Metaphor Computer Systems

Metaphor Computer Systems (1982–1994) was a Xerox PARC spin-off that created an advanced workstation, database gateway, a unique graphical office interface, and software applications that communicate^{[clarification needed]}.^{[citation needed]} The Metaphor machine was one of the first commercial workstations to offer a complete hardware/software package and a GUI.^{[citation needed]} Although the company achieved some commercial success, it never achieved the fame of either the Apple Macintosh or Microsoft Windows.^{[citation needed]}

History

David Liddle and Don Massaro founded^[when?].^{[citation needed]} The head of engineering was Charles Irby.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, IBM, one of its primary customers, acquired the company outright.^{[citation needed]} Metaphor was located at 1965 Charleston Road, Mountain View, California, United States, North America.^{[citation needed]}

Hardware

The Metaphor workstation was lightweight and efficient. It had a wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, wireless numeric pad, and a wireless 5-function keypad. All these input devices docked in the desktop workstation where they were recharged. Objects on the desktop and open applications had a uniform command set that could be controlled by the keypad which had Copy, Move, Delete, Options, and Size. Workstations were connected with Ethernet. The industrial design of the workstation was done by Mike Nutall of Matrix Product Design. It won a gold medal from the IDSA. The workstation itself was engineered by James Yurchenco at David Kelley Design. Both Matrix and David Kelley Design were precursors of IDEO.

Two different workstations models were produced. Workstation One had an external electronics enclosure. Workstation Two had integrated electronics.

GUI Origins

Xerox PARC had in 1979 developed the Alto. Alto was the first computer with a bitmap display, mouse and a desktop metaphor as a graphical user interface (GUI). Xerox commercialized it as the Star. David Liddle was head of Business Development at Xerox and had obtained keen insights from customers. Although Xerox thought their GUI systems would sell more Xerox machines, businesses really wanted access to databases.

DIS

The Metaphor GUI provided a unique visualization of end-to-end elements in an enterprise. In total, Metaphor^[1] branded this as a Data Interpretation System (DIS), which is a class of Decision Support System (DSS) ^[2] The DIS software pulled data from SQL databases, analyzed it and presenting it using iconic applications for database gateway, spreadsheet, plot, email, and printing tools.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

Capsule

Because Metaphor applications were built so they communicated with each other, they could be moved into and automated in a "Capsule". The name taken from the manned space capsules of the time. Even in today's GUI designs, this concept has never been attempted because it requires the interoperation of every application, a uniform dataflow model, and a communication protocol usable by a supervisor in a programmatic way.

Patriot Partners

As the company grew, it found it had an ideal product for brand managers at companies like Procter & Gamble, who bought their systems hardware from IBM. Metaphor and IBM created a venture called Patriot Partners that eventually included Apple Computer. The attempt was to create an organization that could produce a solid business line of object-oriented software. Rather than capitalize the venture, IBM purchased Metaphor in 1992 and operated it as a wholly owned, independent subsidiary. In October 1994, Metaphor ceased operations.

Meta5

In March 2000, IBM licensed the Metaphor IBM Intelligent Decision Server (IDS) technology to Relational Development Systems (RDS), which was renamed Meta5^[when?].^[3]

References

1. ^ "A Brief History Of Metaphor Computer Systems". http://www.johnweeks.com/random/metaphor/l. Retrieved 2011-03-01. 
2. ^ "A Brief History of Decision Support Systems". http://dssresources.com/history/dsshistory.htmll. Retrieved 2006-11-02. 
3. ^ "Meta5 Company History". http://www.meta5.com/M5AboutUs/History.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-02.