This project started as a subproject from BMBF project(www.vs-c.de) in Germany. One of the big problems from HTML is, that it isn't possible to display mathematical equations in the browser. Since MathML initiative started at w3 consortium, it is possible to store mathematical formulas in XML documents, but there isn't a easy and cheap way to display this formulas. So this project launched with the destination to fill this gap.
The project started as a component for the Apache Cocoon project(xml.apache.org). This component converted MathML documents to GIF images or SVG. So the user could easy write documents with embedding MathML fragments, and the component create in situ the GIF images. The SVG converter was used to create documents with embedding SVG fragments for e.g. the FOP to create PDF, or what else, documents.
After being dormant for some time, the project was picked up again by Max in the summer of 2006. It has since then shifted its focus, away from a cocoon component to a more generic MathML solution.