Welcome to the first developer release of OpenDoc KickStart, a set of standard OpenDoc components from Apple that will give developers free and easy access to some of Apple's most popular APIs.
The goal of these components is to make life easier for you, the developer. Instead of working to keep up with Apple's technology, Apple will take over the job for you. Simply make your software OpenDoc-aware, and Apple will provide OpenDoc viewers for some of the technologies you are interested in. For those developers who have already embraced the OpenDoc standard, there's a lot of functionality here that will make your life a whole lot easier and help get your products to market faster.
On this CD we have pre-release PowerPC (only) versions of:
KickStart Draw: A simple draw container for embedding Apple's parts as well as your own.
KickStart QuickTime Viewer: Embed traditional QuickTime movies as well as VR scenes into OpenDoc documents!
KickStart QuickDraw3D Viewer: Make your OpenDoc-aware software 3D-capable with this component.
KickStart Image Viewer: View PICT, GIF, JPEG, and TIFF files.
KickStart Button: Drag-and-drop AppleScripts, text-to-speech, Cyberitems, and sounds for easy, one-click playback
In the coming months, also look for:
KickStart Write: A simple, word-wrapping text container that provides a rich environment for your OpenDoc parts to work in.
KickStart Sound Annotation: Annotate documents with sounds recorded through a built-in microphone or from the CD player.
KickStart Sticky: Finally, stickies that actually stick to your documents!
In its final release, each and every part will have its own online help provided via Apple Guide, and will also be localized to a variety of languages to support worldwide software deployment.
At a later date, any developer supporting OpenDoc will be able to re-distribute any or all of the KickStart parts along with their software to provide a richer, more interesting environment for their software. In the future, expect each of these components to get rolled into Mac OS as a standard part of the OpenDoc runtime environment. Between KickStart and Cyberdog, never has the case been more clear for adopting OpenDoc. Make the jump now!
Keep checking the OpenDoc home page (http://www.opendoc.apple.com) for more information on the KickStart components as they reach completion.
