SoftRAM95 Archives

"This program did nothing to help my systems, and subsequent investigations by PC Week and PC Magazine Labs were unable to find any shred of compression code in the product. Significant portions of the code bear a striking resemblance to a popular, copyrighted PC Magazine utility, 1MBFORT.... Is 'scam' too strong a word?"

• Syncronys was created on May 8, 1995 in a merger between Seamless Software Corp. and a public "shell" corporation, Redstone Capital, Inc. The latter showed no commercial activities and owned no assets, but had issued 1.2 million shares of penny stock. Through the merger with this already-registered company, Syncronys Softcorp did not have to undergo an approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is a legal procedure.
• The new company was mainly owned by Rainer Poertner (20.9%), Wendell Brown (13.5%), and Mobius Capital Corp. (55.3%), which is located in the Virgin Islands.
• Seamless Software (predecessor to Syncronys) was formed by Daniel Taylor, merging two previous companies, Hypro and Autoship. Autoship produced an add-in to AutoCAD. Hypro was headed by Rainer Poertner; its chief programmer was Wendell Brown, developer of Mac Access. The Fall 1994 Comdex exhibits guide (p. 266) has the following:
  

  "Hypro Systems
  3960 Ince Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
  (310) 842-9203
  Hypro's MacAccess for DOS and Windows reads, writes and formats Mac disks in a PC or compatible 3.5-inch drive, and loads Mac data directly into DOS or Windows applications. The Dextra software Modeler for Windows spline-based 3D modeling software, supports a variety of surface and curve types in a MURBS-based system. R2 for PC compatibles is a RAM-doubling utility, allowing any system to have twice as much RAM as is physically present.
  (Preview)"

• Seamless Software (which according to the merger agreement sold "the world's leading line of PC-based naval architecture software") was based in Vancouver BC; the SoftRAM 1.0 1 documentation lists both the Culver City and Vancouver offices. According to Computer Reseller News (April 24, 1995), "AutoShip developed a high-end 3-D modeling software of ship designers, which Seamless plans to refashion into Windows modeling software for the retail market."
• Wendell Brown is VP of Technology at Syncronys. His two previous companies were Hydra and Amtel. According to MacWeek (December 18, 1990), Hydra was a Mac emulator board for the PC which required a user-supplied Mac 128K ROM, presumably from a scrapped Mac. According to EE Times (October 8, 1990), Amtel Video had a prototype called CrystalScan for use in hi-res displays.

"Syncronys says they are working on a program that really will provide benefits under Windows 95. Of course that's what they said the first time, and while you might want to be charitable and say they just rushed to get the product out and didn't test it adequately, it sure seems to me that they released a product that they knew perfectly well didn't have a chance of working. Still, you might want to give them a second chance. If you do, then I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you, too."

"Up next for Syncronys are SoftRAM for Macintosh, set for a spring 1996 launch; SoftRAM for Windows NT and SoftRAM for OS/2 in May; and NETSpeed for Windows Networks, in June. Syncronys also is expecting to release MacAccess Version 2 in February 1996. This product allows IBM-compatible PC users to read, write and format Macintosh disks under DOS, Windows and Windows 95. The product also will support removable media such as SyQuest, Bernoulli and CD-ROM.
"Syncronys works with distributors Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Navarre, and has been pursuing record and bookstores along with mainstream software retailers. At Comdex, the company announced agreements with Target Stores, Borders Books & Music and Tower Records/Video."

"SoftRAM95 is still being sold in stores, but has been re-labeled in some cases as a 'Windows 3.0 & 3.1 version only' -- as appeared on boxes in a display at Computer City in Milpitas. However, there was a binful of SoftRAM boxes nearby that did not bear the new label; a reporter bought a copy from that bin, and a sales clerk did not warn of any possible problem with the software. Egghead Software has pulled SoftRAM95 from its shelves...."

NOTE: I have done some paid consulting for Connectix, whose RAM Doubler product competes directly with SoftRAM.

For more information, visit these other O'Reilly online areas:

SoftRAM: Does it Do Anything?

Our homepage, with product information, feature articles, and more.

WebSite Central, home of O'Reilly's hot, new, Windows Web server.

The O'Reilly Windows Center has Win 95 programming information, articles, and links. FTP site, with newer versions.