Hypercard: Could Apple please release the source?

In article
,
jj <justdashjohn DeleteThis @justdashjohn.conodashm> wrote:

 > Since the last time I asked, have there been any attempts to get Apple
 > to "open source" (meant as a verb) HyperCard? I'm still using it, and
 > would love it if development was continuing, including porting it to
 > various other platforms and OSes.

The last time the iHug (International HyperCard Users Group) asked
Apple about that, the statement was "Open Source is not a dumping ground
for dead technology". There are also supposedly some patents in
HyperCard and some licensed code in there that Apple can't open-source.

I guess it'd be more work for Apple than it's worth to sift through
HC's sources and find what can be released.

 > Even just a file specification that would let us reverse-engineer the
 > thing with their permission (and, probably, amusement) would be nice.

The Sphere Project (Project XI/WildFire) have recently
reverse-engineered the file format, I think. It probably wouldn't be a
bad idea for anyone interested to help them in their effort to clone
HyperCard.

Cheers,
-- Uli
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 >> Stay informed about: Hypercard: Could Apple please release the source? 

Dear Uli, jj, and [H]omer,

The Sphere project is really great. What's more, it is the only
real HyperCard clone I know of. Other tools can import HyperCard
stacks, but they have many compatibility issues.

Recently, I had a look at PXILite and it appears to display
stacks in *exactly* the same way HyperCard does. That's really neat!

It is to be expected that PXILite will also use a form of xTalk
that will be almost perfectly compatible with HyperTalk,
contrary to other tools, which are only compatible "for the most
part".

I very much agree with Uli. If you want to contribute to the
Sphere project, contact them. They're website can be found at
<http://www.creysoft.com/>. Btw, currently it is called CHASM,
but I believe this is still part of the Sphere project, together
with PXI and other projects.

Best,

Mark


Uli Kusterer wrote:


 > The Sphere Project (Project XI/WildFire) have recently
 > reverse-engineered the file format, I think. It probably wouldn't be a
 > bad idea for anyone interested to help them in their effort to clone
 > HyperCard.
 >
 > Cheers,
 > -- Uli
<font color=purple> > <a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://www.zathras.de</font" target="_blank">http://www.zathras.de</font</a>>

--

eHUG coordinator
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 >> Stay informed about: Hypercard: Could Apple please release the source? 

In article ,
Mark Schonewille <nospam.TakeThisOut@nospam.com> wrote:

 > They're website can be found at
 > <http://www.creysoft.com/>. Btw, currently it is called CHASM,
 > but I believe this is still part of the Sphere project, together
 > with PXI and other projects.

The Sphere project is the group (http://www.yahoogroups.com). They're
working on an IDE, which is Sphere, and they have CHASM, which is the
HyperTalk engine, and PXI, which is the complete HyperCard clone.

Okay, that's simplified, and Tyler would probably kick my rear end for
saying it wrong, but hey...

Cheers,
-- Uli
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 >> Stay informed about: Hypercard: Could Apple please release the source?