history in text

[Morris Krok essence@xxxxxxxx]

  from Morris,

    If XyWrite goes on auction, we should consider buying all the
remaining manuals for XY4 and XYin. It could do no harm obtaining the code.
But is the closing down of TTG really happening and will there be an
auction.


         From the wall street journal Thursday October, 7th 1991
                     Innovation a casualty at Ibm

 This newspaper often argues that buyouts are beautiful, but that is not
always the case. Once upon a time there was a software programmer who worked
for Atex, a bedford, mass maker of word processing equipment. David Erickson
wrote Atex's programs for big mainframe computers, but in 1982 he bought one
of Ibm's new personal computers. Mr. Erickson did not like the text editor,
Edlin, that was included with the machine, so he decided to write his own.
In June 1982, he finished the program and called it XyWrite. Together with
another employee John Hild, he decided to set up a new company Xyquest, to
sell the word processor.

 From the beginning, XyWrite was the most sophisticated word processor on
the market. XyWrite 2, which Messrs Erickson and Hild brought out in May
1983, had features, such as automatic footnoting and two on-screen windows,
that would not become among Ibm word processors for another three years.
Written in assembly language - the code computers themselves speak - XyWrite
was also the fastest word procure available. Newspapers and magazines began
using XyWrite including the New York Times, Boston Globe, and the New
Republic and two of the principal computer journals, PC Magazine and PC
Week. The editors of this Newspaper also use the program for writing and
word processing.

 But XyWrite never become a best seller like Word Perfect or Microsoft Word.
For one thing, it was difficult to learn. To use XyWrite, one had to
memorize commands (such as type, call and save) that were to be written on a
command line rather than chosen from a menu. Journalists weren't
intimidated, but some secretaries were. For another reason, XyWrite had the
charm, but also the fallibilities of a small business run by MIT techies
rather than M.B.A.'s. Customers who called for technical support would
sometimes find an obliging Ericskson on the other line but the product's
reputation depended largely on word-of-mouth.

 It was too bad, because by 1989, Mr. Erickson was working on XyWrite 4,
which promised once more to put XyWrite ahead of the field. Mr Erickson
figured out a way to allow on-screen editing of text that combined different
fonts and graphic images without sacrificing speed. And he also set up a
menuing system for XyWrite that made it easier to use. But Messrs Erikson
and Hild knew that unless they found a way to market the new product, it
would remain a niche product, treasured by aficionados, but ignored by the
greater computing public.

 Then along came Ibm. Since its amazing success with the PC, Ibm had a
number of flops or semi-flops, from the PC JR, to the Os/2 operating system.
Its word processor was one of the least nimble on the market. Written by a
committee, Display Write 5 requires a gargantuan 10 megabytes of disk space,
yet lacks the speed and features of its competitors. For instance, a Display
Writer user could not see the bottom of one page and the top of the
succeeding one on the same screen.
 Ibm knew it needed a word processor that could compete with Word Perfect
and Microsoft Word, and XyQuest knew that it needed marketing power behind
its software. Xyquest had been scheduled to release XyWrite 4 in spring
1990, but in April it joined hands with Ibm to produce a new word processor.
For Ibm, it was an unusual arrangement. Big blue stepped back and gave Mr
Erikson and Xyquest responsibity for writing the new program - to be called
Signature and to be modeled on XyWrite 4. And it assigned Signature to a new
Desktop Software Group, based in Milford, Conn., giving the group a wide
latitude in bringing Signature to market.

 Ibm and Xyquest previewed it at a Boston Computer Society meeting this
March and sent out test copies that drew praise. It was said that the new
word processor would be released to the public in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Ibm's Desktop Software Group released the program's code to
third-party developers, encouraging them to write programs that would
augment Signature's power. This wasn't unusual; it was unprecedented. Ibm
seemed to be returning to the free-wheeling, hands-off-strategy that had
produced the first PC. But darkness descended on Milford.

 The second quarter of 1991 came and went without Signature appearing.
Finally, as pressure mounted from disgruntled third-party developers and
from XyWrite users, who had already waited more than 18 months for an
upgrade to XyWrite 3 Plus, Ibm and XyQuest disclosed that the product would
be released September 17. XyQuest planned to send upgrade notices on Friday,
September 13. But it was not to be. At last moment, Ibm announced that it
was indefnitely postponing the program's release. Ibm officials said they
had to reorganize and re-evaluate the work of the Desktop Software Group,
but they acknowledged that there was no problem with the product.

 Some say Signature may be sold to another computer company. Asked about the
future, IBM spokesperson Keith Mary Rantas yesterday had no comment. She
said, "the signature announcement is on hold." In the end - Ibm decided to
disband the Desktop Software group.

 Officials at XyQuest were predictably worried when I phoned them. "We've
had apprehensions from the first, " XyQuest's vice president James Adelson
admitted. Mr Adelson said that if necessary, XyQuest was prepared to
distribute Signature themselves. Third-party developers were livid. One
software executive said, "if worse comes to the worse, we'll file a
class-action suit against Ibm because we all did this on promise that there
would be a product. "

 The XyQuest story might still have a happy ending. But this would be
difficult; the computer software business lives on constant updating - old
software dies. Describing the disbanding of the Desktop Group, this
newsaper's reporter noted that this step would have little impact on Ibm's
bottom line. But if Ibm does finally abandon Signature, and XyQuest is
forced to market it, this will be another example of how the culture of the
large corporation cannot accomodate innovation. Large companies are best at
winning market share and at mass-producing semiconductors and circuit
boards; small are best at designing hardware and writing software.

 When large companies have tried to write software by committee, they have
ended up with monstrosities like Display Write or Dbase 4, version 1. 0.
There are exceptions. Borland and Microsoft are large companies that write
good software, but they are run by programmers who recreate within their
companies the freedom and individuality of the small start-up like XyQuest,
while maintaining a unified vision of their operation.

 Last year, when Ibm signed up XyQuest to write its own software and set up
a quasi-independent Desktop Group, it seemed to be heading in this
direction. But in the end, Ibm and XyQuest's partnership turned out to be
another blind alley for innovation.

 Mr Judis is a contributory editor of the New Republic and correspondent for
In These Times.