CE Software
| Publicly traded | |
| Traded as | Expert Market: CESF |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Software |
| Fate | Liquidated |
| Successors | Startly Technologies, LLC;[1] QuickMail sold to Outspring Inc.[2] |
| Founded 📆 | 1979 in West Des Moines, Iowa |
| Founders 👔 | Richard Skeie, Don Brown and John Kirk |
| Defunct | 2004 |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , West Des Moines, Iowa , USA |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Products 📟 | QuicKeys, QuickMail, SwordThrust |
| Members | |
Number of employees | 18 (2001[3]) |
| 🌐 Website | www.cesoft.com |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
CE Software was a software company founded in 1979 in West Des Moines, Iowa.[4] It was mostly known for two pieces of Macintosh software: QuicKeys and QuickMail.
History
Richard Skeie founded one of the first computer retailers in Iowa, Computer Emporium, in 1978 in West Des Moines, Iowa. In 1979 he founded CE Software as an offshoot of the retailer, along with VP of Engineering Don Brown and CFO John Kirk. The focus was to develop accounting software, games, and programming products for the Apple II. The first product was MFI an inventory program for Apple II.[4] The company was finally incorporated in 1981.[3] Don Brown was instrumental in the initial development of many of CE Software products.
The first commercially successful product was the Apple II text adventure game series SwordThrust, whose first installment was released in May 1981.[5][4]
Macintosh
CE Software switched to developing Macintosh software as soon as it became available in 1984, with the first product Desktop Accessory Mover (DAM) distributed as shareware. Then they developed MockPackage a set of office software as desk accessory.[6]
It is in 1987 that they released QuicKeys, a software utility for task automation and in 1988, QuickMail, a LAN based electronic messaging system. Together, these two products constituted, by 1990 the two biggest sources of revenue for CE Software.[4]
In the late 90s, CE Software also sold versions of both QuicKeys and QuickMail for Microsoft Windows.[7]
Difficulties
In 1993, following delays in shipping QuickMail 2.6, CE Software restructured, laying off 7% of its 105 staff, and replaced CEO and Founder Skeie with Ford Goodman; Skeie stayed as President and Chairman of the holding company.[8]
Over the course of its life, CE Software corporate ownership structure changed with the 3 founders retaining most of the ownership directly or through a holding company. On 28 July 2000, CE Software became a publicly traded company as stock began trading on the OTC Bulletin Board market as CESW. The 2001 Fiscal Year showed a steep decline in revenue over 2000.[3]
In 2003, amidst financial difficulties, the cost of operating as a public company and declining revenue, CE Software started the process of liquidation, leading to the sale of QuickMail to Outspring Inc. QuickMail itself represented about 1⁄3 of its operating revenue for 2003.[9] In April 2004, the rest of the operating assets and employees were transferred to the newly formed Startly Technologies, LLC that would continue the sale and development of several of CE Software products.[1]
Products
CE Software had many products, the two long-lived ones that represented the majority of their revenue were QuicKeys and QuickMail.
QuicKeys
QuicKeys was a macro recorder utility written by Don Brown for the Macintosh and released in 1987.[3] It allowed users to record what they were doing to save then as macros and repeat them later to automate tasks.
- Version 1.0 was released in 1987
- Version 2.0, released in 1990, added "real-time" recording that allowed to record the users action as they happened, to repeat them later as part of the macro.[10]
- Version 3.0 was released in August 1993 and added support for key technologies from Apple's System 7: AppleEvents and AppleScript.
- Version 3.5 was released in August 1996
- Version 4.0 was released in April 1999
- Version 5.0 was released in June 2000 and was the final version for MacOS 9.[11]
QuicKeys 1.0 for Windows 95 / 98 / NT 4.0 was released in November 1998, with a 2.0 version in October 2000.[3]
The MacOS X version, QuicKeys X was released in 2001.[3] As of 2022, the latest version of QuicKeys 4 for macOS only fully supports macOS 10.6 and has limited support up to 10.12.[12]
QuicKeys was sold to Startly Technologies LLC as part of the liquidation proceedings, along with the development team.[1]
QuickMail
QuickMail was released in 1988 as a Macintosh LAN-based messaging product. While it could use a dedicated server, it didn't require one and could work from workstation to workstation. The 1.0 version also included bridges to commercial e-mail services like those of CompuServe or GEnie.[13] Originally only for Macintosh, DOS support was added in 1990, and Microsoft Windows in 1992.[3]
In 1996 it was re-engineered into QuickMail Pro, using open messaging standards like SMTP and POP3. It evolved into QuickMail Office in 1997 with further integration into other office products.[3]
At the close of business on 31 December 2003, CE Software sold QuickMail to the newly created Outspring Software Inc.[2]
Citing difficulties with development tools, QuickMail was never ported to macOS on Intel architecture, and was ultimately discontinued in 2008 by Outspring.[14]
Other products
CE Software developed several other products.
SwordThrust was a text adventure game series for the Apple II, written by Don Brown and released in 1981.[5]
Executive Decision Maker was a not-so-serious Freeware desk accessory written by Don Brown that provided a decision process between a Ouija board and a fortune cookie. Don wrote it as a way to learn how to write desk accessories on the then new Macintosh.[15]
Desk Accessory Mover (DAM) was CE Software's first product for the newly released Macintosh. It was a utility to install desk accessories, sold as shareware that Don Brown wrote because he needed it to install Executive Decision Maker.[4][16] It was eventually obsoleted when Apple provided a similar tool with its own system software.
MockPackage was an office software package as a desk accessory, also sold as shareware.[6] This led to the development of MacDesk. MacDesk was never released and instead was purchased by Borland, to be sold as the Macintosh version of Sidekick.[4]
Vaccine was freeware, one of the first anti-virus programs for Macintosh. It was awarded in 1989 the Most Significant Product award for the Fourth Annual MacUser Editor's choice.[17]
Disktop was a desk accessory that allowed Macintosh users to manage their files without quitting the current application. It provided more features than the Finder.[18]
Amazing Paint was a black and white paint program whose intent seemed to reimplement MacPaint simplicity but in a modernized form.[19]
Alarming Events was a program meant to alert you of appointments you scheduled, wherever you were on your computer.[20]
Calendar Maker was a program to print customized calendars.[21]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Startly Technologies, LLC Doing Business As CE Software" (Press release). 13 April 2004.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "CE Software, Inc. Reports the Sale of QuickMail, Outspring to Continue Development and Marketing". CE Software (Press release). 2 January 2004. Archived from the original on 18 April 2004.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "10KSB SEC Filing, filed by CE SOFTWARE INC on 1/14/2002". 14 January 2002. Retrieved 12 May 2022 – via EDGAR Online.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Verbatim: An interview with Richard Skeie, President of CE Software". Macworld. Vol. 7 no. 3. Interviewed by Jerry Borrell. March 1990. pp. 87–100.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Inside the Industry". Computer Gaming World. September–October 1982. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Warner, Edward (20 April 1987). "Mac Users Get Fair Share of Applications". InfoWorld. Vol. 9 no. 16. p. 27.
- ↑ Zittle, Tim (3 February 1997). "QuickMail: powerful and easy-to-use e-mail". InfoWorld. Vol. 19 no. 5. p. 42.
- ↑ Welch, Nathalie (10 May 1993). "CE Software, under new CEO, trims its staff and advertising". MacWeek. Vol. 7 no. 19. p. 26.
- ↑ "CE Software, Inc. Reports Year-End Results". CE Software (Press release). 13 April 2004. Archived from the original on 21 July 2007.
- ↑ Pogue, David (January 1991). "QuicKey2 2.0". Macworld. pp. 178–180.
- ↑ "QuicKeys for Classic/Mac OS 9 Archives". Startly Technologies LLC. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ "QuicKeys 4 for Mac OS X System Requirements". Startly Technologies LLC. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ Kosiur, Dave (December 1988). "QuickMail 1.0". Macworld. Vol. 5 no. 12. pp. 190–192.
- ↑ "QuickMail Discontinued" (Press release). Santa Rosa, CA: Outspring Inc. 25 July 2008 – via MacTech.
- ↑ LeVitus 1990, p. 61,63.
- ↑ LeVitus, Bob (1990). Stupid Mac Tricks. Addison-Wesley. p. 63. ISBN 0-201-57046-7. Search this book on
- ↑ "The 4th Annual Editor's Choice Awards". MacUser. Vol. 6 no. 5. May 1989. pp. 91–99.
- ↑ LeVitus, Bob (1989). Dr. Macintosh: Tips, Techniques, and Advice on Mastering the Macintosh. Addison Wesley. pp. 150–155. ISBN 0201517337. Search this book on
- ↑ Pogue, David (January 1991). "Amazing Paint 1.0". Macworld. pp. 184–187.
- ↑ LeVitus, Bob (December 1990). "Bob's Best Buys". MacUser. Vol. 7 no. 12. p. 146.
- ↑ Bobker, Steven (September 1989). "Bobker's Dozen". MacUser. Vol. 6 no. 9. pp. 300–304.
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