Developers of custom software and educational simulations.
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Kurtz-Fernhout Software Developers of custom software and educational simulations. |
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Kurtz-Fernhout Software News Archive
Click here for recent news. News items
November 30, 1998 -- New registration pricing structure, new versions for PlantStudio and StoryHarp.
We announce a new registration price of US$19.95 for PlantStudio or StoryHarp. Read about it in the press release below. PlantStudio 1.22 and StoryHarp 1.31 reflect these price changes.
November 16, 1998 -- PlantStudio 1.21 released.
PlantStudio version 1.21 is a minor release with changes only to time-sensitive
warnings.
November 13, 1998 -- Download counts grow.
Over 2000 copies of Garden with Insight have been downloaded from our site.
PlantStudio downloads stand
at just over 600, and StoryHarp downloads are over 250.
November 1998 -- Consulting contracts.
Since our move in July we've been busy with two new consulting contracts
for custom services, including technical writing and software development.
We keep a steady eye on our web site and products, though.
July 1998 -- Kurtz-Fernhout Software Moves.
We completed a historic move of our home and offices from Ames, Iowa to
Chappaqua, New York (just above NYC).
June 3, 1998 -- PlantStudio 1.20 released.
PlantStudio version 1.20 adds multi-plant DXF output and
3D object reconciling between plant files and object libraries. It
also fixes several problems.
For details see the PlantStudio change list.
June 1, 1998 -- StoryHarp 1.3 released.
StoryHarp version 1.3 introduces the generation of Java applet
source code for playing StoryHarp stories over the web. Other
enhancements include improved graphical editing using the map and
display of pictures for slide shows. For details see
the StoryHarp change list.
May 24, 1998 -- PlantStudio 1.10 released.
PlantStudio version 1.10 revamps the
system for reading startup information,
fixes several small problems and makes some improvements.
For details see the PlantStudio change list.
May 21, 1998 -- PlantStudio 1.04 released.
PlantStudio version 1.04 adds diagnostic tools to help fix a problem two
users have encountered when reading text files.
May 18, 1998 -- PlantStudio 1.03 released.
PlantStudio version 1.03 fixes three problems that show up when you shut down
Windows (using Start - Shut Down) while PlantStudio is running.
May 14, 1998 -- StoryHarp 1.2 released.
StoryHarp 1.2 unveils a new lower price and a player-only mode that does
not require registration. Improvements were made for handling large fonts,
better updating for command options when rules change, and better text scrolling.
May 14, 1998 -- PlantStudio 1.02 released.
PlantStudio version 1.02 fixes a problem related to displays using large fonts.
May 11, 1998 -- PlantStudio 1.01 released.
PlantStudio version 1.01 makes a minor improvement to error handling in case
of file corruption during downloading.
May 1, 1998 -- PlantStudio 1.0 released.
PlantStudio Botanical Illustration Software is now available for
download as a fully-functional evaluation
version. See the press release below.
May 1, 1998 -- StoryHarp 1.1 released.
This StoryHarp version incorporates several small improvements.
April 21, 1998 -- Garden with Insight download count tops 1000.
Today the total number of Garden with Insight full downloads
topped one thousand for the first time. We are proud to be helping people
learn more about the science behind gardening.
April 10, 1998 -- Garden with Insight download count continuing to grow.
We've had over 920 downloads of Garden with Insight!
Keep the surveys and
email coming!
(Thanks to the people who have responded!)
April 10, 1998 -- PlantStudio progressing.
We are doing final testing on PlantStudio.
A few setbacks have pushed
the release date back to sometime in May (instead of April), but
the program looks great!
April 3, 1998 -- StoryHarp released.
StoryHarp 1.0 was released on April 3rd!
You can download a fully-functional evaluation copy of StoryHarp
from our download page. See the press release below.
March 4, 1998 -- Garden with Insight version 1.1 update available.
We have a new version 1.1 maintenance update for Garden with Insight for Windows 95/NT.
See the Garden with Insight
download page for details.
March 2, 1998 -- Garden with Insight in the news.
Garden with Insight was mentioned in an article about gardening-related web sites by Mark Houser in the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. While he mostly jokes about the program's accuracy, he does say, "...using Garden with Insight, you'll get a deeper understanding of how water, temperature and pH affect the garden."
You can see the article at
http://www.triblive.com/digage/cgard05.
After you read it, press the Back button on your browser to get back here.
For more information about the limitations of simulation,
see our cautionary
note about simulations.
Press Releases
For more recent press releases, see our main news page.
Why the price reduction? "The increased availability of good software on the web is driving prices down, and we like to stay competitive," said Cynthia Kurtz, one of the founders of Kurtz-Fernhout Software. "Also, we are redirecting our software development energies towards smaller, faster projects that can better coexist with our consulting work."
StoryHarp is a tool for creating interactive
stories which can feature computer speech and voice recognition. It is especially
useful for the beginning interactive fiction writer, though experienced authors
appreciate its advanced story-creation and prototyping tools.
PlantStudio is a tool for easily creating lifelike 3D pictures of herbaceous (non-tree) plants such as wildflowers, cut flowers, grasses and herbs using a
parameter-based simulation model. PlantStudio users can animate plants, breed new plants, and export a variety of graphics formats to other programs.
Fully-functional evaluation copies of PlantStudio and StoryHarp can be
downloaded from the Kurtz-Fernhout Software web site
(http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com). Both programs run under Windows 95/98/NT. Use of an evaluation copy for longer than a set time requires payment of the registration fee (check each program's help system for details).
Educational discounts are no longer available on these products. For orders over ten copies, contact Kurtz-Fernhout Software directly for a volume discount. As always, the company's flagship product, the Garden with Insight(TM) garden simulator, is available at no charge.
Kurtz-Fernhout Software (http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com)
is a husband-and-wife software company that
has been in business since 1992. They specialize in
creating software that teaches people about nature, technology
and society. Their products are: the Garden with Insight
garden simulator; the StoryHarp Audioventure Authoring System; and
PlantStudio Botanical Illustration Software. They also consult in the field of
software development.
StoryHarp authors create a set of "rules" for playing an audioventure.
Rules simplify the process of creating the story and help the
author create detailed situations for interactive play.
StoryHarp authors can add sounds and music to their stories
to enhance the auditory experience.
According to Paul Fernhout, StoryHarp's chief architect,
"The StoryHarp system emphasizes ease of use for the beginning
adventure author while including advanced tools for the experienced
author, such as a map and a browser. Above all, StoryHarp is
specifically adapted to the demands of
creating and playing sound-based interactive stories."
With StoryHarp 1.2, Kurtz-Fernhout Software unveiled a new pricing
and licensing scheme for the StoryHarp product.
Starting with StoryHarp version 1.2,
StoryHarp can be used in player-only mode to play
stories indefinitely without registering it, and the price for registering the
complete StoryHarp authoring system has been reduced to
$39.95. According to Paul Fernhout, "The decision to switch to a
new pricing and licensing scheme was made after much discussion with
StoryHarp users. We are grateful to the people who took the time
to give us valuable feedback on this decision."
A fully-functional evaluation copy of StoryHarp can be
downloaded from the Kurtz-Fernhout Software web site
(http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com).
Use of the evaluation copy in other than player-only mode for longer
than 24 total hours requires payment of the $US39.95 registration
fee. Educational and volume discounts are available.
Use of voice recognition, text-to-speech, and
sound functions requires installation of Microsoft Agent and related
software (which are currently available for download from Microsoft).
Kurtz-Fernhout Software (http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com)
is a husband-and-wife software company that
has been in business since 1992. They specialize in
creating software that teaches people about nature, technology
and society. Their products are: the Garden with Insight
garden simulator; the StoryHarp Audioventure Authoring System; and
PlantStudio Botanical Illustration Software.
PlantStudio joins other natural modeling systems
such as MetaCreations Bryce 3D,
Hutchison Avenue Software Corporation TreeDruid, Onyx Computing Tree Professional,
MetaCreations Poser, and Arete Image Software
Digital Nature Tools to provide artists with scientific tools to portray
the natural world.
According to Cynthia Kurtz, PlantStudio's chief architect,
"PlantStudio users can
animate plants through their life cycles, breed new varieties of plants
by mutating existing plants,
export plants to other graphics programs via the clipboard
and the BMP and DXF file formats, create nozzles for MetaCreations
Painter and picture tubes for PaintShopPro to 'spray' a picture
with plants, and create animated GIFs and video clips of simulated plant growth."
A fully-functional evaluation copy of PlantStudio can be
downloaded from the Kurtz-Fernhout Software web site
(http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com). Use of the evaluation copy for longer
than 10 total hours requires payment of the $US79.95 registration
fee. Educational and volume discounts are available.
Kurtz-Fernhout Software (http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com)
is a husband-and-wife software company that
has been in business since 1992. They specialize in
creating software that teaches people about nature, technology
and society. Their products are: the Garden with Insight
garden simulator; the StoryHarp Audioventure Authoring System; and
PlantStudio Botanical Illustration Software.
StoryHarp authors create a set of "rules" for playing an audioventure.
Rules simplify the process of creating the story and help the
author create detailed situations for interactive play.
StoryHarp authors can add sounds and music to their stories
to enhance the auditory experience.
According to Paul Fernhout, StoryHarp's chief architect,
"The StoryHarp system emphasizes ease of use for the beginning
adventure author while including advanced tools for the experienced
author, such as a map and a browser. Above all, StoryHarp is
specifically adapted to the demands of
creating and playing sound-based interactive stories."
A fully-functional evaluation copy of StoryHarp can be
downloaded from the Kurtz-Fernhout Software web site
(http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com).
Use of the evaluation copy for longer
than 24 total hours requires payment of the $US79.95 registration
fee. Educational and volume discounts are available.
StoryHarp can also be used as a player without registering.
Use of voice recognition, text-to-speech, and
sound functions requires installation of Microsoft Agent and related
software (which are currently available for download from Microsoft).
Kurtz-Fernhout Software (http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com)
is a husband-and-wife software company that
has been in business since 1992. They specialize in
creating software that teaches people about nature, technology
and society. Their products are: the Garden with Insight
garden simulator; the StoryHarp Audioventure Authoring System; and
PlantStudio Botanical Illustration Software.
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Updated: March 20, 1999. Questions/comments on site to webmaster@kurtz-fernhout.com. Copyright © 1998, 1999 Paul D. Fernhout & Cynthia F. Kurtz. |