Solana Beach, CA - March 4, 2005 - Nisus Software, The Omni Group, and Blacksmith announced LinkBack, a new technology that brings embedded objects to the Mac OS X platform. LinkBack makes it possible to edit text or graphics pasted from another application by double-clicking on it. The technology will be included in future releases of Nisus Writer Express, OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle, and Chartsmith. It is also available today as an open source framework for use by other Mac developers at http://www.linkbackproject.org.
"Our goal with LinkBack is to make it incredibly easy to use the best Mac applications together," said Charles Jolley, managing director at Nisus Software, Inc. "Many writers who prepare documents in Nisus Writer Express include charts and drawings created in other applications. With LinkBack you can update these documents without having to juggle different files."
"Copying and pasting are fundamental to the Macintosh experience, yet until now there's been no easy way to edit a diagram that you've pasted into another document," says Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group. "With LinkBack, when you copy from OmniGraffle to Nisus Writer, OmniOutliner, or another application which supports LinkBack, you won't just be copying a PDF picture of your diagram: you'll also be making an editable copy of the diagram itself."
"Copy and pasting Chartsmith charts has never been so exciting as it is with LinkBack," said Tony Rennier CEO of Blacksmith. "With LinkBack, Chartsmith will store chart objects along with the image of a pasted chart. Users simply double-click the chart image to launch Chartsmith and edit the chart. Hit save in Chartsmith and the pasted image is automatically updated."
LinkBack is similar to Microsoft's Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technology or the Edit Graphic Object (EGO) technology popular on the Classic Mac OS, neither of which are widely available on the Mac OS X platform. By offering the LinkBack technology as open source, the companies hope to make it easier for users to use applications on their Mac together.
The LinkBack source and several example applications are available for developers immediately while the new products from Nisus Software, The Omni Group and Blacksmith will be available later this year.
For more information about LinkBack, including a press-ready logo, please visit the URL:
http://www.linkbackproject.org
For more information about other products mentioned in this press release, please visit:
Nisus Writer Express: http://www.nisus.com/expressAbout Nisus Software: Nisus Software, Inc. develops award winning text and productivity tools for the Macintosh, such as Nisus Writer Express, Nisus Thesaurus, Nisus Writer Classic, Nisus Email, and QUED/M.
About The Omni Group: The Omni Group develops productivity applications exclusively for Mac OS X. The Omni Group is the developer of OmniWeb, a web browser offering far more than standard browsing features which won a 2004 Macworld Editor's Choice Award; OmniOutliner, an outlining and organizational tool which was awarded first place, US category, in O'Reilly's 2003 Mac OS X Innovators Contest; and OmniGraffle, a diagramming application that won both a Macworld Editor's Choice Award and a MacUser UK Maxine Award in 2003. Founded in 1993, The Omni Group is located in Seattle, WA.
About Blacksmith: Blacksmith Technologies delivers enterprise-class, commercial software and custom development services for Mac OS X. Blacksmith's flagship product is Chartsmith. The premier charting and graphing application for Mac OS X, Chartsmith represents the first of many commercial products that Blacksmith plans for Mac OS X.
Copyright 2005, Nisus Software, Inc., The Omni Group, Inc., and Blacksmith, Inc.
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