IBM OfficeVision
| Company type | Proprietary software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Office automation software |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Founder | IBM |
| Products | Email, calendaring, document management, word processing integration |
| Parent | IBM |
OfficeVision was a proprietary office support software developed by IBM.
PROFS, DISOSS and Office/36
OfficeVision originated from PROFS (Professional Office System), which was initially launched for the VM operating system in 1981. PROFS started as a PRPQ (Programming Request for Price Quotation) and was created by IBM's team in Endicott, NY, collaborating with Amoco Research. It evolved from the earlier OFS prototype developed in Poughkeepsie, NY by Paul Gardner and colleagues. Further enhancements were made later in Dallas. The word processing and document management features of PROFS were powered by the programmable editor XEDIT.
PROFS was derived from OFS (Office System), an early office automation tool introduced in 1974 to replace manual tracking of inter-office communications. Among its innovations were a centralized database virtual machine (DBM) for shared document storage and a central virtual machine to handle mail transfer, eliminating direct user-to-user exchanges. By 1981, there were over 500 PROFS users at IBM’s Poughkeepsie facility.
IBM released PROFS version 2 in 1983, which incorporated software enabling document exchange among PROFS, DISOSS, Displaywriter, IBM 8100, and IBM 5520 systems.
The e-mail component of PROFS, known as PROFS Notes, became notably significant during the Iran-Contra affair when archived communications served as key evidence despite efforts to delete them.
The OfficeVision name was also used for two other distinct systems: OfficeVision/MVS, which was based on IBM DISOSS, and OfficeVision/400, derived from IBM Office/36.
IBM’s European Networking Center (ENC) in Heidelberg developed prototype enhancements for OfficeVision/VM to support Open Document Architecture (ODA), including tools that converted between ODA and Document Content Architecture (DCA) formats.
OfficeVision Family
Multiple editions of OfficeVision existed, each designed for different IBM platforms but sharing only the brand name rather than underlying code.
OfficeVision/VM operated on IBM's VM environment with its CMS interface. OfficeVision/MVS (OV/MVS) was built for the IBM MVS operating system running on System/370 and System/390 mainframes. OfficeVision/400 (OV/400) targeted the IBM AS/400 midrange platform.
All these variants offered fundamental business capabilities such as e-mail, shared calendars, document repositories, and integration with word processing applications like Displaywrite/370 and the Document Composition Facility (DCF/SCRIPT). The OfficeVision brand was officially introduced by IBM in May 1989, followed by several major updates.
OfficeVision/VM for Asian countries
The version of OfficeVision/VM tailored for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese markets evolved independently from IBM’s Office and Document Control System (ODPS), which was a DBCS-enabled adaptation of PROFS featuring document editing, storage, and retrieval functions. This comprehensive office suite operated on IBM mainframes under VM, providing email, calendaring, and document management optimized for Asian language support. ODPS was eventually rebranded as OfficeVision/VM; however, its MVS counterpart based on DISOSS was not commercialized. After IBM acquired Lotus Development in 1995, users of ODPS were encouraged to transition to Lotus Notes.
ODPS development was primarily carried out at IBM Tokyo Programming Center (later part of IBM Yamato Development Laboratory), with contributions from IBM Dallas Programming Center and others. It debuted in 1986 for Japanese users before expanding to Korean users (via IBM Korea) and Traditional Chinese users (via IBM Taiwan), though Simplified Chinese support was not provided.
ODPS consisted of four main modules:
- Office Support Program (OFSP): A PROFS-based solution enhanced for Asian DBCS languages offering email, scheduling, document storage/search/distribution capabilities while maintaining compatibility with English PROFS.
- Document Composition Program (DCP): A DCF adaptation modified for DBCS that provided SCRIPT-style editing for document creation and printing.
- Document Composition Program/Workstation: Enabled document preparation on personal computers such as the IBM 5550 and PS/55 equipped with IBM Kanji System functionality.
- Facsimile Program: Facilitated sending and receiving fax transmissions.
OfficeVision/2
The emergence of the Personal Computer and the client–server model prompted a shift in office automation toward graphical user interfaces, leading to a surge in demand for PC-based email solutions. In response, IBM introduced OfficeVision/2, which was launched concurrently with its PS/2, AS/400, and ES/390 platforms as a server-client offering consistent with IBM's Systems Application Architecture.
The server component was compatible with OS/2, VM, MVS (XA or ESA), or OS/400, while the client software operated on OS/2 Extended Edition for IBM PS/2 machines or DOS. IBM also rolled out OfficeVision/2 LAN targeting workgroup environments; however, this version did not achieve commercial success and was discontinued in 1992.
Initially, IBM intended to integrate the Workplace Shell graphical interface into OfficeVision/2 LAN but later redirected this feature to OS/2 2.0 in 1991 to enhance the operating system’s overall user interface capabilities:
IBM declared that certain OfficeVision/2 LAN functionalities would be incorporated into existing offerings or merged into OS/2. The Workplace Shell, a sophisticated GUI supporting drag-and-drop functionality, was transferred to OS/2 2.0 to provide these advanced features across the entire system.
Migration to Lotus Notes
With the increasing adoption of Lotus Notes and Lotus cc:Mail as successors to OfficeVision/2, IBM began distributing these products. Eventually, IBM executed a hostile acquisition of Lotus Software to gain control over Lotus Notes, which was then a prominent business email and scheduling platform.
Prominent users of OfficeVision included the New York State Legislature and the European Patent Office. IBM terminated support for OfficeVision/VM in October 2003, advising customers to transition to Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino. Tools and services facilitating this migration were made available, with Guy Dehond, an AS/400 beta tester, credited for developing the initial migration utility.
OfficeVision/MVS continued to be sold until March 2014 and received support until May 2015, offering an alternative migration route. This version runs on IBM's z/OS operating system.