Media Contact:
Kaj Kandler
press@conficio.com
+1 (781) 632 5773
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 15th, 2003
Plan-B Provides Help with Software Questions
Melrose, Dec. 15th, 2003, Conficio announces today Plan-B, the new name for its streaming video format. The technology was previewed in June 2003 under the name "ShowMe Technology." At the same time the company announces the release of the second generation Plan-B Player™ for production use. Plan-B technology is a streaming video format optimized for delivering visual demonstrations of software applications in action to any desktop.
Plan-B technology can serve screencasts over the Internet and is optimized for low bandwidth requirements. It can demonstrate a software application over a 56K dial-up modem connection. The technology is based on Sun's Java™ platform and does usually not require the installation of any browser plug-in. All standard Internet browsers do support this technology.
"Software users are desperate for help they can actually use", says Kaj Kandler, the founder of Conficio. He adds "Users have given up on 'Help files', because they do not find what they are looking for. Let me tell you, they are also frustrated with support websites that seem to be written for experts only." Plan-B provides a simple and cost-effective way to answer frequently asked questions: "How to do XYZ" right from a website. Streaming video circumvents the difficulty to translate written instructions into the graphical reality of modern user interfaces. This advantage lets users learn faster and use applications more extensively.
Plan-B technology is ideal for small and medium sized businesses. It does not require specialized software or hardware to serve the screencasts. Standard web servers, such as Apache or IIS, can be used to serve the Plan-B screencast format. The low bandwidth characteristic does also save expenses for server bandwidth.
About Conficio
Conficio, founded in 2002, is a consultancy practice focused on the full life cycle of software applications and the organizations creating them. It provides services to software development organizations to improve the development process and the end user experience.
Conficio publishes streaming videos to demonstrate software applications over the Internet. It uses its proprietary Plan-B technology™ to deliver its screencasts over low bandwidth 56K modem lines.
Learn more about Conficio and its Plan-B™ solutions at www.conficio.com or call +1 (781) 632 5773.
Plan-B™ is a trademark of Conficio, in the U.S. or other countries.
Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. or other countries.
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