Jane is a discontinued GUI-based

integrated software Integrated software is a software for personal computers that combines the most commonly used functions of many productivity software programs into one application. The integrated software genre has been largely overshadowed by fully functional o ...

package for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

, Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 personal computers. It was developed by Arktronics in 1984, and the Commodore version was published by Commodore in 1985. The same year, it was also published for the French computer Thomson MO5. Like Commodore's earlier Magic Desk software, it used a literal

desktop metaphor In computing, the desktop metaphor is an interface metaphor which is a set of unifying concepts used by graphical user interfaces to help users interact more easily with the computer. The desktop metaphor treats the computer monitor as if it is ...

with the interface consisting of an onscreen graphic of a desktop with icons representing associated business tools: a typewriter represented the word processor component (JaneWrite), a filing cabinet for the database (JaneList), a calculator for the spreadsheet (JaneCalc) and so on. It was designed to be controlled by either a

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...

, a

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

or a

light pen A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's cathode-ray tube (CRT) display. It allows the user to point to displayed objects or draw on the screen in a similar way to a to ...

. Like most of the other examples of

for

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

s, Jane's components were criticized for being slow and limited.Jane review in Info magazine
/ref> It was not a success in the marketplace but represented an early example of a graphical interface on an

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data bu ...

computer. Arktronics was a software development company in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, founded by Howard Marks and Bobby Kotick. Jane was originally intended to be a package not only for the Apple and Commodore lines, but also for Atari 8-bit computers and others. This transportability was engineered by a combination of higher level systems written in the C language and machine specific drivers written in the assembly language for each machine (6502 Assembly for the Apple II and Commodore 64). For the C64, DOS manager was written by Howard K. Weiner, and the font manager/windows manager was written by Daniel J. Weiner. The Weiner brothers, both went on to attend the University of Michigan Integrated Pre-medical-Medical (Inteflex) Program. Other programmers included Andrew Marcheff and Thomas Naughton.

References

Apple II software Commodore 64 software 1984 software 1985 software {{software-stub