NEW YORK, April 23, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. and Linotype-Hell AG today announced that Microsoft is licensing Linotype-Hell’s color management module, known as LinoColorCMM, for inclusion in the Microsoft® Image Color Management (ICM) 2.0 API for future versions of the Windows NT® and Windows® 95 operating systems. The move, announced at Seybold Seminars New York 97, will improve color reliability and consistency across devices and will increase Windows compatibility with publishing industry standards.
The Linotype-Hell color transformation engine will be the default CMM for ICM 2.0. Microsoft ICM 2.0 is the latest Windows operating system-level API for color management across scanners, monitors, digital cameras and printers. Linotype-Hell’s LinoColorCMM is an industry-standard engine that consistently transforms color information across different devices.
Customer Benefits
Microsoft ICM 2.0 with LinoColorCMM will make it possible for Windows to display colors simply and reliably across a mix of input and output devices from different vendors in a distributed systems environment. With the LinoColorCMM as the default CMM, Windows-based applications that support ICM 2.0 will also be compatible with Macintosh applications that support LinoColorCMM-enabled ColorSync 2.0 (and later) technology from Apple Computer Inc., ensuring color consistency across Windows and Macintosh platforms.
“We’re very serious about making Windows the platform for not only creative publishing professionals who require consistent color management at an operating system level, but also business and home users who expect reliable color across their applications,”
said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of the personal and business systems group at Microsoft.
“Incorporating the LinoColorCMM technology brings us one step closer to delivering on this goal.”
In addition to its significance in the publishing industry, color management is a key technology for those who want to sell color-critical products on the Web and forthcoming digital television platforms. One of the primary obstacles to widespread implementation of color management by application developers has been a lack of robust cross-platform solutions. The adoption of the LinoColorCMM on Windows removes that obstacle.
“Over the last few years, the graphic arts industry moved into a marketplace increasingly dominated by open systems based around standard hardware platforms, standard operating systems and common applications,”
said Wolfgang Boppel, senior vice president, Linotype-Hell research and development.
”
We believe standardized color management is critical not only for the print and publishing industry, but also for Web commerce, intranet, digital TV and corporate communications.
“Linotype-Hell is proud to contribute to Microsoft’s efforts in making color management an easier undertaking for users of Windows, and we view this as a significant milestone in our history.”
Boppel added that all Linotype-Hell Windows-based solutions will support ICM 2.0.
Developer Benefits
This improvement to color management in Windows also creates new opportunities for ISVs to build technology solutions on the Windows platform for business as well as publishing professionals. By licensing the LinotypeCMM, Microsoft is helping to ensure that applications written to ICM 2.0 will now be able to support all
“color spaces”
such as RGB (red, green, blue – used in monitors and scanners) and CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black – used in printers and some scanners), as well as device-independent color spaces such as CIELAB. The LinoColorCMM utilizes ICC (International Color Consortium) profiles to convert color data between native device color spaces and device-independent color spaces.
Developers can take advantage of the enhancements Microsoft is making to ICM 2.0 and begin testing and development for it today by downloading the ICM 2.0 software developers kit from the Web at http://www.microsoft.com/msdn/sdk/icm20.htm .
More information about color management for the Windows platform and the improvements being made to ICM 2.0 over the 1.0 version for Windows 95 is available at http://www.microsoft.com /msdn/sdk/icm20.htm Details are also available in the white paper titled
“Color Management in Microsoft Windows Operating Systems: An Overview of ICM Technology,”
which is available http://www.microsoft.com/windows/platform/icmwp.htm .
About Linotype-Hell
Linotype-Hell, a Heidelberg Druckmaschinen AG company, provides the world’s largest range of prepress products and systems including scanners, color technologies, RIPs, fonts, image setters, computer-to-plate systems as well as consulting services. The company introduced the world’s first high-resolution PostScript RIP in 1985, and today has over 40,000 installed worldwide. Linotype-Hell has also maintained its status as provider of the world’s largest font library.
Information about Linotype-Hell can be obtained from the company’s Web site at (http://www.lhag.de/) For further information, contact (516) 434-2000 in the United States, 011-49-6196-98-0 in Germany and 011-44-1242-285000 in the United Kingdom.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, Windows NT and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Linotype and Hell are registered trademarks of Linotype-Hell AG. PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems Inc., which may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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