Framework (office suite)

Framework, launched in 1984, was an office suite to run on the (x86) IBM PC and compatibles with the MS-DOS operating system.

Unlike other integrated products, Framework was not created as "plug-in" modules with a similar look and feel, but as a single windowing workspace representing a desktop metaphor that could manage and outline "Frames" sharing a common underlying format.

Framework could be considered a predecessor to the present graphical user interface window metaphor: it was the first all-in-one package to run on any PC platform to offer a GUI, WYSIWYG typography on the display and printer output, as well as integrated interpreters.

ValDocs, an even earlier integrated suite, and actually comparable to the original Macintosh of 1984 and Apple Lisa of 1982, was produced by Epson, a complete integrated work station that ran on the previous-generation Zilog Z80 CPU and CP/M operating system, with a graphical user interface (GUI) and "WYSIWYG" typography on the monitor and printing.

In addition to frame types with compiled executable code, the current versions, 9 and 10, Framework IX, and Framework X, which run in virtual mode on a thunking platform includes a dynamic link library file (.FWL) that contain 32 bit flat memory GUI/API code that can be called by FRED as a function to run on the host operating system accepting parameters and returning a value.

Framework's built-in interpreter, the FRED (Frame Editor) computer language, was based on Lisp eval function.

Stating that "Every module has been improved", BYTE in 1989 said while not revolutionary like previous versions, "Framework III is a good choice for anyone with a limited budget who isn't afraid of real power".

The magazine criticized Ashton-Tate's new marketing of the suite as "'decision support software', whatever that means", and said that "FRED is [still] probably the most difficult macro language around".