WinPlus

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WinPlus , originally Plus , was a cross-platform clone of the HyperCard program that enabled users to run HyperCard batches on the Apple Macintosh , Microsoft Windows, and OS / 2 Presentation Manager .

Originally developed by Format Software GmbH (Cologne, Germany) to overcome the deficits of HyperCard , Plus was released for the Macintosh in 1989 and distributed by Olduvai, targeting advanced HyperCard users. Among the many much-requested features Plus offered were document-like, resizable and scrollable windows, 8-bit color support, and the ability to work with and display externally stored graphics files. Plus, however, did not offer any support for menus in the menu bar or the saving of a batch as an independent program, like the competitor program SuperCardbot. Plus could also open and execute HyperCard stacks directly and was even slightly faster than HyperCard itself.

Porting to Presentation Manager (OS / 2) and Microsoft Windows began when Spinnaker bought Software Plus. It was the only HyperCard clone of its time that allowed a stack to be used on all supported platforms. At the beginning of 1994 the program was bought by the newly formed company ObjectPlus and the Mac and OS / 2 versions were given up in favor of the significantly revised WinPlus 3.0. Version 3.1 followed in 1995. At the time, the product was known as a multimedia system, corresponding to the niche market that most HyperCard-like systems were aimed at.

Around 1991, Oracle licensed WinPlus as the basis for Oracle Card and introduced it as part of "Oracle for Windows", a collection of client / server software along with a selection of Oracle's existing text-based database client programs. Version 1.1 followed in 1992. at the Oracle Developers and Integrators Conference, and a Mac version soon after. OMO was later used as the front end for a database media system for interactive television, and the name was changed to Oracle Media Objects. When it didn't succeed, Oracle Media Objects disappeared in the late 1990s.

Individual evidence

  1. Don Crabb, "Plus Extends and Improves HyperCard Interface" , InfoWorld , November 6, 1989, pp. S9-S10
  2. Scott Mace, "Object Plus comes through with beefed-up Winplus" , InfoWorld , 28 November 1994 p. 29
  3. Yvonne Lee, "Oracle Card 1.1 slated for Windows and Pens" , InfoWorld , April 27, 1992, p. 8th
  4. Kim Nash, "Oracle to build interactive TV systems" , Computerworld , January 17, 1994, p. 8th