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When was this graphics software released?

Must include reasoning behind your answer!

NOTE: As of this date, customers in Canada and the Us MUST USE TWO VERSIONS PRIOR - 1.63-1. Current version will not boot.

New and returning in this version:

  • Example projects by Leighton and Rembrandt added.

  • pause and prt scr projects abandoned due to hardware incompatibility

  • shift + enter and shift + return can both be used to begin the next queued operation.

  • O.T.M. pathways reinitialized.

  • Shifted glaukopic balance along an inverdant axis. Formula below:

$$ \Delta = 1/4^\infty $$

We're almost out of beta. Probably three more releases before final. See our catalog online for planned products coming next year:

Full Catalog

Hint 1:

This eponymous software was named while the creator was drunk. The translation ended up a bit backwards, but a visit to the vomitoria cleared their stomach and their mind. What really helped was going home again.

Hint 2:

The standard made up dictionary defines glaukopic as "adj. pertaining to glaukopis."

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    $\begingroup$ At this moment, it is written in a way that looks like spam. Please edit it so people would clearly see that this is in fact something valid for this site. $\endgroup$
    – Victor Stafusa - BozoNaCadeia
    Nov 20, 2014 at 23:33
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    $\begingroup$ It's called good writing. Look at any of my other riddles. You'll see mad ramblings, a hiring ad, and a fantasy novel excerpt as the top three. Doubt that there's an answer? Look at the others. My question with 47 upvotes had -4 or -5 before anyone understood it and upvoted. $\endgroup$
    – Travis Don Kindred
    Nov 20, 2014 at 23:35
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    $\begingroup$ I think we should give this a chance on account of the poster's previous well-liked riddles in a similar style. $\endgroup$
    – xnor
    Nov 21, 2014 at 0:21
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    $\begingroup$ I think my body of work proves me moderately trustworthy at the very least. I've been playing around with theme and genre in my riddles and I wanted to experiment with the Stack Exchange format. That's why I wanted to write a riddle with keyboard keys on it, because I couldn't find anything better to play around with. $\endgroup$
    – Travis Don Kindred
    Nov 21, 2014 at 0:23
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    $\begingroup$ Random thoughts that I can't seem to connect: 1) The US and Canada are the only major countries to use a M/D/Y date format. 2) The "catalog" site has a heart in the corner. Clicking it reveals that it's "A Valentine's Day collaboration..." 3) Leighton has a work named "Flaming June", while Rembrandt has a "Juno". $\endgroup$
    – Set Big O
    Nov 21, 2014 at 3:06

3 Answers 3

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Well I'm muddling towards something. No idea if it's an answer.

The author is Proserpine/Persephone - painted by Rembrandt in 1631 and Leighton in 1891.

and

In the 1891 painting Proserpine is returning to the underworld implying it's autumn/ winter - I'm guessing this is what you mean by shifting gaze (glaukopis is greek for gaze) on an inverdant (away from green-ness) axis. and the formula refers to the changing seasons forever?

so

There are lots of paintings of persephone but after 1891 perhaps fewer than before and it would be hard to count these as "releases" in an authoritative way so I'm going to assume you mean years (releases from the underworld) and go for autumn 1894 (...or 1895 if you mean 3 more releases and then a final release)

Clarifications from the author - Major spoilers:

Yes, Persephone is far too busy. She wrote the program to automate the season change. This version of the seasons is the southern hemisphere's autumn, as is noted by two northern nations needing to use two versions previous. You're right about the artists and the dates. Glaukopic shift references greek culture and a shift in what is seen. Verdant means green, so inverdant would mean the shift from green as the leaves change. The delta symbol stands for change in most scientific uses and the 1/4 refers to the first of four seasons (again Southern hemisphere) in a cycle continuing forever.

then

Three more releases in the year. Three more seasons. The link is to an interactive something where someone eats and gets fat before the cycle being forced to start again. This references the cycle of harvest every year. You can't pause the change of the seasons and each shift in seasons is an entry and a return. Did you miss the bit about the pathways? say it aloud without the periods. BTW, year is irrelevant.

then

Yeah, Sam. Since you couldn't load the link, it's this strange page where you control the arm of a woman. Apples keep rolling your way and feeding them to her fattens her up. After so much fattening, she gets stabbed in the back and the apples all tumble out, restarting the odd cycle. If you would, Sam, can you add the extra clues from my comments into your answer so I can delete the comments? I want the rest hidden by spoiler tags too so others can have fun guessing

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    $\begingroup$ Hooray! Good puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – Sam Cartwright
    Nov 21, 2014 at 16:28
  • $\begingroup$ Puzzle o'the week! :) Well done Sam. $\endgroup$
    – A E
    Nov 21, 2014 at 16:33
  • $\begingroup$ I did, completely miss the bit about the pathways, reading comprehension isn't a strong suit. OTM = Autumn I'm guessing? The link wouldn't load for me to I took it as an injoke of some sort, sorry! $\endgroup$
    – Sam Cartwright
    Nov 21, 2014 at 16:35
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    $\begingroup$ Man, that's hard to come up with. :S $\endgroup$
    – user88
    Nov 21, 2014 at 16:48
  • $\begingroup$ Clarifications added $\endgroup$
    – Sam Cartwright
    Nov 21, 2014 at 17:24
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No idea if I'm on the right track, but let's give it a shot:

The versions point to years 1631 and 1891. In these two years, Rembrandt and Leighton, respectively, both had a few works of art, but the only two that have a connection of some sort are "Andromeda Chained to the Rocks" by Rembrandt and "Perseus and Andromeda" by Leighton. So the answer thus far is Andromeda

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While this isn't a complete answer, here's my thoughts on where to go for this riddle based on the clues I think I've figured out so far.

The software specs mention that Pause and PrtSc aren't supported due to hardware incompatibility. This most likely means that these came around at a time when these two keys had just been introduced to some keyboards.

Looking at pictures of old IBM PC keyboard models, which almost all modern keyboards today are based on, the Model M was the first one to introduce the Pause key, in 1985.

Similarly, the manual states that both Shift+Enter and Shift+Return can now be used for the same shortcut. The fact that this is a new feature means that it must have only recently come into demand at the time.

The Macintosh keyboard is the only keyboard that makes a distinction between Enter and Return on its labels, and it was released in 1984. The IBM keyboards simply labelled both buttons Enter, and most keyboards in that era either only had one key for enter/return, or labelled them both the same thing.

Therefore, I think that this version of the software was released sometime in 1985. I haven't gotten any further than that, though, and I can't figure out the month or day if 1985 is in fact the correct year.

I may just be massively overthinking things, but it seems like the kind of thing that would fit.

The O.T.M. pathways and glaukopic balance don't seem to make any sense; especially the formula, as $1/4^\infty$ is just zero, and it doesn't seem to make sense that something would be set to infinity rather than just having it as an upper bound.

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  • $\begingroup$ Infinity ($\infty$) was only defined to mean "a positive infinite number" in 1956. Prior to that, infinity was officially set to $6,727,418,202$, which was the highest number anyone had ever bothered counting to. The authors of the manual were obviously clinging to the old ways. $\endgroup$
    – COTO
    Nov 21, 2014 at 1:32
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    $\begingroup$ I love this so much. You're thinking too literal for the answer, but you've presented some really cool info. Well done. $\endgroup$
    – Travis Don Kindred
    Nov 21, 2014 at 3:02
  • $\begingroup$ Out of curiosity: Is it 1985? $\endgroup$
    – user88
    Nov 21, 2014 at 3:27
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    $\begingroup$ No. The answer is not derived from modern technical knowledge, but a classical education may help. $\endgroup$
    – Travis Don Kindred
    Nov 21, 2014 at 13:19

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