They were best known for their set of Fortran compilers for Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, and Linux operating systems.

[3] The principals of Absoft, Peter Jacobson and Wood Lotz, met at the University of Michigan.

Absoft's first major sales success was a $500K contract with Alpha Microsystems for worldwide redistribution rights of a Fortran 77 compiler compatible with their AMOS operating system using a Motorola 68000 series processor.

At this point Absoft still consisted of only the two founders, so this success allowed the company to remain independent, add staff, and move to a larger office facility.

[6] When Alpha Micro released their MC68000 based microcomputer, Absoft expanded their offerings to Motorola and the Macintosh.

In 1985 Microsoft licensed MacFortran, which consisted of a native ANSI FORTRAN 77 compiler and graphical debugger.

The Mac and Amiga Fortran compilers included an Integrated development environment (IDE) and profiler.

During the 1990s the broadened product lines and internet enabled Absoft to build a base of resellers worldwide.

For a period of time in the mid-1990s Absoft had a full-time representative in California but expanded internet usage eliminated that position and allowed everything to be run out of a single location.

Absoft Pro Fortran provides five levels of classical optimization and Speed Math options 0 through 9.

Cost is included in purchase price except IMSL and GINO or Winteracter, which are sold separately.

Installed packages can be selected for inclusion in a build by checkboxes on a tab on the Project Options menu as illustrated in the screen shot to the right.

The FX3 graphical debugger is compatible with the GNU Compiler Collection (gcc) (on Macintosh and Linux), Apple C, Microsoft Visual Studio C/C++ (Windows only), and assembly language on all three platforms.

GINO[18] and Winteracter[19][20] are optional third-party APIs for creating complex 2D and 3D graphics and GUI applications using Fortran programs.

GINO Lite (32-bit only, some restrictions) is bundled with Absoft Pro Fortran for Windows at no additional charge and is well suited for most users.

For use in porting code written on UNIX or VAX/VMS systems, libraries of UNIX-specific and VAX-specific Fortran intrinsics are available by checking a box in the Project Options, Libraries/Tools window.

Other extensions important for porting from other platforms, such as Cray pointers, are included in Absoft Pro Fortran as part of the compiler.

A special version of BLAS can be included in linking libraries by checking a box in the Project Options, Libraries/Tools window.

The program units can operate using pop-ups, menus, and display windows, so that the traditional console I/O is not used at all, and thus providing an all-Fortran GUI driven application on all three supported platforms.

These DLLs are released under the Free Software Foundation GNU General Public License (version 3 with GCC Library Exception).

[27] A page on the Absoft web site,[28] lists over 180 corporate and government license users.