Nostalgia. Norton. 91 year

My first memories of computers are inextricably linked with Norton Commander. My mom and dad still worked on it, and probably even my grandmother ... and when computers came to school, they all had Norton Commander ...



And recently I had to dig in the history and in the old warehouses in order to find out how it all began. Peter Norton's biography will not be given here, everyone already knows him. I'm more interested in the history of the arrival of Symantec programs in Russia (or rather, in the USSR). It happened more than 20 years ago, in 1991. There was even the first mention in the newspaper Kommersant.





I will give the full text of the article:

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The American corporation Symantec Corporation begins official distribution in the USSR for rubles of the six most popular software products for IBM-compatible computers.

This was announced at the presentation of the corporation, held on April 8 in Moscow as part of the Comtek-91 exhibition.



Presentation of software products of the corporation was conducted by the author and developer

four of them Mr. Peter Norton (Peter Norton). Experts point out that

software tools currently being implemented are,

in fact, the standard equipment of IBM-compatible computers worldwide. AT

At the same time, many Soviet users lack a currency for their

legitimate purchase forced buyers on the one hand to acquire them

pirated copies, and on the other hand, limited access to users

necessary information and capabilities (company descriptions, instructions,

means of service and support).



As the president of Symantec Corporation, Mr. Gordon Eubanks (Gordon

Eubanks), all six proposed software products are Russified and

will be distributed for rubles. When buying new versions of permanent

users will be given a discount of up to 66%. If the USSR appears

strong demand for English versions, the management of the corporation will consider

opportunity to sell for rubles and them.



The software package includes:



Time-Line - 10 thousand rubles.



Q & A - 5 thousand rubles.



Norton Commander - 1 thousand. 100 rubles.



Norton AntiVirus - 1 thousand rubles.



Norton Utilities - 1 thousand. 300 rubles.



Norton BackUp - 1 thousand. 100 rubles.



According to Mr. Eubanks, the corporation intends to invest ruble profits in

creation of infrastructure for the distribution of their products in the USSR, and also - hoping to receive in the future profits in foreign currency - in promising sectors

Soviet economy. However, Mr. Eubanks did not consider it possible to clarify which

the branch of the Soviet economy, the corporation considers a profitable area

capital.



The president of Symantec Corporation announced that product promotion

corporations to the Soviet, the market will produce three official

Distributor - JV Dialogue - Center for MEPhI, JV Computer Technologies and NGOs

"Center software system". They will distribute products, implement them

technical support, conduct workshops and consultations, work on

improvement programs. Terms of agreement with distributors, according to

Mr. Eubanks are a trade secret.



As reported by Mr. Norton, to provide ongoing assistance to corporation’s customers

and reducing the number of illegal users whose activities lead

to the degradation of software products, the club will be opened in the near future.

users of the Peter Norton Club, whose members will receive advice

and support for Symantec Corporation. Use your name in the title

the club and in the names of the software products Mr. Norton considers

prerequisite for successful marketing.



In 1990, Symantec acquired the company founded in 1982 by Mr. Peter Norton - the author and developer of many popular software products - the company

Peter Norton Computing Inc. As a result of the transaction, Mr. Norton became part of

Board of Symantec Corporation and became the owner of 27% of the shares of

(data for 1990).



Phone Moscow representative of Symantec Corporation Michael Titkin:

%%% - 46-44.



Symantec Corporation in the United States: 10201 Tone Avenue, Cupertino, California.

95014-2132. Tel .: 408 / 253-9600. Fax: 408/255 - %%%%.



Distributor phones; JV "Dialogue" - %%% - 30-55;



Computer Technologies JV - %%% - 47-18; NGO Center Software Systems (in

Tver): %% - 284.



Founded in 1982, Symantec Corporation specializes in

manufacturing software for computer systems with

operating environments DOS, OS / 2, Macintosh, UNIX. Software products

Symantec is distributed worldwide with the help of 65 partners, each of

which is responsible for marketing and technical support of products in its

region. Annual turnover - 100 million dollars. Profit in 1990 - 16 million

dollars. The number of employees is 550 people.



###



UPD: Symantek now has 20,000 people and an annual turnover of more than 6 billion



Think:

At that time, Simantek was already about 10 years old, and it was difficult to name the company as a startup. A couple of Russian specialists got an internship at Symantec in Europe, then they opened a small office, organized production of software products at the Kazan plant and began to work. There were practically no competitors at that time, as I said before (no Kaspers, essetes and doctors didn’t exist at that time), we had to deal with piracy anymore. A little later, in 93, C ++ compilers started selling, this was probably the only niche where we were competitors.



Thought 2:

My personal opinion is that the key factor in the history of Simantek on the Russian market was that the company came too soon. Then the market for computers (and software, respectively) for home use was not yet formed, so the company focused primarily on the orders of large enterprises. In this segment, Simantec still has very good positions. But the consumer segment of the Russian market is covered a little. I will tell you a secret - we intend to deal with this, therefore, we have recently resumed production at Kazan Combine and deliveries to retail chains. So, as they say, “ask at the nearest pharmacy”



Thought 3:

Simantec's first commercially successful product was SAM - Symantec Antivirus for Macintosh. After the extensive expansion of MS Windows, Simantec significantly changed the course of its development. What is interesting about Symantec once is its own OS, though it is not for desktop computers (who do not know - this is me about Veritas CFS)



Thought 4:

Interestingly, the first (and generally the first) product of Symantec was Q & A, a product that allows you to ask questions in a data array in plain English. Google and Yandex was not there yet. And even the Altavists were not



It is also interesting to look at Symantec old school boxes. I spread a small selection (the pictures are clickable)







Many other photos here



Oh, nostalgia ... It is a pity that the boxes are no longer in fashion!