Nisus® Software Inc. was founded by Jerzy Lewak PhD in 1984 as a software development company. The company mission has always been to "develop software which enables users' creativity by breaking down unnecessary barriers." The following are just a few examples of this mission in action.
In almost all software products (perhaps even all) the clipboard is something to observe but not to touch or change! Nisus asked why? Back in 1985 with the release of our first text editor QUED (and later in 1989 with the release of our word processor Nisus Writer) Nisus decided that its clipboard will be fully editable. And why but one clipboard? Nisus has 10! Later new products from other companies sprung-up for the sole purpose of adding 10 clipboards to other products.
In almost all software products through very recent times it was only possible to go back one step using the Undo command. Nisus pioneered the practically unlimited Undos back in 1986! At that time just after purchasing our product customers would call us to thank us for the great features. Their typical reaction to the 32 767 possible undos was "When I first saw this feature I thought why on earth would anyone want more than one undo? But now having used it for just one day I know what a great feature it is!" Recently even one very dominant and prominent software company has extended its single Undo!
Back in 1989 and for many years thereafter word processors were focussed on text. You could paste graphics and have the text adjust to it rather clumsily with little control. Nisus pioneered the almost complete integration of simple graphic drawing with text entry. While typing with one click you can draw (over the text) a graphic a line a box or a simple arrow and a call-out box. You can move your drawing around and either have the text wrap around it or flow right through it. Nisus pioneered the multi-layer document where a graphic can be on the text layer behind the text or in front of it. Nisus even added the ability to take a "snapshot" of a document and place it in a master document as a graphic linked to the original document. Such linked graphics later became known as EGOs (Embedded Graphic Objects.).
Initially search and Replace in word processors was a pretty dry and simple feature. The only embellishments to the finding of literal text were the Case Insensitive and the Whole Word options. So Nisus added the ability to search for text patterns. Nisus took what was and still is standard Unix GREP an arcane text pattern description language humanized it and considerably extended it so anyone can "find any text pattern that can be described" with tools more powerful than available to the Unix buffs! (And you don't have to be a Unix buff!) No other word processor to this date has anything approaching this capability.
Search and Replace in Nisus Writer can also be used to automate some of the chores of marking text for indexing for finding text in specific combinations of styles fonts or sizes and even for re-arranging text such as changing the order of tab-delimited columns.
Nisus pioneered the ability of the word processor to read your text back to you (even in different languages). This is perhaps one of the more controversial features in Nisus Writer. Some customers do not use it but there are many who do and value it as a final editing tool. Attorneys in particular appreciate the ability to have their legal documents (including documents in Spanish) read back to them for final adjustments.
Nisus also pioneered the ability for the heavy users to be able to add their own new menu commands connected to their own custom features. This feature alone has saved many users thousands of hours. Mundane tasks such as extracting specific pieces of data from a database formatting them ready for printing can be reduced to a single menu command.
Up to now people have learned that the hierarchy is the way all file systems and other information systems are organized. Nisus Software has asked "does it have to be that way?" and in the process of exploring alternatives has invented a new and better way. This has led to a patented information navigation and access technology called Guided Information Access or GIA. The technology breaks down the barriers inherent in the hierarchy and allows users to access information the way they think in terms of overlapping descriptive categories.
Until recently Nisus products were for the Apple Macintosh platform only. Our primary product was the Macintosh word processor Nisus Writer. Our customer base is international with the largest number in the United States and the second largest in Japan. For the period from 1989 through 1994 Nisus Writer fully localized was bundled with every Macintosh sold in Korea. Bidirectional versions were developed for Arabic and Hebrew and other localized versions were added for various parts of eastern and western Europe.
Nisus Software began its life by developing for the PC under the DOS operating system numerous tools including the first overlapping windows under DOS. Many copies of these tools were sold giving Nisus Software its startup capital. When the Macintosh came out later that year Nisus immediately recognized its superior technology and moved all its development to the Macintosh. Nisus Software has been a staunch supporter of the Macintosh platform until recently to the exclusion of Wintel. Although Nisus Software is still fully committed to its Macintosh customers the fluctuations and vagaries of the Macintosh market particularly for the word processor which is dominated by one giant have made it essential for Nisus Software Inc. to diversify both in technology and in platform.
Over the past several years Nisus Software has been developing new patentable technologies and new products. Recently Nisus Software has teamed up with The Polished Group a company based in Krakow Poland to develop products for the Wintel platform.
The new technologies are in education in text search engines and in information navigation and access. Nisus Software is developing these into cross-platform and internet/intranet applications. Each of these new technologies leads to a very broad spectrum of possible products.
Our offices are located in sunny Solana Beach California just north of San Diego. To contact us directly see our Contact Info page.