacroMind Director documents on a PC running future versions of Microsoft Windows.
"This announcement was prompted by requests from both our commercial and corporate customers who wish to be able to use their Macintoshes and PCs to distribute multimedia information," said Michael Grant, MacroMind product marketing manager. "Now multimedia developers have a dual-platform delivery and content distribution solution with the security of future Windows system software compatibility."
The functionality of the MacroMind Windows Player is similar to that of the MacroMind Macintosh Player that currently ships with every copy of MacroMind Director. Documents created on the Macintosh®with MacroMind Director will be able to be played back under the Windows environment with full support of 4-bit and 8-bit color graphics, animation, transitions, audio and interactivity.
The MacroMind Windows Player is based on, and offers a preview of the same technology that has been licensed to Microsoft for inclusion in future systems software. Both the technology licensed to Microsoft and the MacroMind Windows Player assure future playback compatibility with Macintosh-based MacroMind Director documents. In addition, the MacroMind Windows Player supports the playback of the interactive portions of those documents.
The MacroMind Windows Player will require a minimum hardware configuration to run properly including a 286 or 386 processor, VGA or VGA Plus graphics adaptor, and a minimum of 640K (One megabyte or more is recommended). A hard disk is recommended for large multimedia documents, and an audio adaptor board for sound generation.
MacroMind Windows Player will be available in two product stages. The first, the developer version ($99.00), available in the 2nd Qtr. 1990, will be released only to MacroMind certified developers. The second release, called MacroMind Windows Player 1.0 ($99.00), will be available direct from MacroMind in the 3rd Qtr. 1990. Commercial applications created in MacroMind Director and distributed with the MacroMind Windows Player will require the same one time licensing fee of $250.00 per application that now applies to the Macintosh Player. For more information on MacroMind Windows Player licensing or becoming a MacroMind certified developer, please call Developer Relations at MacroMind, 415-442-0200.
MacroMind will also support most of the current methods for connecting Macintoshes and PCs. These include Macintosh SuperDrive (Floppy disk only), Dayna File, LapLink, AppleShare, TOPS and Novell networks. These systems allow users to move Macintosh documents to the PC for playback capabilities by the MacroMind Windows Player. MacroMind will also support those networks that are fully Windows compatible and allow for direct network access to servers supporting storage of Macintosh files.
MacroMind, established in 1984, is the premier multimedia software company.
The company offers MacroMind Director 1.0.1, available today in retail stores. The product is designed for communication, learning and technical professionals as well as content producers. MacroMind recently announced MacroMind Director version 2.0 ($695), an enhanced version of Director 1.0.1, enhancements include interactivity, control over external audio and video recording devices, and 24 bit color images. The new version will be available in retail stores in April 1990. The company also offers MacroMind Accelerator ($195) and clip sound and animations sequences available in CD-ROM format ($195) or floppy disk format ($59.95 per disk). All these products work on the Macintosh.
Based in San Francisco, MacroMind is a privately held company backed by the Cole Gilburne Fund and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
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MacroMind and MacroMind Director are registered trademarks of MacroMind, Inc.
Macintosh and HyperCard are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Microsoft and Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.