I still have my SMARTWARE II mug, and it still keeps a beverage hot ;-)
If I have my timeline correct, Innovative Technologies, which produced the
products Smartware and Smartware II, integrated office suite products for the
PC, either bought WingZ or developed it themselves - not sure which. Informix
bought Innovative around 1988/89 and inherited WingZ as part of that deal.
WingZ was a pretty cool product - I still remember the "Kansas City House
Hunter" demo that showed a way cool (especially for the time) house search
application complete with actual pictures of the houses (bleeding edge tech back
then.) WingZ wasn't *entirely* ignored by Informix marketing, but the real
sticky wicket came when they tried to produce a follow up to both it and
Informix-4GL, a product that was eventually to become NewEra (original internal
name was 4GL++). Two different tools development groups, WingZ and 4GL, who had
very different ideas about what the final product should be. Curiously enough,
the product that was produced was similar in many ways to Java - object
oriented, object libraries to provide additional (non-core) functionality,
interpreted rather than compiled, etc.
DaveK
Also sprach "malcolm.iiug" <***@btopenworld.com> :
:
:
:
:
: _____
:
:From: malcolm.iiug [mailto:***@btopenworld.com]
:Sent: 30 January 2008 23:13
:To: 'Ian Michael Gumby'
:Subject: RE: WingZ 1989 World Tour - any info?
:
:
:
:I didn't get to go on the world tour. But I was around in those days.
:
:
:
:Wingz was a very powerful spreadsheet written in a powerful 4GL called
:HyperScript. In fact Wingz could handle a bigger worksheet(32768 by 32768)
:in 1989 than Excel can handle now.
:
:HyperScript was a very powerful language for developing GUI business
:intelligence applications. It had database access - of course - and some
:really neat charts. One demo used a spreadsheet to draw a pictorial
:representation of Starship Enterprise.
:
:Originally both products were developed for MAC - and ported from there to
:Windows 3.1 and UNIX Motif.
:
:I even have a copy of Mastering Wingz - The Official Introduction to Wingz
:Presentation Spreadsheet - ISBN 0-553-34706-3 and I daresay I might even be
:able to rustle up some product disks. But if I recall they were 5.25 inch
:floppies.
:
:I even worked on some projects into the mid 90's which were developed using
:HyperScript front-ending Online 5.
:
:
:
:IMHO Wingz and HyperScript were classic examples of very good products which
:were let down by Informix marketing of the time- but what do I know?
:
:
:
:Regards
:
:Malcolm
:
: _____
:
:From: informix-list-***@iiug.org [mailto:informix-list-***@iiug.org]
:On Behalf Of Ian Michael Gumby
:Sent: 30 January 2008 17:57
:To: scottishpoet; informix-***@iiug.org
:Subject: RE: WingZ 1989 World Tour - any info?
:
:
:
:
:Uhm...
:I resemble that remark.
:
:Yes it was after the purchase there was a "new" release of the product 1989
:and it was the marketing launch.
:I do have a Wingz bag (red), a coffee cup and a Wingz pin from the "good ol'
:days" ... ;-)
:
:> From: ***@yahoo.com
:> Subject: Re: WingZ 1989 World Tour - any info?
:> Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:20:43 -0800
:> To: informix-***@iiug.org
:>
:> On Jan 29, 10:45 am, Honey <***@gmail.dot.com> wrote:
:> > Does anyone have any info or pointers or links or anything about a World
:> > Tour of WingZ in 1989? Searching the net brings up absolutely zero so I
:> > don't know what it is I have - a black satin jacket with WingZ World
:Tour
:> > '89 patches embroidered on the front and back. I've searched for days
:and
:> > only been able to find out that WingZ was a spreadsheet software that
:was
:> > released in 1989 by Informix, but I've never heard of any software doing
:a
:> > world tour. That I can find there's was no music group around back then
:> > with that name and I can't think of anything else it could be so I
:figured
:> > I'd ask here.
:> >
:> > Thanks,
:> >
:> > Honey
:>
:>
:> Honey,
:>
:> WingZ was ready for release in 1988 and was bought by Informix (or
:> SmartWare??) in 1989 . Either of these events could have led to a
:> world wide product launch which incoropated a "world tour". This could
:> have lead to some "neat" giveaways such as the back satin jacket, in
:> the "Good old days" software companies gave out some nice gifts.
:>
:> I am not sure if anyone from 1989 is still around. I have passed the
:> question around one or two of the guys that were with SmartWare to see
:> if they have any more info
:>
:>
:> _______________________________________________
:> Informix-list mailing list
:> Informix-***@iiug.org
:> http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list
:
: _____
:
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