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HardenedCriminal software Announces subreal MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO--January 9, 2001--HardenedCriminal software today announced its forthcoming distributed evolution simulation, "subreal," a free and open source project. Scheduled for initial release in February, 2001, subreal will allow users to participate in a distributed 3D world designed to evolve virtual creatures with adaptive and interesting behaviors. By sharing the computation load of a genetic algorithm among a network of client machines, subreal aims to carry out computationally demanding evolutions that would not be possible without distributed computation. "By combining cutting-edge research from the areas of artificial life and distributed systems," said Jason Rohrer, subreal's lead programmer, "subreal may revolutionize the way users think about the Internet and the nature of life." The goals of the simulation in subreal are not rigidly defined, and the outcome of the entire process is largely unknown. A complex system such as subreal tends to define itself and to be defined by its users. HardenedCriminal software hopes user interaction will play a major role in shaping the world of subreal. Along with several other supported platforms, subreal will support MacŪ OS X and make use of the operating system's modern features, including its robust networking and multi-tasking. subreal will also display 3D visualization using OpenGL, a technology that comes built-in to Mac OS X. Availability A beta version of subreal will be released by the end of January, 2001. subreal version 1.0 will be released in February, 2001. All releases will be available as free downloads from the subreal website at subreal.sourceforge.net. HardenedCriminal software began active work in the open source community in 1999 with the release of HardEncrypt, an uncrackable encryption package. The group is best known for its recent work on "konspire," a distributed file sharing system. Press Contact: Jason Rohrer HardenedCriminal software 607-256-7654 jcr13@cornell.edu NOTE TO EDITORS: subreal should be spelled and formatted as in this press release, with no capitalization. HardenedCriminal software should also be spelled and formatted as in this press release, with a capitalized "H" and "C," but a lower case "s." For more information, visit the HardenedCriminal software website at www.hardenedcriminal.n3.net. Company and product names mentioned in this release may be trademarks of their respective owners. |