Description

Database Software was one of the commercial giants and most financially robust software development houses for 8-bit microcomputers in the United Kingdom during the 1980s and 1990s. Originally founded as the software publishing arm of the powerful media group Database Publications Ltd., the company identified a massive market volume with the emergence of the Amstrad PCW. Under the strategic management of Derek Meakin, the firm revolutionized productivity software by creating complete, low-cost alternatives that directly challenged the official standards from Amsoft and Locomotive Software, successfully deploying their integrated suites and layout packages in thousands of British homes and small businesses.

Developed Products & Peripherals

Master Pack (Master Scan + Master Paint) The label's most famous graphic hybridization package for the Amstrad PCW line. It combined the pixel-by-pixel drawing suite Master Paint with the revolutionary low-level optical digitizer cartridge Master Scan. This environment allowed for the processing of high-fidelity monochrome images directly in the CP/M environment. Master Scan (Digitizer Hardware) An ingenious physical peripheral device consisting of an optical reading sensor. It attached directly via a clip to the physical print head of the native Amstrad matrix printer (PCW 8256/8512 range). Upon inserting a physical drawing into the roller and initializing the software, the printer performed a scan simulating a blank print; the sensor read the light beam reflections off the paper and dumped the binary data bit by bit into the PCW memory, acting as a unique optical roller scanner in the 8-bit market. Master Paint (Graphics Software) The artistic editing environment that accompanied the digitizer. It offered comprehensive tools to clean lines captured by the scanner, trace geometric shapes, apply cross-hatching patterns (*dithering*) to emulate grays on the green phosphor screen, and export the final art into columns compatible with LocoScript. Mini Office Plus The best-selling low-cost integrated office suite in the British market. It broke distribution records by including independent yet interconnected tools on a single floppy disk: an agile word processor, an indexed database, a spreadsheet with dynamic formulas, and a business graphics module. Its strongest feature was the automation of professional workflows. Mini Office Professional The corporate evolution of the suite. It added optimized dynamic linking routines (*Mail Merge*) that allowed secretaries and businesses to draft a master letter in the processor and automatically insert data from thousands of clients from the database module. All of this was executed without exhausting the machine's RAM and operated at high speed. Stop Press Desktop Publishing The firm's definitive desktop publishing environment for the PCW, originally marketed for £39.95. Developed exclusively for them by the hardware engineering firm AMX (Advanced Memory Systems), it was specifically designed to be operated with the famous optomechanical mouse AMX Mouse. It allowed page layout with real columns, adjustable text boxes, and dumping graphics digitized by *Master Scan* with millimeter typographic precision in high-resolution monochrome. The Desktop Publisher / The Desktop Publishing System Revisions and variants of the company's layout system that competed head-to-head with solutions like *Fleet Street Publisher*. They incorporated floppy disks with dot-matrix font families designed at a low level, which allowed printing gigantic headlines and clean banners on the PCW's native printer without distorting the typefaces. Spelling Checker and Thesaurus A dictionary software expansion module that attached to their word processors. It contained tens of thousands of words indexed in a strict binary compression format to avoid saturating the storage of 3" floppy disks, offering real-time spell-checking and synonyms.

Known Addresses & Postal Information

Headquarters and Development Offices (Database Software) Europa House, 68 Chester Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport (Postcode: SK7 5NY, England) Main technical support telephone line: Phone 061-480 0171 Secondary commercial inquiry line: Phone 061-429 8008 General administration line: Phone 061-456 8383 Logistics Division and Mail Orders (Database Direct) Ellesmere Port, South Wirral (Postcode: L65 2EB, England) Direct mail order processing contact: Phone 051-357 2961

TECHNICAL DATA