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http://www.macnn.com/articles/03/01/19/clarisworks.history/

ClarisWorks history published by co-author

updated 07:40 pm EST, Sun January 19, 2003

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Bob Hearn -- one of the original ClarisWorks developers -- has published a page that examines the . The article concludes with speculation about the future of AppleWorks, and possible involvement of the original ClarisWorks team.

by MacNN Staff

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01/19, 07:57pm | report spam | close Reply |
good read

enjoyed it much.

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01/19, 09:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
moral of the story

dont ever let your wife tell ya what to do

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01/19, 09:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
moral of the story

dont ever let your wife tell ya what to do

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01/19, 09:45pm | report spam | close Reply |
I think if Apple...

will do what they did with the new iApps.,
they will have a great hit on their hands.

Change the name to something better than AppleWorks though�Safari is the coolest name yet for software.

"Ophis" would be a funny name. :)

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01/20, 12:42am | report spam | close Reply |
Keynote

...is just step one.

AppleWorks/ClarisWorks were great, I used them every day in the 90's, but their time has come. I think Apple is on the right track for replacing each piece with new code like Keynote. I can't wait to see what's next!

Of course, this guy sounds really great. I think Apple should offer him a job and let him come back, he sounds like he knows how to Think different!

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01/20, 12:45am | report spam | close Reply |
interesting story

good to read this history. My aunt used to work for Apple under the Clarisworks marketing branch. She was a diehard Appleworks user until a year or two ago when her daughter figured out that converting files to MS for school is a pain in the ... Anyways well written article, brings back the "Pirates of Silicon Valley" Euphoria

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01/20, 01:20am | report spam | close Reply |
Kind of a big leaK

I think he's disclosed more than Cupertino would like.
Someone's gonna have a heated meeting monday to make
sure things stay secret. It looks like an iWork suite is coming.

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01/20, 07:49am | report spam | close Reply |
Shut Down!

Looks like Apple already got to him--you can't access the page now!

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01/20, 07:49am | report spam | close Reply |
Oh No

Did anyone save the text? Post it here, please!

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01/20, 08:29am | report spam | close Reply |
Cached Google page

Here's the page from Google's cache, the site is probably just overloaded this morning:

http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:4eDDDItTD6sC:www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/~bob/clarisworks.php+history+of+clarisworks&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

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01/20, 09:51am | report spam | close Reply |
Part II Cache ???

Thanks for that cache link. It covers Part I.
Looks like Part II is the one with the beef.
Do you have the cache link pointing to Part II ???

Thanks!

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01/20, 10:18am | report spam | close Reply |
bugger...

dont think google cashed it in time as the cashed page doesn't contain that much new juicy infomation.

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01/20, 12:41pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Shut Down!

I can access the page just fine. A very interesting story. I wish I was a programmer in those days - it sounds much more exciting than today.

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01/20, 01:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
My bet is a KOFFICE port

I'll bet a Mac port of the core KOFFICE code will be announced at the next Macworld, In keeping with the IApps, they will be independent, interoperable programs, with XML file formats. Small, simple, easy, independent.

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01/21, 02:32am | report spam | close Reply |
Part II: Short version

I also worked at Claris and was one of the first testers on AppleWorks GS (GSWorks) and later MacWrite Pro and MacDraw Pro. I witnessed the meteoric rise of ClarisWorks from a different team and thought it was an amazing product. Two other Claris products (ClarisDraw and ClarisImpact) were spawned from ClarisWorks because of it's amazing versatility. Unfortunately, these products also revealed some weaknesses, but that's another story.

I'm not sure how Bob Hearn's version of Part II will go, but here is what I witnessed:
- ClarisWorks was successfully ported to Windows and retained all it's superior qualities.
- ClarisWorks effectively killed Microsoft Works and peaked at around 80% marketshare (or at least that's what I remember).
- Microsoft realized they had to do something about it so they started recruiting ClarisWorks team members. They started at the top with the Director of the integrated SW department (or at least that's who was the first to go as I recall).
- Eventually many others left Claris for Microsoft. I thought Bob Hearn was one of them, but I could be mistaken.
- ClarisWorks development (significant bug fixes, new features) effectively stopped.
- Microsoft scatters various people taken throughout Microsoft and apparently shifts all it's integrated SW efforts to Office and gives up on MS Works.
- ClarisWorks has some lame spinoffs (ClarisDraw, ClarisImpact, ClarisWorks Kids) and starts to lose ground as the Mac marketshare falters and MS Office starts to gain momentum due to aggressive pricing and tactics by MS.
- ClarisWorks gets taken by Apple and Claris eventually turns into FileMaker Inc. (since it has no other successful products).
- Apple renames ClarisWorks to AppleWorks and kills the Windows version.

- Maclectic

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01/21, 03:47am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Part II: Short vers.

"- Eventually many others left Claris for Microsoft. I thought Bob Hearn was one of them, but I could be mistaken."

Yeesh, heaven forbid anyone should ever think that! After the completion of the 4.0 contract, there was just not enough common ground left between me and Claris for another contract. But I wasn't hired away, by Microsoft or anyone else; I left to begin another project on my own.

- Bob Hearn
(still trying to place Maclectic...)

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01/23, 02:48am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Part II: Short vers.

Hi Bob,

You're right. I mis-remembered that you went to MS. It just seemed at the time that most of the devs went to MS. Way more than 3 people left the ClarisWorks team for MS though. What was the name of the director guy? I forget.

You'll eventually figure out who I am, but I'd like it to remain a mystery for now.

Let's just say I told Tom Hoke to get under the desk when the '89 quake hit (we were in the Wedge), but he was otherwise very cool for someone who'd never experienced a big quake before. Also, I never tested ClarisWorks officially. I worked at the early Claris location where you had to dodge the forklifts to get to the bathroom.

I am not Paul Lee.

- Maclectic

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ClarisWorks history published by co-author

updated 07:40 pm EST, Sun January 19, 2003

good read

moral of the story

moral of the story

I think if Apple...

Keynote

interesting story

Kind of a big leaK

Shut Down!

Oh No

Cached Google page

Part II Cache ???

bugger...

Re: Shut Down!

My bet is a KOFFICE port

Part II: Short version

Re: Part II: Short vers.

Re: Part II: Short vers.

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ClarisWorks history published by co-author

updated 07:40 pm EST, Sun January 19, 2003

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good read

moral of the story

moral of the story

I think if Apple...

Keynote

interesting story

Kind of a big leaK

Shut Down!

Oh No

Cached Google page

Part II Cache ???

bugger...

Re: Shut Down!

My bet is a KOFFICE port

Part II: Short version

Re: Part II: Short vers.

Re: Part II: Short vers.

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

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