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{{Infobox company
'''Interactive EasyFlow''' was a diagramming and [[flow chart]]ing software package produced by HavenTree Software, Ltd. It existed, allegedly, from the early 1970s until 1998, when it was bought out by [[SPSS]]. It is mostly remembered today for its [[disclaimer]] and license. Both are written in plain English and not in [[Legalese]], thus emphasizing the problems with modern [[Software license|software licensing]]. Excerpts from the license and disclaimer are included into the [[Fortune (program)|fortune]] databases of many [[Linux distribution]]s.▼
| name = HavenTree Software Limited
| logo = HavenTree EasyFlow.JPG
| fate = Assets were sold to [[SPSS Inc.]]
| successor = none
| foundation = 1981
| defunct = 1996
| ___location = [[Kingston, Ontario]], [[Canada]]
| industry = Computer software
| key_people = C. Farnell (founder)
Bill Reid (technology)
John Purdon (last CEO)
| products = Interactive EasyFlow<br/> EasyFlow Macintosh <br/> EasyFlow for Windows <br> NodeMap<br> NodeMap for Windows
| num_employees = 30 (cca 1990)
| parent =
| subsid =
}}
'''Easyflow''' was one of the first diagramming and [[flow chart]]ing software packages available for personal computers. It was produced by HavenTree Software Limited of [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]], [[Ontario]] [[Canada]]. HavenTree's mark on history for its product, which was subsequently renamed '''Interactive Easyflow''', is its notable plain-English license.<ref name=TakingLicense.IW>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Informationweek]]
|url=https://www.informationweek.com/taking-license/d/d-id/1013606
|title=Taking License Esther Schindler |date=February 5, 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |website=[[Y Combinator (company)]] (ycombinator; Hacker News)
|url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12355390
|title=Interactive Easyflow}}</ref>
==History==
[[File:EasyFlowMenu.png|thumb|left|Main menu, from Interactive EasyFlow for DOS 5.8]]
''HavenTree'' was formed in 1981. ''Easyflow'', a [[MS-DOS|DOS-based]] software package, was the initial name of the company's
flagship offering, which was non-interactive and introduced in 1983. "EasyFlow-Plus" was announced in 1984. Interactive EasyFlow - so named to distinguish it from the preceding products - was offered from 1985 until the early 1990s, when the company dropped the "Interactive" adjective in favour of simply "HavenTree EasyFlow". It offered the software for sale until it filed for protection under Canada's [[Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act]] in April 1996. The assets of the company were purchased by [[SPSS Inc.]] in 1998.
==Historical significance==
==Text of software license==▼
▲
▲===Text of software license===
{{quotation|This is where the bloodthirsty licensing agreement is supposed to go, explaining that Interactive Easyflow is a copyrighted package licensed for use by a single person, and sternly warning you not to pirate copies of it and explaining, in detail, the gory consequences if you do.
We know that you are an honest person, and are not going to go around pirating copies of Interactive Easyflow; this is just as well with us since we worked hard to perfect it and selling copies of it is our only method of making anything out of all the hard work. For your convenience EasyFlow is distributed on a on copy-protected diskette and you are free to do what you want with it (make backups, move from machine to machine, etc.) provided that it is never in use by more than one person at a time.
If, on the other hand, you are one of those few people who do go around pirating copies of software you probably aren't going to pay much attention to a license agreement, bloodthirsty or not. Just keep your doors locked and look out for the HavenTree attack shark.}}
==Text of disclaimer==▼
▲===Text of disclaimer===
This is basically the same disclaimer that comes with all software▼
{{quotation|We don't claim Interactive EasyFlow is good for anything -- if you think it is, great, but it's up to you to decide. If Interactive EasyFlow doesn't work: tough. If you lose a million because Interactive EasyFlow messes up, it's you that's out the million, not us. If you don't like this disclaimer: tough. We reserve the right to do the absolute minimum provided by law, up to and including nothing.<ref name=TakingLicense.IW/>
▲This is basically the same disclaimer that comes with all software packages, but ours is in plain English and theirs is in legalese.<ref name=TakingLicense.IW/>
lawyers insisted. We tried to ignore them but they threatened us with the▼
▲We didn't really want to include any disclaimer at all, but our lawyers insisted. We tried to ignore them but they threatened us with the attack shark at which point we relented.}}
[[Category:Software]]▼
[[Category:Computing culture]]▼
==Patenting==
Patent entries are dated in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://uspto.report/TM/74087368
|title=EASYFLOW: HavenTree Software Limited Trademark}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=https://trademarks.justia.com/owners/haventree-software-limited-504298
|title=HaveTree Software Limited Trademarks}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19991005083442/http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4188/sw_doc.html http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4188/sw_doc.html]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Interactive Easyflow}}
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