Jasc Software, Inc. was an

Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It had a population of 64,198 at the 2020 census, making it the 16th-largest city in Minnesota. The city is adjacent to the north bank of the Minnesota River, upstream fro ...

-based company founded by Robert Voit, the creator of

Paint Shop Pro PaintShop Pro (PSP) is a raster and vector graphics editor for Microsoft Windows. It was originally published by Jasc Software. In October 2004, Corel purchased Jasc Software and the distribution rights to PaintShop Pro. PSP functionality c ...

, a popular graphics editing program. Jasc Software also created other popular software titles, including: *Image Robot *Animation Shop *Media Center Plus *Webdraw *After Shot (later released as Photo Album) On October 14, 2004,

Corel Corporation Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo ( ), is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation ( ; from the abbreviation "Cowpland Research Laborat ...

announced the acquisition of Jasc Software, Inc. at announcement day, with the acquisition expected to be closed by the end of October 2004. Under the acquisition, Corel would maintain the former Jasc facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the Paint Shop family operations. Amish Mehta would continue to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Corel Corporation, and several members of the Jasc senior management team would join Corel. At the time of deal closure, Jasc Software, Inc. had 120 employees, with revenues of more than $30 million. On November 28, 2007, Corel announced the closure of the Minneapolis office. This effectively put an end to the former Jasc Software establishment. While a few positions remained in the Minneapolis area, most operations were transferred to Corel's other offices. "Jasc" is derived from the acronym J.A.S.C. (Just Another Software Company). Founder Robert Voit needed a name to protect his assets legally, but at the time had not decided to make a go of the company so he came up with a

tongue-in-cheek Tongue-in-cheek is an idiom that describes a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walte ...

name. Later when the company took off, he realized that was not the best connotation for a company to have so he publicly "changed" the acronym to "Jets and Software Company" because he was a commercial airline pilot prior to starting the software company.Grand Plans
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Robert Voit

Robert Voit (from

St. Cloud, Minnesota St. Cloud or Saint Cloud (; ) is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 68,881 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's 12th-largest city. St. Cloud is the c ...

) was the founder of Jasc Software. He has a

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

degree minoring in aviation, completed in 1983. He was initially employed as a

DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell A ...

pilot and then later founded the Jasc software company, which in 1991 produced Paint Shop Pro.

References

{{Authority control Defunct software companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Minnesota Companies based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota Software companies established in 1991 Software companies disestablished in 2004 Corel 2004 mergers and acquisitions