Literate Software Systems - Across Lite for Business

Why consider Across Lite?

There are several reasons why Across Lite provides an unique and novel solution to bringing crosswords on-line:

On-line and home computer market targeting

Every traditional channel in which crossword puzzles have appeared in the past already has an on-line counterpart or will have one shortly. The convenience of on-line distribution, the tremendous growth in the sales of home computers coupled with the novelty of the new medium has resulted in a strong market for publications on-line. Crosswords have proven themselves to be popular and durable in print. How well do they translate to the on-line medium?

Unfortunately, the traditional tool for crossword solving (a pencil) is not satisfactory for on-line distribution. Creators and publishers can no longer rely solely on the availability of a pencil to distribute puzzles. Current on-line distributions that mimic print (images, PostScript(tm), word-processor formats, ASCII displays or combinations of those) suffer from several barriers between the distribution and the "consumption".

The requirements for specific hardware (PostScript printers) or software (e.g., a word-processor) cannot be satisfied in sufficient generality for puzzle providers to be not worried about them. The distribution in those formats also tend to be fairly large in size creating problems for downloads and for packing into diskettes. Moreover, unless the distribution is eventually printed at the consumer end, the puzzle distribution remains impractical for solving and to a large extent non-portable. A reader cannot do the equivalent of picking up a pencil on encountering a crossword puzzle in a puzzle book, magazine/newspaper and start solving it.

But now, there is a solution. Across Lite is the "pencil" you can count on people having or the "pencil" you can supply when you publish the crosswords on-line. The following scenarios set the design goals for Across Lite.

a reader browsing through an on-line magazine and on encountering a crossword puzzle that looks interesting, simply clicking on a link to have it automatically appear in a program that lets him/her start solving it,
a crossword enthusiast using an on-line search mechanism to track down crossword puzzles of a specific type and after doing an on-line purchase, clicking on a link to have it appear ready for solving on his/her computer,
a crossword club member receiving the monthly digest in a diskette that can be used on multiple platforms (even a portable on the way to work) and using an enclosed program to start solving the newly arrived puzzles as well as printing out a bunch for the next outing into the wilderness (i.e., with no access to a computer)

Even the traditionalists can be satisfied since every puzzle can be printed out from Across Lite in a format that they will be comfortable with.

Platform independence

Just as crossword authors and publishers did not have to worry about the type of pencil people used, with Across Lite, crossword puzzle creators and distributors do not have to worry about what platform and software people have to receive and solve crosswords on-line. The platforms supported by Across Lite cover more than 99% of the home consumer market and more than 95% of the entire desktop market. Since the same puzzle file can be read on all platforms, you may create and publish them on a platform of your choice and yet target almost the entire market.

Because we amortize the costs over several authors and publishers and over several platforms, we do not worry so much about disturbing industry trends such as the decreasing market share of Macintoshes making software development and maintenance costs seem unjustifiable. Everyone benefits that way.

Each of our platform versions is a native implementation on the respective platform hand-crafted with native users in mind. We have strived to keep uniformity in function and appearance but native user interface guide lines play an important role. Our goal is to make users of each platform feel that they have a product designed for their platform as opposed to some hacked up port from another platform. Attention to such detail places Across Lite amongst an elite group of multi-platform products considering all application areas.

Robustness

Despite our distribution policy, Across Lite is NOT a throw-away or a "come-on" product with just enough features included to lure in customers for other products. It is a full product in the Across product line that stands on its own with its own marketing plans and will remain so. The level of craftsmanship evident in the software which places it over so many of the "commercial" products should be convincing enough. Our public beta program and our complimentary copy policy with continuing monitoring of user suggestions and comments is designed to establish a level of usability and robustness that sets a high standard for others to follow.

User convenience

An early recognition of the growth and capabilities of the Internet and the World Wide Web as well as a growing frustration with the available channels for on-line crossword distribution (solving crosswords is a preferred pastime for most of us and one can never get enough of them) motivated this entire product line. As such, the design goals for Across Lite were heavily influenced by usability considerations both for fetching puzzles as well as on-line solving.

The emergence of Web browsers with their capabilities provided just the right solution for accessing crossword puzzles over the Internet. As a helper application, Across Lite works seamlessly with all major browsers that support helper applications. As a software product designed by crossword enthusiasts for other crossword enthusiasts, we believe it to be one of the most convenient and usable products. For a crossword puzzle creator/author, it is quite important to ensure that the software does not distract the user from fully enjoying the challenge and the smug satisfaction that comes from solving a well-crafted crossword puzzle.

Distribution convenience

As a product designed from the beginning with on-line distribution in mind, Across Lite incorporates several features that you will appreciate. For example, the puzzle format was designed with the assumption that storage space for the publishers and Internet connection bandwidth for consumers will be an issue for quite some time. We also wanted to give the option of producing crossword digests distributed on a standard diskette that was self-sufficient by including the program executable as well as the help file along with the puzzles on the same diskette.

By making the program do most of the work in screen presentation as well as hard copy printing, we have managed to make the puzzle file size quite small. An average 15x15 (American Style or Cryptic style) crossword takes less than 2KB. This implies that, for example, you can keep as many as 500 15x15 puzzles on a standard 1.44MB diskette AND the Windows version program executable AND the help file uncompressed and ready to run right from the diskette and still have some space left over.

But in our efforts to reduce the file size, we haven't ignored features important for commercial on-line distribution.

The three legends on most crossword puzzles, Title, Author/Editor as well as copyright notice (if provided by the creator) are part of the puzzle format and displayed in the program window.
Permission to allow printing can be disabled by the creator/publisher and will be enforced by Across Lite
Copyright notice (if provided by the creator) will always be printed when the grid is printed.
Sufficient integrity checks make modifications and tampering of the puzzle file difficult and file corruption during network transfers detectable. Across Lite will reject all puzzles that fail the integrity checks to discourage modifications/tampering as well as to protect itself from corrupted puzzle files.

Customizability

We are certainly willing to entertain requests for customized versions of the software from commercial enterprises. The customization can be as trivial as replacing the About box with another that includes the crossword publisher graphics/lettering or it can be as non-trivial as making an embedded version that works seamlessly within a specific application or on-line service.

Cost effectiveness

If you wish to target the audience that already has a complimentary copy or would like to channel customers to our site to pick up a complimentary copy, the cost of providing Across puzzles is limited to obtaining puzzle creation software either from us or from one of the other software publishers that have licensed an Across puzzle export library from us. There are no royalties for distribution of puzzles in Across format.

If you wish to obtain a distribution license for Across Lite, the licensing costs are extremely reasonable and become even more so depending on number of copies distributed and/or initial purchase volumes. One of the main motivations behind the pricing scheme is to allow publishers to create crossword digests very much like the printed ones found in book stores with the program included and produce each copy for less than the cost of producing an equivalent book. You can then essentially package the program in every copy sold without having to worry about whether the purchaser already has a copy of the program.

In between those two extremes is the crossword club type of scenario that provides a program copy at the start of a membership and provides regular updates of puzzles only. The licensing fee is then paid only once for each member. The common file format ensures that the publishers have to create just a single version of the puzzle files regardless of the types of platforms their members run their software on. The profit margins for this type of an operation is likely to be much higher than the traditional printed mailings.

Future expansion

We make it our job to keep abreast of the computing trends, so crossword authors and publishers do not have to worry about the market share of particular platforms or about the feasibility of new paradigms. Is IBM really going to continue to support OS/2? Is Java a passing fad or is it going to be the way of the future? Where will Netscape go with its plug-in features? We are already experimenting with those techniques to ensure that if those new trends indeed become a viable option for on-line crossword distribution, we will be ready well in time.

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