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| Author | A Brief History of Claris Works (Read 8125 times) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Bolkonskij
Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023 
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on: July 29, 2022, 09:40
For those of you who don't know it yet, there is this great piece of history on one of the most defining System 7 apps (Claris Works) by one of it's creators: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/bob/clarisworks.php Website working fine on old Macs too (e.g. iCab, Netscape, IE 4) Lots of details I wasn't aware of, especially how things began. Good read! Any other ClarisWorks fans here? 
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Last Edit: July 29, 2022, 09:54 by Bolkonskij
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wove
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1024 MB  Posts: 1363
Reply #1 on: July 30, 2022, 13:30
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That was a nice read, thanks for posting that. I like ClarisWorks 3 the best. I worked with System 6 as well as System 7. ClarisWorks 3 had very few (if any) updates, no 3.1, no tacked on features. It still had the Communication Module. The UI was nice and clean and worked so nicely on the compact Macs and was a very nice fit on Duo as well. It did have shortcomings the Paint module was finicky about printing smoothly with shapes and curves tending to come out very jaggy. But the integration was so nice. It was almost trivial to create personalized form letters. The speardsheet was limited in features compared to the competition, but was more that adequate for the modest needs I had. I tried BeOS on PPC machines and liked it. I found GoBe Productive to be a very nice "works" application. It tended to focus more on the features of the components and less on the integrated frame aspects, meaning simply the modules were more powerful, but the integration was less seamless. I tried MS Works and mostly found it wanting. Like most applications ClarisWorks just simply had no understanding of what OpenDoc was all about, and the OpenDoc version of CW was pointless. But anyway ClarisWorks 3 is definitely hall of fame software.
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #2 on: August 01, 2022, 20:39
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A very awesome look into the crazy-cool world of Mac software!! It looks like Apple's big push for OpenDoc during that period did not help matters with ClarisWorks. I loved the Mac-side of Microsoft's productivity suite. I think it was version 4.2 at the time with Word 5.1a that introduced the very sleek and handy toolbar But that aside, ClarisWorks was programmed to be very Apple friendly and similarly showcased the best of Apple software at the time. I loved it's database module integration and it's word processor and draw tools were on par with other solid programs, making it a must-have, especially with it's low hardware requirements  I especially liked the personal David-and-Goliath touch of the story and the commitment that its creators showed even before it was published and throughout most of its history!  I equally agree that AppleWorks 6 felt like a huge step backward in spite of its updated interface. It's all about what you have under the hood that counts and ClarisWorks 3-5 were the best versions for sure, again in spite of the whole OpenDoc debacle it went through!  It's still part of my must-have toolbox on my 68k Macs
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #3 on: August 02, 2022, 13:11
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I have to admit that I just love to read those old 80's stories. Where did the easy-going 80's lifestyle go to? I wanna buy a ticket ... Always love to read how it's just two guys crazy about one thing who would go on creating something remarkable while locking themselves into a room and surviving on coke and pizza for months. I was definitely born a few years too late :-D Claris Works 3 is what we had on the LC, mom kept track of household costs and writing letters and we kids fooled around with drawing and all. Unfortunately, all the packaging and documents didn't survive a move, but that was because back then packaging was just considered ...well...packaging. Like the stuff you peel your ice cream out and then throw it away. The boxed CW3 version and full docs would be awesome to have today. What I really liked about ClarisWorks (and AppleWorks too, for that matter) was the focus on the average user. It was way beyond any simple text editor, yet it was never plagued by "featuritis" like MS Word was. I feel it was always in between, always focused on the average user's needs. It had that in common with WriteNow, which I later started to love for the same reason. (and I know, that's a love cballero and I share together :-)
Last Edit: August 20, 2022, 07:27 by Bolkonskij
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Europa
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64 MB Posts: 109 she/her
Reply #4 on: August 19, 2022, 21:53
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Love ClarisWorks and AppleWorks. It's my processor of choice for writing novels and such and has served me well in the time I've used it. :-)
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