ܲ   ޲߲    ݰܰ   ܱ۱ܲ ܱ۲ ߲ ۱  ߰ ۲  ܰ ߲ܱܰ  ߲     ܲ ۲   ۲۲ ޲ ߲ ۲     ܱܲ     ۲ ߲۲        ܲ        telegrafix ܰ    ߱  (ripscrip development)     a division of fire productions     ߲ ۲        ߰  ܱ߲߰߰ ߰  ۲۲ ܲ ۲  ۲޲  ۱ ۱ ޲  ۲ ޲ ޲   ߲    ޲ ߲             ޲   ߰                        ۲                                                                                Imagine how communications pioneer Guglielmo Marconi felt when radio came along to render his wireless telegraph obsolete. That's about where Patrick Clawson and his colleagues at TeleGrafix Communications Inc. found themselves several years ago when the World Wide Web burst onto the scene. At the time, TeleGrafix's RIPscrip software was favored by thousands of computer bulletin board operators across the country as a fast, easy method for dressing up subscribers' computer screens with artwork, logos and other adornments. Then came the Web explosion of 1994, offering a sexy new way to transmit not only text--but also video, sounds and point-and-click commands--over the Internet. Suddenly, anything that wasn't on the Web and created with its unique software technology seemed passe. Bulletin board operators began attaching themselves to the Web and RIPscrip salves withered. "It was a tidal wave," said Clawson, a broadcasting industry veteran who had purchased a large stake in TeleGrafix in 1994 and became its president and chief executive, just as the wave struck. Now TeleGrafix is trying for a comeback. Now joined with Fire Productions, the world-wide leader in ANSI text-based graphics creation, the Winchester, Va., firm released a product on which  its hopes are pinned, a test version of a RIPscrip package that  lets Internet users tap into university and government databases  using simple, eye-catching Web-like graphics and commands. Many of these big computer systems have been linked to the Internet for years. But they have not been easily reached via the Web because of the high cost of converting the systems to the Web format, Clawson said. Moreover, even if there are connections, the Web merely takes users to the doorway of these older data storehouses. Many of today's new Web aficionados would be lost inside, because difficult "telnet" computer technology commands must be typed to search for files, copy information and carry out other tasks. Telegrafix's new product, RIPtel Visual Telnet, is meant to correct that problem. You don't need to know the commands; everything is reduced to point-and-click simplicity. The $9.95 RIPtel browser version goes on the users' machines. The institution maintaining the database also needs special software, called RIPaint, which costs $49.95. Copies can be ordered over TeleGrafix's Web site at http://www.telegrafix.com. A commercial version of RIPtel should be ready in February, he added. "This is an extrodinary leap for the ANSI Scene," said Jesse Kates, President of Fire Productions and full-time undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "For the first time ANSI artists will be able to make a career out of drawing ANSI." Making a viable business out of this will be an uphill struggle because of the Web's burgeoning popularity, some experts said. "They've been overtaken," said Kristina Kowitz, software manager at CompUSA's computer store in Vienna. Most newcomers to the Internet are learning the basics, not digging into sophisticated databases, she said. RIP software "might make sense" for older systems on the Internet, said Marc S. Usem, and industry analyst with Salomon Brothers Inc., who has yet to review TeleGrafix's products. But that's not where the future lies. "It's the Web." But the small division, seniored by Clawson and two founders, chugs on. Launched in Hutington Beach, Calif., the division has moved to Winchester, near Clawson's Berryville, Va., home. Clawson has been financing some expenses with his personal funds and credit card accounts. The pressures can be horrendous. A few hours before the Christmas launch of the new product, Diners Club telephoned Clawson to yank his card. The new software's speed and efficiency will help it catch on, said Jeff Reeder, who left computer maker AST Research Inc. in California to become one of TeleGrafix's founders in 1992 and remains a key technical guru. Current technology on the Web transmits certain types of images as may thousands of colored dots, one by one. This means lengthy waits for the Web user while all those dots arrive. RIPscrip instead transmits formulas for drawing images. The formulas are translated by the users' computer into colored geometric shapes on the screen. Rather than, say, sending every dot that makes up the border in a company's logo, a Web site would transmit a formula saying, in effect, draw a rectangle of such-and-such size and color and put in such-and-such place on the screen. It's not a good way to ship detailed photos over the Net, but it's fine for graphics and text, Reeder said, and much faster. An image that requires 80,000 bits to reproduce in a Web format can be drawn with just 4,000 bits using RIPscrip, Clawson said. The new RIP software offers a full palette of colors, multiple text windows, mouse-clickable buttons and accommodates photos in its windows. Despite RIPscrip's advantages, Clawson said, he has had a terrible time finding outside funding. "We've had, to date, over 100 companies slam the door in our face," he said. A dozen media and computer company executives he counted as friends turned him down, he added. "Myopia," he calls it. But he has found support in two widely separated places. Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry has put $700,000 into creating a Japanese version of RIPscrip, to open further the Internet to Japanese speakers. And Winchester has selected TeleGrafix as the first official tenant in its "CyberStreet Technology Zone," a part of the city's historic downtown equipped with advanced telecommunications facilities and earmarked for infotech firms. Once approved as tenants in the zone, companies are eligible for tax abatement and reduced utility charges. "We're paying half as much as in Huntington Beach, for twice the space," Clawson said. Now, Clawson said, he needs sales, not just support. The challenge is to find a niche of users who want to tap the specialized information inside the university and government databases and who are eager to have an appealing, graphical alternative to the old Telnet commands, he acknowledged. Then these users need to persuade system operators to adopt RIP commands. Otherwise, they may just have to built a better buggy whip.  --- the washington post, 1/6/97 SAUCE00Telegraphix Update File Telegraphix fire 199702026P