Cupertino, California-based Apple Computer Inc replied to Microsoft Corp’s Video For Windows launch by announcing, on the same day, new QuickTime for Windows software that plays video clips on most IBM-compatible personal computers under Windows. The system gives Windows users the same capabilities that Macintosh users have had for the past year, Apple said twisting the knife, even though the kind of user that really wants video on his or her personal computer will be the kind of person that naturally gravitates to a Macintosh: dyed-in-the-wool Mac users usually hate Windows when they try to use it. QuickTime for Windows implements the QuickTime architecture on the Windows environment and, Apple claims, is a more robust environment than Video for Windows on the basis that it is a ground-up product where the Microsoft offering cobbles together software from several sources. It provides a set of Windows Dynamic Link Libraries that can be used by any Windows application adapted to QuickTime’s programming interface. Like Video For Windows, Apple’s system uses Intel Corp’s Indeo video compression technology. Apple says Indeo is a key ingredient for standardising video computing under all major operating systems making it easily available to tens of millions of new users. Minimum requirements for running QuickTime for Windows are an 80386-based computer with 4Mb RAM, 80Mb hard disk and VGA adaptor; MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1; for movies with sound, a sound board is also needed. Apple has licensed its new technology to a number of software developers that will build applications for it, including Adobe Systems Inc, Lotus Development Corp, Software Publishing Co and WordPerfect Corp. The software development kit is available now, worldwide, for $300, through the Apple developer tools distribution group, APDA. Apple is confident that the introduction of QuickTime last January has helped to give it a head start in the multimedia market. Over 500 QuickTime applications have been announced for the Macintosh since then; 300 are currently shipping.
