[1] It was originally written by Jim "Button" Knopf in late 1982, and he formed the company Buttonware to develop, market, and support it.
It ran on just about any PC, while competing commercial products costing hundreds of dollars were often picky and full of bugs.
Eventually, the cost of sending out update disks inspired Knopf to include a note requesting a small cash donation to offset the expenses.
The response was overwhelming, and when his income from PC-File exceeded "ten times" what he was making from his job at IBM, he decided to turn Buttonware into a full-time business.
[2] In a 1984 review of databases, PC Magazine found that "quite a few ... rough edges" existed, but concluded that "on a performance/price basis, [PC-File III] may be the best money you'll ever spend".