Editing Berkeley Systems

{{Short description|Defunct American software company}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2010}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Berkeley Systems
| logo             = Berkeley Systems logo.PNG
| type             = [[Private company|Private]]
| genre            = 
| fate             = Acquired
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = 
| foundation       = {{Start date and age|1987}} in [[Berkeley, California]], [[United States]]
| founder          = [[Wes Boyd]]<br />[[Joan Blades]]
| defunct          = {{End date|2000}}
| location_city    = [[Berkeley, California]]
| location_country = [[United States]]
| location         = 
| locations        = 
| area_served      = 
| key_people       = 
| industry         = 
| products         = [[Accessible computing]] software<br />[[Screensaver]] software<br />[[Computer game]]s
| services         = 
| market cap       = 
| revenue          = 
| operating_income = 
| net_income       = 
| aum              = 
| assets           = 
| equity           = 
| owner            = Wes Boyd<br />Joan Blades
| num_employees    = 120 (1997)
| parent           = [[Sierra On-Line]] (1997–2000)
| divisions        = 
| subsid           = Access Software
| homepage         = 
| footnotes        = 
| intl             = 
}}

'''Berkeley Systems''' was a [[San Francisco Bay Area]] [[software]] company co-founded in 1987 by [[Wes Boyd]] and [[Joan Blades]]. It made money early on by performing contract work for the [[National Institutes of Health]], specifically in making modifications to the Macintosh so that it could be used by partially sighted or blind people. Several of these Access<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mug.jhmi.edu/mirrors/infoalley/0196/29/apple.html |title=Apple Disability Solutions and MAP |accessdate=2006-08-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901084100/http://www.mug.jhmi.edu/mirrors/InfoAlley/0196/29/apple.html |archivedate=2006-09-01 }}</ref> programs were licensed by [[Apple Computer]] and added to the operating system. Perhaps the most ambitious of these technologies was a program that could read the Macintosh screen, called [[outSPOKEN]], which won a technology award from the [[Smithsonian]] in 1990.

The first commercial success for Berkeley Systems was a [[virtual desktop]] product for the [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] called ''Stepping Out''. Given the small size of the first Macintosh screens, this product had some use and the idea was widely copied. The much bigger success was ''[[After Dark (software)|After Dark]]'', a modular [[Screensaver|screen saver]] that included flying toasters, and the first of its kind to be sold. The idea was brought to Berkeley Systems by Jack Eastman and Patrick Beard. Eastman was later put in charge of software development at Berkeley Systems.

Berkeley Systems' best-selling product, the trivia game ''[[You Don't Know Jack (franchise)|You Don't Know Jack]]'', was developed by [[Jellyvision]], based on their award-winning children's educational film "The Mind's Treasure Chest". You Don't Know Jack brought that program's model of interactive learning, engaging structure and pacing, and host character into the commercial mainstream. It also brought graphics, sound editing, and marketing to Berkeley; production of the show continued at Jellyvision's Chicago studios.

They also made other lesser-known software titles, such as [[Launch Pad (software)|Launch Pad]], a desktop replacement for kids, and Expresso Calendar and Address Book.<ref>Demos folder on After Dark 3.2 (Windows) installation CD</ref>

Based in the old [[Pacific Bell]] building on Rose Street at [[Shattuck Avenue]] in [[Berkeley, California]], Berkeley Systems grew to 120 employees and US$30 million annual revenue before it was acquired by the [[Sierra On-Line]] division of [[CUC International]] in 1997 for $13.8 million.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.wired.com/1997/04/berkeley-systems-acquired-by-cuc/|title=Berkeley Systems Acquired by CUC
 | work=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |date=April 7, 1997}}</ref> [[Vivendi Universal]]’s subsequent acquisition of Sierra, and a host of similar enterprises, enjoined diverse competing sales and marketing departments with one sole directive: sell Web banner advertisements. As a result, Berkeley Systems became the U.S. headquarters of French-owned Flipside.com. In early 2000, Berkeley Systems was folded into the fledgling Los Angeles–based gambling site iWin.com, per the terms of that site's acquisition by Vivendi.

The toasters were the subject of two lawsuits, the [[Delrina#Berkeley Systems Inc. v. Delrina|first]] in 1993, ''Berkeley Systems vs [[Delrina]] Corporation'', over a module of Delrina's ''Opus 'N Bill'' screen saver in which [[Opus the Penguin]] shoots down the toasters. Delrina later changed the wings of the toasters to propellers in order to avoid infringing the [[trademark]]. The second case was brought in 1994 by the 1960s rock group [[Jefferson Airplane]] who claimed that the toasters were a copy of the winged toasters featured on the cover of their 1973 album ''[[Thirty Seconds Over Winterland]]''. The case was dismissed, because the cover art had not been registered as a trademark by the group prior to Berkeley Systems' release of the screen saver.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/eword.html?pg=9 Another Poppin' Fresh Lawsuit] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822003939/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/eword.html?pg=9 |date=2009-08-22 }} By Lance Rose, Issue 2.10 (Oct 1994)wired.com</ref>

Boyd and Blades went on to found the [[Liberalism|liberal]] political group [[MoveOn.org]] in 1998. Blades also later co-founded MomsRising.org with [[Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner]] in 2006.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19970102213049/http://berksys.com/# Archived version of official website (berksys.com)]
*{{MobyGames company|company=berkeley-systems-inc}}

[[Category:Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Macintosh software companies]]
[[Category:Defunct video game companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Video game development companies]]
[[Category:Companies based in Berkeley, California]]
[[Category:Software companies established in 1987]]
[[Category:Video game companies established in 1987]]
[[Category:Video game companies disestablished in 2000]]
[[Category:1987 establishments in California]]
[[Category:2000 disestablishments in California]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Sierra Entertainment]]
[[Category:Defunct software companies of the United States]]