Editing Prime Computer (section)

===General business===

====Advent Online Knowledge====
[[Advent Online Knowledge, Inc.]] was a [[Schaumburg, Illinois]]-based producer of software for Prime computers.

====Marc Software====
Marc Software International, Inc. of [[Palo Alto, California]] produced [[WordMARC]] word processing software for Prime computers.<ref>
{{cite journal 
| title = Application Packages
| url        = https://books.google.com/books?id=BBozi5g60fwC&q=wordmarc+prime&pg=PT34
| journal = Computerworld 
| date       = 1989-05-01
| access-date = 2016-05-22 
 }}
</ref>

===={{Anchor|Queo}}{{anchor|QUEO}}Computer Techniques (Queo)====
While Prime's PRIMOS operating system [[PRIMOS#User tools|supported]] one or more compilers/interpreters for COBOL, FORTRAN, BASIC, RPG and 2 [[assembly language|assemblers]],<ref>{{cite web 
|url=http://www.textfiles.com/hacking/primos2.txt
|title=INTRODUCTION TO THE PRIMOS OPERATING SYSTEM, Part II}}</ref> Queo was a step up: a procedural language more compact than COBOL, and with additional capabilities.<ref name=Aug31/><ref>".. nonprocedural methods for adhoc inquiry"</ref>

It was offered by Computer Techniques, Inc. of Olyphant, Pa.<ref name=Aug31>{{cite news
|newspaper=Computerworld  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FBv773oEDMwC  
|date=August 31, 1981    |title=Prime Users Offered Queo-IV Package}}</ref> Queo later was reimplemented for PCs.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]]  |date=July 25, 1988  |page=60
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqFYHfi49OAC&q=queo&pg=RA2-PA3 |title=QUEO-V package
|quote=QUEO-V IBM PCs or compatibles}}</ref>

====Office Automation System====
Prime acquired the OAS application from its developer, ACS America Inc., a now-defunct New York City software house.

It competed in the UK DTI Office Automation Pilot, but did not win.

OAS included electronic mail and word processing. Electronic mail use was initially restricted to a single minicomputer. Much later, Prime released email that worked with multiple Prime computers in a network, and a synchronised global directory system. Word processing was available either on dumb terminals like the PT25, PT45 and PST100, or on the partially intelligent PT65 terminal. The PT65 had to download the word processing software from the host minicomputer whenever the terminal was turned on. The terminal allowed the user to work on one page at a time, which was periodically saved to the minicomputer. This "intelligent workstation" concept for word processing was similar to the functions of  popular systems from rival [[Wang Laboratories]].  Prime's intelligent workstation for word processing was faster because it used RS232C cabling runs  instead of  the coaxial links that Wang's systems used.  Nonetheless, the word processing was not of the highest quality, and the PT65 was subject to software errors that scrambled the documents being worked on.

OAS also had a bilingual language lookup feature, sometimes marketed as machine translation.

Recognising the drawbacks of the downloadable WP workstation, Prime formed an agreement with [[Convergent Technologies]] for their AWS which Prime named the "Prime Producer 100" (launched in mid 1983) and later for Convergent's modular NGEN, clip together system, the "Prime Producer 200" (launched in 1984), each of which had far superior WP to the initial Prime offering, and were document-based.

In the UK, Prime had a very active OAS User Group whose suggestions were acted upon in new product development.  UK Pioneers of the system included the [[London Docklands Development Corporation]] and [[Oxford Brookes University|Oxford Polytechnic]], now Oxford Brookes University.

====Prime Information====
Both the [[Pick operating system|Pick environment]] and Prime Information were based on the [[Generalized Information Retrieval Language System]] (GIRLS), developed by Richard Pick for the American Department of Defense.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.jes.com/cdp/cdp_faqx.html
|title=General Overview of Classic Pick - a short history   |date=1995}}</ref>

Devcom, a Microdata reseller, wrote a Pick-style database system called INFORMATION in [[FORTRAN]] and assembler in 1979 to run on Prime Computer 50-series systems. INFO/BASIC, a variant of [[Dartmouth BASIC]], was used for database applications. It was then sold to Prime Computer and renamed Prime INFORMATION.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Computerworld |date=March 24, 1986  |page=93
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MskyBf-SNfUC
|title=In Depth - Pick Operating System}}</ref>

Unlike the Pick operating system, a complete operating system, Prime Information was not an operating system, but a [[Fourth-generation programming language|4GL]] system that ran from the Prime PRIMOS operating system.

Prime Information was a re-implementation which deliberately left out some features and added others. Prime Information allowed rapid 4GL or 4GL-like development of applications around relational or quasi-relational database structures. After a series of evolutions and acquisitions Prime Information is now an obsolete part of the [[Rocket U2]] software suite.

====Prime Information Connection====
In {{circa|1984}}, Prime developed a system to conflict with OAS and confuse the market.  Prime Information Connection added word processing to Prime Information, giving the company two office oriented suites to offer in a marketplace dominated by [[Wang Laboratories]].