Saw on paidcontent that Caligari, the makers of TrueSpace, were acquired by Microsoft:

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) buys…this time a smaller deal. It has bought Caligari, a developer of 3D modeling software, with an eye to use its technology for its Virtual Earth mapping system. No financial details were released. In December, Microsoft bought UK-based Multimap for a reported $50 million.

Calgari, founded in 1986 and based in Mountain View, CA, started by making 3D software for the Amiga.

As someone who did a bit of work around Virtual Reality Modelling/Markup Language (VRML) — a nominee for worst pronounced acronym ever — back in the mid 90s, seeing Caligari in the news instantly brought back memories of WebFX, Paper Software, and the promise of more killer Netscape plugins. Here is a link to what was hot in VRML back in September 1996.