Robert Adamson (software pioneer)

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Robert Adamson (born 19 October 1947, Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American Software Pioneer

Adamson graduated in Computer Science from the University of Utah in 1971. In 1981, he founded Software Generation Technology Corp.[1] and wrote, one of the first fully interpretive languages for IBM mainframe computers. STG was sold to Pansophic Systems[2] and later acquired by Computer Associates where the product was renamed GENER/OL[3].

Later he founded Nostradamus Inc. and wrote Instant Replay[4], one of the first multimedia tools for personal computers. Instant Replay combined software demos with photos and audio for distribution on floppy diskettes. Instant Replay was used by thousands of large companies such as Intel, Microsoft and Novel, and competed for years with Dan Bricklin’s Demo Maker. Adamson also wrote well known utilities such as Noblink and Hardrunner, both of which received PC Magazines Editors Choice Awards.

Adamson wrote MediaForge, one of the first Multimedia Authoring tools for Windows. Mediaforge was sold to Strata[5] and was awarded Best of Comdex finalist in the area of Development Software in 1994[6]. Over 50 million MediaForge runtimes were distributed through various vendors including Morpheus and MyFamily. MediaForge is currently in use by XMLAuthor for custom development of internet applications such as CinemaForge.

Adamson is still involved in software development. He recently founded stagegold.com and is working on new internet video technologies. In 2007 Adamson published Rainhut, a science fiction novel. The novel contains references to DTK (dare to know), a chaos based software system used to assist in the invention of advanced technologies. Development of the DTK software system is far too radical and expensive to attract serious investors, so the concept remains for future generations to build, according to Adamson.

[edit] Awards

  • Best of Comdex Finalist: MediaForge Comdex 1994
  • All Time Best of the Best Utilities Category (NoBlink) PC Magazine
  • PC Magazine: Editors Choice (HardRunner)
  • Editors Choice (Instant Replay Pro) PC Magazine

[edit] Source Links

Comdex 1994
Noblink
Gener/OL
Pansophic
MediaForge
Rainhut
Instant Replay
IR Old Reference
StageGold
MediaForge Reviews
Evolution
Info
Fourth Generation Languages, 1986
Nostradamus Inc.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Incorporated 29 Jan 1981, state of utah, file# 90569, notary Becky Garlick
  2. ^ Continental Bank, Cashiers's Check cr 611575, 9 Feb 1983, 2.4 million dollars.
  3. ^ Pansophic, Oak Brook, Illinois, GENER/OL Guide GN103.0-8311
  4. ^ Third Edition, Copyright 1993
  5. ^ Strata Acquires Instant Replay Corp. St. George Utah, 31 Aug 1994
  6. ^ Comdex Fall, 1994, BYTE Mag, "Development Software:MediaForge, a Windows multimedia authoring system"