ELECTRONIC BOOK TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES "RAINBOW"

ELECTRONIC BOOK TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES COMMON SGML REPRESENTATION FOR
PROPRIETARY WORD PROCESSOR FORMATS

"Rainbow" DTD and Tools Publicly Available

SGML '93, BOSTON, Dec. 8, 1993 -- Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. (EBT)
today introduced a public technology platform to ease the transition from
proprietary word processor (WP) data to SGML. Dubbed "Rainbow," the
approach specifies a single Document Type Definition (DTD) for
representing a wide variety of proprietary word processor data formats.
Rainbow supports the first step in the proprietary-to-SGML conversion
process in a common, tool- independent manner.

The conversion process from legacy, proprietary data to SGML today requires
costly, custom-built tools, which make the SGML hurdle fairly difficult to
overcome. Rainbow provides a two-step approach: In step 1, "Rainbow
Makers" convert proprietary WP information into a canonical,
well-documented SGML format.  Then, in step 2, the Rainbow document is
converted into the richer SGML structures required by the different
industry-standard DTDs. Step 2 is performed using off-the-shelf
SGML-translation tools.

A significant advantage of Rainbow is that it insulates step-2 conversion
from changes in proprietary formats.  For example, if WP company X comes
out with a new version with a new file format, only the X-to-Rainbow
(step-1) convertor needs to be adjusted.  The more sophisticated step-2
convertors that go from Rainbow to rich SGML need not be modified.

By using this two-step approach as the standard "enabler" between
proprietary WP data and SGML, the entire process is vastly simplified,
more efficient for SGML conversion and translation tools vendors, hence
much more affordable for consumers.

Dave Sklar, Senior Application Developer at EBT, has managed the
collaborative effort among the SGML tool vendors over the past five months
to develop Rainbow.  He says: "Proprietary word-processing formats are
typically poorly documented, highly idiosyncratic, and subject to change
without notice. Maintaining conversion tools that recognize such formats
is thus a very expensive endeavor. The goal of Rainbow is to provide a
stable data format to feed conversion tools, making the path to SGML much
more affordable and increasing the shelf-life of such tools."

"As more and more corporations adopt SGML as a vender independent solution,
Rainbow will ease their conversion curve and help out the SGML vendor
community as well," says Lou Reynolds, President and Founder of EBT.
"DynaText was built around the SGML standard from the ground up, so we are
especially appreciative of the current effort required to convert
proprietary information into SGML. Rainbow will provide a useful
stake-in-the-ground around which SGML conversion vendors can help
customers hurdle the proprietary wall. To jump-start Rainbow support, we
are coordinating with the SGML tool vendors to incorporate Rainbow support
into their tools and we are making the Rainbow DTD and several Rainbow
Makers (FrameMaker MIF-to-Rainbow and Interleaf ASCII-to-Rainbow) publicly
available. Because the need for such a solution is so wide-spread, natural
supply and demand will take care of the rest."

Pam Gennusa, Executive Director of Database Publishing Systems, a premier
SGML systems integrator and consulting service located in the UK, says:
"We have long recognized the need to provide the all-important
'first-step' toward the use of SGML and enjoying its many advantages.
Rainbow will make it possible for us to provide this important first step
to our customers who have large existing sets of electronic documents in
proprietary format. Customers will now be able to realize the rewards of
SGML earlier in the overall conversion process. Rainbow is a solid
approach to the conversion problem; it's also good for business."

Eric van Herwijnen, author of Practical SGML says: "Rainbow will enable the
conversion of any kind of electronic information into SGML. It supports
the application of powerful SGML tools to a part of the market place that
was hitherto beyond SGML's reach. At last, SGML will be available to the
common user. Rainbow makes your information shine!"

John McFadden, President of Exoterica, which develops and markets OmniMark,
a specialized SGML text-manipulation language, says: "We have recognized
the need for something like Rainbow for a long time. We are delighted that
EBT has taken the initiative and dedicated the time and effort needed to
finally make it happen. Exoterica whole-heartedly embraces Rainbow."

"With an emphasis upon 'ease of conversion to SGML,' the Rainbow DTD nicely
complements the easy-to-use strength of SoftQuad's Author/Editor SGML
editorial environment," says Yuri Rubinsky, President of SoftQuad Inc., a
leader in multi-platform SGML authoring software. "Word-processed files
converted to Rainbow markup will import instantly into our full suite of
SGML tools. We will continue to work closely with EBT and other industry
leaders to develop a de facto industry standard around Rainbow."

Jim Sterken, President of ArborText, which develops and markets SGML
Publisher, a leading native SGML authoring tool, says: "The Rainbow DTD
and associated conversion filters will greatly simplify the process of
converting legacy data into SGML. We plan to use Rainbow and associated
conversion filters in our PowerPaste document conversion application."

EBT's product DynaText, introduced in August of 1990, is the first
electronic book publishing system for large-scale SGML documents. DynaText
accepts any valid SGML document and automatically builds a dynamic
electronic book that enables users to quickly browse, search, and annotate
large, highly structured documents. The electronic books can be shared
among heterogeneous networks or placed on standalone portable information
delivery devices. DynaText currently runs on Microsoft Windows, Apple
Macintosh, and UNIX workstations.

Electronic Book Technologies was founded in 1989 to provide in-house
publishers with state-of-the-art solutions for the publication and
delivery of a new generation of dynamic electronic books. EBT is privately
held, and is headquartered in Providence, RI.

To obtain the annotated Rainbow.DTD and Rainbow Makers via anonymous FTP:
        
  Name of FTP server: ftp.ebt.com
  Location of Rainbow data: pub/outgoing/rainbow

To receive notification regarding Rainbow updates, and information on the
status of Rainbow Makers, subscribe to the Rainbow information service by
emailing "rainbow@ebt.com"

Electronic Book Technologies, Inc.
One Richmond Square
Providence, RI 02906
(401) 421-9550,  fax (401) 421-9551

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