omg, you guys, have you heard about cornerstone, the infamous database software that kinda helped sink infocom, the legendary studio behind classic text adventures like zork and the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy? i mean, it's crazy to think that a company that was so good at making games could be so bad at making business software. but, apparently, they tried to diversify and it just didn't work out.



so, cornerstone was released in 1985 and it was designed to run on its own virtual machine, which made it super slow to use. and, by that point, ibm-compatibles had already taken over the business sector, so the whole "easy portability" thing didn't really matter. it's pretty funny, though, because now there's an interpreter called linchpin that lets you run cornerstone on modern pcs. i guess it's a big deal for fans of retro tech and failed 80s database products.



i was reading about the history of cornerstone and it's pretty wild. apparently, infocom had to divert money from their game division to fund the development of cornerstone, which meant that they couldn't work on other projects that they were really excited about. it's sad, because it seems like infocom was on the verge of doing some really cool things, like experimenting with different genres and multiplayer, but they just didn't have the budget. and, of course, we all know what happened next - infocom merged with activision and eventually got shut down in 1989.



it's kinda cool, though, that there are still people out there who care about preserving retro tech and keeping it alive. the guy who made linchpin, taradinoc, is basically a hero for fans of infocom and retroRead more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com

What do you think about this?