Software Publishing Corporation (SPC) was a
Mountain View,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...
-based manufacturer of
business software
Business software (or a business application) is any software or set of computer programs used by business users to perform various business functions. These business applications are used to increase productivity, measure productivity, and perf ...
, originally well known for its "pfs:" series (and its subsequent "pfs:First" and "pfs:Professional" derivative series) of
business software
Business software (or a business application) is any software or set of computer programs used by business users to perform various business functions. These business applications are used to increase productivity, measure productivity, and perf ...
products, it was ultimately best known for its pioneering
Harvard Graphics business
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit."
Having a business name does not sepa ...
and
presentation graphics program.
Though SPC's earliest product was for the
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-mo ...
personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
, most of its products were for use on
text-based
In computing, text-based user interfaces (TUI) (alternately terminal user interfaces, to reflect a dependence upon the properties of computer terminals and not just text), is a retronym describing a type of user interface (UI) common as an ear ...
DOS
DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems.
DOS may also refer to:
Computing
* Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel
* Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicatio ...
desktop computer
A desktop computer (often abbreviated desktop) is a personal computer designed for regular use at a single location on or near a desk due to its size and power requirements. The most common configuration has a case that houses the power supply ...
s, with non-
graphical-user-interfaces (GUI), long before the graphical GUIs of
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
or
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, W ...
existed. A salient benefit of Harvard Graphics, then, was that it brought sophisticated on-screen graphics capabilities to computers running the normally non-graphical, text-based DOS operating system. This factor played a role in the company's ultimate demise in 1996, as
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, W ...
was shipping on most desktop computers. Windows incorporated built-in graphical capabilities, so much of what Harvard Graphics provided was no longer needed. SPC scrambled to develop a Windows version of Harvard Graphics, but big competitors and their Windows-native business and presentation graphics tools had so penetrated the Windows market by then that it was just
too little, too late. As
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...
began to disappear, so did SPC's revenues.
Early history
SPC was established in 1980 by three former
Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
employees,
Fred Gibbons, Janelle Bedke, and John Page, with an eye to producing packaged software for personal computers like the Apple II.
The first application to be launched was the "Personal Filing System" (PFS), a simple database program for Apple II computers. With the advent of the
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...
the following year, though, the company quickly shifted focus to the burgeoning
DOS
DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems.
DOS may also refer to:
Computing
* Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel
* Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicatio ...
-based desktop computer market, which also included a fast-growing number of
IBM PC-compatible computers. The Apple II PFS product eventually led to the "pfs:" series of products for DOS.
By early 1984, ''InfoWorld'' estimated that SPC was the world's ninth-largest microcomputer-software company, with $14 million in 1983 sales.
In 1984
IBM executed an
OEM-style agreement pursuant to which SPC would develop the
IBM Assistant Series, which was an only slightly enhanced, but completely rebranded version of the "pfs:" family of products (described in the next section) such that no mention of SPC was present in the software or its documentation; and which IBM intended to sell with its IBM PC and
PCjr
The IBM PCjr (pronounced "PC junior") was a home computer produced and marketed by IBM from March 1984 to May 1985, intended as a lower-cost variant of the IBM PC with hardware capabilities better suited for video games, in order to compete mor ...
computers.
IBM advertised the suite using a
Chaplin-esque figure getting all of his ducks in a row, in a
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
TV ad, and in print ads. By only a year later, in 1985 SPC company had achieved $50 million in revenue from the IBM deal, alone.
Major products
SPC's first product, its "PFS" brand database for Apple II computers, was reworked, improved, and then released as pfs:File, a
flat-file database
A flat-file database is a database stored in a file called a flat file. Records follow a uniform format, and there are no structures for indexing or recognizing relationships between records. The file is simple. A flat file can be a plain ...
for DOS. It was the first of a family of products released by SPC under the "pfs:" brand which, when installed onto the same computer, combined to form a sort of
office suite
Productivity software (also called personal productivity software or office productivity software) is application software used for producing information (such as documents, presentations, worksheets, databases, charts, graphs, digital paintings ...
which included companion products
pfs:Write (a
word processor
A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features.
Word processor (electronic device), Early word processors were stand-alone devices ded ...
), pfs:Plan (a
spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in c ...
), pfs:Report (
reporting software), and pfs:Graph (
business graphics software). Other, mostly utilitarian products bearing the "pfs:" brand subsequently emerged, including pfs:Access (for
data communications
Data transmission and data reception or, more broadly, data communication or digital communications is the transfer and reception of data in the form of a digital bitstream or a digitized analog signal transmitted over a point-to-point or p ...
), pfs:Easy Start (a
menuing utility), and pfs:Proof (a
proofreading
Proofreading is the reading of a galley proof or an electronic copy of a publication to find and correct reproduction errors of text or art. Proofreading is the final step in the editorial cycle before publication.
Professional
Traditional ...
utility). Eventually, SPC offered a
low- to
mid-level desktop publishing
Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online ...
product called pfs:Publisher; and it packaged the core word processing, database and spreadsheet products into a
suite named pfs:Office. While relatively limited in their capabilities compared with better-known and more powerful products like the DOS database
dBase III
dBase (also stylized dBASE) was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers and the most successful in its day. The dBase system includes the core database engine, a query system, a forms engine, and a programming language ...
, the DOS spreadsheet
Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus 1-2-3 is a discontinued spreadsheet program from Lotus Software (later part of IBM). It was the first killer application of the IBM PC, was hugely popular in the 1980s, and significantly contributed to the success of IBM PC-compatibles i ...
, and the DOS word processor
WordPerfect, the trio of SPC products proved popular, because of their simplicity and ease-of-use, with beginning and intermediate DOS PC users.
Lighter-weight versions of the core "pfs:" word processing, database, spreadsheet and data communications programs were released as a single,
integrated suite called pfs:First Choice for DOS, intended to directly compete with, but be more economical than,
Microsoft Works
Microsoft Works was a productivity software suite developed by Microsoft and sold from 1987 to 2009. Its core functionality included a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database management system. Later versions had a calendar application and ...
for DOS. The pfs:First Choice product subsequently led to what SPC had hoped would be a larger series of far lighter-weight products bearing the "pfs:First" label, the most famous of which, after pfs:First Choice, was an
entry-level desktop publishing product called pfs:First Publisher, and its
fonts and
graphics
Graphics () are visual perception, visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustration, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of dat ...
add-ons. A business graphics package called pfs:First Graphics came next, so that the "pfs:First" series could have lightweight business graphics like the original, and slightly
heavier-weight, "pfs:" series offered. There was no compatibility between the "pfs:First" series and the "pfs:" series.
In response to business users' requests for a far more powerful, yet still economical word processor that really ''could'' compete with the likes of the better-known and more-popular DOS word processors like WordPerfect (and even, by then,
Microsoft Word for DOS, SPC released an enhanced version of pfs:Write called pfs:Professional Write, a much higher-powered word processor which was eventually joined by companion products pfs:Professional File (a more powerful database, to better compete with dBase), and pfs:Professional Plan (a more powerful spreadsheet, to better compete with Lotus 1-2-3). These became SPC's
higher-end, truly business-oriented and, eventually,
networkable and
multi-user software product line. Starting with the second versions of the ''Professional'' trio, the "pfs:" was dropped from the product names, making them, simply, Professional Write, Professional File, and Professional Plan. When all three were installed on the same machine, the separately-purchased products could interact with one another as a sort of office suite. The trio also had somewhat limited interoperability with SPC's completely separate business graphics software product called
Harvard Graphics, and its later series companion
Harvard Total Project Manager. There was, however, no compatibility of the trio, or the Harvard series products, with any of SPC's other earlier "pfs:" or "pfs:First" products.
Starting with the second versions of the Professional Write, Professional File and Professional Plan trio, a separately-purchased Professional series networking add-on (available in 5-user, 10-user and larger packs) could be obtained so that they could all function in a multi-user
local area networking (LAN) environment utilizing rudimentary
file locking
File locking is a mechanism that restricts access to a computer file, or to a region of a file, by allowing only one user or process to modify or delete it at a specific time and to prevent reading of the file while it's being modified or deleted ...
(but not
record locking) via
NetBIOS
NetBIOS () is an acronym for Network Basic Input/Output System. It provides services related to the session layer of the OSI model allowing applications on separate computers to communicate over a local area network. As strictly an API, Ne ...
on such as
Novell's NetWare
NetWare is a discontinued computer network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, using the IPX network protocol.
The original NetWare product in ...
, or
Banyan VINES.
In 1986, SPC released its groundbreaking
Harvard Presentation Graphics, one of the first
PC applications which allowed users to combine
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
s,
clip art
Clip art (also clipart, clip-art) is a type of graphic art. Pieces are pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively and comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is creat ...
, and
text and display fonts into presentation
slides.
Corporate decline and demise
The power of Harvard Graphics product made it extremely popular with DOS PC users, helping to drive SPC's sales revenues to $150 million by 1990.
As the popularity of Harvard Graphics soared, SPC shifted focus to high-end business graphics software, and so it sold the "pfs:" and related series software to
Spinnaker Software
Spinnaker Software was a software company founded in 1982John Case. ''Digital Future'', William Morrow : New York, N.Y. 1985. p. 122. known primarily for its line of non-curriculum based educational software, which was a major seller during the ...
in 1991. This move made SPC an essentially one-product company.
The shift ultimately led, however, to the company's demise. By 1993 the DOS-based Harvard Graphics product accounted for 80% of SPC's revenue.
It was valuable to users because it brought to the normally-text-only, non-graphical DOS environment a rich and powerful on-screen graphical presentation tool. However, as more and more business desktop computers began shipping with the Microsoft Windows GUI sitting atop DOS in
Windows version 1.0 through
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturi ...
, and then also in the full operating system version
Windows NT, the need for software like Harvard Graphics, which did the kind of on-screen graphical
heavy lifting
Heavy may refer to:
Measures
* Heavy (aeronautics), a term used by pilots and air traffic controllers to refer to aircraft capable of 300,000 lbs or more takeoff weight
* Heavy, a characterization of objects with substantial weight
* Heavy, ...
so needed in the non-graphical DOS environment, was suddenly no longer necessary because Windows had on-screen graphics capability built right into it.
Though SPC scrambled to release a Windows 3.0 version of Harvard Graphics in 1991, big competitors had, by then, deeply penetrated the Windows business and presentation graphics market with products like
Microsoft's PowerPoint and
Lotus Development Corporation's Freelance
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
, relegating the Windows version of Harvard Graphics's revenues to less than 20% of SPC's overall sales. Though SPC had begun to rebuild its product line to include products in addition to the DOS and Windows versions of Harvard Graphics—such as ActiveOffice, ASAP WordPower, ASAP WebShow, Harvard ChartXL, Harvard Spotlight,
the
Superbase 2.0, and Personal Publisher (which SPC acquired from
T/Maker
T/Maker (Table Maker) was one of the first spreadsheet programs designed for the personal computer user and released by Peter Roizen in 1979. The application ran on CP/M, TRSDOS, and later on MS-DOS computers. T/Maker was originally distributed ...
) -- all of said new products, even combined with the Windows version of Harvard Graphics, accounted for only a tiny part of SPC's overall revenues. So as DOS desktop computers began to disappear from US businesses by 1994, and revenues from the DOS-based version of Harvard Graphics disappeared with them, SPC's overall revenues plummeted.
In 1994, the firm laid off half its staff and Gibbons stepped down as chief executive.
In 1996 SPC was purchased by, and became a subsidiary of, Allegro New Media, Inc., a New Jersey-based multimedia publisher of interactive CD-ROM software applications, including 25 titles in five product lines, the most notable of which were its Entrepreneur Guides, Berlitz Executive Travel Guides, Learn To Do Series and Business Reference Series.
Earlier that year, Allegro had purchased
Serif Inc, which produced publishing and graphics software for the
SOHO
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was devel ...
market, including PagePlus Home/Office 95, PagePlus 3.0 and DrawPlus 2.0, as well as a variety of clipart and font collections. Allegro believed that the move would expand its product lines and distribution capabilities.
Allegro renamed itself
Vizacom in late 1996 and began actively marketing its new products; however, in 2001 Vizacom sold Serif back to its original management, and included the licensure to Serif of the Harvard Graphics line of products in the sale.
Serif continued to market Harvard Graphics 98 for Windows until 2017, when the product was taken off the market.
See also
*
pfs:Write
*
T/Maker
T/Maker (Table Maker) was one of the first spreadsheet programs designed for the personal computer user and released by Peter Roizen in 1979. The application ran on CP/M, TRSDOS, and later on MS-DOS computers. T/Maker was originally distributed ...
*
Superbase (database)
Superbase is an end-user desktop database program that started on the Commodore 64 and was ported from that to various operating systems over the course of more than 20 years. It also has generally included a programming language to automate d ...
References
External links
*
Serif's Harvard Graphics website*
ttps://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/09/science/personal-computers-software-for-the-average-user.html Review of pfs:First Choice, NY Times, 9 December 1986Fred Gibbons Explaining start of Software Publishing ''(one-minute video)''
{{Authority control
Defunct software companies of the United States
Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Software companies established in 1980
Software companies disestablished in 1996
1980 establishments in California
1996 disestablishments in California
Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Companies based in Mountain View, California