PARIS was essentially a closed hardware/software system whose software was provided by
Intelligent Devices. A demo version of PARIS released before 2000 opened perfectly with all
audio files in place, but did not play back any audio. It has always been clear that the app can
open without attached hardware, but the hardware provides much of audio functionality.
Released versions of the software did not open unless the hardware had been checked and
verified present; whether by design or not, this means the obsolete hardware now effectively
functions as a "dongle" to the PARIS software. The last update of the PARIS software was in
2001, at version 3.0, and protected with the PACE copy protection system. Being a major
version release, it contained a number of bugs ranging from the minor (problems with reading its
own exported OMF files) to the near-crippling (advertisements listing PARIS’ abilities to handle
such standards as OMF, MIDI or VST effects drove sales for the software, but those features
suffered from issues ranging from minor malfunction (Ensoniq’s VST effect implementation will
not work properly or at all with many VST plug-ins) to virtual non-functionality (MIDI playback
would stop and could not be restarted; the SMPTE card would not chase time code properly).
Intelligent Devices has been petitioned repeatedly to release a .01 update to address these issues.
Initially, the told PARIS users that an update, would come “soon,” but no update was released.
These problems contributes to the obsolesces of the platform.
Obsolescence:
1) The PARIS system has not been in production since 2001. Further, the PARIS 3.0 software
has not been available for sale for many years. Intelligent Devices has now stated that they will
no longer release PACE challenge codes for the PARIS software as of January 2015. Each
installation produces what is known as a system dependent “challenge” code that must be
answered with an Intelligent Devices produced “response” code. As PARIS software is
dependent on an authorization code provided by Intelligent Devices to boot, and the hardware is
dependent on the software to operate, this means both the hardware and the PARIS application
are now unavailable to existing PARIS users should the software need to be re-installed on a new
PC for any reason. Also, any change in the system that the PACE software considers major
could also cause the PACE system to require a new response code, rendering the system useless
even if the software was not reinstalled or changed by the end user.
2) The PARIS system has been publicly and prominently declared obsolete at the two homes of
the PARIS community on the internet, the Paris Wiki and The Paris Forums, since 2010. This
declaration forms part of the Wiki’s introductory paragraph and has remained unchallenged for
four years, despite the PARIS forums being linked to by Intelligent Devices from their website.
Further, PARIS is listed on the Intelligent Devices website under a section entitled “Legacy
Products,” and subtitled, “LEGACY PRODUCTS are the award-winning products that
Intelligent Devices released in the 1990's.” PARIS isn’t mentioned on the Emu website at all.
3) The system’s closed project file format, requiring a combination of hardware and software,
and requiring a fourteen-year-old computer to run on unmodified, presents a crippling block to
the abilities of artists, composers and engineers to access their own intellectual property, namely