---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash CD-ROM Software Distribution For ISVs SunFLASH Vol 28 #17 April 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an article by Tom Stapleton of Young Minds, Incorporated. The views expressed herein are those of the author. (Thanks, Tom.) As SunFlash editor, I would be pleased to receive more articles like this one by Tom. I am looking for articles that have a high information content. Limit product references to ones that support the technical thrust of the article. A simple product description will not be of as much interest to the general community as an article positioning a product or service within the greater trends in our industry. I'm not too proud, so if you have an existing article that will be of general interest, please get permission to redistribute it and send it to me! -johnj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revolution In Software Distribution Tom Stapleton Young Minds, Inc. CD-ROM is causing a revolution in software distribution for the UNIX workstation market. The current leading media, magnetic tape, is being discarded by companies such as Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, Intergraph, DEC, IBM, etc. in favor of CD-ROMs. To encourage their customer base to acquire CD-ROM drives, a variety of programs have been instituted, which include bundling drives with most server models and developer systems or offering a drive free with a software support contract. Other programs provide incentives to purchase a drive by simply lowering prices for CD-ROM based software distributions. Note that one CD-ROM drive on an NFS network will give everyone access to the CD-ROMS. Companies such as SCO, Interactive, NeXT, Apollo, Silicon Graphics, Data General, Motorola, AT&T and others have ISO 9660 CD-ROM drivers available and are formulating their own CD-ROM strategies. To date, Sun Microsystems is by far the most aggressive pursuer of CD-ROM; almost every SPARCstation network has access to at least one SunCD drive. Why The Shift To CD-ROMS ? The potential savings are huge. The break-even point for replicating 60 MB quarter-inch cartridge (QIC) tapes versus CD-ROM is just 50 copies. At 1000 disc copies, media reproduction savings for CD-ROM compared to QIC tapes can exceed $20,000. Cost Of CD-ROM Reproduction The cost of disc reproduction is currently $1.30 to $2 with mastering charges ranging between $800 and $2100. Prices depend upon turn around time and quantity of discs replicated along with other variables. The mastering facilities usually include two color art on the CD and a plastic jewel box at no extra charge. (Mastering is the creation of a metal mold that is used in replicating discs.) Aside from being inexpensive, the media is reliable, durable, high capacity (680MB), light and randomly accessible. Meanwhile, CD-ROM mastering and replication costs are becoming lower due to the excess capacity that exists in the CD Audio plants where the CD-ROMs are pressed. The ROCK RIDGE Interchange Protocols In March 1991, 16 companies announced support for the ROCK RIDGE Interchange Protocols, a framework for adding POSIX support to the international CD-ROM standard ISO 9660. Without breaking the standard in any way, Rock Ridge allows Unix applications and other operating systems' applications to run directly off the disc without the need for modification of any files. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is currently reviewing the extensions for inclusion in a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS). Simultaneously, the major workstation companies are adding these extensions to their CD-ROM drivers, in effect creating a defacto open standard. The ISO 9660 advantage is that software publishers can deliver multiple binaries of their software on a single CD-ROM in a format that most every computer in the market has a capacity to read. Simply, CD-ROM is a software marketer's dream. How else could a digital, multimedia, software demo be possible that includes hypertext, documentation, full motion video and software binaries for multiple computer platforms on a $2 disc? Software marketers should appreciate the fact that CD-ROMs 680 MB capacity allows them to put multiple applications on one disc. With license management packages available from 3rd parties along with data encryption schemes, a publisher can maintain complete control over the use of software or information on his CD-ROM. For CD-ROMs What is stopping software vendors from realizing the marketing and savings advantage of this bandwagon? NOTHING! Software is available that allows them to automatically handle the intricacies of formatting their data to the ISO 9660/Rock Ridge CD-ROM standard. How Simple Is It To Create A CD-ROM ? A software vendor simply chooses the data set he wants on a disc and arranges it into a directory structure. NFS- exported file systems may be included. Files that must be changed during execution or installation of your software should be copied off the CD-ROM to a hard disk before use. Each file's new location and and all references to it should be identified using a reliable absolute address or specified relative to its location on the CD-ROM. After giving special attention to assigning reasonable ownership and permissions for the files to be distributed you are ready for formatting the finalized directory structure as an ISO 9660 image. Simple as preparing a CD-ROM is, the ISV generally needs a high level of quality control over this important process. In-house CD-ROM preparation with Young Minds CD-ROM publishing software "Makedisc", achieves this objective. The advantages of in-house quality control along with the speed and convenience in getting product to market can not be matched by a service bureau. Working with a service bureau is normally a slow and expensive process due to the verification process needed for testing the layout and formatting of a disc. "MAKEDISC", Young Minds ISO 9660/Rock Ridge formatting software is the ISV's core CD-ROM technology. It creates a finished CD-ROM disc image that can be sent to a CD pressing facility on tape or other electronic media for mastering and replication. A CD-ROM image can be tested before mastering by placing it in a hard disk partition and mounting it with the workstation's CD-ROM driver to emulate functionality of a real CD-ROM! This UNIX program offers a major advantage over MS-DOS systems in that no dedicated hardware is required. The other major advantage is that all Unix style names and symbolic links are converted to ISO 9660 format automatically and can be read by Unix platforms that do not currently have their Rock Ridge drivers implemented. Makedisc solves the publisher's CD-ROM formatting nightmares with one simple to learn Unix command. YOUNG MINDS, INC., is providing the Unix-based CD-ROM formatting software used by the majority of the Unix ISV's and Unix computer companies creating CD-ROMs today. Today, most ISO 9660 CD-ROMs distributed in the Unix market are formatted using Young Minds software. A partial client list includes Highland Software, LSI Logic, NeXT, Hewlett Packard, Tiger Media, McDonnell Douglas, Island Graphics, Harvard University, U.C Berkeley, Interleaf, JPL, CALS, NIST, Computer Signal and Sony, along with other major universities, Unix workstation manufacturers and ISV's. "Makedisc" is enabling the Unix CD-ROM software distribution revolution to happen. "Makedisc" runs on all Sun workstations and on most other major Unix platforms including Hewlett Packard HP/UX(TM), 88open(TM), Apollo Domain(TM), DEC Ultrix(TM), NeXT(TM) and IBM RS/6000(TM). The list price is $6995. Remarkably, replacing just one 400 QIC tape distribution with CD-ROMs pays for the Makedisc software, software support and the complete manufacturing and mastering costs for the 400 CD-ROMs!!! Young Minds, Inc. was formed two years ago specifically to meet the needs of the Unix CD-ROM market, producing the first Unix ISO 9660 CD-ROM with the introduction of the Free Software Foundations GNU and MIT's X Window source code on disc. Today, products include CD Write Once devices for Sun workstations and full text indexing and retrieval software for OPENLOOK, Motif and SunView. Future products being developed include Multiplatform MultiMedia(TM) CD-ROM authoring software for Hypermedia application. End users will be able to gain access to text, graphics, audio and full motion video from a CD-ROM with software only. For further information contact: Young Minds, Incorporated Tom Stapleton Phone: 714-335-1350 Fax: 714-798-0488 E-mail: yngmnds!stapltn@ucrmath.ucr.edu ### UNIX and OPENLOOK are registered trademarks of UNIX Systems Laboratories, Inc. SunView ,SunCD and Sun Workstation are trademarks of Sun Microsystems. Motif is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft. All other trademarks mentioned herein are products of the companies who market them. ### U.S. CD-ROM MASTERING FACILITIES Courtesy of Young Minds, Inc. Disc Manufacturing, Inc. Contact: 1120 Cosby W Wan Seegmiller Anaheim, CA 92806 714-630-6700 Discovery Systems, Inc. Contact: 7001 Discovery Blvd. Blake Goddard Dublin, OH 43017 614-766-3114 DADC (Sony) Contact: Digital Audio Disc Corporation Sean Smith 1800 North Fruitridge Ave. 408-944-4220 Terre Haute, IN 47804 3M Optical Recording Dept. Contact: 1425 Parkway Drive Mark Arps Menomonie, WI 54751 612-736-3274 Denon America, Corp. Contact: 1380 Monticello Road Ben Garcia Madison, GA 43017 404-342-3425 JVC Disc America Co. Contact: 9229 Sunset Blvd., Suite 810 Paul West Los Angeles, CA 90069 213-274-2221 Philips DuPont Optical Contact: U.S. Hwy 29 Pam Sandsbury Kings Mountain 818-363-5991 Grover, NC 28073 Nimbus Records, Inc. Contact: P.O. Box 7305 John Sands Charlottesville, VA 22906 804-985-1100 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.