TommySoftware

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TommySoftware Germany and TommySoftware North American Inc.

logo
legal form Partnership in Germany; Inc. in the USA
founding 1981
Seat Berlin , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management Thomas Maier
Branch Software development
Website www.tommysoftware.de

TommySoftware was a German developer and publisher of graphics applications primarily for the Atari ST and Microsoft Windows . Thomas Maier was the founder and managing director . The company was the starting point for various people who are now known in other areas of public life.

Products

Atari ST

  • PuzzlePuzzle - a puzzle game based on Gödel, Escher, Bach . The now well-known writer Andreas Maier , younger brother of managing director Thomas Maier , composed the music for the game. It was based on minimal music by Philip Glass and was intended to express the avant-garde of TommySoftware.
  • MegaPaint, MegaPaint II ST, MegaPaint Junior - the first graphics program with which you could change every pixel on a printed A4 page.
  • Dizzy Wizzard - game
  • StarTrash game
  • SoundMachine - the first polyphonic music program
  • SoundMerlin
  • Trashheap - one of the first 3D games
  • LisPas II ST - KI, very early
  • 1st Freezer, 1st Speeder - utility software
  • Grafstar - graphics editor
  • MusiX32 - music editor

IBM DOS

  • MegaPaint PC - an innovative software, which, however, had problems on some PCs with 640K because there was not enough memory available

Windows

  • WINCAD, the Profi-CAD - appeared in the versions WINCAD (Starter, Standard, Plus), WINCAD RELEASE 2, 3
  • TommySoftware CAD / DRAW
  • TommySoftware WinSketch
  • MegaPaint for Windows
  • TommySoftware Tek Illustrator

Books

  • TommySoftware CAD / DRAW tutorial (Timo Bierbaum et al.)
  • WINCAD Tutorial (Timo Bierbaum)

history

The company was founded in 1981 in Friedberg (Hessen) and first developed office applications for the Apple II and the Apple III . The move to - then West Berlin - took place in 1985. With the advent of the Atari ST computer, the company began developing a wide range of software applications in the areas of games, graphics software and music in 1985. Numerous trade fair appearances followed. At that time, TommySoftware was regarded as the avant-garde of Berlin's software creatives. Due to the high demand for graphics applications, the management decided in 1988 to start developing PC and Windows applications. At CeBIT 1991, WINCAD, the first Windows application, was presented to the general public.

TommySoftware wrote legal history: On the last day of the CeBIT 1991 trade fair, the company was sent an injunction from North American Software GmbH, in which it prohibited the distribution of the software because it infringed their naming rights to WINCAD. In a court ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (judgment of January 15, 1998, Az .: I ZR 282/95), the Berlin company TommySoftware was found to be right. This judgment of the Federal Court of Justice was relevant and significant in legal history , especially with regard to the open question of the priority of trademark registrations over first use.

In 1992, TommySoftware, a pioneer in environmental protection, presented its software at CeBIT on a stand made from computer scrap converted into designer furniture and received the award for the most innovative exhibition stand.

In 1995, the US subsidiary TommySoftware North America Inc. won the coveted SIC Award for the best graphics program Tek Illustrator .

This was followed by other graphics applications, which were subsequently sold through offices in New York City and San Francisco . Corresponding companies were founded in the USA for this purpose.

Known former employees

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ST-MAGAZINE: MegaPaint II, the all-rounder among the drawing programs
  2. ↑ Skill game
  3. ↑ ST MAGAZINE: Soundmachine II
  4. ↑ Trashheap
  5. ↑ ST magazine: News
  6. ↑ The secret helpers: 1st Speeder, 1st Freezer
  7. ↑ Grafstar
  8. ↑ Who spits the greatest notes?
  9. ↑ New Wincad 3 for easier 2D construction
  10. ↑ Computer Week of April 2, 1993
  11. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Great performance and low price
  12. ^ Atari Fair 1989
  13. ^ Federal Court of Justice ruling v. January 15, 1998, Az .: I ZR 282/95
  14. ↑ Computer scrap turns into designer furniture
  15. ↑ Dynamic environmental marketing - conception by TommySoftware
  16. ↑ Award Winners ( Memento from February 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )