<s>
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
was	O
a	O
database	B-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
for	O
the	O
Apple	B-Device
Macintosh	I-Device
,	O
released	O
by	O
Ashton-Tate	O
in	O
1987	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
GUI	B-Application
was	O
lauded	O
in	O
the	O
press	O
,	O
the	O
application	O
was	O
so	O
slow	O
that	O
it	O
became	O
something	O
of	O
a	O
joke	O
in	O
the	O
industry	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sales	O
were	O
dismal	O
,	O
and	O
Ashton-Tate	O
eventually	O
decided	O
to	O
give	O
up	O
on	O
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
and	O
instead	O
port	O
dBASE	B-Application
IV	I-Application
to	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
,	O
complete	O
with	O
a	O
DOS-like	O
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
started	O
life	O
at	O
a	O
third-party	O
developer	O
,	O
DigiCorp	O
,	O
a	O
small	O
two-person	O
company	O
in	O
Salt	O
Lake	O
City	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
had	O
attempted	O
to	O
market	O
it	O
through	O
other	O
companies	O
in	O
1984	O
as	O
Hayden	O
:	O
Base	O
via	O
Hayden	O
Software	O
,	O
a	O
Mac	B-Device
publisher	O
,	O
TheBase	O
and	O
then	O
°Base	O
(	O
Dot-Base	O
,	O
referring	O
to	O
a	O
part	O
of	O
its	O
internal	O
syntax	O
)	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
product	O
was	O
not	O
really	O
ready	O
and	O
the	O
deals	O
fell	O
through	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
developers	O
moved	O
to	O
A-T	O
'	O
s	O
Glendale	O
Development	O
Center	O
(	O
where	O
the	O
PC	O
versions	O
of	O
dBASE	B-Application
were	O
developed	O
)	O
early	O
in	O
1985	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Eventually	O
the	O
original	O
1.0	O
design	O
was	O
abandoned	O
and	O
the	O
decision	O
was	O
made	O
to	O
move	O
directly	O
to	O
what	O
was	O
to	O
have	O
been	O
the	O
2.0	O
release	O
,	O
the	O
most	O
notable	O
change	O
being	O
to	O
include	O
an	O
object	B-Language
oriented	I-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sometime	O
during	O
this	O
period	O
,	O
management	O
saw	O
the	O
product	O
as	O
a	O
migration	O
path	O
for	O
all	O
versions	O
of	O
dBASE	B-Application
,	O
using	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
as	O
a	O
testing	O
ground	O
before	O
releasing	O
it	O
on	O
the	O
PC	O
as	O
well	O
,	O
thereby	O
replacing	O
their	O
now-ageing	O
dBASE	B-Application
core	O
with	O
a	O
fully	O
GUI-hosted	O
object-oriented	B-Application
database	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Apple	O
had	O
long	O
evangelized	O
Ashton-Tate	O
on	O
developing	O
for	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
,	O
considering	O
them	O
to	O
be	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
"	O
big	O
players	O
"	O
they	O
needed	O
to	O
legitimize	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
marketplace	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
Apple	O
's	O
upper	O
management	O
remained	O
committed	O
to	O
this	O
vision	O
,	O
after	O
waiting	O
three	O
years	O
since	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
,	O
others	O
in	O
the	O
company	O
were	O
becoming	O
increasingly	O
frustrated	O
with	O
the	O
seemingly	O
never	O
ending	O
development	O
cycles	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ashton-Tate	O
threatened	O
to	O
stop	O
all	O
Mac	B-Device
development	O
,	O
and	O
Apple	O
quickly	O
acquiesced	O
and	O
dropped	O
their	O
option	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Kawasaki	O
responded	O
by	O
starting	O
his	O
own	O
company	O
and	O
marketing	O
the	O
product	O
as	O
4th	B-Language
Dimension	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
delay	O
followed	O
as	O
Ashton-Tate	O
asked	O
for	O
many	O
tweaks	O
and	O
new	O
features	O
to	O
ensure	O
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
would	O
compete	O
with	O
this	O
new	O
and	O
very	O
competitive	O
product	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Management	O
decided	O
to	O
market	O
it	O
as	O
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
,	O
even	O
though	O
it	O
had	O
nothing	O
in	O
common	O
with	O
its	O
PC	O
counterpart	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
developers	O
were	O
worried	O
that	O
customers	O
would	O
not	O
be	O
impressed	O
with	O
getting	O
a	O
product	O
that	O
was	O
called	O
dBASE	B-Application
only	O
to	O
find	O
it	O
did	O
n't	O
even	O
work	O
with	O
the	O
DOS	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
provide	O
some	O
commonality	O
the	O
system	O
could	O
use	O
dBASE	B-Application
databases	B-Application
by	O
building	O
an	O
additional	O
external	O
index	O
file	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
still	O
required	O
the	O
users	O
to	O
re-build	O
their	O
application	O
logic	O
and	O
forms	O
in	O
the	O
new	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
developers	O
had	O
feared	O
,	O
reviewers	O
universally	O
panned	O
the	O
product	O
because	O
it	O
did	O
not	O
interact	O
directly	O
with	O
dBASE	B-Application
on	O
the	O
PC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Don	O
Crabb	O
's	O
review	O
in	O
InfoWorld	O
was	O
succinct	O
,	O
noting	O
that	O
"	O
DBase	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
is	O
not	O
DBase	B-Application
for	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
pointed	O
out	O
that	O
even	O
the	O
included	O
example	O
programs	O
were	O
uselessly	O
slow	O
,	O
noting	O
"	O
As	O
for	O
the	O
video	O
store	O
application	O
,	O
customers	O
would	O
have	O
time	O
to	O
view	O
the	O
movie	O
and	O
return	O
the	O
tape	O
in	O
the	O
time	O
it	O
took	O
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
to	O
update	O
records.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
1.01	O
version	O
fixing	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
bugs	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
April	O
1988	O
,	O
but	O
by	O
this	O
time	O
the	O
damage	O
was	O
done	O
and	O
4th	B-Language
Dimension	I-Language
was	O
garnering	O
critical	O
praise	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
abandoned	O
the	O
idea	O
of	O
using	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
as	O
a	O
testing	O
ground	O
for	O
all	O
future	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
system	O
,	O
dooming	O
it	O
to	O
remain	O
an	O
orphan	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
year	O
later	O
Ashton-Tate	O
gave	O
up	O
on	O
the	O
product	O
entirely	O
,	O
and	O
decided	O
to	O
instead	O
port	O
their	O
latest	O
PC	O
database	O
,	O
dBASE	B-Application
IV	I-Application
,	O
to	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ashton-Tate	O
sold	O
off	O
the	O
rights	O
for	O
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
in	O
June	O
1990	O
to	O
a	O
former	O
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
user	O
who	O
formed	O
New	O
Era	O
Software	O
Group	O
to	O
continue	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
New	O
Era	O
released	O
an	O
update	O
in	O
late	O
November	O
as	O
nuBASE	O
Mac	B-Device
1.3	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
1.3	O
also	O
added	O
the	O
ability	O
for	O
the	O
product	O
to	O
call	O
HyperCard	B-Application
XCMD	O
's	O
,	O
which	O
allowed	O
it	O
to	O
use	O
the	O
variety	O
of	O
plugins	O
from	O
the	O
HyperCard	B-Application
world	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Instead	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
spring	O
of	O
1992	O
they	O
released	O
a	O
"	O
32-bit	O
clean	O
"	O
nuBASE	O
Pro	O
1.5	O
,	O
which	O
allowed	O
it	O
to	O
run	O
on	O
Apple	O
's	O
latest	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
and	O
PowerMac	B-Device
machines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Meanwhile	O
,	O
dBASE	B-Application
IV	I-Application
turned	O
out	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
huge	O
disaster	O
on	O
the	O
PC	O
causing	O
Ashton-Tate	O
to	O
struggle	O
financially	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
was	O
purchased	O
by	O
Borland	O
in	O
1991	O
,	O
and	O
development	O
of	O
all	O
of	O
Ashton-Tate	O
'	O
s	O
Mac	B-Device
products	O
ended	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
common	O
with	O
most	O
database	O
applications	O
today	O
,	O
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
had	O
two	O
basic	O
"	O
modes	O
"	O
,	O
one	O
for	O
designing	O
the	O
database	O
itself	O
,	O
and	O
another	O
for	O
building	O
forms	O
to	O
interact	O
with	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
case	O
dBASE	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
was	O
lauded	O
for	O
both	O
,	O
many	O
describing	O
it	O
as	O
"	O
the	O
right	O
way	O
to	O
do	O
a	O
Mac	B-Device
database	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
