Allegiant SuperCard 3.0 ships; new user interface and integrated Web delivery highlight release.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 1996--

Allegiant Technologies Inc. (OTC/BB:ALGT)(VcSE:AGH.U) Thursday shipped SuperCard 3.0, upgrading its award-winning authoring tools with an all interface and unprecedented Web development capabilities for Macintosh and Windows personal computers.

By putting a dramatically more accessible and automated interface on SuperCard, Allegiant is expanding the market for its flagship product. SuperCard 3.0 provides a significantly easier to use interface, including extensive point-and-click scripting automation.

At the same time, SuperCard 3.0 becomes the first major multimedia authoring tool to fully integrate Web development -- giving users the ability to easily develop, test and debug their SuperCard applications for delivery on Allegiant Roadster, the firm's new cross-platform Web browser plug-in.

"This upgrade, along with Roadster, opens up a huge new world for our installed base to distribute their SuperCard work in the multi-platform Web world," explained Stuart Henigson, Allegiant's VP of Marketing. "And with the new interface, we have at the same time been able to put `Java-like' Web application power into the hands of just about anyone who can point and click."

The Project Editor

To make the product more approachable for new users, SuperCard 3.0 introduces the new Project Editor, a single editor that combines a project overview with screen layout and editing functionality, all in an easy-to-use, "point-and-click" graphical user interface.

These dramatic new user interface improvements extend throughout the product and make solutions built in SuperCard 3.0 easier to achieve.

Key features include ClickScript, which automates the generation of thousands of interactive scripted actions through its point-and-click interface; the Property Inspector, for quickly viewing and changing properties of objects; and powerful extensions to SuperCard's ability to display external media, which enhances Web development and improves memory usage.

"This release responds to three key audiences: Web developers and trainers who can now take a fresh look at SuperCard as a powerful Web authoring platform for media-rich Web sites and distance learning; educators who will be empowered by both the interface improvements we've made and dramatically lower education pricing; and of course our installed customers, who have already discovered the potential of SuperCard and are now able to extend the reach of their SuperCard content on the Web using Roadster," explained Henigson.

"There's really never been a more versatile tool for building compelling Web sites and applications than SuperCard 3.0. With Roadster, we're reaching out to customers who have only dreamed of this kind of power in an affordable and easy-to-use authoring system," he added.

Other key features of the new release include:

-- Project Browser, for organizing primary elements of projects such

as windows, menus and resources;

-- Support for referencing and controlling media using URLs, to

facilitate "one-click" Web deployment;

-- New Tools and Colors palettes for faster object creation;

-- Enhanced visual effects within objects and color icons;

-- Continuous sound playback;

-- External media improvements, including those that increase

performance, reduce memory and permit referenced graphics to be

displayed within any graphic shape, including polygons;

-- Additional file format support for importing GIF, JPEG, BMP and

ART-compressed graphics, and RTF text;

-- Completely rewritten documentation, including a new 847-page

Script Language Guide -- delivered both on paper and on-line -- the

most comprehensive guide ever produced for a HyperTalk-based

language;

-- Dozens of new script language enhancements.

"For anyone creating media-rich Internet applications, training courseware, multimedia content titles, or custom applications, I believe we've really hit the mark with version 3.0," said Sean Baird, product manager for SuperCard.

"The revised user interface, especially the new ClickScript feature and the breadth of other new features in SuperCard 3.0 make it a release that even people new to multimedia authoring will feel comfortable investing in; it really is the most powerful and efficient multimedia authoring software on the market today," Baird added.

Integrated Web Authoring for Roadster Deployment

The new Project Editor was designed from the start to incorporate significant Web authoring features. Users can select whether a new document will be deployed on the Web with Roadster, on the desktop, or both. SuperCard 3.0 even provides a browser emulation mode for design and debugging, which includes the ability to simulate various modem speeds, and automatic creation of an HTML document in which to embed the project.

Allegiant Roadster is an Internet Browser plug-in for Macintosh and Windows users that Allegiant has made available as a public beta for several month on its Web site at http://www.allegiant.com . First announced at the Boston Macworld Expo in August 1996, Roadster provides a more streamlined approach for developers to deliver truly interactive multimedia applications within popular Web browsers.

Easier to use than scripting complex HTML pages, programming in Java or requiring viewers to download multiple plug-ins, Roadster supports most aspects of SuperCard's multimedia power and scripting language in a single plug-in.

One powerful and unique new feature of the scripting language designed specifically for Roadster is script control over media pre-loading and caching -- for maximizing Internet bandwidth and providing more complete control over a viewer's Web experience.

Pricing and Availability

SuperCard 3.0 is available immediately. The upgrade price from all previous versions is $99.95. The estimated selling price for SuperCard 3.0 is $329, with educational pricing of $129.95. Customers who purchased SuperCard 2.5 after Nov. 1, 1996, are entitled to a free upgrade. Site Licenses and Educational Lab Packs are available.

About Allegiant

Allegiant Technologies Inc. develops and markets innovative Multimedia, Internet and Application Development software that empowers people to interactively educate, entertain, present and manage information.

Allegiant's flagship product, SuperCard 2.5, was honored with the 1995 MacUser Editors' Choice award for "Best New Multimedia Authoring Application."

Allegiant also develops Allegiant Marionet, a highly rated, script-level interface to the Internet that lets developers integrate complete Internet protocol support inside most popular authoring tools and productivity applications. Marionet was recently licensed by Apple Computer to provide core capabilities for deploying custom Internet applications to serve their broad base of Internet users.

CONTACT: Allegiant Technologies Inc., San Diego 

Kathy Episcopo, 619/587-0500, ext. 127

619/587-1314 (fax)

[e-mail] (e-mail)

www.allegiant.com (WWW)