StartThing is a very cool, simple and powerful screen-saver. Install the control panel, choose the delay before the saver starts up at idle time and the application to launch. That's it!
The application to launch can be a Macromind Director Projector, a SuperCard project, a Quark-Immedia Presentation, an Applet or any other application...
Tips
- You can easily create your own screen saver by choosing the "QuickShow" application (by David Howel) as the startup application. QuickShow is a freeware utility that shows all pictures, jpeg, QuickTime movies, etc. from a folder.
- There are also a lot of tools to convert a QuickTime movie into an application.
StartThing requires System 7.0 or later, and is fully compatible with Mac OS 8.
Installing StartThing
To install and activate StartThing, you should:
- Copy the StartThing control panel into your Control Panels folder,
- Open it, choose the startup delay between 1 and 59 minutes (idle time),
- Choose the application to launch (the "StartThing App" projector is provided as an example),
- Restart your Mac.
Note: In general, no global script from the screen-saver animation is required for StartThing to quit the application (the animation). A script (in Lingo for Director or in SuperTalk for SuperCard for example) can be provided to quit the animation when the user moves the mouse or generates a mouse down or a key down event. Try your animation without script first and if it doesn't quit when such an event occurs, add the script.
A site license of StartThing... what for?
If you intend to use StartThing on a single computer, the site license is not
for you: you only need to get a $10 single-user license.
However, if you are a professional designer in the field of animation or
desktop publishing, you can choose to get a $100 site license for the "Pro"
version of StartThing. With StartThing Pro, you will be able to:
* customize StartThing Pro to only launch a single animation: the one
you have designed,
* provide StartThing Pro to your customers, bundled with the animation
you have designed for them,
* customize the control panel to display the logo of your company,
* install StartThing Pro on all computers of your customer.
Provide StartThing Pro to your customers to play the animation you sell them,
use it to display your animated logo as a screen saver on all computers of
your company... StartThing Pro is the medium you need for your animations.
Paying for StartThing
StartThing is shareware; it is not free. If you use StartThing for more than 30 days, you should pay a $10 registration fee. Registrations for StartThing are handled by the Kagi Shareware service. After you register, you'll receive information on how to unlock your copy.
Paying for StartThing is simple. You can register online using a web browser, or offline using the Register program.
Our online registration page can be found at:
<http://order.kagi.com/?HL&S>
<http://order.kagi.com/?HL> (for browsers that don't handle secure transactions)
or on the Objective Software web site at:
<http://www.planete.net/~objectiv/>
To use the Register utility, you need to:
1. Run the Register program and fill out the form: enter your name, email and/or postal address, and the number of single user (or site, or worldwide) licenses you desire to purchase. The form accepts many different payment methods such as: US Check, Money Order, Cash (in many different currencies), Visa, Mastercard, American Express, First Virtual, and Invoice (to be given to your accounts payable department).
2. Send it to Kagi Shareware: either email the data generated by the Register program or print it and send it via postal mail or fax. Credit card information is encrypted by the Register program. The address to send the completed form is output by Register when you Print or Copy the completed form. The addresses are:
Email: <sales@kagi.com>
FAX: +1 510 652 6589
Snail-mail:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-HL
Berkeley, California, 94709-1405
USA
Distribution
Please do NOT distribute modified versions of StartThing. Any distributed copy must be an unregistered copy, identical to the original StartThing package with no modification whatsoever. It would be difficult for us to support modified versions.
StartThing may be copied and distributed freely for non-commercial use on online sites (Internet archives, BBSs, etc.), magazines, books, disks or CD-ROMS without the authors' explicit permission, as long as the end-user charges don't exceed reasonable distribution or download costs. An explicit written permission must be obtained from the author for any commercial use.
If you find any problems or incompatibilities, please report them to me and I'll fix them.
Support
Support is available via e-mail. Please send your questions, comments and bug reports to:
<mailto:objectivesw@kagi.com>
Thanks to…
A great thanks to Jean-Philippe Gros, Herve Alaniesse, Jean-Philippe Guihard and Bernard Frangoulis.
Version history
• Version 1.0.2 (97/11/17)
- Fixes a very minor bug where the "delay" field of the control panel was not
deactivated when the registration dialog was displayed.
• Version 1.0.1 (97/11/03)
- This new version fixes a conflict with the Geoport software and accelerates the
fading of the demo animation.
• Version 1.0 (97/10/30)
- first release
Disclaimer
Harry Alloul ("the author") disclaims all warranties relating to this software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The author will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if the author or an agent of his has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall the author be liable for any damages, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software.
US Government:
If you are acquiring the Software and fonts on behalf of any unit or agency of the United States Government, the following provisions apply. The Government agrees:
(i) if the Software and fonts are supplied to the Department of Defense (DoD), the Software and fonts are classified as "Commercial Computer Software" and the Government is acquiring only "restricted rights" in the Software, its documentation and fonts as that term is defined in Clause 252.227-7013(c)(1) of the DFARS; and
(ii) if the Software and fonts are supplied to any unit or agency of the United States Government other than DoD, the Government's rights in the Software, its documentation and fonts will be as defined in Clause 52.227-19(c)(2) of the FAR or, in the case of NASA, in Clause 18-52.227-86(d) of the NASA Supplement to the FAR.
Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Macintosh, are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Finder is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
