<s>
AppWare	B-Application
was	O
a	O
rapid	O
application	O
development	O
system	O
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
and	O
the	O
classic	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
OS	I-Application
based	O
on	O
a	O
simple	O
graphical	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
resulting	O
logic	O
could	O
be	O
compiled	O
on	O
either	O
platform	O
and	O
typically	O
only	O
required	O
minor	O
changes	O
to	O
the	O
GUI	B-Application
layout	O
to	O
complete	O
the	O
port	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
introduced	O
in	O
1989	O
as	O
Serius89	O
by	O
Serius	O
Corporation	O
,	O
and	O
eventually	O
becoming	O
Serius	O
Developer	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
best	O
known	O
as	O
AppWare	B-Application
when	O
it	O
was	O
owned	O
and	O
marketed	O
by	O
Novell	O
starting	O
in	O
1993	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Joe	O
Firmage	O
started	O
development	O
of	O
what	O
would	O
become	O
AppWare	B-Application
circa	O
June	O
1987	O
,	O
originally	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
help	O
develop	O
an	O
accounting	O
system	O
for	O
his	O
parents	O
 '	O
greeting	O
card	O
company	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Serius	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
several	O
visual	B-Language
programming	I-Language
tools	O
that	O
were	O
available	O
on	O
the	O
Mac	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1980s	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
TGS	O
Systems	O
 '	O
Prograph	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
included	O
a	O
greatly	O
increased	O
set	O
of	O
objects	O
,	O
including	O
support	O
for	O
the	O
Communications	B-Operating_System
ToolBox	I-Operating_System
and	O
an	O
associated	O
Terminal	O
object	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
also	O
purchased	O
Software	O
Transformations	O
Inc.	O
,	O
who	O
made	O
a	O
cross-platform	O
object	O
code	O
library	O
that	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
port	O
conventional	O
programs	O
to	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
platforms	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
Mac	O
,	O
Windows	O
,	O
SunOS	B-Operating_System
,	O
UnixWare	B-Operating_System
,	O
HP-UX	B-Application
,	O
with	O
plans	O
to	O
add	O
many	O
more	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Together	O
,	O
Serius	O
and	O
Software	O
Transformations	O
were	O
bundled	O
under	O
the	O
new	O
name	O
AppWare	B-Application
,	O
although	O
they	O
were	O
unrelated	O
products	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Immediately	O
after	O
the	O
acquisitions	O
,	O
AppWare	B-Application
was	O
positioned	O
as	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
"	O
three	O
pillars	O
"	O
of	O
Novell	O
's	O
long-term	O
strategy	O
,	O
the	O
others	O
being	O
NetWare	B-Operating_System
and	O
UnixWare	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Under	O
the	O
new	O
AppWare	B-Application
branding	O
,	O
Serius	O
became	O
the	O
AppWare	B-Application
Visual	O
AppBuilder	O
,	O
or	O
VAB	O
for	O
short	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
of	O
the	O
internal	O
Objects	O
also	O
changed	O
,	O
becoming	O
"	O
AppWare	B-Application
Loadable	O
Modules	O
"	O
(	O
ALMs	O
)	O
,	O
in	O
keeping	O
with	O
the	O
naming	O
for	O
their	O
NetWare	B-Operating_System
Loadable	O
Modules	O
(	O
NLMs	O
)	O
under	O
their	O
core	O
Novell	B-Operating_System
NetWare	I-Operating_System
product	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Software	O
Transformations	O
 '	O
code	O
base	O
became	O
the	O
AppWare	B-Application
Foundation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
not	O
long	O
before	O
the	O
AppWare	B-Application
plans	O
started	O
to	O
fall	O
apart	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
early	O
1994	O
,	O
Novell	O
's	O
support	O
for	O
AppWare	B-Application
Foundation	O
was	O
waning	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
September	O
1994	O
they	O
announced	O
they	O
would	O
be	O
selling	O
the	O
product	O
to	O
a	O
third	O
party	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Unix	O
versions	O
never	O
appeared	O
,	O
instead	O
,	O
the	O
Mac	O
and	O
Windows	O
versions	O
were	O
renamed	O
AppWare	B-Application
,	O
and	O
updated	O
in	O
a	O
1.1	O
release	O
in	O
1994	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Joe	O
Firmage	O
became	O
disillusioned	O
with	O
Novell	O
in	O
mid-1995	O
,	O
following	O
its	O
decision	O
to	O
sell	O
UnixWare	B-Operating_System
and	O
abandon	O
the	O
"	O
SuperNOS	O
"	O
project	O
that	O
would	O
have	O
combined	O
UnixWare	B-Operating_System
and	O
Netware	B-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
left	O
Novell	O
later	O
that	O
year	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Novell	O
then	O
publicly	O
stated	O
in	O
November	O
1995	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
looking	O
for	O
a	O
buyer	O
for	O
AppWare	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
1996	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
announced	O
(	O
based	O
on	O
an	O
agreement	O
that	O
had	O
been	O
signed	O
the	O
month	O
before	O
)	O
that	O
Novell	O
had	O
sold	O
all	O
rights	O
to	O
the	O
AppWare	B-Application
technology	O
to	O
a	O
new	O
company	O
called	O
Network	O
Multimedia	O
Inc	O
.	O
(	O
NMI	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
headed	O
by	O
Ed	O
Firmage	O
,	O
who	O
had	O
been	O
director	O
of	O
AppWare	B-Application
marketing	O
at	O
Novell	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ed	O
Firmage	O
said	O
that	O
the	O
new	O
firm	O
had	O
plans	O
to	O
enhance	O
and	O
expand	O
the	O
capabilities	O
of	O
AppWare	B-Application
on	O
several	O
different	O
platforms	O
and	O
in	O
combination	O
with	O
several	O
object	O
and	O
document	O
technologies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Then	O
in	O
July	O
1996	O
,	O
Network	O
Multimedia	O
renamed	O
AppWare	B-Application
as	O
MicroBrew	O
and	O
relaunched	O
it	O
as	O
a	O
visual	O
development	O
tool	O
for	O
Internet	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
of	O
the	O
system	O
attempted	O
to	O
negotiate	O
a	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
into	O
some	O
sort	O
of	O
open	O
source	O
license	O
in	O
early	O
2000	O
,	O
and	O
started	O
The	O
Serious	O
Project	O
on	O
SourceForge	B-Application
to	O
coordinate	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Applications	O
in	O
AppWare	B-Application
were	O
constructed	O
by	O
dropping	O
icons	O
representing	O
pre-rolled	O
objects	O
onto	O
a	O
worksheet	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
connecting	O
them	O
together	O
to	O
represent	O
message	O
flows	O
between	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
of	O
the	O
"	O
objects	O
"	O
represented	O
basic	O
logic	O
statements	O
,	O
while	O
others	O
represented	O
GUI	B-Application
widgets	O
such	O
as	O
text	O
editors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
a	O
high	O
level	O
the	O
system	O
is	O
similar	O
in	O
concept	O
to	O
HyperCard	B-Application
or	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
,	O
in	O
that	O
the	O
program	O
's	O
logic	O
is	O
strongly	O
associated	O
with	O
the	O
object	O
that	O
sends	O
some	O
initial	O
event	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AppWare	B-Application
built	O
true	O
"	O
double	O
clickable	O
"	O
applications	O
that	O
ran	O
natively	O
on	O
either	O
Windows	O
or	O
the	O
Mac	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
most	O
systems	O
of	O
the	O
sort	O
,	O
like	O
HyperCard	B-Application
,	O
the	O
applications	O
did	O
not	O
end	O
up	O
looking	O
generic	O
,	O
and	O
generally	O
behaved	O
as	O
first-class	O
citizens	O
of	O
the	O
host	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
the	O
applications	O
were	O
also	O
similar	O
to	O
HyperCard	B-Application
in	O
that	O
they	O
generally	O
did	O
not	O
support	O
multi-window	O
operation	O
or	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
new	O
documents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AppWare	B-Application
applications	O
consisted	O
of	O
a	O
fixed	O
number	O
of	O
forms	O
and	O
windows	O
,	O
a	O
side	O
effect	O
of	O
its	O
lack	O
of	O
a	O
NEW-type	O
operator	O
for	O
creating	O
new	O
objects	O
at	O
runtime	O
.	O
</s>
