Living Videotext
Encyclopedia
Living Videotext was a software development company founded by Dave Winer
in 1983.
Its slogan was "We Make Shitty Software... With Bugs!", although it was never publicly run in an ad.
The company was originally founded to sell an outliner
product called ThinkTank for the Apple II
. This product was based on ideas that Winer had been developing for a few years since University.
Winer ported the application to run on IBM PC compatible
computers and after seeing a demo of Apple's near-release Macintosh
, Winer hired his brother Peter Winer to develop a version of ThinkTank for the Macintosh. Doug Baron was also hired to work on the Macintosh version of ThinkTank.
Work began on another outliner
application at the end of 1984 called MORE
, which expanded on the graphical concepts that they had started to add to ThinkTank, for example letting users easily convert outlines into bullet charts to be used in presentations.
By 1986, the company grew to 50 people.
The company underwent temporary financial difficulties, which were resolved upon the release of MORE in 1986.
Before merging with Symantec, Winer first met with Bill Gates, the co-founder and then-President, CEO, and chair of Microsoft
, in February 1987.
Gates wrote a letter of intent to purchase the company in return for shares of Microsoft.
However, the deal fell through and Microsoft instead purchased Living Videotext's competitor, Forethought, Inc., makers of Powerpoint
, in a $14-million deal.
Powerpoint went on to achieve widespread popularity as part of the Microsoft Office
suite.
After receiving a number of other offers, Living Videotext merged with Symantec
in September 1987.
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Many of its most popular products were, with Symantec's support, later released for free as "antique versions".
Dave Winer
Dave Winer is an American software developer, entrepreneur and writer in New York City. Winer is noted for his contributions to outliners, scripting, content management, and web services, as well as blogging and podcasting...
in 1983.
Its slogan was "We Make Shitty Software... With Bugs!", although it was never publicly run in an ad.
The company was originally founded to sell an outliner
Outliner
An outliner is a computer program that allows text to be organized into discrete sections that are related in a tree structure or hierarchy. Text may be collapsed into a node, or expanded and edited....
product called ThinkTank for the Apple II
Apple II series
The Apple II series is a set of 8-bit home computers, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977 with the original Apple II...
. This product was based on ideas that Winer had been developing for a few years since University.
Winer ported the application to run on IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
computers and after seeing a demo of Apple's near-release Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
, Winer hired his brother Peter Winer to develop a version of ThinkTank for the Macintosh. Doug Baron was also hired to work on the Macintosh version of ThinkTank.
Work began on another outliner
Outliner
An outliner is a computer program that allows text to be organized into discrete sections that are related in a tree structure or hierarchy. Text may be collapsed into a node, or expanded and edited....
application at the end of 1984 called MORE
More (application)
MORE is an outline processor application created for the Apple Macintosh in 1986 by software developer Dave Winer. An earlier outliner, ThinkTank, was developed by Winer, his brother Peter and Doug Baron....
, which expanded on the graphical concepts that they had started to add to ThinkTank, for example letting users easily convert outlines into bullet charts to be used in presentations.
By 1986, the company grew to 50 people.
The company underwent temporary financial difficulties, which were resolved upon the release of MORE in 1986.
Before merging with Symantec, Winer first met with Bill Gates, the co-founder and then-President, CEO, and chair of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, in February 1987.
Gates wrote a letter of intent to purchase the company in return for shares of Microsoft.
However, the deal fell through and Microsoft instead purchased Living Videotext's competitor, Forethought, Inc., makers of Powerpoint
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint, usually just called PowerPoint, is a non-free commercial presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X operating system...
, in a $14-million deal.
Powerpoint went on to achieve widespread popularity as part of the Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
suite.
After receiving a number of other offers, Living Videotext merged with Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
in September 1987.
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Many of its most popular products were, with Symantec's support, later released for free as "antique versions".