Software Makers Craft Creative PC Tools : Computers: At Demo ‘95, users glimpse products that move beyond text-only documents and paper-only distribution.
The personal computer industry will soon be selling programs that let people express themselves with photos and music in ways that rival Hollywood.
And many companies are also making it easier for people to produce documents that can be viewed electronically on the Internet, the global conglomeration of computer networks.
Of several dozen products previewed or announced at Demo ‘95, a trade conference that recalls the spirit if not the setting of the PC industry’s early days, most are designed to move people beyond text-only documents and paper-only distribution.
For instance, Storm Software is moving from professional graphics programs into the consumer market with EasyPhoto, a $50 program that lets a person manipulate photos stored in a computer, such as re-sizing or polishing them up. For $250, the company will sell the software with a scanning device that can be used to transfer paper images to computer.
“That allows instant access to those photos they already have,” said Kurt Schwenk, sales manager for Storm.
A new program from Delrina Corp., called Echo Lake, is designed to encourage people to preserve family and personal histories with writings that can be easily supplemented by photos, sound and video recordings. It will go on sale in the spring.
Several companies, notably Apple Computer Inc. and Intel Corp., showed advances in three-dimensional imaging that will soon affordably give home computers the power of sophisticated workstations used by engineering firms and Hollywood studios.
Large firms such as Novell Word Perfect and Quarterdeck and smaller ones like SkiSoft Inc. and Ubique demonstrated new programs that make it simple to create products for the World Wide Web. The Web is one of the most popular pathways to the Internet and is growing quickly as businesses and individuals discover the power of combining multimedia documents that can include text, pictures, video and sound, with Internet access.
The Demo show stands out because its host, PC Letter editor David Coursey, invites makers of creative products to display them in the informal setting of a golf resort.
Free of the noise and crowds of mega-conventions like the Comdex computer convention or the Consumer Electronics Show, the 800 people attending Demo have time to absorb the breadth of creativity in their industry.
“The informal way to look at it is this is show-and-tell,” Coursey said. “We call you up to the front of the room and say, ‘Whatcha got?’ ”
Huge firms like Microsoft and IBM get the same amount of display space and time on stage as one like Architext, six guys two years out of Stanford University who created powerful software for searching the Internet.
And some demonstrations occur in debate-like settings, with companies required to use their competitors’ product to show what it lacks and why theirs is better.
In its 10th year, Demo has also become a place to watch the comings and goings of industry execs. For instance, two executives who rose to prominence and then fell--former Apple CEO John Sculley and former Word Perfect executive vice president Pete Peterson--are back.
Sculley, now a New York-based consultant for several companies including Eastman Kodak, spoke to the demonstrators about marketing earlier this week.
Peterson unveiled the first product of his new company, FitneSoft Inc., formed after he found he had trouble losing weight.
“I wanted a product for myself, thinking the computer could help. I just couldn’t find one,” Peterson said.
So he hired five programmers and began putting together Life Form, which went on sale for $50 this week. It features nutritional data on thousands of foods, even Wendy’s double cheeseburgers with mayonnaise. The data that Peterson couldn’t get from companies and the government took some legwork.
“We just sent a bunch of college kids into grocery stories, taking notes from the new nutrition labels” that became mandatory last year, he said.
