<s>
Oracle	B-Application
Media	I-Application
Objects	I-Application
,	O
formerly	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
,	O
was	O
a	O
software	O
development	O
tool	O
for	O
developing	O
multi-media	O
applications	O
,	O
with	O
functionality	O
and	O
appearance	O
similar	O
to	O
Apple	O
Inc.	O
'	O
s	O
HyperCard	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
originated	O
as	O
Plus	O
,	O
a	O
1989	O
clone	O
of	O
HyperCard	B-Application
published	O
by	O
Format	O
Verlag	O
that	O
added	O
several	O
highly-requested	O
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Plus	O
was	O
purchased	O
by	O
Spinnaker	O
Software	O
,	O
who	O
ported	O
it	O
to	O
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
and	O
OS/2	B-Device
Presentation	I-Device
Manager	I-Device
,	O
becoming	O
the	O
first	O
cross-platform	O
hypermedia	O
solution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1994	O
,	O
Plus	O
was	O
purchased	O
by	O
ObjectPlus	O
,	O
who	O
focussed	O
on	O
the	O
Windows	O
version	O
,	O
renaming	O
it	O
WinPlus	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
also	O
licensed	O
the	O
system	O
to	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
,	O
who	O
used	O
it	O
as	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
First	O
released	O
in	O
1991	O
,	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
was	O
essentially	O
a	O
redistribution	O
of	O
the	O
Plus	O
runtime	O
engine	O
along	O
with	O
external	O
libraries	O
for	O
establishing	O
connections	O
to	O
RDBMS	O
engines	O
such	O
as	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
and	O
DB2	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
such	O
,	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
stacks	O
could	O
execute	O
queries	O
and	O
associate	O
their	O
results	O
with	O
native	O
variables	O
,	O
making	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
one	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
RDBMS	O
application	O
development	O
environments	O
to	O
support	O
cross-platform	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
initial	O
release	O
was	O
important	O
as	O
it	O
was	O
a	O
stop	O
gap	O
measure	O
to	O
allow	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
to	O
provide	O
some	O
support	O
for	O
Microsoft	O
Windows	O
which	O
was	O
rapidly	O
growing	O
in	O
popularity	O
in	O
business	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
this	O
time	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
's	O
core	O
technologies	O
for	O
creating	O
data	O
entry	O
systems	O
(	O
Oracle	B-Application
Forms	I-Application
and	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
Reports	O
)	O
only	O
ran	O
in	O
DOS	O
and	O
did	O
not	O
provide	O
a	O
GUI	O
interface	O
for	O
Windows	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
helped	O
to	O
show	O
that	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
was	O
supporting	O
Windows	O
until	O
it	O
could	O
release	O
its	O
first	O
Oracle	B-Application
Forms	I-Application
4.0	O
with	O
improved	O
GUI	O
support	O
for	O
Windows	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
few	O
years	O
later	O
,	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
acquired	O
the	O
original	O
Plus	O
source	O
code	O
from	O
Format	O
Verlag	O
and	O
developed	O
it	O
to	O
become	O
Oracle	B-Application
Media	I-Application
Objects	I-Application
or	O
OMO	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OMO	O
was	O
used	O
by	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
to	O
position	O
itself	O
in	O
the	O
video	B-Application
on	I-Application
demand	I-Application
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Amongst	O
these	O
were	O
the	O
"	O
Our	O
Secret	O
Century	O
"	O
series	O
of	O
CD-ROMs	B-Device
published	O
by	O
The	O
Voyager	O
Company	O
,	O
Inside	O
Independence	O
Day	O
by	O
ACES	O
Entertainment	O
and	O
UCAS	O
University	O
Course	O
Search	O
a	O
CD-ROM	B-Device
by	O
Learning	O
Information	O
Systems	O
trading	O
as	O
StudyLink	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
that	O
purpose	O
,	O
a	O
small	O
subset	O
of	O
the	O
Mac	B-General_Concept
OS	I-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
commands	O
(	O
Handles	O
)	O
were	O
ported	O
to	O
other	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OMO	O
's	O
object	O
types	O
included	O
both	O
the	O
standard	O
controls	O
available	O
in	O
other	O
HyperCard	B-Application
clones	O
of	O
the	O
time	O
(	O
buttons	O
,	O
text	O
fields	O
,	O
draw	O
and	O
paint	O
graphics	O
)	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
more	O
complex	O
controls	O
like	O
a	O
spreadsheet	O
field	O
,	O
and	O
non-control	O
items	O
that	O
could	O
be	O
placed	O
on	O
a	O
card	O
but	O
were	O
invisible	O
at	O
runtime	O
,	O
like	O
timers	O
that	O
could	O
be	O
scheduled	O
to	O
send	O
messages	O
after	O
a	O
specified	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
's	O
primary	O
value	O
lay	O
in	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
,	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
's	O
only	O
product	O
to	O
offer	O
GUI	O
support	O
on	O
Microsoft	O
Windows	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
showed	O
customers	O
that	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
was	O
serious	O
about	O
Windows	O
and	O
had	O
a	O
current	O
product	O
for	O
that	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Oracle	B-General_Concept
's	O
primary	O
application	O
development	O
tool	O
,	O
Oracle	B-Application
Forms	I-Application
3	I-Application
,	O
was	O
character-based	O
and	O
did	O
not	O
run	O
under	O
Microsoft	O
Windows	O
(	O
although	O
it	O
could	O
run	O
in	O
a	O
DOS	O
window	O
or	O
natively	O
on	O
DOS	O
without	O
Windows	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Oracle	B-General_Concept
was	O
desperately	O
working	O
on	O
developing	O
an	O
upgrade	O
(	O
Oracle	B-Application
Forms	I-Application
4	O
)	O
that	O
had	O
GUI	O
features	O
,	O
but	O
development	O
was	O
behind	O
schedule	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
was	O
primarily	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
"	O
stop	O
gap	O
"	O
demonstration	O
product	O
until	O
Oracle	B-Application
Forms	I-Application
become	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Postal	O
Service	O
,	O
were	O
known	O
to	O
have	O
developed	O
applications	O
with	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
for	O
internal	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
had	O
no	O
broad	O
,	O
commercial	O
success	O
as	O
a	O
development	O
platform	O
,	O
despite	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
its	O
feature	O
set	O
surpassed	O
that	O
of	O
Apple	O
's	O
HyperCard	B-Application
in	O
nearly	O
every	O
respect	O
(	O
platform	O
support	O
,	O
database	O
connectivity	O
,	O
vector	O
graphics	O
support	O
,	O
better	O
color	O
support	O
,	O
faster	O
performance	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
richer	O
plug-in	O
architecture	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Eventually	O
Oracle	B-Application
Forms	I-Application
4.0	O
was	O
released	O
,	O
meaning	O
that	O
support	O
for	O
Windows	O
was	O
no	O
longer	O
the	O
exclusive	O
domain	O
of	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
's	O
customers	O
tended	O
to	O
be	O
more	O
interested	O
in	O
standard	O
,	O
forms-based	O
database	O
applications	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
in	O
the	O
sorts	O
of	O
multimedia	O
applications	O
that	O
were	O
possible	O
to	O
create	O
with	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
and	O
its	O
successor	O
,	O
OMO	O
,	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
eventually	O
threw	O
its	O
full	O
weight	O
behind	O
Oracle	B-Application
Forms	I-Application
4.0	O
,	O
casting	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
Card/OMO	O
into	O
oblivion	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
the	O
Oracle	B-Application
Card	I-Application
team	O
was	O
led	O
by	O
two	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
employees	O
who	O
have	O
gone	O
on	O
to	O
form	O
their	O
own	O
,	O
successful	O
,	O
technology	O
companies	O
:	O
Marc	O
Benioff	O
,	O
founder	O
of	O
Salesforce.com,	O
and	O
Evan	O
Goldberg	O
,	O
founder	O
of	O
NetSuite	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
