HotSauce was experimental software developed by Apple Computer

Apple Computer

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

 as a sample application of its Meta Content Framework

Meta Content Framework

Meta Content Framework was a specification of a format for structuring metadata about web sites and other data. MCF was developed by Ramanathan V. Guha at Apple Computer between 1995 and 1997...

. HotSauce generated a 3D

3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 visualization

Visualization (graphic)

Visualization is any technique for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message. Visualization through visual imagery has been an effective way to communicate both abstract and concrete ideas since the dawn of man...

 of the contents of an MCF file, for example a website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 sitemap. It could also be used to navigate the contents of the user's hard drive.

Apple offered beta

Development stage

A software release life cycle refers to the phases of development and maturity for a piece of computer software—ranging from its initial development, to its eventual release, and updated versions of the released version to help improve software or fix bugs still present in the software.- Pre-alpha...

 versions of HotSauce as a web browser

Web browser

A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...

 plugin for Mac OS

Mac OS

Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...

 and Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 and a stand-alone application.

HotSauce was never released in a final version and while MCF was adopted by some web sites, most users saw no point in navigating them in a 3D space. The project was discontinued along with MCF shortly after Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...

' return to the company in 1997.

External links

• The Meta-Content Format/Framework — HotSauce and MCF nostalgia site, with articles and the original HotSauce software available for download.
• A Brief History of Data Syndication and Podcasting