PC-Hypertext: Upward Compatibility

The software and hardware environment is designed to accommodate
modifications that will ensure upward compatibility as new
products are brought to market.  The current system is primarily
ASCII text based, though it does have with some graphics
capabilities (the system can  retrieve and display PC-Paintbrush
graphics files in BW, CGA, EGA, and VGA environments).  The
ultimate objective is to develop a networked, interactive
hypermedia system that fully integrates information from a broad
range of image, audio, olfactory, and alphanumeric sources.  The
creator of the MaxThink software, Neil Larson, has indicated his
intent to develop these capabilities in a hypertext (hypermedia)
environment (Neil Larson: oral communications on 11/88, 12/88,
1/89).

The most recent update of the software (May, 1989) begins to
address the graphics deficiency by permitting the display of
files in the PC-Paintbrush format (.PCX) from the PC-Hypertext
applications program.  At the same time, the company has
announced that imminent upgrades will include the capability to
display graphics files in TIFF, Postscript, and NAPLPS formats,
and to display information stored on CD-ROM and videodisc
devices.  Other projected developments are the graphic display of
network relationships and flow diagrams.  These capabilities
would represent significant enhancements of the MaxThink system,
and would establish it as a true hypermedia programming
environment.  In consideration of the other attributes of that
this hypertext system demonstrated in the case study application,
these enhancements would make this system an excellent
"off-the-shelf" solution for a broad range of preservation
information management applications.

<dfile87>   PC-Hypertext: Summary
<efile38>   PC-Hypertext: Potential