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| IBM OfficeVision | |
|---|---|
| Original author | IBM |
| Initial release | May 1989 |
| Final release | 4 / 2003 |
| Operating system | VM, MVS, OS/400, OS/2 |
| Type | Productivity software |
| License | Proprietarycommercial software |
OfficeVision was anIBM proprietary office support application.
OfficeVision started as a product for the VM operating system namedPROFS (for PRofessional OFfice System) and was initially made available in 1981.[1] Before that it was just a PRPQ (ProgrammingRequest for Price Quotation),[2]: 321 an IBM administrative term for non-standard software offerings with unique features, support and pricing.
The first release of PROFS was developed by IBM in Endicott, NY in conjunction withAmoco Research, from a prototype named OFS developed earlier in Poughkeepsie, NY by Paul Gardner and others. Subsequent development took place inDallas. The programmable editorXEDIT was the basis of the word processing function in PROFS, as well as in the PROFS document management functions.
PROFS itself had descended from OFS (Office System)[2]: 321–323 developed also on the same laboratory and first installed in October 1974. This was a primitive solution for office automation created between 1970 and 1972,[2] which was replacement for an in-house manual system for tracking inter-office communications.[2]: 327
Compared to Poughkeepsie's original in-house system, the distinctive new features added by OFS were a centralised database virtual machine (data base manager orDBM) for shared permanent storage of documents, instead of storing all documents in user's personal virtual machines;[2]: 329–331 and a centralised virtual machine (mailman master machine ordistribution virtual machine) to manage mail transfer between individuals, instead of relying on direct communication between the personal virtual machines of individual users.[2]: 331–332 By 1981, IBM's Poughkeepsie site had over 500 PROFS users.[2]: 340
In 1983, IBM introduced release 2 of PROFS, along with auxiliary software to enable document interchange between PROFS, DISOSS,Displaywriter,IBM 8100 andIBM 5520 systems.[3][4]
PROFS[5] and itse-mail component, known colloquially asPROFS Notes, featured prominently in the investigation of theIran-Contra scandal.Oliver North believed he had deleted his correspondence, but the system archived it anyway. Congress subsequently examined the e-mail archives.[6]
Two wholly different systems also shared the OfficeVision name: OfficeVision/MVS originated from IBMDISOSS, and OfficeVision/400 fromIBM Office/36.
IBM's European Networking Center (ENC) in Heidelberg, Germany, developed prototype extensions to OfficeVision/VM to supportOpen Document Architecture (ODA), in particular a converter between ODA andDocument Content Architecture (DCA) document formats.[7]
There were several versions of Office Vision.
As said earlier, all this versions were derived from different systems sharing no common code, only shared a common name.[8]
In general an OfficeVision system (which ever the platform) providede-mail, shared calendars, and shared document storage and management, and it provided the ability to integrate word processing applications such asDisplaywrite/370 and/or the Document Composition Facility (DCF/SCRIPT). IBM introduced the OfficeVision name in their May 1989 announcement,[9] followed by several other key releases later.
OfficeVision/VM for the Far Eastern languages of Japanese, Korean and Chinese, had a different evolution.
It originated from IBM Office and Document Control System (ODPS), aDBCS-enabledporting from PROFS, plus document edit, store and search functions, similar to Displaywrite/370. It was an integrated office system for the Asian languages, that ran on IBM'smainframe computers underVM, offering such functions asemail,calendar, and document processing and storing. IBM ODPS was later renamed as IBM OfficeVision/VM[10] and itsMVS version (using DISOSS) was not offered. After IBM's buyout ofLotus Development in 1995, the ODPS users were recommended to migrate toLotus Notes.
IBM ODPS was developed in IBM Tokyo Programming Center, located inKawasaki, Japan, later absorbed intoIBM Yamato Development Laboratory, in conjunction with IBM Dallas Programming Center inWestlake, Texas, U.S., where PROFS was developed, and other programming centers. It first became available in 1986 forJapanese, and then was translated intoKorean by IBM Korea and intoTraditional Chinese by IBM Taiwan. It was not translated intoSimplified Chinese for mainland China.
IBM ODPS consisted of four software components:[11]
With the advent of thepersonal computer and theclient–server paradigm changed the way organizations looked at office automation.[8] In particular, office users wantedgraphical user interfaces. Thus e-mail applications with PC clients became more popular.
IBM's initial answer was OfficeVision/2,[12] which was released along side its new generation of computers including PS/2, AS/400 and ES/390, which was a server-requestor system designed to be the strategic implementation of IBM'sSystems Application Architecture.
The server, as said could run on theOS/2, VM, MVS (XA or ESA), orOS/400 operating systems, while the requester required OS/2 Extended Edition running onIBM PS/2 personal computers, or DOS. IBM also developed OfficeVision/2 LAN for workgroups, which failed to find market acceptance and was withdrawn in 1992.[13]
IBM originally intended to deliver theWorkplace Shell as part of the OfficeVision/2 LAN product, but in 1991 announced plans to release it as part of OS/2 2.0 instead:
IBM last week said some features originally scheduled to ship in OfficeVision/2 LAN will be bundled into the current release of the product, while others will be either integrated into OS/2 or delayed indefinitely... IBM's Workplace Shell, an enhanced graphical user interface, is being lifted from OfficeVision/2 LAN to be included in OS/2 2.0... The shell offers the capability to trigger processes by dragging and dropping icons on the desktop, such as dropping a file into an electronic wastebasket. Porting that feature to the operating system will let any application take advantage of the interface.[14]
With the advent ofLotus Notes andLotus cc:Mail as an OfficeVision/2 replacement, IBM began to resell it.[13] Ultimately, IBM solved its OfficeVision problems through thehostile takeover ofLotus Software for itsLotus Notes product, one of the two most popular products for business e-mail and calendaring.
Users of IBM OfficeVision included theNew York State Legislature[15] and theEuropean Patent Office.
IBM discontinued support of OfficeVision/VM as of October 6, 2003. IBM recommended that its OfficeVision/VM customers migrate toLotus Notes andLotus Domino environments, and IBM offered migration tools and services to assist. Guy Dehond, one of the beta-testers of theAS/400, developed the first migration tool.[16] However, OfficeVision/MVS remained available for sale until March 2014, and was still supported until May 2015,[17] and thus for a time was another migration option for OfficeVision/VM users. OfficeVision/MVS runs on IBM'sz/OS operating system.