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AppWare
AppWare was a rapid application development system for Microsoft Windows and the classic Mac OS based on a simple graphical programming language. Applications were constructed by connecting together icons representing objects in the program and their commands. The resulting logic could be compiled on either platform and typically only required minor changes to the GUI layout to complete the port.
Originally introduced in 1989 as Serius89 by Serius Corporation, and eventually becoming Serius Developer, it is best known as AppWare when it was owned and marketed by Novell starting in 1993. Novell sold the product off in 1996, it was renamed MicroBrew, and development eventually ceased during 1997.
Joe Firmage started development of what would become AppWare circa June 1987, originally in order to help develop an accounting system for his parents' greeting card company. In 1989, when he was 18 years old, he and his brother Ed formed Serius Corp. to market the product, now known as Serius89. The company was based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The 1.0 version shipped for the Mac in August 1989, with two versions, Serius Programmer that allowed the creation of new applications using the existing object library, and Serius Developer that allowed new objects to be written in external computer languages. This release was followed by 1.1 in October, which added a new Database object, and the 1.2 update in December. Serius was one of several visual programming tools that were available on the Mac in the late 1980s, such as TGS Systems' Prograph. The Serius89 Programmer product sold for $295 and the Serius89 Developer for $495. A review of Serius89 1.2 by MacWEEK concluded that it was "a novel, fascinating approach to 'desktop programming' and, despite its shortcomings, we believe it's an investment that will pay dividends in the future."
A major update followed in April 1990, the 2.0 version. This included a greatly increased set of objects, including support for the Communications ToolBox and an associated Terminal object. This release also included a suite of multimedia objects that allowed for the creation of interactive kiosk apps and similar. A 2.1 release followed in October, and an enormous performance upgrade in 2.2 in October 1991. By the end of 1991, Serius Corp. had attracted several outside investors and had 21 employees.
In January 1992 3.0 was release, including significant changes. The largest change followed in November 1992, however, with the introduction of Windows support and a renaming to Serius Workshop and Serius Developer Pro (mapping to Programmer and Developer from previous versions).
Novell had invested in Serius on a number of occasions. In June 1993, during Ray Noorda's period of intense empire building, Novell purchased Serius outright. The company also purchased Software Transformations Inc., who made a cross-platform object code library that could be used to port conventional programs to a number of platforms, including the Mac, Windows, SunOS, UnixWare, HP-UX, with plans to add many more.
Together, Serius and Software Transformations were bundled under the new name AppWare, although they were unrelated products. Immediately after the acquisitions, AppWare was positioned as one of the "three pillars" of Novell's long-term strategy, the others being NetWare and UnixWare. The plan, according to statements from Novell, was to make it easier for 3rd party developers to write network-aware programs.
Hub AI
AppWare AI simulator
(@AppWare_simulator)
AppWare
AppWare was a rapid application development system for Microsoft Windows and the classic Mac OS based on a simple graphical programming language. Applications were constructed by connecting together icons representing objects in the program and their commands. The resulting logic could be compiled on either platform and typically only required minor changes to the GUI layout to complete the port.
Originally introduced in 1989 as Serius89 by Serius Corporation, and eventually becoming Serius Developer, it is best known as AppWare when it was owned and marketed by Novell starting in 1993. Novell sold the product off in 1996, it was renamed MicroBrew, and development eventually ceased during 1997.
Joe Firmage started development of what would become AppWare circa June 1987, originally in order to help develop an accounting system for his parents' greeting card company. In 1989, when he was 18 years old, he and his brother Ed formed Serius Corp. to market the product, now known as Serius89. The company was based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The 1.0 version shipped for the Mac in August 1989, with two versions, Serius Programmer that allowed the creation of new applications using the existing object library, and Serius Developer that allowed new objects to be written in external computer languages. This release was followed by 1.1 in October, which added a new Database object, and the 1.2 update in December. Serius was one of several visual programming tools that were available on the Mac in the late 1980s, such as TGS Systems' Prograph. The Serius89 Programmer product sold for $295 and the Serius89 Developer for $495. A review of Serius89 1.2 by MacWEEK concluded that it was "a novel, fascinating approach to 'desktop programming' and, despite its shortcomings, we believe it's an investment that will pay dividends in the future."
A major update followed in April 1990, the 2.0 version. This included a greatly increased set of objects, including support for the Communications ToolBox and an associated Terminal object. This release also included a suite of multimedia objects that allowed for the creation of interactive kiosk apps and similar. A 2.1 release followed in October, and an enormous performance upgrade in 2.2 in October 1991. By the end of 1991, Serius Corp. had attracted several outside investors and had 21 employees.
In January 1992 3.0 was release, including significant changes. The largest change followed in November 1992, however, with the introduction of Windows support and a renaming to Serius Workshop and Serius Developer Pro (mapping to Programmer and Developer from previous versions).
Novell had invested in Serius on a number of occasions. In June 1993, during Ray Noorda's period of intense empire building, Novell purchased Serius outright. The company also purchased Software Transformations Inc., who made a cross-platform object code library that could be used to port conventional programs to a number of platforms, including the Mac, Windows, SunOS, UnixWare, HP-UX, with plans to add many more.
Together, Serius and Software Transformations were bundled under the new name AppWare, although they were unrelated products. Immediately after the acquisitions, AppWare was positioned as one of the "three pillars" of Novell's long-term strategy, the others being NetWare and UnixWare. The plan, according to statements from Novell, was to make it easier for 3rd party developers to write network-aware programs.