From: gkushmer@jade.tufts.edu (Greg Kushmerek)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.apps
Subject: Podium - Multimedia Program
Date: 1 Oct 92 13:31:34 GMT
Distribution: comp
Organization: Roger Mellie Enterprises, PLC

One of the trade rags that makes its way around the office here is something 
called "The Chronicle of Higher Education," which has a number of interesting
parts to it.  Among them is a section called Information Technology, usually
Section B, and in that is a place where they list new academic software 
releases.

Last week I was browsing through this, and among all the new "hypercard"
product wasteland was one shiny gem: Podium for Presentation Manager. Well
I read on to see if this was an OS/2 product, but it didn't specify.  So I
called the manufacturer (the University of Delaware) and asked.  The woman
who took the call did not know, but read through the list where it said Podium
was supported by OS/2 1.3 and up. (She didn't know what this meant, so I told
her that using a product in Dos would be like tying one arm behind your 
back and being set about to do your work.)

Before I go on any further, I should say that this is a multimedia product
that is designed to allow a user to "develop and present dynamic
and powerful multimedia presentations with full color slides, audio, and full 
motion video."  It can take a variety of audio and video input and turn it
into a multimedia presentation.  

I had her mail me their information kit which I received yesterday.  Most
of the material was written last October and emphasizes DOS and Windows, but
there is a color picture on the cover sheet which shows the program clearly
running under OS/2 2.0.  Unfortunately, there is no place in the material that
says this a 32 bit product (the targeted audience appears to be an academic
or university staff member with nominal computer knowledge.)  

However, there is another nice eight page, color handout which on page five
has a section called "The OS/2 Advantage."  It says:

	Users who run PODIUM under OS/2 will benefit from the speed, large
	memory management, and concurrency that OS/2 provides.  For example,
	the user can open several PODIUM presentation files simultaneously
	and copy objects from one to another.  After modifying a file and hot-
	keying back to PODIUM, the changes take effect immediately.

There's a little more that essentially talks about being able to multitask
to your word processor (which can be incorporated in your video).

Apparently, the University of Delaware has some kind of deal going on with
IBM for one can order, from IBM, a PS/2 with OS/2 and Podium fully installed.

While the product costs $495 for OS/2 users, DOS and Windows users get a
break at $395.  (This is the educational discount; add $200 for commercial
purchases.)

I'm posting this only out of interest and out of the desire to see OS/2
products succeed (which can only be done if people know of and buy them).
If you want more information, Fred Hofstetter, Associate Provost, Academic
Computing and Instructional Technology at the University of Delaware is 
available at the Bitnet address: CRY02737@UDELVM

I have no affiliation with the University of Delaware or this product (though
I was accepted to go there for grad studies two years ago :-)  If anyone
buys this product, I would be very interested to hear their opinions.

--gk
Xref: sparky comp.os.os2.apps:6629 comp.os.os2.advocacy:6384