The primary focus of our business is information systems software. This involves computers and communication which have given rise to some of the most controversial issues of our age. On this page we offer our own editorial contribution.

User Friendly!

    At the heart of information systems is the sharing of data. The "write it once" principle was one of the most attractive features of computerization. It dramatically reduced the clerical effort required to store and maintain items of data that are accessed by many people in an organization and at the same time it markedly increased data integrity by reducing redundancy and the opportunity for error. However to securely and effectively provide for such data sharing the industry developed(during the 1960's and 70's) complex and sophisticated operating systems and data base management systems to provide for multi-user access. Such facilities could only run on large and expensive main-frame computers. Consequently during this early period computerized information systems were available only to large organizations.

      The continual evolution of computing platforms toward becoming smaller and more powerful gave rise to the development of simpler and more affordable multi-user operating systems(best characterized by the metamorphosis of UNIX from a set of backroom scientific oriented tools to a powerful general purpose operating system implemented on the hardware of every major manufacturer). Coincident with the greater availability of multi-user platforms in the early 80's came the incredible development of personal computing. Led by the Microsoft juggernaut the entire perception of computing was transformed from that of a magnetic tape mysteriously spinning in a  distant sterile room to all of the promise of personal fulfillment represented by the cuddly mouse.

    Early efforts to satisfy information systems needs in the mid-sized to small organization marketplace tended to maintain either the personal or the multi-user perspective. During the 80's and 90's there was significant development of facilities in both camps to address shortcomings. Network operating systems evolved to allow sharing of facilities amongst personal computers to emulate the capabilities of a multi-user operating system(Novell's Netware and Microsoft's Windows NT(arrogantly named "New Technology")) were the ultimate result. Terminal emulation packages and other desktop conversion tools helped multi-user based developers emulate the   graphical user interface(gui) of personal computer based solutions.

    WISL fell under the second category and we have done our best to embrace the Windows PC as a workstation by presenting our text based applications using various emulation techniques. Although it can be argued that the Windows gui is not always the best user interface, particularly for text based applications it has become the de facto standard and the  advantage of adopting the same "used to" friendly interface that is utilized in familiar desktop utilities(word processors and spreadsheets) and games cannot be disputed. The development of client/server environments has offered us a compromise that provides the essential multi-user capabilities of the server while allowing the client to provide the user with a full featured user friendly gui. With the introduction of QUIKREP/CS we have at long last achieved the status of

                         user friendly!