Lifeboat Associates
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software distribution, software publishing |
| Founded | January 1, 1976 |
| Founder | Larry Alkoff, Tony Gold |
| Defunct | 1986 |
| Fate | Acquired by Voyager Software Corp |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
Area served | United States, England, Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan, Oakland (California) |
| Products | T/Maker, The Boss Financial Accounting System, Software Bus-80 (SB-80), Software Bus-86 (SB-86) |
Lifeboat Associates, Inc., headquartered in New York City, emerged as a prominent distributor of microcomputer software during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Functioning as an autonomous software intermediary, Lifeboat supplied software to leading hardware manufacturers such as Xerox, HP, and Altos. The firm was instrumental in the establishment of Autodesk and provided financial support for the inception of PC Magazine.
Overview
Established around 1976 or 1977 by Larry Alkoff and Tony Gold, Lifeboat had expanded its reach internationally by 1981, with branches located in England, Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan, and Oakland, California. By 1982, PC Magazine identified Lifeboat as the foremost publisher of CP/M application software targeting 8-bit platforms; the following year, InfoWorld acknowledged it as the largest microcomputer software publisher globally.
Lifeboat integrated both publishing and distribution functions while actively sourcing authors to develop software aligned with its quality criteria. In 1983, approximately 20% of its income was derived from dealer networks, with the remainder generated through direct retail mail-order sales to a mailing list comprising 160,000 recipients. The company specialized in converting software across various CP/M disk formats and assembling comprehensive software catalogs for clients including Hewlett-Packard and Xerox. Proprietary offerings contributed to one-quarter of total revenue.
Among the principal titles distributed were T/Maker, an early personal computer spreadsheet featuring embedded text processing created by Peter Roizen, and The Boss Financial Accounting System by John Burns—a groundbreaking $2,495 accounting solution designed for CP/M users. Additionally, Lifeboat curated a collection of user-generated "free" CP/M software such as XMODEM, which facilitated dependable modem communication.
In June 1986, Voyager Software Corp acquired Lifeboat Associates. Later that year, Voyager introduced Programmer's Paradise as a catalog-based technical software marketer. In 1988, Voyager expanded by purchasing Corsoft Inc., merging it with Programmer's Paradise and Lifeboat Associates to unify technical software marketing efforts for microcomputers. By May 1995, Voyager had rebranded itself as Programmer's Paradise, Inc., creating subsidiaries dedicated to catalog marketing (Programmers Paradise Catalogs, Inc.) and wholesale distribution (Lifeboat Distribution, Inc.). Programmer's Paradise went public in July 1995 and subsequently adopted the name Wayside Technology Group, Inc. in August 2006.
Products
- T/Maker (Table Maker) – an early personal computer spreadsheet application developed contemporaneously with Visicalc
- The Boss – Financial Accounting System
- Software Bus-80 (SB-80) – a variant of CP/M-80 designed for 8080/Z80 8-bit microprocessors
- Software Bus-86 (SB-86) – a version of MS-DOS intended for x86 16-bit processors
See also
External links
- Official website of Wayside Technology: www.waysidetechnology.com