Re:SMIL 2.0 Preview player available

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Jan van Wordragen" <ericjan@oratrix.com>
To: <www-smil@w3.org>
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2000 4:03 PM
Subject: [Moderator Action] SMIL 2.0 Preview player available


> GRiNS Player beta for SMIL 2.0
> Oratrix Releases GRiNS Player for SMIL 2.0 to Assist Specification
> Evaluation
>
> Amsterdam, The Netherlands (September 21, 2000) - Oratrix Development BV,
a
> leading supplier of authoring tools for streaming media, this week
announced
> the availability of its GRiNS for SMIL 2.0 Player for download from
> http://www.oratrix.com/GRiNS/SMIL-2.0/. The Player is being made available
> to assist members of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and other
> interested parties who are evaluating the new SMIL 2.0 specification,
which
> went into Last Call status today. SMIL 2.0 has been under development
since
> early 1999 by W3C members including Oratrix, Compaq, CSELT, CWI, France
> Telecom, GLOCOM, IBM, INRIA, Intel, Macromedia, Microsoft, Netscape/AOL,
> NIST, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips Electronics, Phone.com, RealNetworks, W3C
> and WGBH/NCAM.
>
> "We are pleased to be the first organization world-wide to release a
player
> for the SMIL 2.0 Language Profile," said Dick Bulterman, CEO of Oratrix.
"As
> one of the developers of the language, we would like to make our
experience
> available to the Web community so that constructive feedback can be given
on
> the SMIL 2.0 specification." Bulterman stressed that, given the
provisional
> status of SMIL 2.0, the current beta GRiNS for SMIL 2.0 Player is a
`living
> entity' that will be updated with features and bug fixes weekly until the
> end of the review period. Initial releases are available for Windows®-98
and
> Windows® 2000, and for Apple Macintosh® OS 8.5 or later.
>
> SMIL 2.0 extends the popular SMIL 1.0 language with native support for
> transitions, animation, event-based interaction and extended layout
> facilities. It also includes sophisticated new timing and synchronization
> primitives that will help transform the Web into a more dynamic and
> interactive environment. Aaron Cohen of Intel Corporation, chairman of
W3C's
> Synchronized Multimedia Working Group, said: "We feel that having players
> available will make it easier to read and understand the SMIL 2.0
> specification as well as allow direct experimentation with the many
> innovative features of the language."
>
> Speaking for the W3C, Architecture Domain lead Philipp Hoschka said: "We
> encourage users interested in the SMIL 2.0 technology to experiment with
> examples directly. Implementations provide us with critical, relevant
> feedback on how SMIL 2.0 can best meet the needs of the Web Community."
Last
> Call gives W3C working groups the opportunity to evaluate new technology
for
> alignment with other W3C standardization activities. After integrating
Last
> Call comments, the SMIL 2.0 specification is expected to go into Candidate
> Recommendation status, where implementation experiences from multiple
> parties are expected. Current plans call for a completion of the full
> evaluation process in January, 2001.
>
> According to Sjoerd Mullender, technical coordinator of the GRiNS for SMIL
> 2.0 Player implementation effort, the release of the player is a "win-win
> situation for users and for Oratrix: users get early access to the SMIL
2.0
> technology and we get feedback from a wide range of interested parties."
> Mullender explained that, as part of the evaluation process, users are
> encouraged to send in reports on general specification functionality and
> detailed implementation experience with the GRiNS for SMIL 2.0 Player.
>
> By releasing its GRiNS for SMIL 2.0 Player at this time, Oratrix does not
> imply or guarantee the release of production versions of the software. As
> Dick Bulterman noted, "We primarily use our Player technology as an
> integrated preview engine for our authoring and development systems. We
> simply want to give users the ability to `touch and feel' the SMIL
> specification at the earliest possible moment in the process."
>
> About Oratrix Development
>
> Oratrix Development BV, an Amsterdam-based supplier of authoring and
> presentation tools for native SMIL 1.0, the RealNetworks RealSystem® G2
> player and Apple's QuickTime®-4.1, is winner of the McKinsey & Co. "New
> Venture" award. The company was runner-up for the 2000 Broos van Erp prize
> and is a member of the Twinning Venture Capital Network in the
Netherlands.
> Additional information and trial versions of the GRiNS software can be
found
> at: http://www.oratrix.com/GRiNS/.
>
> For more information contact Eric Jan van Wordragen at Oratrix
Development:
> Email: EricJan@Oratrix.com / TEL: +31 20 679 5306 / FAX: +31 20 679 5309
>
>

Received on Saturday, 21 October 2000 06:34:57 UTC