
               BERKELEY SOFTWORKS . . . A BRIEF HISTORY

    BERKELEY SOFTWORKS was founded in 1983 by Brian Dougherty.  Prior to
    founding Berkeley Softworks, Mr. Dougherty was founder and vice
    president of engineering at Imagic, a video game and consumer software
    company.  While Imagic was venture capital funded, Dougherty chose to
    bootstrap Berkeley Softworks (BSW) using his own money and revenues
    from technical consulting projects.

    Mr Dougherty located the company in Berkeley, across the street from
    the University of California.  The reason for choosing UC Berkeley as a
    location was twofold:  he could tap into the technical research on
    campus and recruit bright engineering students to join the company.
    During its first two years, BSW functioned as a technical consulting
    company designing products for other manufacturers.  These products
    ranged from software for Apple, IBM, and Commodore computers to a
    complete LCD based laptop computer.  Several projects involved both
    hardware and software design.

    By the end of its second year, BSW had purchased the computing systems
    and designed the software development tools necessary to begin
    internal product development.  In looking for market opportunities for
    his technical staff to exploit, Mr. Dougherty made a startling
    discovery; the largest installed base computer in the world did not
    have a disk operating system (DOS).

    The name of that computer is just as startling:  the Commodore 64
    (C64).  Being inexpensive, the C64 is often overshadowed by higher
    priced computers like the IBM PC.  Although IBM PC revenues may be
    greater, the C64 actually has led year in and year out in unit sales.
    To a software developer, the size of the installed base, not the cost
    of the computer is the single most important consideration.  The
    installed base defines the potential market.

    From their work as technical consultants, developing software for a
    wide variety of PC's, the BSW staff knew the C64 had far greater
    potential than most people realized.  In the staff's opinion, the C64
    was superior to the Apple II, Apple's cash cow.  However, due to the
    absence of a real disk operating system, the machine was preceived as
    being inferior.

    In August of 1985, BSW began developing a new DOS for the C64, "A New
    Soul for an Old Machine".  The goal was to bring state-of-the-art
    operating system features to this inexpensive mass marketed computer.
    In January of '86, a prototype of the new DOS was demonstrated to
    Commodore.  Amazed at the performance being squeezed out of their
    inexpensive computer, Commodore contracted to bundle GEOS with future
    C64 sales.  BSW retained the right to market the product into the
    existing installed base.  In March of '86, GEOS V1.0 was released.

    GEOS stands for Graphic Environment Operating System.  It is a menu
    and icon based graphical operating system that gives C64 owners the
    power and ease of use previously found only on much more expensive
    personal computers.  The GEOS packagae comes with the operating system
    kernel, the deskTOP graphical interface to the operating system;
    geoWRITE V1.3, a multi-font WYSIWYG (WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET)
    wordprocessor; geoPAINT, a sophisticated graphics editing program; and
    the following pop-up desk accessories:  a calculator, notepad,
    preference manager, and photo and text managers (for cutting and
    pasting text and graphics between applications).  The entire package
    sells for  $59.95.

    GEOS was originally sold through mail order.  The revenues generated
    from the mail order sales allowed the company to roll out to retail
    distribution.  In June of 1986 GEOS, V1.2 was released to retail
    (all V1.O owners were upgraded for free).  And now GEOS V1.3 is ready.

    The company's goal is to become a mojor personal computer software
    vendor.  While the current product line is targeted at the consumer
    marketplace, the company is in the process of developing products for
    both the Commodore Amiga and IBM PC.  Future plans include keeping
    BSW's fixed overhead to a minimum and tracking the current national
    resurgence in PC interest and sales.


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