Eyelet GUI Is the First Embedded GUI to Leave the Look and Feel of the Desktop Behind.

BOULDER, Colo--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 1999--

Easy-to-Use, Comprehensive Product Speeds up

Product Design, Improves Product Quality and Reduces Costs

MoJo Designs today introduced Eyelet GUI(TM), the first embedded GUI that is totally independent of desktop interface conventions.

The most flexible and comprehensive product of its kind, Eyelet GUI allows developers to create an interface that leaves the look and feel of the desktop behind. This embedded GUI, which has one of the smallest memory footprints in the industry, allows developers to easily develop interfaces without writing any code, speeding product development.

"Eyelet GUI enables users to develop a clean, straightforward interface that reflects the personality of the product," said Morgan Jones, president of MoJo Designs. "This embedded GUI helps developers improve product quality, reduce time to market and lower costs." The royalty-free product, which is available now, is particularly well suited for touch-screen applications.

Developed Specifically for Embedded Systems 

Rather than being a port of a desktop system, Eyelet GUI is one of the first products of its kind developed from the ground up to meet the rigorous demands of embedded systems. In addition to increased reliability, this gives the user two major benefits.

First, the user can maximize the product's interface without being bound by desktop conventions, such as menus and scroll bars. This leaves valuable screen space for the information and processes associated with the product. The result is that the embedded product has its own personality, not one that is enforced by the operating system.

Secondly, because Eyelet GUI uses screen real estate efficiently, the final product can use a smaller screen for a given interface. Eyelet GUIs can scale down to fit compact systems with LCD touch screens as small as a few inches across. Since the screen is usually one of the most expensive items in any product, this can result in significant savings.

Other Major Features & Benefits

Other major features include Eyelet GUI's small memory footprint, flexibility, GUI builder and RTOS independence.

Small memory footprint -- Eyelet GUI uses less memory than most other products in its category, as little as 128 to 256K for a complete application that includes a rich widget set and application code. This compares favorably to the four to eight megabytes common in Windows(R) CE or embedded Java(TM) interfaces. Among other advantages, this small memory footprint reduces costs and system complexity.

Flexibility -- Eyelet GUI is one of the most flexible products of its kind. The user determines the final product's entire look and feel. Every element in the interface can be easily customized; every pixel is under the developer's control. For added time-to-market advantages, the robust Eyelet GUI includes a full-featured set of widgets (buttons and menus,) which can themselves be customized.

Eyelet GUI uses some traditional GUI elements such as checkboxes and sliders. It also includes some other elements that are particularly useful in small systems, such as "models," "tools," an intuitive help system and advanced animation techniques.

GUI builder -- Eyelet GUI is one of the most fully featured embedded GUIs available today. The product's GUI builder, the Windows-based Eyelet Architect(TM), allows users to quickly develop and modify prototype interfaces without writing any code. Users do not need to know C, C++, Java or any scripting language. Using Eyelet Architect, interface designers, graphic designers and programmers alike can easily construct functioning interfaces.

Because the easy-to-use Eyelet Architect can reduce development time, developers have a greater opportunity to develop prototypes and generally improve the quality of their products. "Competitive products require you to write code early on in the process," said Jones. "If you are writing code, you are definitely not designing the interface."

RTOS, processor & compiler independence -- Unlike much of the competition, Eyelet GUI is not restricted to a single processor, compiler or Real Time Operating System (RTOS). The product does not replace the RTOS nor interfere with real-time scheduling. Instead, Eyelet GUI works with the RTOS, giving developers complete real-time control.

Applications, Pricing & Availability

Although the product is appropriate for a wide range of embedded systems, Eyelet GUI is particularly well-suited for touch-screen applications such as medical devices, automotive-information systems and a host of consumer products including digital cameras, information appliances, cellular phones, microwave ovens and VCRs.

The initial version of Eyelet GUI runs on Motorola PowerPC MPC821/MPC823. Support for other processors will be added. Selected RTOS and compiler support is available. Users can develop GUIs on Windows 95, 98 or NT machines.

Eyelet GUI, which is available now, has a per-project fee of $12,000. There is no royalty fee.

MoJo Designs, Inc., a Boulder, Colorado firm, develops products and performs services to improve graphical user interfaces in embedded systems. More information is available on the company's web site http://www.mojodesigns.com.

Note to Editors: Eyelet GUI and Eyelet Architect are trademarks of MoJo Designs, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.