Metaphor Computer Systems: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|American computer company}}

'''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 "seamlessly integrate" data from both internal and external sources. The Metaphor machine was one of the first commercial workstations to offer a complete hardware/software package and a GUI, including

{{use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}

"a wireless mouse and a wireless five-function key pad."<ref name=Metaphor.AA1988>{{cite newspaper

{{use American English|date=March 2021}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Metaphor Computer Systems

| logo = File:Metaphor Computer Systems logo.svg

| type = <!-- Public or Private -->

| industry = Computers

| founded = {{Start date and age|1982}} in [[Mountain View, California]]

| founders = {{ubl|[[David Liddle]]|Donald Massaro}}

| defunct = {{End date|1994}}

| fate = Acquired by [[IBM]] in 1991

| successor = [[#Meta5|Meta5]]

| products = Computer workstations and software

| num_employees =

| num_employees_year = <!-- Year of num_employees data (if known) -->

}}

'''Metaphor Computer Systems''' (1982–1994) was aan [[XeroxAmerican PARC]]computer spin-offcompany that created an advanced [[workstation]], [[database]] gateway, a unique graphical office interface, and software applications that "seamlessly integrate" data from both internal and external sources. The Metaphor machine was one of the first commercial workstations to offer a complete hardware/software package and a GUI, including "a wireless mouse and a wireless five-function key pad".<ref name=Metaphor.AA1988>{{cite news

|newspaper=[[Advertising Age]] (adage.com)

|title=IBM, P&G, Nielsen back Metaphor

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==History==

{{Expand section|date=February 2024}}

[[David Liddle]] and Donald Massaro founded Metaphor in 1982 after leaving [[Xerox PARC]].<ref name="LATimes">{{cite news|title='IBM Gets Stake in Metaphor to Enhance Its PCs'

|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-19/business/fi-1256_1_metaphor-system|accessdate= 28 February 2012|newspaper=LA Times|date=19 April 1988}}</ref> By 1987, the company had an annual revenue of $39.7 million.<ref name="LATimes"/> In 1991, [[IBM]], one of its primary customers, acquired the company outright.<ref>{{cite news|title='Metaphor Chief Hired By I.B.M.'

|url=https://www.nytimeslatimes.com/1991/11/13/businessarchives/businessla-peoplexpm-metaphor1988-chief04-hired19-byfi-ibm1256-story.html?|accessdateaccess-date= 28 February 2012|newspaper=New YorkLA Times|date=1319 NovemberApril 19911988}}</ref> By 1987, the company had an annual revenue of $39.7 million.<ref name="LATimes"/> In 1991, [[IBM]], one of its primary customers, acquired the company outright.<ref>{{cite news|title='Metaphor Chief Hired By I.B.M.'

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/13/business/business-people-metaphor-chief-hired-by-ibm.html?|accessdate= 28 February 2012|newspaper=New York Times|date=13 November 1991}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Bass |first1=Thomas A. |title=Think Tanked |url=https://www.wired.com/1999/12/interval/#:~:text=Metaphor%20Computer |access-date=2 March 2025 |work=Wired Magazine |date=1 December 1999}}</ref>

===Patriot Partners===

Metaphor and IBM created a venture called Patriot Partners in 1990,<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/12/business/ibm-to-buy-metaphor-to-aid-apple-plan.html

|title=I.B.M. to Buy Metaphor to Aid Apple Plan

|author=John Markoff |date=July 12, 1991 |accessdate=March 15, 2021}}</ref> the same year Metaphor ceased selling its own hardware

and instead "market Metaphor's business analysis software for use on" the [[IBM PS/2]].<ref>{{cite news

|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/14/business/company-news-shift-at-metaphor.html

|title=Shift at Metaphor |date=February 14, 1990}}</ref>

Metaphor and IBM created a venture called Patriot Partners in 1990. The attempt was to create an organization that could produce a solid business line of object-oriented software.<ref>{{cite news|title='established giants seeking relief create industry implosion'

|title='established giants seeking relief create industry implosion'

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1AEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50 |accessdate=February 28, 2012

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1AEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA49&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false|accessdate= 28 February 2012|newspaper=InfoWorld News |date=July 22 July, 1991}}</ref> Rather than capitalize the venture, IBM purchased the Metaphor software division in 1991 and operated it as a wholly owned, independent subsidiary, and the hardware and field repair division was spun off into its own company, Sequence Support Services. In May 1992, Sequence Support Services ceased operations. 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http https://www.meta5.com/M5AboutUs/History.asp|title=Meta5about Company History|accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref>

|title=About meta5}}</ref>

==Product overview==

===Hardware===

TheReleased in September 1984, the Metaphor workstation had ainfrared wireless input devices: keyboard, wireless mouse, wireless numeric pad, and a wireless 5five-function keypad. AllThis thesewas the first commercial appearance of cordless input devices like mouse, etc. The 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 industrialworkstations designwere of[[Motorola the68000]]-based, workstationnetworked waswith 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[[Ethernet]], and Davidcontained Kelley1 DesignMB were precursors of [[IDEO]]RAM.

The industrial design of the workstation was done by [[Mike Nuttall]] 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. A Workstation Three, which included a color screen, was designed through final prototypes, but was never taken into production.

Two different workstations models were produced. '''Workstation One''' had an external electronics enclosure. '''Workstation Two''' had integrated electronics. A '''Workstation Three''', which included a color screen, was designed through final prototypes, but was never taken into production.

In August 1988, the '''Workstation 2XP''' was released which adapted a standard PC into a Metaphor workstation using a 68000-based co-processor card with 2 MB RAM, Ethernet adapter, three-button mouse, and 15-inch color monitor.<ref>

{{cite journal

|last1=Stephens |first1=Mark |date=September 5, 1988 |page=12 |title=Metaphor DIS Turns ATs Into Workstations

|journal=[[InfoWorld]] |volume=10 |issue=36

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12}}</ref>

Metaphor released [[i386|80386]]-based workstations in July 1989: 16 MHz 386SX-based '''Model 216''' and 20 MHz 386-based '''Model 220''', each with 4 MB RAM.<ref name=LaPlante/>

===GUI Origins===

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===DIS===

The Metaphor GUI provided a unique visualization of end-to-end elements in an enterprise. In total, Metaphor<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.johnweeks.com/random/metaphor/|title=A Brief History Of Metaphor Computer Systems|accessdate=2011-03-01}}</ref> branded this as a Data Interpretation System (DIS), which is a class of Decision Support System (DSS) <ref>{{cite web|url=http://dssresources.com/history/dsshistory.html|title=A Brief History of Decision Support Systems|accessdate=2006-11-02}}</ref>

The DIS software was designed to show in one workflow, the access of data from SQL databases, its analysis and then its presentation. This was accomplish by using graphically iconic applications for database gateway, spreadsheet, plot, email, and printing tools all connected by arrows. These were animated when the workflow ran. The workflow collection was called a Capsule.<ref name=Metaphor.IWorld1993>{{cite journal| last1 =magazine LaPlante| first1 magazine=Alice | date = July 24, 1989 |page=26 | title = Metaphor Workstations Run OS/2, DOS, and DIS | journal = [[InfoWorld]] | volume = 11 |issue = 30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT25&dq=%22Metaphor+Computer+Systems%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XOVaT97hAqjz0gGr4cm-Dw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Metaphor%20Computer%20Systems%22&f=false }}</ref>{{Clarify|date=August 2009}}

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTwEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22metaphor%22+(%22liddle%22+OR+%22dis%22+OR+%22batch%22+OR+%22capsule%22)&pg=PA18

|title=Metaphor provides front-end tools for desktop interfaces

|author=Scott Mace |date=March 15, 1993 |page=18 |accessdate=March 17, 2021}}</ref><ref name=LaPlante>{{cite journal

|last1=LaPlante |first1=Alice |date=July 24, 1989 |page=26 |title=Metaphor Workstations Run OS/2, DOS, and DIS

|journal=[[InfoWorld]] |volume=11 |issue=30

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzAEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Metaphor+Computer+Systems%22&pg=PT25}}</ref>

===Capsule===

The heart of the Metaphor DIS system was the Capsule. Basically, a capsule was a simplified BATCH program. Because Metaphor applications were built so they communicated with each other, they could be moved into a folder and automated in a "Capsule". (The name was taken from the mannedcrewed space capsules of the time.)<ref name=Metaphor.IWorld1993/>

The functionality of the Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Data Retrieval tools were no better than their Microsoft Office counterparts (in fact, they had a smaller sub-set of features than Office). The primary advantage of Metaphor's system was the degree to which applications were linked together. Complex reiterative data-retrieval jobs were able to be created on-the-fly by a user with no programming knowledge.<ref name=Metaphor.IBM>{{cite web

|url=https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?appname=skmwww%26htmlfid=897%252FENUS490-130%26infotype=AN%26subtype=CA%26mhsrc=ibmsearch_a%26mhq=examining

|title=Meet new Granite models with vision and reasoning|website=[[IBM]] }}</ref>

A user could visually drag fields from multiple databases into the Data Retrieval tool (which would generate its own SQL code based on the fields, links and criteria displayed) and send the output directly into a spreadsheet for sorting, calculations, and graphs. The report could then be sent into a pre-formatted Word Processing document, sent to the printer, and even e-mailed to a pre-designated distribution list. The whole process would repeat for each SKU, Region, Price Code, etc. without any human interaction.

<!--- was the following written before AS/400? -->

<!--- Even in today's GUI designs, this abstract conception of the desktop 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. -->

===Meta5===

In March 2000, IBM licensed the Metaphor IBM Intelligent Decision Server (IDS) technology to Relational Development Systems (RDS), which was renamed Meta5.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meta5.com/M5AboutUs/History.asp|title=Meta5 Company History|accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref>

==Patriot Partners==

Metaphor and IBM created a venture called Patriot Partners in 1990. The attempt was to create an organization that could produce a solid business line of object-oriented software.<ref>{{cite news|title='established giants seeking relief create industry implosion'

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1AEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA49&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false|accessdate= 28 February 2012|newspaper=InfoWorld News|date=22 July 1991}}</ref> Rather than capitalize the venture, IBM purchased the Metaphor software division in 1991 and operated it as a wholly owned, independent subsidiary, and the hardware and field repair division was spun off into its own company, Sequence Support Services. In May 1992, Sequence Support Services ceased operations. In October 1994, Metaphor ceased operations.

==References==

{{reflist}}

==Further reading==

* {{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2y4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false | title=Metaphor's David Liddle Speaks out on icons | publisher=InfoWorld Magazine | date=May 13, 1985 | accessdate=March 7, 2012}} Available for [https://archive.org/details/Infoworld-1985-05-13 download at Internet Archive].

[[Category:SoftwareAmerican companies basedestablished in the San Francisco Bay Area1982]]

[[Category:American companies disestablished in 1994]]

[[Category:Companies based in Mountain View, California]]

[[Category:Computer companies established in 1982]]

[[Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1994]]

[[Category:Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]]

[[Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States]]

[[Category:Defunct software companies of the United States]]

[[Category:Defunct companiescomputer basedhardware in the San Francisco Bay Areacompanies]]

[[Category:CompaniesDefunct basedcomputer insystems Mountain View, Californiacompanies]]

[[Category:XeroxSoftware spin-offscompanies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]]

[[Category:Software companies based in Mountain View, California]][[Category:Xerox spin-offs]]