The first Typequick program was developed by Noel McIntosh's AID Systems in conjunction with Blue Sky Industries in 1982, as a tool for teaching typing skills among users of new micro computers.
Typequick is a Sydney-based touch-typing software originally developed by Noel McIntosh's AID Systems in conjunction with Blue Sky Industries in 1982.
[2] Having recently purchased an Osborne computer and unable to find suitable software to teach keyboard etiquette, the closest being IBM's Typing Tutor, he decided to devise his own.
[2][1][3] McIntosh's aim was to speed up the learning process, thereby teaching apprehensive tech novices how to use keyboards more efficiently and confidently, while helping experienced touch-typists improve their accuracy and speed;[4][2][5] a secondary use of the software was in helping established users unlearn poor habits like two-fingered hunt and pecking (searching for individual keys and hitting them with index fingers).
[16] In 1985 the Typequick company was formed to buy out the founders; McIntosh remained CEO, bringing on his friend Lode Van Grootel as CFO, while his wife Donna became CTO.
[2] The new directors decided to redesign Typequick's product packaging to be more appealing, and began selling to individual dealers; the first 12 units of the program were sold to Grace Bros, followed by ComputerLand.
[2] The previous year, the distribution and publishing rights had been bought by Japanese Management Consultant Company during a trade mission; they would later be acquired by Data Pacific (Japan) who continued this relationship.
[2][17][1] Typequick introduced its package to Japan and worked directly on the product by purchasing a PC-9801, the target machine, and using Japanese tech manuals as no English translation existed.
[18] Character encoding software Shift-JIS was used to design a 3-in-1 course to teach the three Japanese keyboard layouts – hiragana, katakana and romaji; additionally it incorporated a Henkan trainer for kana conversion to Kanji words/characters.
Additionally, legal firm Freehills used it to ensure their solicitors would be able to type at least 25 words per minute when performing their duties, while NRMA had over 1,200 terminal operators trained with the program.
[2] By 1991, Typequick products were widely used in Australian organisations like Australia Post, Qantas and Telecom to train staff, as well as TAFE colleges in New South Wales.
[26] The products were made available in additional foreign languages including Canadian French and German, and were used by overseas companies ranging from Heineken and Fujitsu to the University of Connecticut.
[31] However, the advent of the internet proved a challenge for Typequick; McIntosh suggested that despite frequent demo downloads from their website and customer interest via email, there was a reluctance for online purchase due to "bad publicity about security".
[35] According to McIntosh, Typequick is a "one-application company", producing over 10 variations of the software tailored to the specific needs of educational institutions, businesses, and the visually impaired across different languages and computers systems.
The program required constant updates to match the rapidly changing PC and MAC operating systems, disk formats and sizes, video displays and RAM.
Bi-annual upgrades with improved teaching techniques were released using the recorded results of tens of thousands of students, feedback from teachers and professors, and new PC operating systems and graphics.
[11] Typequick has received critical praise for improving typing skills of newcomers, and helping established users unlearn poor habits like 'hunt and pecking', while its design has been criticised.
[23] Australian PC World's Peter Viola found the program to be easy to use and able to product swift results, though he disliked its more nonsensical sentences like 'fifi as she jailed Heidi Lee''.
[51] David Meagher of Boss magazine compared Typequick to Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, noting the ability to use both programs at one's own pace and in short spurts.
[52] Robert Bolton, The Australian Financial Review's Market Wrap editor, praised the product's positive feedback loop through messages like, "You are on your way to becoming one of the great typists!".
[55] The Australian Financial Review noted the "generous amount of publicity" it secured throughout the Japanese media, and opined on the "curious[ity]" of a software developed in Australia being used as a Japanese-language touch-typing tool.