Clarion: Back Where It Belongs

by Dave Harms

Published 2000-05-04    Printer-friendly version

And now for the news. A group of investors, headed by Robert Zaunere, previously TopSpeed's VP of Product Development, has purchased the Clarion product line from TopSpeed Corporation. The new company, called SoftVelocity Inc., will continue Clarion product development. TopSpeed's other operations, such as consulting and the Wired On MainStreet venture, will be spun off to Sensium Corporation. Sensium's president is Arthur Barrington, son of Clarion creator Bruce Barrington. 

No, that isn't the story I wished I'd written for April Fool's. Actually, come to think of it, it is, because then I'd be a prophet, and not of doom either. This is a good news story, and developers have reacted with delight and congratulations for Zaunere, as evidenced by postings on the TS newsgroups. 

Ross Santos, CTO at Legal Files Software Inc. points out Zaunere's long history with Clarion. "[He] has been the champion of the product for as long as I can remember."

That's what Clarion has lacked this past year: a champion. That role used to be Bruce Barrington's, of course. And for many years he guided Clarion through sometimes stormy waters. Barrington has been less visible of late, reportedly involved in other business affairs, and perhaps taking a bit more time off, a benefit richly deserved.

Then at last year's DevCon attendees saw a radically changed TopSpeed Corporation, tightly focused on sales and marketing. And that's not a bad thing - certainly lack of marketing has been an ongoing concern in the Clarion development community. But can marketing succeed if the product doesn't do what developers need it to do? Rumors about Clarion's uncertain future abounded. Where was TopSpeed headed? Would desktop development be sacrificed for Wizatron-driven web development? Who was really driving product development? And in the months that followed, TopSpeed's silence about its future direction raised the FUD level to an all-time high.

Wizatrons were to be the bridge between Clarion and the web. A brilliant technology, Wizatrons however failed to capture the imagination of developers, and, it would appear, did not solve all the issues in remaking Clarion into an non-technical web development tool. That failure should  free significant resources to address current weaknesses in Clarion 5.5, and I hope and expect that some long-desired features will finally make their way into the Clarion toolset.

Zaunere's move to take over the Clarion product line brings fresh hope to Clarion developers. It's a win for the geeks. Let's hope it's also a win for the investors.

Dave Harms

Publisher
Clarion Magazine

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David Harms is an independent software developer and the editor and publisher of Clarion Magazine. He is also co-author with Ross Santos of Developing Clarion for Windows Applications, published by SAMS (1995), and has written or co-written several Java books. David is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).

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Clarion Magazine ISSN 1718-9942