Due to high traffic on MacDev-1 and to conserve your mailbox space, the
following releases have been combined in this message:
* Part Bundles Avail Online
* C100 Integrators
* Metrowerks Signs Embedded Agreement with NEC
* Willows RT for Embedded Systems
* Altura acquires Object Master
Full text of each of these announcements is below. Each announcement
stands on its own and doesn’t indicate any relation between companies or
products.
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Part Bundles Avail Online
January 14, 1997
In an effort to deliver a set of starter parts to end-users, six Component
100 members have agreed to bundle their products and have successfully
deployed the bundles for sale on the Internet. Hutchings Software, Kantara
Development, Corda Technologies, MetaMind Software, Eclipse Services, and
SoftLinc are participating in the initial bundles. Users can purchase a
mega-bundle, including Rapid-I(TM) Button, Kantara Internet Search
Service(TM), C-TextBox(TM), C-Table(TM), C-Graph(TM), Canopy(TM) Outliner,
Dock’Em(TM), and LEXI(TM) English Speller, for just $99.95. The bundles
are available thru January 31, 1997 at:
(http://www.hutchings-software.com/mwsf97/bundles.html)
The actual transaction is handled by Digital River, Inc. of Edina,
Minnesota, which specializes in online software distribution. Secure
credit card transactions and robust downloading take place on Digital
River’s servers.
Brad Hutchings (mailto:brad@hutchings-software.com) of Hutchings Software
organized the bundles the week before MacWorld San Francisco. “The speed
at which these bundles were deployed demonstrates that C100 members work
together just as well as their respective products interoperate. Bundling
of OpenDoc components allows us to reach price points and feature sets
that users cannot resist. Not only does OpenDoc just work better from a
technical perspective, it just works better in the market.”
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C100 Integrators
January 14, 1997
The Component 100 took its first step to attract and support integrators
by launching the “Integrators@c100.org” mailing list. Initially, this
mailing list will be used by the C100 to assess technical, marketing, and
support needs of companies and individuals developing value-added
products based on C100 members’ OpenDoc products. Engineers, product
managers, marketing managers, and support personnel from each of the C100
member businesses will monitor the list, answer questions from potential
integrators, and participate in an ongoing discussion about how
integrators fit into the OpenDoc development, marketing, and support
processes. Chairs of C100 committees will also monitor and participate in
the discussion so that integrator issues will be reflected in all facets
of C100 policy.
Integrators are individuals or businesses that develop value-added
products or services based on OpenDoc products from more than one C100
member. While OpenDoc provides a base level of engineering integration,
issues such as distribution, resale, and support must be addressed so
that integrators can deliver their solutions to their clients and the
marketplace.
“No OpenDoc component is an island,” said Brad Hutchings, C100 Web
Presence Chair. “Integrators will show end-users how OpenDoc parts work
together. As C100 members, we want integrators to enjoy success promoting
our products.”
To join the mailing list, send an email to “listserv@c100.org” with
“subscribe integrators (your name)” in the *body* of the message. You can
also visit the C100 mailing lists web page at
(http://www.c100.org/lists.html).
The Component 100 (http://www.c100.org) is an independent OpenDoc
association for first-rate, visionary, component developers throughout
the world. C100 members work together on solutions for developing,
selling, marketing, supporting, and distributing their Live Objects. For
end-users, the C100 represents a landmark to discover what the best Live
Object solutions available are. The C100 brand is a guarantee for Live
Objects that not only fit together, but also truly collaborate with each
other.
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Metrowerks Signs Embedded Agreement with NEC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contacts:
Cynthia Fray
Media Relations
Metrowerks, Inc.
(512) 873-4758
cynthia@metrowerks.com
Jim Welch
Chief Financial Officer
Metrowerks Inc.
(512) 873-4777
welch@metrowerks.com
METROWERKS SIGNS EMBEDDED TOOLS AGREEMENT WITH NEC ELECTRONICS FOR VR
SERIES MICROPROCESSOR & V800 SERIES MICROCONTROLLERS
AUSTIN, Texas, -January 15, 1997- Metrowerks Inc. (NASDAQ: MTWKF,
TSE/ME:MWK), a leading provider of software development tools, today
announced an agreement with NEC Electronics Inc. to develop compilers and
debugging support tools for NEC’s VR4100(TM), VR4300(TM) and VR5000(TM)
Series of 64-bit MIPS RISC processors, as well as their V810(TM) and
V830(TM) Series of 32-bit controllers. These new CodeWarrior tools will run
within the CodeWarrior integrated development environment (“IDE”) hosted on
Windows(R) 95/NT(TM)- and Mac(TM) OS-based desktop computers.
Software developers and hardware manufacturers using NEC’s VR Series(TM)
and V800 Series(TM) embedded micro products will now be able to develop
software for these embedded devices, taking advantage of the easy-to-use
CodeWarrior IDE and Metrowerks’ world-class front-end/back-end compiler and
debugger technology.
NEC’s VR Series is a family of 64-bit microprocessors based on the MIPS
RISC instruction set, and the V800 Series is a family of 32-bit RISC
microcontrollers based on an NEC proprietary instruction set. Both are used
in a wide variety of consumer electronic devices, including
interactive/internet televisions, information appliances and other consumer
electronic devices.
In 1995, NEC ranked as the second largest semiconductor manufacturer in the
world with over US$12 billion in total semiconductor sales, and ranked as
the third largest embedded microprocessor manufacturer in the world,
according to industry analysts, Integrated Circuit Engineering Corporation
(“ICE”).
“We are very pleased to extend our embedded support in our CodeWarrior
product line to include support for NEC’s VR Series and V800 Series
embedded microprocessors,” said Greg Galanos, president and chief
technology officer of Metrowerks. “The addition of the V810/830 compiler
support, the availability of Java acceleration technology from Metrowerks
and the additional support for the VR4000 and VR5000 cores from NEC will
benefit NEC’s embedded microprocessor customers by providing them
high-quality, affordable tools.”
“NEC has a strong commitment to supporting customers with leading-edge
technology and continued customer support,” said George Wang, assistant
general manager of micro products at NEC Electronics Inc. “We are happy to
have Metrowerks as part of our team and plan to exceed our customer
expectations with support tools like the CodeWarrior compilers and
debugging tools.”
Pricing and Availability
Support for the NEC’s VR and V800 Series of embedded devices will be
provided through a new Metrowerks product, “CodeWarrior for NEC”.
“CodeWarrior for NEC” will be hosted on both Windows95/NT and Mac OS
desktop computers, and is expected to be available in the summer of 1997
for a suggested price of US$699. CodeWarrior for NEC will be available
direct from Metrowerks and Metrowerks’ authorized distributors.
About Metrowerks
Founded in 1985, Metrowerks develops, markets and supports a complete line
of computer language products for building Mac(TM) OS, Windows(R) 95,
Windows NT(TM), Magic Cap(TM), BeOS(TM), Palm OS(TM), PlayStation(TM) OS
and PowerTV(TM) applications. Metrowerks supports development for 68K,
PowerPC(TM), MIPS(TM) and x86 microprocessors. Metrowerks’ CodeWarrior
products have become the industry standard for professional Mac-hosted
software development with more than 50,000 registered users in 70
countries. Additional information on Metrowerks and its products can be
obtained in the U.S. by sending e-mail to info@metrowerks.com, by calling
(800) 377-5416, or via the Internet at http://www.metrowerks.com.
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Willows RT for Embedded Systems
WILLOWS SOFTWARE ANNOUNCES WILLOWS RT FOR EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
Real-Time Version of the Cross-Platform Toolkit Enables Windows Applications
to Run on Embedded Systems
Santa Clara, CA – January 15, 1997 – Real-Time Computing Conference –
Willows Software, Inc., developer of cross-platform tools for porting
Windows applications to non-Wintel environments, today announced Willows RT
for bringing Microsoft Windows-based applications to embedded systems.
Manufacturers of embedded systems now have more flexibility in designing
new systems and can reduce new product time-to-market while containing
manufacturing and development costs.
Flexibility
Willows RT empowers systems designers to select their real-time operating
system (RTOS) and MS-Windows applications of choice, knowing that Willows RT
will ensure that the two operate together. “If you’re building an intelligent
terminal, a PBX, a machine tool, or even a medical device with integrated Web
access, pick and choose the processor and operating system for the optimum
price-performance point you are targeting.” said Laurent Gharda, vice president
of sales and marketing for Willows Software. “With Willows RT, you can now
also choose your favorite source-based Windows applications such as browsers,
other connectivity tools, and most other front ends or back ends needed to
complete your system. This brings tremendous flexibility to the embedded
systems design process.”
Reduced Time-To-Market
Because Willow RT ports existing applications, either third-party or
internally-developed ones, systems can be designed, built, tested and deployed
in much less time than it takes to re-write an application from scratch with
proprietary APIs for a given RTOS. And because developers maintain a single
source tree for all targeted platforms, developers reduce the time-to-market
for every subsequent release. These reduced time-to-market benefits also
result in lower development costs.
Reduced Manufacturing Costs
Though traditional Windows application execution environments have been
notoriously RAM-hungry, the Willows approach reduces component costs by
enabling smaller footprints. “Even in the worst case scenario, if an
application used all the APIs, the Willows libraries would take only 1.5MB on
top of the RTOS.” Said Laurent Gharda. “Compare this to the cost of throwing in
8, 16 or even 32 MB of RAM as required by conventional approaches. Since
Willows RT contains no Microsoft code, you don’t need to get a Windows license
either, which further reduces the costs of what you build.”
The Benefits of Platform-Independent Standards on Embedded Systems
Historically, software development for desktops and embedded systems has
resided in two separate camps: desktops and servers most often use the Windows
APIs, and embedded systems use proprietary APIs. This announcement brings a
standard platform independent Windows API to embedded systems. Organizations
can now further propagate the benefits of standards to all software development
activities within their organization. These benefits include lower development
and maintenance costs and lower training costs by leveraging the industry’s
most predominant API.
Integrating the Windows and RTOS APIs for Maximum Robustness
Dan Hildebrand, Senior Architect at QNX Software Systems Ltd., recommends
porting Win32 applications to QNX as an alternative to using Windows NT
modified with an extended-for-real-time HAL. According to Dan Hildebrand,
“Problems with the HAL approach, such as polling overhead, large memory
requirements, reduced robustness, and the non-standard API within the HAL are
neatly solved by using Willows RT with QNX. Real-time applications can then be
coded directly in the Win32 API, and those applications can run as robust,
MMU-protected processes under QNX, and not as a collection of tasks running
i.e. DLLs) to take advantage of third-party component technology without
requiring vendor source code.
Pricing and Availability
Willows RT averages about $5,000 per developer, depending on the system
supported. Value-based run time fees are then applied to products
incorporating the Willows components. Willows RT is available on several
leading real-time operating systems, with more coming soon. The product is
beta today, with first customer shipment targeted for end of January, 1997.
Willows Software
Willows Software’s mission is to be the leading supplier of products and
services for migrating Windows applications to alternative platforms. Willows
will remain compatible with Microsoft Windows and industry standards through
built-in extensibility. Willows’ technology allows developers to focus on
building the best possible applications, independent of platform, and deploy
them on Windows, UNIX, Macintosh, network and real-time operating systems and
other platforms with little or no extra development effort.
Willows Software is located in Saratoga, California. Telephone: (800)
814-6351 or (408) 777-1820. Fax: (408) 777-1827. World Wide Web:
http://www.willows.com. Email: info@willows.com
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Altura acquires Object Master
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Lee Lorenzen, President Altura Software, Inc.
510 Lighthouse Ave., Suite 5
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
408.655.8005
http://www.altura.com
PACIFIC GROVE, California January 1, 1997 – Altura Software, Inc.
announced today that it has purchased Object Master from ACI for an
undisclosed amount. Object Master is an indispensable object oriented
development tool that is cross-platform and supports all the major
development environments on the Mac and on Windows.
MAJOR BENEFITS FOR DEVELOPERS
Object Master provides C++ and C programmers with many powerful features
not found in the integrated development environments from Microsoft,
Borland, Metrowerks or Symantec. Object Master enhances those development
tools and integrates seamlessly with them. Key features of Object Master
are:
* Supports C, C++, ANSI C and Standard C++
* Cross-Platform Mac and Windows
* Class Tree Browser
* Version Control Support
* Syntax Checking
* Advanced source code editor – find and paste a function’s arguments
directly into source code. Automatic header updating as the
implementation file changes
* Intelligent Browser – automatically accesses selected code and
displays it for editing. This eliminates the need to turn on
browsing information in your compiler and dramatically reduces compile
times
* Browser supports pre-made templates for creating classes and methods
* Edit code in either browser window or file editor
* Supports macros – templates for frequently used source code elements,
such as conditional or looping statements, can be inserted with a
single key stroke
* Hypertext Links – data dictionary tracks each method, class,
structure, type definition, enums and defines. When users double
click a type, Object Master displays its definition or its code
* Automarkers – markers automatically created by Object Master for
every procedure and function in a project can be used to quickly
locate source code
Loic Vandereyken is the author of Object Master who came on board with
Altura in October of last year. Object Master for Windows and 4D for
Windows from ACI use Altura’s proven Mac2Win Porting Technology to port
to Windows. “We’re very excited about getting Object Master. We think it
will be a great asset to our existing cross-platform development
products,” said Lee Lorenzen, president of Altura Software.
Mr. Lorenzen went on to say, “Altura is committed to supporting Object
Master and its loyal customer base. We think it is a great product and we
have big plans for making it even better.” Representatives from Altura
stated that they have already put in place support for Object Master.
Support for new and existing customers will be handled via email to
OMSupport@altura.com. Sales inquiries will be handled via email to
OMInfo@altura.com or by phone at (408) 655-8005.
InfoWorld reviewed the Windows version of Object Master when it was first
released and gave it rave reviews. Nicholas Petreley, Executive Editor of
InfoWorld had this to say about Object Master, “If you’ve ever wished to
be able to do something quickly and easily when writing code, it’s
probably a feature in Object Master.” He also called it “…the most
brilliantly conceived development environment I’ve seen.”
ABOUT OBJECT MASTER
Object Master is an advanced programming environment for Windows and
Macintosh that supports development environments from Microsoft, Borland,
Metrowerks and Symantec.
ABOUT ALTURA SOFTWARE
Altura Software, Inc. is a leading developer of porting technology
solutions for the Macintosh and Windows platforms. The company’s Mac2Win
technology gives software developers unparalleled solutions for quickly
moving their Macintosh applications to Windows. Altura Software also
offers QuickView, the Microsoft Multimedia Viewer/MediaView compatible,
online reference and multimedia system for Macintosh. Altura Software,
Inc. was founded in 1990 and is based in Pacific Grove, California.
For more information on Altura Software and its products, please contact
Lee Lorenzen at 408-655-8005.