von

Deutsche Software in den Achtzigern

Germany's software slow to emerge -- GREGOR NEUMANN reporting from West Germany -- Compared to England, the German software scene is a rather unprofessional organisation. The industry consists mainly of small software companies founded by computer freaks who try to sell products on their own. -- The whole German software market is controlled by two major distributors, Ariolasoft and Rushware, who handle products for the big British and American software houses. -- Given the lack of German software houses, there has be no strong competition - no one has been able to establish a successful label to become an effective third force. -- The lack of German software houses meant a dearth of German software as local programmers felt they had no outlet for their products. In 1983, for example, there was only one small independent company Kingsoft, ranged against the giants. -- Kingsoft startet with budget software and has since grown slowly to become the leading label - but not distributor - in Germany. In fact, today the company employs many German software developers. -- With the rise of 16 bit computers, notably the Amiga, two more companies rapidly established themselves in the marketplace - Rainbow Arts (Garrison, Bad Cat, Great Giana Sisters) and Micro-Partner (Western Games, Pink Panther). The two companies are backed by Rushware and Ariolasoft, which are now trying to activate German developers. -- Rainbow Arts especially is growing rapidly and has sights set on becoming the biggest software house in Germany. To this end the company has enticed the best team of programmers - Magic Bytes - away from Micro-Partner. -- While this was the first time a label had switched companies, the move has its echoes in Andy Braybrook's decision to work for BT. -- Two questions remain, however: Who owns the programs still under development, and who owns the name of the label? -- Micro-Partner bought the licence to publish the official Tom and Jerry computer game with the intention that Magic Bytes should write the game. But once Magic Bytes joined Rainbow, no one seemed to know who exactly had the rights. -- The confusion was confounded by the welter of contracts involving various permutations between Magic Bytes, Micro-Partner, Ariolasoft, Rushware and Rainbow Arts, and at one stage it seemed that only a court case could unravel the tangle. -- In the event, however, a solution was worked out. Both the Magic Bytes label and the licence for Tom and Jerry belong to Micro-Partner - only the programmers switched to Rainbow Arts. -- We'll have to wait and see whether Micro-Partner can find new developers to finish Tom and Jerry for the Amiga.

Quelle des Scans: Amiga Computing, Ausgabe 2, Juli 1988, Seite 8.

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