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Newsletter
Property Management
Solutions since 1978
Volume
II, Number 2
Published occasionally
by
FullHouse Software, Inc.
August 1, 2008
5415 Lake
Howell Road, Suite 207
Winter Park, FL 32792
technical.support@fullhousesoftware.com
IPM turns 30: A Retrospective, Continued
He
dragged himself home, daunted and crestfallen. He opened his door to
Edie's ebullient greeting. Before he could even announce his bad
news, she exclaimed, "Guess what - we sold two packages while you were
gone!"
Realty automation established its niche throughout 1981, with over a dozen
customers, mostly in the Los Angeles area. Once again, technology
changed the industry with IBM's half-hearted release of the IBM
PC. IBM expected modest sales, but was bowled over by
success. Within a matter of a year, the PC was mainstream, and
showing up in offices all over the US. Once again, the program was ported
to run on the new machine. Prices had been dropping for years, and now was
the time to go national. The rest, as they say, is history.
By the mid 1980s, Realty
Automation was the undisputed leader in the industry it had helped to
create. It had thousands of property managers all over the US and Canada
using IPM to save time and money. Unfortunately, with success came
problems between Bob and his partner, the primary developer. The PC
now had HUGE 20mega-byte hard drives and were running at a blistering 7
megahertz! Obviously the technology had reached its peak, and the
developer had lost interest in improving what was obviously the
best
product of its type in the market. Bob and his partner parted ways,
and shortly thereafter, Bob moved himself and Realty Automation out of the
Los Angeles area to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.
In the early 1990s there
was a lot of buzz about "graphical interfaces" and Digital Research,
Norton and Microsoft all had products in the market. They didn't make a
big splash, though DR's "GEM Desktop" and Microsoft's "Windows
3.1" were both moderately popular among people doing graphics (if they
hadn't switched to an Apple Macintosh). Then, in 1995, Microsoft
introduced its first 32-bit operating system, Windows 95. It caught
like wildfire, and became the standard for PC applications within
months. Now Realty Automation was in a quandary. Bob saw the need to
port his program to Windows, but programming resources weren't that
abundant in northern Idaho. It ended up being a years-long ordeal,
punctuated by the programmer leaving for Europe before the new product was
finished. (Note the entries in the sample database for "Parsons House,"
a remnant of this programmer's work.) He never returned, and
Bob had to find someone else to finish the product.
The
transition from DOS to Windows brought down many leading software
companies. For example, WordPerfect had the lion's share of the market
for word processing with WordPerfect 4.2 for DOS, but its first Windows
product, 5.1 wasn't as well received, mostly because WordPerfect's
mastery of printing was a hassle under Windows.
Something similar happened to IPM.
Not only did it take too long to get to market, but when it came
out the market had already moved on. Digital Research, WordPerfect, dBase,
and even Lotus struggled with the change. Throughout the late 1990s,
Realty Automation struggled with perfecting the product with limited
programming resources, and more and more competitors. Bob's son, Scott
Maxwell, actually perfected the Windows version and works in software to
this day.
With the rise of the
internet, the landscape changed again.
Realty Automation started its website in 1998, quixotically under
the name 'fullhousesoftware.com.'
In
2006, Bob Maxwell started looking for a way to prepare Realty Automation
for 64-bit Windows, and the moving target of 21st century property
management. He was also starting to think about a less active daily role
in the company. He had many offers for the company. Most wanted the
valuable good will and invaluable customer database amassed over the
years, but Bob didn't think this was the best way to serve his customers.
That's when Bill Bennett came into the picture. With a decade of experience growing an automation software company in Florida, Bill brought expertise that fit well with the needs of Realty Automation. Bill and Bob saw many of the opportunities facing the company in the same light. Foremost was communications with current and potential customers. Another thing Bill brought to the table was a business model based on Annual Maintenance rather that new sales. The idea here is to value an existing customer as a long-term partner, not a one-time transaction. Throughout 2006 and 2007, the company and the software underwent a transformation focused on the 30 years of customers Bob had built. Another was changing the company name to FullHouse Software to match the well-known website.
Now, IPM enters its 3rd decade with a new version of IPM, IPM 10. Encompassing 30 years of experience and the focus on ease of use, this new version is current technology. But while it's on the leading edge it's not on the bleeding edge. It's designed from ground up to inherit the best from IPM 2007 and as a platform for enhancements no one has thought of yet!
One thing we've learned from the first three decades is that we've got to always be looking ahead, and asking IPM users what they need. At first, we partnered with our customers out of necessity. Now we know that's simply the best way to develop software. And you can never predict where the next innovation will take you, or what your next customer will need. Unsubscribe, c
Copyright © 2008 FullHouse Software