Welcome to ImageStudio News! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~ o Welcome to ImageStudio-2.0.x o Keyfiles and Piracy o GIF licensing o Future Plans o The Authors Would Like to Thank... o How to Contact the Authors o What the Reviewers Think of ImageStudio Welcome to ImageStudio-2.0.x ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to the new version of ImageStudio, now into version 2. After the success of version 1, we were happy to take a look at all the suggestions we'd received and made a decision to start implementing the most popular improvements. The main addition to ImageStudio itself is ARexx - definately our most requested improvement. As we wish to cater for all levels of Amiga user, we didn't want to be just another program with a powerful but hard to use ARexx interface, so we took some steps to make ARexx more approachable within ImageStudio. To this end, we present the following: o Several pre-written ARexx scripts are provided that the novice user can use without alteration to provide batch processing and conversion facilities. o A blank ARexx script template is provided that becomes the base for each new script created. The template handles all the ARexx drudgery, leaving the user to simply "fill in the gaps" to create a fully working script. The ARexx power user may of course alter the template for their own use. o All editing, testing and running of the ARexx scripts can be performed entirely within ImageStudio. Even your favourite text editor can be used to edit and create the scripts without leaving the program. o ImageStudio contains a wide range of utility commands to avoid the user having to rely on external programs or libraries (e.g. ImageStudio has a wide range of inbuilt requesters). We hope that the ease at which ARexx can be used within ImageStudio will tempt even non-programmers to try their hand at a quick script - they really can save an awful lot of time. The other main improvements are: o Online AmigaGuide help. o The documentation itself has now grown 3 times over the size given in version 1.x.x. o Iconify. o AppIcon on Workbench for drag and drop file loading. o Re-written preferences requester. ImageStudio is now more configurable. o Easy installation via Commodore's `Installer' program. o Many smaller improvements, too many to mention. We hope that you will enjoy the improvements being made and will continue to support the program. We have many more improvements planned, some which exceed the facilities provided by commercial programs. Andy and Graham Dean. Keyfiles and Piracy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It became obvious from version 1.x.x, that our method of upgrading the software was becoming impractical for a large number of orders. We could therefore either (i) charge for upgrades or (ii) change the upgrade method. As we aim to provide the best value for money image processor on the Amiga, option (i) was decided against. We have therefore opted for the popular "keyfile" concept of upgrades. This works as follows: o New registered users will receive the latest version of ImageStudio along with a personalised keyfile. When ImageStudio is started, if it finds a valid keyfile it will "unlock" the program to become fully functional. o Existing registered users will have to generate a new keyfile for use with ImageStudio-2.0.0 and above. This is done by running the new version of the program, selecting `Create keyfile' in the `Project' menu and selecting their registered copy of v1.x.x of ImageStudio. Once this version of ImageStudio is deemed to be a valid registered copy, a keyfile will be generated which will cause version 2 and above of ImageStudio to work fully. Please note: YOUR KEYFILE IS FOR YOUR PRIVATE USE AND SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN TO ANYONE ELSE. Each keyfile is individual and can be traced back to the registered user. Do not try and alter the keyfile, it won't work. The only reason we can continue to sell ImageStudio so cheaply and provide free updates is because we have had a healthy response with people registering. If the number of registrations drops because people abuse the keyfile system and distribute pirate copies of the program, we will be forced to do one or several of the following: i) Stop providing free upgrades. All programs will be individually stamped and all upgrades must be paid for. ii) Remove online help and provide printed manuals instead. This will naturally raise the price substantially. iii) Sell the software to a software publisher for commercial distribution. This is likely to lead to a large price increase. iv) Stop developing ImageStudio and related products. We see no reason why we should have to resort to any of these measures, but if you're using a pirated copy of ImageStudio now and you refuse to register, you WILL force this upon us. If you are using a pirate copy of ImageStudio, so will hundreds of others. A hundred orders to us is the difference between us writing the next version of the program, and us abandoning it. It really is your choice. GIF licensing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the end of December 1994, the situation regarding the use of the GIF file format was thrown into confusion over a change in the licensing of the compression technology used in the file format. What follows is a potted summary of the situation (as we see it), which we will try to keep as factual and unbiased as possible: In 1987, CompuServe Inc. released details of its new `GIF' image file format. The purpose of the format was to allow images to be transferred and stored in a common format that could be used by all of CompuServe's subscribers. One of the important features of the GIF file format was the use of LZW compression to reduce the size of the image files. What CompuServe didn't release was that a patent for the LZW technology was held by Unisys. Unisys were unaware of the use of LZW in the GIF file format. Many years passed and GIF established itself as probably the most common file format for colour-mapped images. In 1992 Unisys became aware of the use of LZW in GIF and entered into negotiations with CompuServe as to how the LZW patent may be licensed. In mid 1994 an agreement was reached and CompuServe were given 6 months to implement the agreement. At the end of 1994, between Christmas and New Year, CompuServe released a statement stating that they were effectively removing the GIF file format from the public domain, and from the 10th of January 1995 all writers of shareware and commercial GIF software would have to pay a 1 dollar license fee plus a small extra charge per copy of their software sold. If software writers did not register before the 10th of January, they were liable to pay an extra charge, backdated, for all the copies of their GIF software previously sold. Chaos ensued. It was originally thought the whole affair was a hoax, but after all the initial shouting calmed down it became clear this was not the case. Some BBS's panicked and converted all their GIF files to JPEGs. There were those who closed their CompuServe accounts and those who said they'd never deal with Unisys again. The situation today is still less than clear. It seems agreed that no action will be taken against writers of free software or software that simply reads GIF files. Shareware and commercial software authors though are expected to pay a royalty fee to either Unisys or CompuServe for every copy of their software sold. What this means to ImageStudio is that we have dropped the GIF save ability, whilst retaining GIF load. We really don't want to bind ourselves to the GIF license agreement whilst paying for an image format which is likely to become obsolete within a few months. We will endevour to provide support for the patent free GIF replacement format which is likely to emerge soon. Future Plans ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adding ARexx was an important step in the development of ImageStudio in that it is an area of the program which is likely never to be finished. As more features are added to the program, we hope to add more commands to the ARexx interface to accommodate them. One of the worries of adding ARexx was that it may increase the program size too much. Happily, we mananged to keep the program size under 400K, but it is obvious that we cannot add any more to the program before its size becomes too large for comfort. The next major step is therefore to make some of the parts of the program external modules. This provides the following advantages: o A reduction in the size of the main program executable which ultimately leads to a reduction in the amount of memory needed by ImageStudio at runtime. o Many more modules can be written without any further size increase in the main program. o The modules can be upgraded without having to upgrade the whole program. We plan to initially modularize(!) the image loaders, savers and viewers with plans to eventually do the same for the effects themselves. As well as making the loaders and savers modules, we also have plans to add some further load/save formats. The Authors Would Like to Thank... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Andy and Graham would like to thank: o Don Cox, for his help and suggestions with ImageStudio's ARexx support. o Larry Hickmott, for his support and suggestions. o All those who've registered the program and made suggestions for improvements. Many thanks to you all! How to Contact the Authors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Graham is available at: 14 Fielding Avenue Poynton Stockport Cheshire SK12 1YX ENGLAND for orders and queries. Andy is available via Email at: adean@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk for queries only. Andy will be unavailable for Email between the 4th and 11th of April 1995 - all Email received between this time will be answered, there will just be a short delay. What the Reviewers Think of ImageStudio ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since the last release of ImageStudio, we've had further good reviews in various magazine, they are included below: "This program is superb." Amiga Pro, Larry Hickmott, December '94 "This is a real prize program. ... Registration is only 10UK pounds, a sound investment if you ask me... 96%" Amiga User International, December '94 "Perhaps the most impressive feature is the option to use a hard disk as virtual memory ... a feature that would be welcome in many commercial offerings." Amiga Computing, December '94 "It's a promising package... 88%" Amiga Format, November '94 "ImageStudio is an impressive program - all the more considering this is the first revision... 90%" Amiga Shopper, December '94 "It is impossible to choose between ImageStudio and Blackboard, [Blackboard] has better effects, but [ImageStudio] has better overall handling... 89%" C.U.Amiga, December '94 "This is a very stable and useful program with features which are worth a lot more that the asking price. ... I urge you to contribute your shareware fee as soon as possible to get the most from this excellent program." Amiga Pro, Phil South, December '94 "Probably the most incredible thing about ImageStudio is that it is as solid as a rock." JAM, December '94 "It's been a long time since I've seen a shareware program as good as ImageStudio." EM, December '94