Friendlyware
FriendlyWare was a set of 30 computer programs that were written in BASIC. There were several releases of FriendlyWare. A review of some its software appeared in the April 1983 issue of PC World magazine.[1]
Reception and distribution
[edit]These programs, which were bundled with some IBM personal computers sold by hardware vendors, included computer games, business software and personal data analysis programs.[2]
The original copy, titled FriendlyWare I, was distributed on a 5.25" floppy disk with a green label. It had one arcade game (Brick Out) and other family software, including strategy games like Reversi.[3] The FriendlyWare PC Introductory Set was among the first games available for the PC. It was a best seller for three months with little competition.[4] The FriendlyWare Arcade pack came on a floppy disk with a red label and contained eight additional arcade-style games. The BusinessWare release came with a blue label and contained simple business software.
FriendlyWare was published in 1983 by a company named Friendlysoft. Over 29,000 copies of the original FriendlyWare were eventually sold.
FriendlySoft
[edit]FriendlySoft was started by Michael Yaw, an investor who also owned several Domino's Pizza stores. The software was written by a team of four programmers; who were paid royalties on the sales. Development was completed on some of the earlier IBM PCs. One of these computers was a PC with an innovative CGA card (Color Graphics Adapter).
Cultural impact
[edit]FriendlyWare was briefly referenced in Homestar Runner's "Strong Bad Email #65",[5] with a subsequent playthrough of a number of the games in "Disk 4 of 12 - FriendlyWare".[6]
FriendlyWare was one of the first pieces of software to implement a boss key,[7] a shortcut to obscure the nature of the software from superiors in the workplace,[4] Enhancements to this feature were still noteworthy in 2014.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ "PC World Apr 1983" (PDF).
- ^ "FriendlyWare PC Introductory Set for PC Booter (1983)". MobyGames. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
- ^ Susan Glinert-Cole. "IBM Images". CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 9, NO. 11 / NOVEMBER 1983 / PAGE 303.
- ^ a b Solomon, Abby (October 1983). "Games Businesspeople Play". Inc.
- ^ "Strong Bad Email #65". Homestar Runner. 2003. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22.
- ^ "Disk 4 of 12 - FriendlyWare". Homestar Runner. 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22.
- ^ "FriendlyWare P.C. Arcade". Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- ^ Bobby Burch (February 7, 2014). "How to watch the Olympics at work without getting caught". BizJournals.com (Kansas City). Retrieved January 3, 2023.
Mozilla Firefox also has a Panic Button .. a keyboard shortcut to quickly hide whatever you're viewing.
External links
[edit]- FriendlyWare profile (provided by GameSpy)
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