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Kaleida Labs


Kaleida Labs formed in 1991 to produce the multimedia cross-platform Kaleida Media Player and the object oriented scripting language ScriptX that was used to program its behaviour. The system was aimed at the production of interactive CD ROM titles, an area of major effort in the early 1990s. When the system was delivered in 1994, it had relatively high system requirements and memory footprint, and lacked a native PowerPC version on the Mac platform. Around the same time, rapid changes in the market, especially the expansion of the World Wide Web and the Java programming language, pushed the interactive CD market into a niche role. The Kaleida platform failed to gain significant traction and the company was closed in 1996.

Kaleida was one of three early 1990s joint ventures between Apple and IBM, which also included the Taligent operating system and the AIM alliance with Motorola for the PowerPC platform. All of these projects suffered similar fates, dissolving in the mid-1990s. ScriptX was also one of several similar software platforms that started at Apple in the time frame. The SK8 system was also aimed at multimedia market, although it evolved from what was originally a major upgrade to HyperCard. The Dylan programming language was a more full-featured platform, aimed at general programming not just multimedia. Development of all of these projects ended about the same time.

Announced in 1991, the company began operations in the summer of 1992 with Nat Goldhaber serving as its first CEO. The company was staffed by hand picking members of Apple's QuickTime team, along with members from the big-iron content delivery side at IBM. Kaleida's corporate offices were located in Mountain View, California, at sites near the Shoreline Amphitheater on the east side of U.S. 101. Kaleida was one of the earliest companies to post a corporate website.


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