Maguire (John Norris) Oral History | Computer History Museum

Type

Text

Title

Maguire (John Norris) Oral History

Contributor

Johnson, Luanne, Interviewer

Johnson, Luanne, Editor

Maguire, John, Interviewee

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Date

1986-04-08

Place of Publication

Houston, Texas

Extent

17 p.

Description

In this interview, John Maguire describes the environment for independent software vendors in the 1970s as the industry was adjusting to IBM's decision to unbundled the price of its software. He covers his background prior to founding Software AG North America and what led him to believe that there were opportunities in the software products business. He talks why he decided to price ADABAS significantly above other software products on the market at $120,000 and why he charged customers for demos and 90-day trials. He describes his approach to marketing software products internationally, pioneering the concept of establishing an escrow for source code, and the sales approaches he used.

Subject

Maguire, John; Software AG North America; Software AG; ADABAS; NATURAL; Schnell, Peter; Lockheed Missiles and Space Company; Aerospace Business Environment Simulator (ABES); Summit, Roger; Quick Query; CACI; Karr, Herb; Markowitz, Harry; SIMSCRIPT; Welke, Larry; ICP; Software business history

Collection Title

Oral Histories Online

Accession Number

102658223

Details