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About us


History

Icon Technology have been writing word processing software since 1984. Our first word processor, MacAuthor, pioneered the use of styles as a way of applying many formatting attributes to a single command. In 1987 Douglas Adams used it to write and typeset his best selling book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Other notable users have been the script writing teams of BBC's Tomorrow's World and Red Dwarf. The lessons learned working with creative writers have been applied in our latest products.

Design philosophy

Many word processors get in the way of the creative process by leaving the user to control the format of the document. Styles to control the formats of headings and paragraphs (as used in MacAuthor over ten years ago) make the process simpler. But by combining the formatting commands of a Chapter, Section, List etc. into one single command, EasiWriter and TechWriter break new ground in ease of use.

Working in Partnership

By co-operating with other manufacturers we have extended the functionality of our own software. EasiWriter was written in association with Acorn Computers. Work on the word processor in the Network computer has resulted in the ability of EasiWriter Professional and TechWriter Professional being able to read and write MS Word documents. Other work on the Network Computer for Xemplar has resulted in the import and export of HTML. Co-operating with Iota Software has resulted in the ability to Drag and Drop information between their powerful database application, DataPower, and EasiWriter or TechWriter. Work with Alternative Publishing means that their application, Image FS2, automatically converts graphics (of types it recognises) when EasiWriter Professional and TechWriter Professional are importing and exporting MS Word documents. Our association with RESOURCE has resulted in applying their skills in early learning to produce our entry level word processor - TalkWrite.

Technical Word processing

Following on from MacAuthor, Icon Technology wrote Formulator, a stand alone equation editor. Widely acclaimed, it numbered among its users Professor Stephen Hawkin's Relativity group in Cambridge. While a separate equation editor, with cut and paste, works; it is far from ideal and we realised that a seamless method of typing equations directly into text would be much more user friendly. From this was developed TechWriter, which is regarded by many as the best Technical word processor available on any platform. TechWriter professional is used to write the Mathematical Gazette.

Since 2004, Easi/TechWriter develoment has been done by Martin Wuerthner of MW Software, who finally took over the rights to EasiWriter and TechWriter in 2008 and added them to the MW Software portfolio.

 

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