[comp.text.sgml] DynaText at Academic Price

robin@txsil.lonestar.org (Robin Cover) (12/18/90)

USENET readers may be willing to overlook the marketing language in the
following announcement upon reading that DynaText may be obtained
"for an 80% discount off the standard list price" under qualifying
conditions.  I hold no stock in the company, but obviously I think it's
one of the most promising examples of "academic" SGML software (smart
retrieval, dynamic display) currently available.

Robin Cover

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DynaText(tm) Academic Discount Program
 
Providence, RI -- November 26, 1990

Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. (EBT), is today announcing that
DynaText, its Electronic Book Publishing System and Browser, will be
made available to qualified research and academic organizations at a
substantial discount.  The goal is to increase research activity and
stimulate the formation of related standards in the application of ISO
Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) for hypermedia publishing.

"There is significant interest in using SGML as an effective means of
electronic information delivery, especially within large industries such
as Aircraft, Telecommunications and Government.  These industries will
be looking to the research community for help and guidance as they begin
to apply this technology to real world problems,"  said Louis R.
Reynolds, EBT Founder/CEO. "Since the announcement of DynaText in August
of 1990, EBT has had numerous requests from research organizations
engaged in SGML encoding and electronic publishing activities.  In
addition, EBTs close ties with Brown University's Institute for Research
in Information and Scholarship (IRIS) have made us aware of the value of
advanced hypertext research.  Therefore, we felt it was important to
provide this community with access to DynaText at an affordable price," 
Mr. Reynolds, concluded.

In the short time it has been available, DynaText has been hailed by
many as the 'missing link' or 'the first truly useful SGML application.' 
DynaText was specifically designed as a hypertext browser for large
scale SGML documents. DynaText accepts valid SGML documents and
automatically builds a dynamic table of contents that is used as one of
the primary means of navigating through the material.  Unlike its
printed counterpart, and like many high-end outline processors, this
table of contents can be expanded and collapsed providing an appropriate
level of detail for the reader.  Clicking on an item in this list
automatically scrolls an associated text view of the document to the
corresponding section.

DynaText uses SGML tags to automatically generate hyperlinks to
associated material such as diagrams, tables, and explicit cross
references.  This allows readers to quickly reference related material
through simple mouse clicks. DynaText is an open system that is not
bound to any specific SGML tag set, and allows users to add their own
link types/behavior through simple style sheet entries.  This mechanism
can be employed by users who want to create dynamic multi-media
documents.

DynaText also builds a full text index of the SGML document and (unlike
other indexers that simply report occurrences within an entire document)
can report occurrences within SGML components.  This provides an
unprecedented level of search precision that enables users to find terms
within the relevant sections of the document quickly.  Wild cards and
regular expressions can be used in conjunction with simple boolean
queries, further increasing search power and eliminating the need for
exact string matches.

Qualified non-commercial research organizations that are willing to
publish the results of their DynaText applications will be able to
purchase the system for an 80% discount off the standard list price (or
as low as $2,500).  DynaText is currently available for the SPARC family
running Sun OS 4.1 and Xwindows and is planned for MSWindows 3.0 in the
first half of 1991.
 
EBT can be contacted for further information at the following address:
 
In the U.S. :
        Electronic Book Technologies, Inc.
        One Richmond Square
        Providence, RI  02906
        Tel:(401) 421-9550,  Fax:(401) 421-9551
 
In Europe:
        EBT International
        20, Pre de la Ferme
        1261 Gingins, Switzerland
        Tel: 41-22-69-24-24,  Fax:41-22-69-24-25
 
Email:
        ebt-inc!info@uunet.uu.net  (or)  lrr@iris.brown.edu