Informix

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  • 1.  Informix Wingz?

    Posted Tue May 26, 2020 11:14 AM

    Hi All,
    It's not a question about Informix, but I stumbled across a post introducing Informix Wingz.
    From that article, today I got to know that Informix created spreadsheet software a long time ago.

    Wingz had some powerful features like hyperscript, an internal scripting language, but it seems to have been difficult to handle the individual needs of non-enterprise consumers.

    If Informix continued to develop Wingz as a graphical data analysis tool and develop it as a Big-Data presentation tool, I think it might be the leading software by now.


    ------------------------------
    SangGyu Jeong
    Software Engineer
    Infrasoft
    Seoul Korea, Republic of
    ------------------------------

    #Informix


  • 2.  RE: Informix Wingz?

    Posted Tue May 26, 2020 11:22 AM

    You are right,

     

     

    This was by 1992 or something like this. There was also another product, objected oriented, called Hyperscript  Tools, which flopped soon after that.
    Wingz had been sold to several customers in France. The success has not been visible     ☹
    Then came the 'o4gl' project which stopped very early, then New Era

     

    Also, at that time, there was another Non Informix product that was fully integrated with Informix, whose name was Uniplex.
    It featured Word processor, spreasheet and a gorgeous (at that time) almost WYSIWYG report generator.
    you could place SQL Queries in the Word Processor, the spreadsheet and the report generator
    UNiplex was a great product, with very good performance too.

    Eric Vercelletto
    KandooERP Founder and Community Manager

    www: https://kandooerp.org
    IBM Champion 2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2020
    Mob : +33(0)626 52 50 68
    skype: begooden-it
    Google Hangout: eric.vercelletto@begooden-it.com
    Email:     ericv@kandooerp.org

     




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  • 3.  RE: Informix Wingz?

    IBM Champion
    Posted Tue May 26, 2020 12:35 PM
    Wingz was created originally as a Mac based spreadsheet by a company called Innovative Software in Lenexa, KS (publishers of the SmartWare Suite on the PC). Informix Corp. bought Innovative Software in 1989 releasing Wingz on Mac and later on the PC. It was for a time the most advanced spreadsheet on the market handling spreadsheets with up to 32768 columns and 32768 rows at a time when Excel could only handle 256 columns and up to 16,384 rows. Informix eventually dropped the product and sold it to a company that uses it as a base for their own unrelated software.

    Informix never understood what they had in Wingz and was never able to make traction in the market as Microsoft scrambled to catch up.

    Art

    Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
    ASK Database Management


    Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and do not reflect on the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference.  Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves.






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  • 4.  RE: Informix Wingz?

    Posted Tue May 26, 2020 06:08 PM
    Thank you for telling me exactly the history of Informix's past.

    It's been a long time ago, but it's a story worth thinking about.

    ------------------------------
    SangGyu Jeong
    Software Engineer
    Infrasoft
    Seoul Korea, Republic of
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Informix Wingz?

    Posted Wed May 27, 2020 01:48 PM
    An object (ahem) lesson in how to lose your grip on a great product by failing to market it properly.

    When I took the class on Wingz (26+ years ago) I immediately realized that they could have marketed the HyperScript language as a fantastic database/application language, easily on par with 4GL, with the added advantage of the spreadsheet component.

    Informix had committed a few other marketing flubs - releasing NewEra way before it was ready for prime time - the sales reps were afraid to push it for fear of losing credibility with a good customer.   4GL-RF, designed to run on hand-held scanners in a retail environment.  4GL++, which built GUI application that, at the time, could beat out FourGen for app development.  I think FourGen bought out the product or it was just dropped.

    Informix needn't have been bought out at a bargain-basement price.

    Even now, is IBM sincerely pushing the product line to new customers, even as they are continuing to develop it?

    That's my $0.02(US)

    +----- Jacob Salomon --------------------------------------------------+
    | The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of  |
    | anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of |
    | politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.              |
    +------------------------------ Thomas Sowell (Is Reality Optional?) --+




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