Microsoft KB Archive/47558

Microsoft Press: Microsoft CD-ROM Yearbook 1989-1990 PSS ID Number: Q47558 Article last modified on 08-01-1989 PSS database name: PRESS

“Microsoft CD-ROM Yearbook 1989-1990” Foreword by Bill Gates Introduction by Min S. Yee

ISBN: 1-55615-179-9 $79.95 935 pages Publication date: April 11, 1989

“Microsoft CD-ROM Yearbook 1989-1990”

“We hope it (”the Microsoft CD-ROM Yearbook“) will be a useful tool for all of you who are making pioneering decisions that will lead to great CD-ROM products, who are taking the pioneer’s risks, and persevering to reap the pioneer’s rewards.”

Bill Gates, from the Foreword

In conjunction with Microsoft’s Fourth International Conference on CD- ROM, Microsoft Press will publish the first “Microsoft CD-ROM Yearbook,” a nearly 1000-page volume that delivers a comprehensive look at the expanding CD-ROM industry.

Formally introduced in 1985, CD-ROM (compact-disc read-only memory) technology combines the power of the personal computer with optical storage. CD-ROM exploits the enormous storage capability of the compact disc, which can contain more than 600 megabytes (MB) of information. CD-ROM offers a portable, easily replicated, and cost- effective means of distributing vast amounts of digitized information. Recognizing the enormous potential for such a technology in the publishing, software, and entertainment industries, Microsoft Corporation has sponsored four CD-ROM conferences and has been involved in sustained research and development in CD-ROM technology since 1985. Microsoft Corporation’s CD-ROM Group developed and marketed Bookshelf, the essential desktop reference for all PC users; the Microsoft Programmer’s Library, which contains 100,000 pages of reference material, including 11 Microsoft Press books; StatPack, an accessible compendium of business, demographic, wage, land-use, and agricultural data; and the Microsoft Small Business Consultant, which contains all the information needed to run an existing business or start a new one.

“The Microsoft CD-ROM Yearbook” looks at the current state of the industry – its technology, philosophy, setbacks, and achievements, and its participants and their products. Almanac-like, the “Yearbook” contains a rich mixture of previously published articles and more than 50 specifically commissioned essays that appeal both to those already immersed in the industry and to those learning the basics.

Contributors include Jay Fenton, Staff Engineer of Apple Computer, Inc.; Takashi Sugiyama, Assistant Manager, Sony Corporation; Roger Stukhoff, Editor-in-Chief, “CD-ROM Review”; and Ed Kelly, Acquisitions Manager, CD-ROM Group, Microsoft Press.

More than a chronicle of technological advances, “The Microsoft CD-ROM Yearbook” profiles personalities at the very heart of this versatile and expanding technology including Diana Gagnon, Research Associate, MIT Media Library; Martin Brooks, Executive Editor, Bowker Electronic Publishing; and William H. Ford, Jr., President, Online Computer Systems, Inc. More than 250 pages of directories list CD-ROM titles, disc drives, retrieval systems, data preparation houses, mastering/replication facilities, and CD-ROM resources and conferences.

“The Microsoft CD-ROM Yearbook’s” seven distinct sections explore every aspect of this new technology. The first section combines a history of CD-ROM technology with an examination of the state of the art and a look at what can be expected. Section II describes the optical media family as we know it today (CD-ROM, CD-I, CD-ROM XA, and DVI) and takes up interface and standardization issues. Section III reports on the many CD-ROM applications already in place in research, education, entertainment, medicine, and the law and where these applications are headed.

Section IV, “The Making of a CD-ROM,” details the development of a CD- ROM product, offering advice on publishing, interface design, testing, mastering, and costs. This section goes into multimedia CD-ROM development, hypertext, storage and retrieval technology, and text preparation issues. This profoundly practical section also offers advice on the use of animation and sound in CD-ROM applications.

The fifth section of the “Yearbook” explains the legal ramifications of CD-ROM technology–intellectual property rights and liability issues. Section VI takes up the business of CD-ROM, including the markets, proposal writing, financing, public relations, advertising, sales and distribution, pricing and licensing, and value-added partnerships.

This section concludes with survey responses from the 1988 CD-ROM conference – an industry profile – and essays from industry leaders on the future of CD-ROM technology. Section VII’s more than 250 pages of directories are a practical guide to that future.

Microsoft Press has published three other books on CD-ROM technology in conjunction with previous conferences. These are “CD-ROM: The New Papyrus,” edited by Steve Lambert and Suzanne Ropiequet (1986); “CD- ROM” 2: Optical Publishing, edited by Suzanne Ropiequet, with John Einberger and Bill Zoellick (1987); and “Interactive Multimedia,” edited by Sueann Ambron and Kristina Hooper, both of Apple Computer

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ “MSFT”), based in Redmond, Wash., develops, markets, and supports a wide range of software for business and professional use, including operating systems, languages, and applications programs, as well as books, hardware, and CD-ROM products for the microcomputer marketplace.

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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1989.