Berkeley Systems
 |
|
| Private | |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Founded | Berkeley, California, United States (1987) |
| Founder |
Wes Boyd Joan Blades |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Berkeley, California, United States |
| Products |
Accessible computing software Screensaver software Computer games |
| Owner | Wes Boyd Joan Blades |
|
Number of employees
|
120 (1997) |
| Subsidiaries | Access Software |
Berkeley Systems was a San Francisco Bay Area software company co-founded in 1987 by Wes Boyd and Joan Blades. It made money early on by performing contract work for the National Institutes of Health, specifically in making modifications to the Macintosh so that it could be used by partially sighted or blind people. Several of these Access programs were licensed by Apple Computer and added to the operating system. Perhaps the most ambitious of these technologies was a program that could read the Macintosh screen, called outSPOKEN, which won a technology award from the Smithsonian in 1990.
The first commercial success for Berkeley Systems was a virtual desktop product for the Macintosh called Stepping Out. Given the small size of the first Macintosh screens, this product had some use and the idea was widely copied. The much bigger success was After Dark, a modular screen saver that included flying toasters, and the first of its kind to be sold. The idea was brought to Berkeley Systems by Jack Eastman and Patrick Beard. Eastman was later put in charge of software development at Berkeley Systems.
Berkeley Systems' best-selling product, the trivia game You Don't Know Jack, was developed by Jellyvision, based on their award-winning children's educational film "The Mind's Treasure Chest". YDKJ brought that program's model of interactive learning, engaging structure and pacing, and host character into the commercial mainstream. It also brought graphics, sound editing, and marketing to Berkeley; production of the show continued at Jellyvision's Chicago studios.
They also made other lesser-known software titles, such as Launch Pad, a desktop replacement for kids, and Expresso Calendar and Address Book.
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Wikipedia