The History of DataPerfect

Updated October 15, 1996

by Lew Bastian

[This was originally posted to the WPUSERS Section 11 on CompuServe. Lew made a few changes to the original post and gave me permission to post it here.

When I joined WordPerfect Corp (then SSI) in 1983 I brought with me a legal time and billing package that they continued to sell for me for a while. It was quite powerfull and about five years ahead of a similar product that became TimeSlips. My idea was to continue to enhance it and cover the U.S. with it. [I should have done this on my own and never have joined WP. The TimeSlips market might have been mine!]

Soon after I joined WP, powers within WP decided that was a bad idea -- what was really needed was a general purpose database! (They really had no idea what that even was, but all the media was saying those words. I really can't blame them for following this dream.)

I extracted the database engine from the legal time and billing package and put a general purpose framework around it. The first version was called DataPath and had an interface quite similar to STE*Manager for building panels. Since nobody in WP had any experience with databases, the power of this approach was completely missed. They didn't like it at all, even though a preliminary review in PC World was very positive. So I threw that interface away and built what became SSI*Data -- which was released in 1985.

There was no report writer in SSI*Data, so I added simple reports, generalized the simple links to those DP has today, and added network support by 1987 -- and changed the name to DataPerfect 2.0. This was delayed by 3 months because it was designed to become part of the WP "family" by importing and exporting data in the WP 4.2 data format -- and after I finished they wouldn't ship it because they had invented the 5.0 format without telling me! (WP never learned that you can extend old formats without completely invalidating what went before.)

A year later in 2.1 I significantly improved user reports and improved the network support so that 50 users was practical. (Only about 25 users could share data using 2.0.)

In 1990 came 2.2 with the radically improved network support (for hundreds of users) that we enjoy today -- this was supposed to be a feature of the new GUI version, but I had to change over to it to work around bugs in Microsoft and IBM server support. I'm not sure about all the dates, but you get the idea.

About 1991 I added the menus. Most of the development since 1989 has been stop-gap because a replacement version with a GUI interface was started in 1987. (That sad history is too much to relate here -- two terrific products have gone away in spite of everything I could do to keep them alive a few more months. Many wonderful people were in those teams.)

I have written all the code in DP, DPEXP, and DPIMP. Scott Christensen wrote DPPrint, Kevin Crutchfield wrote DPDiag, Bruce Conrad wrote DPLink and several other DP tools used within WP, and Robert Schloss wrote DPOrder Many, MANY testers and users internal to WP came up with over half the ideas and concepts that have found their way into DP. My daughter, Laura Melland, published the first newsletters, followed by several other brave souls the last of whom was Heman Smith -- and these elicited many valuable suggestions. A couple of books about DP have been written by talented people who didn't make much money from them.

Finally, as a result of DP Conferences (originally my wife Judy's idea,) we started a dialog with users that has resulted in a profusion of ideas, only a few of which I have been able to incorporate. Bob Butler has provided us with STE*Manager, which is a valuable tool. Steve Patamia contributed first DataMate and now DPMOUSE-- both of which have considerably enriched the user interface. DP has been very much a team effort, and I am very grateful to this extended team. In many ways Ralph Alvy is the leader of that team today, and all of you are members.

Through all this I have been the recipient of much good will -- for which I thank you all. The problems I have endured at the hands of others have been because of genuine ignorance and not ill will -- so I really shouldn't complain. I believe I should have expected this and been brave enough to do things correctly. I wasn't, and we have all suffered as a result. Nevertheless, it has been a wild, wonderful trip!

And, (don't say it too loud) DataPerfect is not dead!

Lew