Apple, Gobe and Future Office Software?

[MacRumors]

In Liberation.fr, Jean-Louis Gassee (founder of Be, Inc.) writes about the state of Apple.

One interesting unknown tidbit that Gassee offers is that Apple recruited the team from GoBe back in 2001.

GoBe produced an office suite entitled GoBe Productive for Windows, Linux and BeOS platforms and made it to version 3.0. This software met positive reviews in the press.

The software featured various word processing, page design, layout, drawing, and photo components:

Use the components separately - or combine them to experience a whole new level of productivity and power. Draw a "live" spreadsheet into your word processing page. Add an illustration and edit it on the spot. Turn the whole thing into a slide show. All the tools are at your fingertips in every document you create.

The concept is similar to a the ill-fated OpenDoc technology which Apple pushed a few years ago. With no doubt, this rumor will spawn further speculation on an significant Appleworks update, which has been rumored.

[rainman::|:|]

It's about time... Appleworks works pretty well, IMHO, and i use it a lot. But Apple is known for taking things to the next level, and this is something that could really be taken further...

People don't want to be held back by computer restrictions anymore, they're tired of that after 25 years. they want the computer to do exactly what they want, which is more flexibility. which is what this provides, it sounds like...


pnw

[kcmac]

GoBe sounds similar to Rag Time. GoBe is to Office as Safari is to IE. Small. Fast. Clean.

Also sounds like it has some compatability to Office as well as some other common formats. This could be interesting.

[yosoyjay]

I'm always excited to see a challenger to Office. Unfortunately, all of Office's competition does not make the grade. I've tried Appleworks and Staroffice and both are just not up to the task.

I hope this pans out.

[NicoMan]

arn, I know I am a bit off topic here, but it is Liberation.fr, not liberaration.fr.
But the link works, so that's no big deal...
(sorry to be a pain)

NicoMan

[Sol]

Apple could take it to the next level and if they really did contract a new development team then I am sure that the results will be interesting to say the least. The last Appleworks featured compatibility with OS X but other than that nothing really new was brought to the table. As for Office, it is something of an industry standard in the business world but that does not mean there is no demand for something better. If Apple was to release a product that could run on x86 hardware then they would trully be competing with Microsoft. When Apple releases similar software to Microsoft's for the Mac OS then at best they may dominate within their own user-base and at worse, may convince MS to stop releasing their software for OS X.

In this game of strategy there must be a contingency plan and I believe that the fabled "Marklar" is it. Should Microsoft ever pull out of the Mac market Apple would retaliate with a release of an OS X for x86 hardware. I doubt PeeCee users would miss Classic compatibility since the OS X software catalogue has matured in recent months. There are rumours that Marklar is intended to be the alternative OS for people who do not like anti-piracy limitations in Microsoft's forthcoming OS. If all this turns out to be true then I look forward to the day when OS X users are seen as seedy types who get up to no good with their computers (unlike the perfectly law abiding Windows users of course).

[bryng]

I remember reading that the iPod was released without any expectation as to what its success might be - the idea, roughly speaking, was to put it out there and see of it worked.

I can't help but draw parallels with Keynote here - put a product out to test the market and see what happens. Maybe without a built-in expectation of success.

If Keynote is a success, then maybe something like the GoBe software is what Apple would need to follow Keynote up quickly...

[taweili]

Watching Steve Jobs demoing Keynote in the MacWorld keynote brought back a lot of memory of NeXT. Keynot is a subset clone of the excellent presentation software Concurrence from LightHouse. Along with Concurrence, LightHouse has produced a suite of productivities for NeXT. The following are the screenshots for them:

OpenWrite : Word Processor
Concurrence: Presentation
Quantrix: Spreadsheet
TaskMaster: Scheduling and Project management

These are excellent software. Lighthouse Design was bought by Sun in 1996 and these applications went away. Seeing Keynote remaining me a lot of Concurrence and got me to boot up my NeXT Cube for the first time in 5 years.

The best I could hope for is for someone in Sun to open up the source to these application in open source and this would be just a dream.

If Apple was to acquire productivities software, why acqure it from GoBe instead of Sun who owns LightHouse's source codes.

On the other note, if someone knows how I can get into contact with people in Sun who may know something about these treasures they have, please contact me at taweili@yahoo.com. I'd like to write them to see if we can get them to open up and codes. I'd really want to see these applications on OS X.

[NicoMan]

Originally posted by Sol
The last Appleworks featured compatibility with OS X but other than that nothing really new was brought to the table

As much as I hear people talking (you know the ones that are so rabid about Microsoft, etc...) about how great Appleworks is, etc, the only thing I know (I have never used it on my iBook) is that it feels like OS 9 or lower, not even that. It doesn't look like a serious proposition. I cannot see anyone honestly being impressed by AppleWorks after buying a few thousand dollars (pounds, euros ?) machine all nice and shiny with a beautiful OS, Aqua looks and all.

If it is an Appleworks upgrade we are talking about, well I think it is about time. If it is a new productline supposed to take on Office, well I'm all for it but that is a risky proposition...

NicoMan

[GeneR]

Originally posted by Sol
Apple could take it to the next level and if they really did contract a new development team then I am sure that the results will be interesting to say the least. The last Appleworks featured compatibility with OS X but other than that nothing really new was brought to the table. As for Office, it is something of an industry standard in the business world but that does not mean there is no demand for something better. If Apple was to release a product that could run on x86 hardware then they would trully be competing with Microsoft. When Apple releases similar software to Microsoft's for the Mac OS then at best they may dominate within their own user-base and at worse, may convince MS to stop releasing their software for OS X.

In this game of strategy there must be a contingency plan and I believe that the fabled "Marklar" is it. Should Microsoft ever pull out of the Mac market Apple would retaliate with a release of an OS X for x86 hardware. I doubt PeeCee users would miss Classic compatibility since the OS X software catalogue has matured in recent months. There are rumours that Marklar is intended to be the alternative OS for people who do not like anti-piracy limitations in Microsoft's forthcoming OS. If all this turns out to be true then I look forward to the day when OS X users are seen as seedy types who get up to no good with their computers (unlike the perfectly law abiding Windows users of course).

I like the Marklar idea. But If it is launched than perhaps it should be bundled with a very Office-esque Appleworks. In that way perhaps Apple can sell the OS with all the bells and whistles to consumers, businesses and to PC makers that would undercut Microsoft's sales. I know it may cut into Apple's hardware line, but there is such a strong consumer base for Apple (in terms of loyalty) I wonder if these numbers would really change. Apple makes the best hardware (despite the Mhz arguments) and perhaps that would protect its hardware sales if Marklar does become a reality. Who knows? It'd be nice to see Apple's OS spreading like a virus through the PC world changing PCs into Mac Converts. Until something like this (hopefully) happens, I'll just be happy to hear more Switcher stories.

[iJon]

Originally posted by Sol
Apple could take it to the next level and if they really did contract a new development team then I am sure that the results will be interesting to say the least. The last Appleworks featured compatibility with OS X but other than that nothing really new was brought to the table. As for Office, it is something of an industry standard in the business world but that does not mean there is no demand for something better. If Apple was to release a product that could run on x86 hardware then they would trully be competing with Microsoft. When Apple releases similar software to Microsoft's for the Mac OS then at best they may dominate within their own user-base and at worse, may convince MS to stop releasing their software for OS X.

In this game of strategy there must be a contingency plan and I believe that the fabled "Marklar" is it. Should Microsoft ever pull out of the Mac market Apple would retaliate with a release of an OS X for x86 hardware. I doubt PeeCee users would miss Classic compatibility since the OS X software catalogue has matured in recent months. There are rumours that Marklar is intended to be the alternative OS for people who do not like anti-piracy limitations in Microsoft's forthcoming OS. If all this turns out to be true then I look forward to the day when OS X users are seen as seedy types who get up to no good with their computers (unlike the perfectly law abiding Windows users of course).

well they are already half there. apple already has appleworks 6 foe windows. Now they just something that will compete.

iJon

[lolajl]

Originally posted by NicoMan

If it is an Appleworks upgrade we are talking about, well I think it is about time. If it is a new productline supposed to take on Office, well I'm all for it but that is a risky proposition...

NicoMan

I use Appleworks and I agree. I would buy MS Office, except that the price is a bit rich for my blood. I've got OpenOffice loaded on my PB but the GUI is still very kludgy and I'm waiting for the Aquafied version before I will really give it a workout.

It would be great if we could get a drastically enhanced Appleworks version later this year. Shame on Corel for pulling out of the word processing for Macs!

[Anecdoter]

Originally posted by lolajl

It would be great if we could get a drastically enhanced Appleworks version later this year. Shame on Corel for pulling out of the word processing for Macs!

I had contacted Corel about nine months ago and asked them if they were going to release WordPerfect for OS X. They responded by saying that it was already being considered. I took it as a polite way to blow me off, but perhaps if enough people wrote them they might look at the issue more seriously.

Speaking of NeXT apps, there is also two good programs from Anderson Financial Systems - WriteUp and PasteUp, a word processor and a page layout application. Both of these ran on Openstep and I know the company was considering porting these to OS X. However, according to their web page now says that there are no current plans to port them to OS X... oh well.

[taweili]

Originally posted by Anecdoter
Speaking of NeXT apps, there is also two good programs from Anderson Financial Systems - WriteUp and PasteUp, a word processor and a page layout application. Both of these ran on Openstep and I know the company was considering porting these to OS X. However, according to their web page now says that there are no current plans to port them to OS X... oh well.

WriteUp and PasteUp, I haven't heard of these two names for such long time. Could you give me their Web site? www.afs.com seems to linked to some telefloral shop now. I'd love to see those two on Mac OS X.

There are a lot of great apps produced for NeXTSTEP. It would be great if we could see some of them gets ported to OS X.

[Kid Red]

Originally posted by yosoyjay
I'm always excited to see a challenger to Office. Unfortunately, all of Office's competition does not make the grade. I've tried Appleworks and Staroffice and both are just not up to the task.

I hope this pans out.

Have you tried Hancom Office? If not, then you can't say all.

[wumpus]

Was decisive in ensuring that Apple did not licence MacOS when it mattered - so is no angel in the platform's history...Be's fate is more than a little tragic, though...

[msascha]

Take a look at:

http://www.gobe.com/company.html

The interesting part:

<cite>
Gobe Software, Inc. is a privately held company founded in 1997 by the team that created ClarisWorks (now AppleWorks).
</cite>

[arrakis]

From an article found at arstechnica:
(http://arstechnica.com/archive/news/1039309820.html)

Will there be a grassroots effort to raise the funds? Perhaps, but Lindsey himself notes one important thing to keep in mind: all of the original programmers have moved on to other projects (Lindsey is now at Apple). One might wonder why Gobe wouldn't just let the code go for free. Apparently the company has a line of creditors waiting to be paid; in that respect, the code is likely considered an asset, and as such is subject to bankruptcy laws and the like.

Maybe Apple is working on a complete Office suite based on Gobe office...

[thies]

"Maybe Apple is working on a complete Office suite based on Gobe office..."

HINT! Apple does not own the intellectual property of Gobe. They merely hired former Gobe employees. Thus, an office suite based on Gobe Productve ain't going to happen.

[arrakis]

How do you know apple did not buy it, this may be a reason why Freeradical did not succed

[paulyester]

I worked with them at claris. They left after version 5.

Under the Claris contract, they got royalties and made tons of money (250K+ for the principals).

They also had a lot of autonomy, and lived in Vancouver WA, which created major managment headaches.

They're brilliant engineers, but PITA's to work with.

[Centris 650]

I agree Appleworks is a little too OS 8.5 or 9. When I upgraded to Jaguar I expected AW to be overhauled. I really think Steve-O has something planned. The next Appleworks should really be something to see.

If Apple does make an office suite then I hope it's as intergrated as the iLife software.

[arrakis]

And paulyester:

What do you think they are planing now with apple? Do you have any idea?


by the way, you have to know, Vancouver is not in the USA (WA), it's in Canada, B.C

[MOSiX Man]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this before... I wonder if some of the work the GoBe team did, made it's way into Keynote. If so, might they have also helped lay groundwork for other apps to compete against MS Office?

[MOSiX Man]

by the way, you have to know, Vancouver is not in the USA (WA), it's in Canada, B.C

Uh, yeah. But it's also in Washington state. Hoser.