Talk:Ashton-Tate

message: I have added a note at the bottom of the document about the original name of the company. Can anyone comment on this? Maury 15:26, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The comment was correct, the article has been updated. Maury 13:32, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Naming of the original company 

message: There is one error in the small section on Framework. It did not use character graphics; it used bit-mapped graphics. Character graphics on the IBM PC and clones used ASCII text codes greater than 128 to "draw" shapes on the screen, although these are actually characters. The IBM PC character set contained characters for right angles, straight lines, and other "glyphs" that one could use to simulate drawing. However, being (merely) ASCII characters, the programmer was limited to a maximum of 80 characters across by 25 rows, the size of the IBM PC screen in those days. 
Framework used bit-mapped graphics. In this "mode" (as it was called), the programmer had to something like 320x200 and/or 640 x 200 pixels on the screen for graphics. The graphing portion of Lotus 1-2-3, Version 1, used this mode to create true graphics". 
I used Framework in those days and it definitely used bit-mapped graphics. This also made it slower than comparable character graphic programs such as Symphony by Lotus Corporation. 
RSzoc 14:54, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Framework used character graphics for the GUI -- menus and window borders, but used bit-mapped graphics for the charts. Mike 19:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Framework 

message: I want to thank the many people who contributed to this article to date September 19, 2008  It is fairly accurate and reasonably detailed. Maury has done an especially great job as the main editor.  For those interested in much more detail including press releases, articles and financials click the link at the bottom.  You will see articles as written, sometime with my editorials/opinions included and clearly labeled.  I have made some minor edits.  I will attempt from time to time to insure accuracy, insert facts and/or remove "baloney".  —Preceding unsigned comment added by FormerATCEO (talk • contribs) 11:14, 19 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  '''A Note of Thanks''' 

message: Does anyone have any information about the spreadsheet program that Ashton-Tate started developing for NeXTstep?  Apparently, when NeXT announced that it would give away Lotus Improv, A-T lost interest in any further development.  I did find a Press Release from Ashton-Tate which mentions PowerStep and apparently predates NeXT's announcement of the Lotus Improv deal. I think that this would be an interesting detail for the article, although it should probably be minimal.
Yes I do, sort of: I wrote an ad for PowerStep. I was a copywriter at FCB Direct/LA, the direct marketing arm of Foote, Cone & Belding, Los Angeles on the 15th floor of the World Savings Center at 11601 Wilshire Boulevard (the building still stands at the corner of Wilshire and San Vicente). Ashton-Tate was one of our biggest clients. One afternoon in 1990 or 1991 (not sure of the year), Rick Amaya (art director) and I were briefed on an ad for a new spreadsheet Ashton-Tate had developed for the NeXTStep platform. I wrote a headline: One spreadsheet is as good as the NeXT. Ashton-Tate loved it, so Rick did a layout showing a mockup of a PowerStep software package (we didn’t have a picture of an actual PowerStep box) next to a NeXT Cube, and the client approved it. The next thing we knew was that the client had pulled the ad; the Lotus Improv explanation on this page has to be the reason why.Grahamcallander (talk) 07:24, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  PowerStep for NeXT 

message: No mention of the project of porting dBASE IV away from DOS and onto other operating systems.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:470:494A:2112:0:0:0:137A (talk) 22:39, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  dBASE IV for Unix, Solaris, VMS, etc