<s>
Cornerstone	B-Application
is	O
a	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
for	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
released	O
by	O
Infocom	O
,	O
a	O
company	O
best	O
known	O
in	O
the	O
1980s	O
for	O
developing	O
interactive	O
fiction	O
video	O
games	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Initially	O
hailed	O
upon	O
release	O
in	O
1985	O
for	O
its	O
ease	O
of	O
use	O
,	O
a	O
series	O
of	O
shortcomings	O
and	O
changes	O
in	O
the	O
market	O
kept	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
from	O
achieving	O
success	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Before	O
forming	O
the	O
company	O
,	O
several	O
of	O
the	O
founders	O
had	O
created	O
the	O
game	O
Zork	B-Application
on	O
mainframes	O
while	O
attending	O
or	O
working	O
at	O
MIT	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
they	O
joined	O
to	O
form	O
Infocom	O
,	O
Zork	B-Application
was	O
a	O
natural	O
choice	O
as	O
a	O
first	O
product	O
because	O
it	O
was	O
practically	O
complete	O
and	O
did	O
n't	O
require	O
much	O
up-front	O
funding	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
enormous	O
success	O
of	O
the	O
game	O
and	O
its	O
"	O
sequels	O
"	O
(	O
which	O
were	O
actually	O
the	O
other	O
portions	O
of	O
the	O
original	O
mainframe	O
game	O
,	O
which	O
had	O
been	O
split	O
into	O
pieces	O
that	O
early	O
personal	O
computers	O
could	O
handle	O
)	O
led	O
to	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
more	O
interactive	O
titles	O
,	O
due	O
in	O
large	O
part	O
to	O
the	O
highly	O
portable	O
technology	O
the	O
company	O
developed	O
for	O
intelligent	O
parsing	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
some	O
deliberation	O
,	O
Infocom	O
's	O
board	O
of	O
directors	O
decided	O
to	O
develop	O
a	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
application	O
for	O
business	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Database	O
applications	O
contemporary	O
with	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
were	O
fairly	O
inaccessible	O
to	O
non-programmers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
leading	O
database	O
application	O
of	O
the	O
day	O
,	O
dBase	B-Application
II	I-Application
,	O
required	O
complex	O
command-line	O
commands	O
even	O
for	O
the	O
simplest	O
operations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
developers	O
were	O
determined	O
to	O
make	O
ease-of-use	O
their	O
chief	O
priority	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
development	O
of	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
was	O
going	O
well	O
,	O
it	O
required	O
an	O
enormous	O
amount	O
of	O
capital	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Profits	O
from	O
their	O
interactive	O
fiction	O
titles	O
were	O
diverted	O
to	O
help	O
fund	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
,	O
a	O
move	O
that	O
disturbed	O
many	O
employees	O
of	O
the	O
game	O
division	O
and	O
led	O
to	O
an	O
adversarial	O
attitude	O
towards	O
the	O
business	O
division	O
among	O
some	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
development	O
decision	O
that	O
proved	O
fateful	O
for	O
the	O
productand	O
the	O
company	O
as	O
a	O
wholewas	O
the	O
decision	O
to	O
make	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
run	O
via	O
a	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
(	O
VM	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
developers	O
hoped	O
to	O
do	O
the	O
same	O
for	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
and	O
its	O
subsequent	O
products	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
developers	O
produced	O
the	O
VM	O
for	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
first	O
,	O
planning	O
to	O
write	O
VMs	O
for	O
other	O
platforms	O
after	O
the	O
initial	O
PC	O
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
was	O
released	O
in	O
1985	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
widely	O
hailed	O
as	O
a	O
giant	O
leap	O
forward	O
in	O
usability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
PC	O
Week	O
columnist	O
wrote	O
,	O
"	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
is	O
the	O
best	O
program	O
I	O
have	O
ever	O
used	O
...	O
the	O
program	O
is	O
so	O
easy	O
to	O
use	O
,	O
explaining	O
its	O
use	O
is	O
almost	O
redundant	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
you	O
need	O
a	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
,	O
buy	O
Cornerstone.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
significant	O
achievement	O
noted	O
by	O
reviewers	O
was	O
that	O
Infocom	O
was	O
able	O
to	O
contain	O
the	O
entire	O
program	O
on	O
one	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
,	O
a	O
bonus	O
provided	O
by	O
their	O
use	O
of	O
their	O
custom	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
(	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
other	O
facilities	O
,	O
it	O
compressed	O
text	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
simple	O
operations	O
,	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
's	O
performance	O
was	O
fine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
for	O
intensive	O
operations	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
importing	O
text	O
files	O
and	O
sorting	O
,	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
dragged	O
,	O
especially	O
when	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
dominant	O
database	O
available	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
of	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
's	O
release	O
,	O
dBase	B-Application
III	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
users	O
of	O
dBase	B-Application
III	I-Application
,	O
despite	O
needing	O
to	O
use	O
complex	O
command-line	O
commands	O
,	O
were	O
able	O
to	O
repurpose	O
databases	O
for	O
whatever	O
uses	O
they	O
needed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cornerstone	B-Application
,	O
though	O
it	O
had	O
many	O
built-in	O
convenience	O
functions	O
,	O
was	O
n't	O
programmable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
,	O
any	O
operations	O
on	O
its	O
databases	O
needed	O
to	O
be	O
carried	O
out	O
within	O
the	O
application	O
;	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
had	O
no	O
facilities	O
for	O
creating	O
stand-alone	O
specially	O
purposed	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
Cornerstone	B-Application
's	O
development	O
,	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
and	O
its	O
clones	O
had	O
emerged	O
as	O
the	O
dominant	O
business	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cornerstone	B-Application
sold	O
10,000	O
copies	O
.	O
</s>
