All-in-One” Next-Generation Productivity Package Combines Most Popular Tools, Increases Productivity for Consumers
Features the “Gobe Family License” for Hassle-Free Installation at Home and Work
PORTLAND, Oregon – December 13, 2001 – Gobe Software, Inc. is now shipping gobeProductive (pronounced “go be productive”) for Microsoft Windows, the “all-in-one” productivity package that brings increased productivity to “all-in-one” computer users – people who “wear many hats” in their computer use – including office workers, educators and small office/home office computer users.
Combines Popular Business, Graphics, Imaging Tools
From the team that developed ClarisWorks (now AppleWorks), gobeProductive benefits these “all-in-one” computer users by bringing together the most-asked for features of business, layout, graphics and imaging applications, including:
* Word processing and page layout with features such as styles, live linked frames, sections, table creation & editing, output to web and to PDF, independent views of documents and multiple undo. gobeProductive reads and writes Microsoft Word file-format documents.
* Full-featured spreadsheets with 3D charting and powerful features such as multiple spreadsheets linked together in one document and named ranges that can be referenced in text documents. gobeProductive reads and writes Microsoft Excel file-format documents.
* Graphics and illustration with features like anti-aliased graphics, multiple independent layers, definable gradients, element grouping and transparency.
* Image processing & photo manipulation with features like magic wand and multiple plug-in effects.
* Presentations with special-effect transitions.
(For a complete feature list see the gobeProductive Data Sheet, located here).
These tools are can be used separately or can be combined to bring users a new level of productivity and power. A “live” spreadsheet can be drawn onto a word-processing page. An illustration can be created or added, and edited on the spot.
“People need a variety of everyday productivity tools but don’t want to have to purchase three or four expensive applications just to do their day-to-day work,” said Bruce Q. Hammond, Gobe CEO. “In gobeProductive these tools all come together, enabling our customers to produce better looking documents in less time at a lower cost”
“I’m pleased that we are offering our no-hassle ‘Gobe Family License’,” said Dave Johnson, Gobe’s VP of Marketing. “This provides choices and adds real value for computer users.”
Gobe Family License
Gobe Productive is sold with the “Gobe Family License,” allowing owners to install gobeProductive on every computer in the home, as well on one computer at work. A certificate explaining this licensing policy to employers is included in the packaging.
Pricing and Availability
gobeProductive is available through resellers and direct through the online Gobe Store located at http://www.gobe.com for a Suggested Retail Price of US $124.95, which includes the “Gobe Family License”. Existing BeOS gobeProductive users can upgrade for $39.95. Enterprise and academic volume and site licensing pricing plans, as well as white box, value-pack and other licensing programs for VARs and OEMs are available.
Box Includes Linux Version Coupon
gobeProductive will also be released for Linux in the first half of 2002. Prior to the Linux version’s availability the product packaging will include a coupon redeemable for a Linux version CD.
System Requirements
gobeProductive supports Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, ME and XP.
Version
This is version 3.0 of gobeProductive, with two previous versions released for the BeOS operating system.
About Gobe
Gobe Software, Inc. is a privately held company founded in 1997 by members of the original ClarisWorks development team.
Trademarks
Gobe, the Gobe logo, and gobeProductive are trademarks of Gobe Software, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. ClarisWorks and AppleWorks are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
I just put together a newsletter using Beta 3 and it was butter-smooth. I really like the program.
Of course, a BeOS version would be nice but I’m not holding my breath. I hope they have great success in the Windows/Linux world.
wonder if it will get here by saturday morning. Other wise i won’t get my hands on it till after X-mas Break. It’s like waiting for presents X-mas night
I guess I had better keep a watchful eye on the mailbox! 🙂
Same here! I just couldn’t stand it anymore and preordered it the other day. Now if I can only convince my wife to use it and let me remove that overblown beast “Word” off the Windows partition …….
Huh? I’m confused… on the website you can only pre-oreder it… it doesn’t sound like it’s shipping…
Still, congrats to gobe on the release!
How long does the ex-BeOS user deal last? I’m not itching to get my copy before Christmas, but will soon thereafter.
Office XP/2000 for Windows Add-in: Office sounds released for download on September 18, 2001
Exploring the future of computing???
It’s a very promising alternative, but not a valid option for me because of the lack of Hebrew support.
Better luck next time.
Prog.
I always had two questions about Gobe software.
1. How many coders and/or employees does Gobe have. The produce great software, from my BeOS experience, and I was curious what size organization they were.
2. Does the name “Gobe” have anything to do with BeOS, from a marketing perspective. Is it like “Go Be” as in “Go BeOS” or was that just a big coincidence, and there is another story behind the naming of the company.
Since I’m migrating away from Windows to OS X, I’m not sure if I’ll buy the software or not. I may just do it anyway, since it has always been a joy using it on BeOS.
I always thought that the name Gobe had a little bit to do with BeOS, but more to do with “go be productive using our office suite)”
Hank, if you look on thier site you will find a screenshot of Gobe productive, it has a photo of what I believe is pretty much thier entire coding crew, IIRC.
Might be wrong of course.
Although Eugenia and many others in the Be community called this an offer for “BeOS users” it was actually an introductory offer for ALL potential purchasers of Gobe Productive 3 (and if you think about it you’ll realise that it would be impossible to determine if users had BeOS PE since it’s an unaudited free download)
That offer expired the moment Gobe completed the shipping version of Productive 3, and the new special offer is $35 more. Presumably Gobe intend to increase the price again to match their original stated RRP once Windows reviewers have incited a first few thousand Win32 users to buy it at the reduced price.
(And BTW as I suggested when Gobe announced this, they have now missed the boat on Linux. Both KOffice and OpenOffice are now shipping bundled into distributions, killing the “plus one” effect of Gobe’s offering. Any users that will be satisfied by any simple productivity suite will now get one free, and most of the rest will balk at paying >$100 to upgrade from the free offering to something incompatible)
It seems the $40 offer still stands for people who already own Gobe 2.0. So Androo, if you’re one of those people presumably there will be a checkbox somewhere on the Gobe site to say “I have 2.0 and need an upgrade”.
Hank, AFAIK it’s “Go Be.”
NoBeForMe, it was originally an offer for BeOS users, we didn’t just pull that out of thin air. Look at the news from September 19 <a href=”http://www.beforever.com/old/100301.htm“>beforever.com</a>….
I just used the recent beta to open a word document. In a side by side test with Word the document actually looked better in Gobe Productive!
Does anyone know what toolkit they used to create the software? I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it was Qt…thus the easy Windows/Linux versions (and Mac OS X version too, if they want).
I like Qt apps because they integrate with my KDE desktop nicely, and it is a waste of space to have all these various libraries & toolkits lying around my HD.
I’m also excited about the Linux version because StarOffice is too big and bloated for my tastes, and KOffice is just not ready for prime time.
“It seems the $40 offer still stands for people who already own Gobe 2.0. So Androo, if you’re one of those people presumably there will be a checkbox somewhere on the Gobe site to say ‘I have 2.0 and need an upgrade’.”
Nope. That offer only lasted until the release version started shipping. The page offering a special pre-order deal for BeOS Productuve owners now indicates the $39.95 deal is over and directs people to the $74.95 version.
I ordered as soon as the offer came out and will not Be charged until it ships. The offer was very well publicized so, it’s too late for coulda, shoulda, woulda, but didn’t.
I would pay twice the list price for a BeOS/PalmOS version with a TOC!
How about Gobe? Do we have a deal?
ciao
yc
Gobe was meant to be a double meaning. Go be Productive – using an adjective instead of a noun (had to be different
and also we were obviously banking on Be Inc. taking off so Go Be! Both intended.
The picture shows just about everyone in the company (except me I wasn’t there on the day of the shoot). Also missing are Dave and Cheyene. That’s it. Not too bad considering how many full teams of engineers work at M$oft to develop the various components of Office. I think the Excel team alone (and there might be two of them) has about 15 people. I guess I’m the Excel team for Gobe. Scott is the Word team. Lindsey is the PowerPoint team. Bruce is the Graphics team. etc.
I agree about Qt, I really hope they are. I would love to be able to run it on Linux and Mac OS X. I think a lot of the default behavior in Qt is much better than with the alternatives. Tom, any comments?!!!
Tom,
Congratulations on the Windows release. I got in on the pre-order and cannot wait to get the final. I really enjoyed the beta version. I was wondering if you guys had thought about, or have plans for a user submitted template, sample document exchange?
Great product and Thank-you for the family license, it is a wonderful feature.
I wish Gobe the best.