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By: David K. Every
& Daniel Fanton
(C) Copyright 1999 DKE - All Rights Reserved.
QuickTime is Apple's MultiMedia Extensions that became a whole set of System Software on their own. Apple coined the term "MultiMedia" to mean sound, pictures, and video all in one. QuickTime has gone on to include, musical instruments, MIDI, sound tracks, sprites (animated objects), having scripting/interaction, include streaming audio and video, and basically do everything vaguely related to time, compression or streaming information.
The first QuickTime Video Compressor Component for QuickTime is ID 'RPZA' -- short for road pizza (which is the slang for "flat-cat" or a cat that has been flattened by a car). The idea is that the cat is "compressed" and now takes less space that it used to (or should) -- and the QuickTime compressor does the same thing. Thanks for the imagery.
QuickTime (2.5)
Code Name: QuickTime 1.5 was Dali and Project Warhol
The development name for QuickTime was Project Warhol, thus a pre-release version, known as the 'warhol' init, had the icon of a Campbell's soup can.
Movie Player
- In MoviePlayer, go to "About QuickTime..."
Watch the credits scroll by. There is some interesting stuff slipped in, including a credit to Andy Warhol.
Balloon
- Balloon-help the QuickTime Extension or the QuickTime Musical Instruments
You will to see "Time n. A nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future."
Startup
- Hold down Command-Option-Q-T at startup.
versions 1.0-1.6.2 - you get a picture of the QuickTime
team
versions 2.0, 2.1 - you get a movie with team pictures,
names, and a music track.
version 2.5 - there is no music and the movie ends where you
see a burning film that says "Inactive Movie".
This frame titled "Inactive Movie" complimenting a large flame is a "fantastically sly and witty stab at Microsoft's insanely complex and little-used 'ActiveMovie' architecture."
The names listed are in the STR# resource, I.D. -19102
Note: The music may or may not play, depending on how much memory QuickTime can get at that point in the boot process.
Hidden Picture
In QuickTime 1.6.1 there is a hidden picture that is not accessible through ResEdit. You need to use CanOpener to see it. What the picture shows is seven QuickTime programmers; one is holding a bouncy-ball and two others are prepared to fight back with highly destructive Nerf weapons.
This is a very good example of life at Apple. It is best viewed in thousands of colors, and the picture here is in 256 colors.
Icon
Finally, in the ICON resource at ID's -19135 and -19134 there are two people -- probably renditions of the authors. They are also in QuickTime PowerPlug.
QuickTime PowerPlug (2.5)
From:
- In resource STR, ID #19117
The text reads,
"Decompress images compressed with Sean's secret recipe."
QuickTime Music (2.1d5) Prerelease Development Egg
- The first part of the egg is to go up to the icon in the upper left-hand corner of the window in the control panel. Clicking on it will change the cursor to a musical note.
- Next you want to hold down Option and click on the icon.
Wait a few seconds and you will now see a window with a synthesizer on which you can play a number of things from percussion to harpsicord (more depending on what version of QuickTime Musical Instruments you have installed).
Jump back to early 1995, QuickTime 2.1 development in progress: The QuickTime Music control panel is being developed in addition to other new features of this major upgrade. Its purpose is to handle where MIDI devices are connected to your Mac (and simulate it when they are not). It will have some sort of connection to the Macintosh MIDI Manager and QuickTime Musical Instruments. It may or may not be released. In the meantime, and easter egg is stuffed in the control panel to demonstrate the capabilties of the QuickTime Musical Instruments extension.
Jump to January, 1998: System 8 has been released and QuickTime Musical Instruments shares a spot in your System folder with other QuickTime 2.5 extensions. However, the MIDI Manager does not seem to exist (at least, you didn't install it). It appears the QuickTime Music control panel was never released, or is not in the regular QuickTime software package. No matter, you can still see the easter egg!
- Open your MoviePlayer application (2.5.1) and open a MIDI file.
- Go to "Get Info" in the Movie menu.
- Change the left-hand tab to Music Track and the right-hand tab to "Instruments".
- Double-click on an instrument.
What you now see is what I saw in the QuickTime Music control panel. It's greater purpose here is to switch instruments with other ones.
What happened to MIDI Manager or the QuickTime Music control panel? Were they ever released? Did they exist as older versions? My technical knowledge is limited in this area. If you can help me clear up the history (and future) behind the QuickTime Music control panel, please send me a message.
Also
The Things! Control Panel was actually a part of QuickTime and is a utility to help developers creating QuickTime Components.
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