Roscoe (software product)

Applied Data Research, Inc.

Company type	Subsidiary (after acquisition)
Industry	Software
Founded	1959
Fate	Acquired by Ameritech in 1986; sold to Computer Associates in 1988
Headquarters	Princeton Township, New Jersey , United States
Products	Autoflow, Roscoe, MetaCOBOL, The Librarian, Datacom/DB, IDEAL

Applied Data Research, Inc. (ADR) stood out as a leading software provider from the 1960s through the mid-1980s and is often credited as the pioneering independent software vendor.

Established in 1959 initially as a contract development firm, ADR went on to create several influential software products. Among its flagship offerings were Autoflow, one of the earliest commercial tools for automatic flowchart generation; Roscoe, an environment facilitating remote job submission; MetaCOBOL, an extensible macro processor tailored for COBOL programming; and The Librarian, a system designed for managing source code versions.

ADR’s first headquarters was situated along U.S. Route 206 in Princeton Township, New Jersey. During the 1960s, the company operated a data center located opposite Princeton Airport across Route 206. This facility was destroyed in 1969 when a small aircraft crashed into it, although thankfully no serious injuries occurred. By 1980, ADR had moved to a state-of-the-art building in Montgomery Township, New Jersey, north of Princeton.

First software patent

On April 23, 1968, ADR was granted the inaugural patent related to a computer program, specifically for a sorting system developed by Martin Goetz. The company gained backing from the Association of Data Processing Service Organizations (ADAPSO), which advocated that software patents were crucial for enabling smaller enterprises to compete fairly against larger corporations that might otherwise replicate and bundle software without restrictions.

ADR IBM lawsuit

ADR filed a Federal Court lawsuit against IBM, accusing the corporation of "hindering the growth of the independent software industry" and "monopolizing the software market," actions that played a role in IBM’s 1969 decision to unbundle software and services. These legal efforts were also supported by ADAPSO.

In 1970, ADR and its fully owned subsidiary Programmatics reached an out-of-court settlement with IBM amounting to $1.4 million. Furthermore, IBM agreed to supply Autoflow software, creating an additional revenue opportunity estimated at $600,000 for ADR.

The Librarian

One of ADR’s significant products was The Librarian, a version control tool designed for IBM mainframe computers. By 1978, it had been adopted at more than 3,000 locations; ten years later, this figure had almost doubled, underscoring its widespread acceptance in the market.

Roscoe

Roscoe (Remote OS Conversational Operating Environment), initially marketed under the name ROSCOE, was an IBM Mainframe software solution. It combined text editing capabilities with operating system functions such as batch job submission, comparable to tools like ISPF and XEDIT.

Its architecture allowed support for over 200 simultaneous users while maintaining minimal resource consumption due to its single address space design.

The RPF (Roscoe Programming Facility) was a scripting language embedded within Roscoe that featured string manipulation functions intended to automate tasks.

Compass

In the late 1960s, ADR expanded its portfolio by acquiring Massachusetts Computer Associates, commonly referred to as Compass.

Datacom/DB and IDEAL

ADR subsequently acquired the Datacom/DB database management system from Insyte Datacom and created IDEAL (Interactive Development Environment for an Application’s Life), a fourth-generation programming language intended to enhance the functionality of Datacom/DB.

Dispute with Nixdorf

ADR granted a license for DATACOM/DB to TCSC, which distributed altered versions of IBM's DOS/360 and DOS/VS operating systems under the name Edos. Following Nixdorf Computer's acquisition of TCSC in 1980, disagreements arose concerning the validity of the licensing agreement. The conflict was resolved through an out-of-court settlement in 1981, permitting Nixdorf to continue marketing ADR’s software products.

Acquired, twice

In 1986, Ameritech purchased ADR, maintaining it as a subsidiary. Two years later, in 1988, Ameritech sold ADR to Computer Associates (CA). Known for its rigorous restructuring practices, CA terminated approximately 200 employees at ADR’s Montgomery location soon after the acquisition. ADR was then incorporated into CA’s Systems Products and Information Products divisions. Its primary software offerings were renamed CA-Roscoe and CA Librarian.

External links

• www.softwarehistory.org – Martin A. Goetz, "How ADR Got Into the Software Products Business and Found Itself Competing Against IBM" (1998)
• Oral history interview with Martin Goetz, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota.
• Software Memories – Basic facts about ADR