RagTime (computer program)
Ragtime is a frame- oriented desktop publishing software that combines word processing with spreadsheet in a layout environment and is intended primarily for the design of corporate publications. In the current version of the software includes the following modules:
- Page Layout
- Word processing
- Spreadsheet ( Spreadsheet )
- Business Graphics
- Vector
- The drawing processing (lines, polygons, Bezier curves, etc.)
- Cards, integrated Geobezug with tables
- Image processing ( TIFF or JPEG formats)
- Sound
- Film
Working principle
Ragtime is different from most other similar programs or software packages because of his strict framework Orientation: All contents are in frames on a page. These frames can have a fixed position on the page or like a letter to be part of a text in another frame and automatically mitfließen there of text changes in each case.
Ragtime knows no different document types for different data types; all content is stored in a single document type.
The file extension of ragtime documents is. Rtd ( Ragtime document), for templates. Rtt ( Ragtime template ).
Additional modules are available, for example, to access external data sources for cartographic representations or screen presentations.
The current version is 6.5.2 ragtime. It is designed for Mac OS X ( 10.3.5 or from Intel from 10.4.2 ) and Windows ( 2000/XP/Vista/7 ) available.
History
Ragtime has been since 1985 - developed for the Macintosh and published in 1986 - initially under the name MacFrame. In the publication it had already its present name, which was chosen on the basis of the then available software package from Lotus Jazz.
Ragtime gained on the European Macintosh market quickly an important position, which has been preserved until today, even though the market share has shrunk. In the U.S. market, the program could not prevail despite several attempts.
After the manufacturing company - first Brüning & Everth, later B & D software, today ragtime - had long focused solely on the Macintosh, it brought the 1999 version 5.0 for Windows out. The program won no great importance against the established competition primarily from Microsoft Office.
By mid-2006 there was ragtime in addition to a retail version in a so-called private version which is free offered a similar scope (except dictionaries for spelling and word division ), but was not allowed to be used for commercial purposes. Private ragtime was expelled in languages other than ragtime solo. In a press release dated July 5, 2006 announced the hiring of ragtime ragtime book and commented on the reasons as follows: " ... However, the licensing terms for private ragtime were also often misinterpreted or deliberately disregarded. Therefore, we have set ragtime private, from ragtime 6, there will be no private version. "
The consolidation of the company did not succeed in the subsequent period. Heise reported on July 3, 2007: " The Hilden manufacturer of ragtime has filed for bankruptcy on 28 June 2007 due to insolvency and indebtedness at the District Court Dusseldorf. "
After a redesign of the site in 2008, Ragtime is still available. The last update of ragtime is from May 2010. Currently checks which functions of the Apple operating system Mac OS X 10.7 for a future ragtime version could be useful. As an example, the regular version backups are named for files. An iCloud data sharing between multiple users or parties were excluded.