GRiNS 1.0 (Multimedia authoring software in Python) available

[Jack Jansen]

[Warning: This message could be seen as being commercial]

Folks,
we proudly announce the first commercial release of GRiNS, our multimedia 
authoring and playback system for the internet. It allows you to create SMIL 
presentations (SMIL is the W3C standard for multimedia over the net, and used 
by applications such as RealNetworks G2 player), and completely written in 
Python. Well, completely: there's a few extension modules involved to make 
various media rendering toolkits available, but the whole application 
framework is in Python (And most of the extension modules have found their way 
back into the Python community, or will do so shortly, of course).

Thanks to Python we're able to release GRiNS for all three major platforms at 
the same time: Macintosh, Windows and Unix (SGI and Sun; sorry, no Linux yet, 
due to the fact that we don't know of any decent media libraries (esp. movie 
libraries), so please enlighten us if you know of something).

If you want to have a look at what a Python multiplatform application can look 
like check it out at http://www.oratrix.com/GRiNS . And feel free to ask us, 
Sjoerd Mullender (sjoerd at oratrix.com) or me, if you want to know anything 
about technical details (or commercial details, which we will duly forward:-).

Oh yes: if anyone has good suggestions for places they always use for being 
kept informed about new software (i.e. who we should inform about this 
release) we'd be happy if you could share them with us.

Here's the press release, for completeness sake:
---------------------------------------------------------
Oratrix Development BV

http://www.oratrix.com/

GRiNS for SMIL WILL TRANSFORM MULTIMEDIA WEB AUTHORING

Amsterdam, The Netherlands (August 30, 1999) - Oratrix Development BV today 
announced the release of GRiNS for SMIL V1.0, a unique authoring and 
presentation
system for local and streaming media on the Web.

GRiNS/SMIL allows content providers to create adaptive multimedia productions 
that
tailor content to the needs and resources of the user community. Working 
together with
RealNetworks®’ RealSystem® G2, GRiNS provides access to the full capabilities 
of the SMIL
language on Windows, Macintosh and UNIX systems. Users on all these platforms 
can
finally design multimedia presentations with adaptive content.

According to Dick Bulterman, founder and managing director of Oratrix 
Development,
"GRiNS/SMIL will transform Web multimedia from a one-size-fits-all paradigm to 
one in
which the needs, resources and capabilities of individual users can determine 
the quality
and content provided inside a streaming media presentation."

Presentations can be made that not only adjust for bandwidth constraints, but 
also for
language (for example, English and Spanish), or media type (text, image or 
video).

"GRiNS/SMIL fills a critical gap in the authoring market," adds Bulterman. "We 
greatly
simplify the process of creating SMIL presentations for the RealNetworks 
RealPlayer® G2 at
an affordable price." Bulterman, described by UK's Internet Magazine as one of 
the Web's
10 behind-the-sceens heroes, says that the system's ability to create adaptive 
presentations will open up new value-added markets by allowing authors to 
tailor their
content to the needs and resources of their clients.

Commenting on the release, Len Jordan, senior vice-president, Media Systems, 
RealNetworks, Inc. said: "GRiNS provides an intuitive and easy complement to 
Realslideshow(TM) for users who want to exploit multiple media types and 
advanced
capabilities of both SMIL and RealSystem G2." Geoff Freed of CPB/WGBH National 
Center
for Accessible Media added: "The ability of GRiNS/SMIL to provide control of 
adaptive
content for both streaming media and the local GRiNS player will significantly 
lower the
barrier for creating presentations that are accessible to the widest possible 
range of Web
users."  Ivar Brinkman of Elsevier Science Publishers noted: "The fact that 
GRiNS is available
for Macintosh and UNIX as well as Windows-98/NT allows Elsevier to work with 
all of our
authors in evaluating new approaches to showcase and enhance our printed 
publications."

GRiNS/SMIL was developed by Oratrix Development BV, an Amsterdam-based 
spin-off of
CWI, the Dutch national center for mathematics and computer science. Oratrix 
Development is winner of the McKinsey & Co. "New Venture" award and has been 
selected by the Twinning Venture Capital Network in the Netherlands. 
GRiNS/SMIL has
been tested by over two thousand users world-wide in beta form.

GRiNS/SMIL is available at http://www.oratrix.com/GRiNS/.

For more information contact Manja Strick van Linschoten at Oratrix 
Development:
Email: 	Manja.Strickvl at oratrix.com 
TEL: 	+31 20 679 5306
FAX: 	+31 20 679 5309

--
Jack Jansen             | ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
Jack.Jansen at oratrix.com | ++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++
www.oratrix.nl/~jack    | see http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm