applications. Apple’s extension to the Mac’s operating system, called QuickTime, allows software developers to integrate audio and video data types with standard applications (Utilizing Multimedia 1996, p. 12).Multimedia on the IBM PC and compatible’s, on the other hand, comes as a relatively new development. Microsoft announced its specifications for the Multimedia PC in November of 1990. It defines the following minimum standard requirements:1.2.1Specificationsa 386/486 CPU; 2MB or more of RAM;30MB or larger hard disk (100MB recommended);VGA (4-bit or 8-bit) video display (640x480 resolution minimum; super VGA recommended);101-key keyboard;two-button, Microsoft-compatible mouse;a digital audio subsystem, consisting of the following:8-bit digital to analog converter (DAC), linear PCM (pulse code modulation) sampling, 11.025kHz and 22.05kHz sampling rate, DMA/FIFO with interrupt;8-bit digital to analog converter (DAC), linear PCM sampling, 11.025kHz sampling rate, microphone input;music synthesiser chip;on-board analog audio mixing capabilities;MIDI-in (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and MIDI-out ports;Serial, parallel, and joystick ports;Joystick or other absolute-pointing device;A CD-ROM drive with CD-DA outputs with an average seek time of 1 second or less; andSystems software compatible with the applications programming interfaces (APIs) of Microsoft Windows 3.0 with multimedia extensions or equivalent APIs. (Multimedia on the PC 1993, p. 1)1.2.2Interactive Multimedia Association’s PlatformThe interactive multimedia association (IMA) released the first in a series of definitions of classes of multimedia platforms. The proposal presents specifications for the minimum functionality required for what it calls the Interactive Video Personal Computer (IVPC) platform class. The specifications aim to support portable multimedia applications that use full-motion, laserdisc-based video and computer graphic...
