But software is nowhere without hardware, and Kaleida will need the producers of multimedia machines to support ScriptX.

Commodore and Philips both have their own versions of multimedia machines, and they are designed for people not comfortable with computers.

Despite this, companies like Apple and HP could be interested in promoting their notebooks as multimedia machines as well as portable workstations.

The low-priced multimedia machine will be capable of playing full-motion video and stereo-quality sound for less than $2,000.

Similarly, the personal computer industry is experiencing astonishing growth, in significant measure thanks to multimedia machines bought to run programs starring dinosaurs and Reader Rabbit.

One line of such "multimedia" machines is likely to be geared for such uses as playing video games and displaying educational material.

Macs have always had a reputation as multimedia machines, but Microsoft has a whole version of Windows made just to play music and video on the computer.

Instead, Yarra Valley has invested in multimedia machines and bandwidth intranet infrastructure.

I.B.M. stressed yesterday that it would concentrate on growth areas including software, computer networks and multimedia machines that can handle sound, pictures and data equally well.

One trend exemplified by the Next machine is the move toward what is called multimedia machines.