Canada's Source for C
Last week, we looked at an ad for a C compiler from Australia. Today, we have one from Canada. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information about this company on the web. The only Scantel Systems Limited I can find is located in the UK and builds homes. If you have any clue about this company, please post a comment below.
A friend from Lunduke Locals was able to dig up some information on the company. He turned up an archived version of the company’s website. Here is a blurb from their about page:
“Scantel started operations in March of 1973, primarily as a Service Bureau, using mainframe computers. When the "ALTAIR" computer was designed and sold by MITS Computers, we obtained one of the first models (we still have it as a collector's item). Running an Intel 8080 at the high speed of 2 megahertz, with 4 KILOBYTES of memory, it was pretty much useless, although we did have a Morse Code tutorial running on it.Microsoft's Basic was available on cassette tape. Later, CPM became available, and we started to use the ALTAIR, now up to 64K memory, to drive line printers, and this became part of the process of off-loading from the mainframes.
It wasn't until the advent of the Intel 386 and the availability of "huge" 650 Megabyte disk drives, that the PC became a worthy tool. Even then, when we had completely migrated from the mainframe to the PC, we had to be very careful about advertising the fact that we were using PC's to compete with mainframe services - "impossible" was the usual response, along with the loss of a potential customer.
Q_MAIL was first designed to allow us to sort and process mailing lists efficiently on the PC, along with supporting utilities. As it became more efficient, we generalized it and made it available for sale. Hence the copyright notices that show "1987" etc. - and that was after we had been using it for a couple of years!
Since then, of course, Q_MAIL has been joined by Q_CODE, Q_NCOA, and a host of other "Q_" products and utilities. The "Q_" was used to indicate both Quality and Quickness - both of which are a source of pride for us.
We continue to operate as a Service Bureau, as well as distributing our software. This gives us a very distinct advantage over our competitors, in that we know the kind of data presented to Service Bureaux, and we know the inherent need for efficiency and flexibility of use that is required.”
What computer ads would you like to see in the future? Please comment below. If you enjoyed, please share with your friends and relatives. Thank you.
