In 1981, the PC had not been invented and DOS was nowhere to be found. Computers ran on an operating system called CP/M and a 10 Meg hard drive was a luxury. At that time, the first version of HandyWorks was evolved from a dental program written in an obscure language called QPro4. It was installed in a large PI practice in Atlanta.
We completely rewrote HandyWorks in 1985, and started marketing it to Doctors later that year. It was well accepted by the marketplace, and with very little advertising and a lot of word of mouth we sold hundreds of copies of our DOS based program. However, the language that HandyWorks was written in, QFast5, could not keep up to the changes in computer operating systems, especially Windows.
We searched and experimented for 9 months to find a Windows program that was event driven like Qfast5. And we finally settled, in April, 1993, on Microsoft Access 1.0. HandyWorks really began to shape up when Access 2.0 was released. We finished alpha testing the program on 7/12/96 and converted our office out of the Qfast5. By 10/1/96, after working out numerous “real-world” bugs, we began converting our willing DOS based users over to the new system. And after letting them test and improve the product, we now are able to offer a more finished product through this web site.
Of course HandyWorks will continue to evolve. How and where will depend entirely upon the market. Hopefully, your comments and input will drive this product to higher and higher heights.