FirstClass
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| FirstClass | |
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 A screenshot of FirstClass Client version 9 |
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| Developed by | SoftArc / Centrinity/ FirstClass Division of OpenText |
| Latest release | Client: 9.1 (Windows and Mac OS X) 8.3 (Linux) |
| OS | multi-platform (server and client) |
| Genre | Groupware |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | FirstClass |
FirstClass is a client/server groupware, email, online conferencing, voice/fax services, and bulletin-board system for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. FirstClass's primary markets are the higher-education and K-12 education sectors, including four of the top ten largest school districts in the United States (FJA, Las Vegas's Clark County School District, Florida's Broward County Public Schools, Hillsborough County Public Schools, and Chicago Public Schools[1]).
The product is currently owned by Open Text's FirstClass Division and runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms, for both client and server. According to the company, the product is used at over 3,000 organizations and has 9 million users worldwide.[1] A July 2004 analysis by International Data Corporation shows the relative position of FirstClass with the other major groupware vendors.
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[edit] Early history
FirstClass is originally a product of SoftArc, formed by three former members of Bell Northern Research, Nortel's research arm located in downtown Toronto. The team, consisting of two brothers and a friend, had been the primary developers of the successful Meridian Mail system, and styled themselves as the Toronto Ideas Group. After a run-in with management, the three left and formed SoftArc as a consulting firm.
FirstClass was created in response to a request by a family friend who worked at the Scarborough Board of Education (now part of the Toronto District School Board). He asked them to find a reasonable Macintosh-based e-mail system that offered both LAN and modem support, a real GUI, and supported both private e-mail as well as public discussion areas (forums). BBSes offered modem support and public forums, but typically had no LAN support and were character-based. Various LAN e-mail systems existed, those on the Mac with reasonable GUI's, but they tended to have poor modem support and few offered forums.
The team found only one product, TeleFinder, which came close to filling the requirements. However they were unimpressed with its solution for LAN access, which consisted of a system extension that redirected AppleTalk data into a sort of virtual modem port. Additionally they felt they could improve on the GUI. Although they said they would be happy to set up a TeleFinder system under contract, they also offered to write a new product that was even better. The proposal was accepted, and work on EduNet started some time in 1989.
[edit] FCP, the FirstClass Protocol
Key to FirstClass's operation was the underlying FCP (FirstClass Protocol). FCP was a transport layer networking protocol that all FirstClass communications used. This guaranteed error-free communications for all activities, not just file transfers. FCP could run on several different physical layers, starting with modems and AppleTalk, and later adding Novell's IPX and TCP/IP as well. Both the client and server could communicate over any of these links, allowing a user to seamlessly move from office to home and have access to the same server.
FCP was based on a sliding window protocol, using a wide variety of packet sizes tuned to different networking protocols. Later versions of FCP could turn off their own error correction systems when running over error-free links like TCP/IP. FCP also implemented an optional encryption system based the on Blowfish cipher. With all of these features turned off, FCP still offered good performance even on the slow modems common in the era it was first written, 2400 bit/s being most common.
Additionally, every FCP packet included a "task number" identifier, similar to the port identifier in TCP/IP. This allowed FCP to construct a number of "virtual links" between each client and server. This was a key to FirstClass's popularity; the server implemented a multithreaded kernel and opened a new thread for every task requested by a client. Clients could continue to "operate" the system even with communications already set up. The user could upload and download files at the same time, while simultaneously reading and writing mail. No operation in the client blocked the user, with the exception of the OS-supplied modal dialogs.
[edit] The BBS revolution
As the product started to gel it became clear that they had a potentially popular BBS system in the making. After renaming it to the more generic FirstClass, they started demonstrating early versions to Toronto-area Mac BBSes. They were stunned by the poor reception they received; sysops complained about missing features in these early versions while the overall concept — a BBS with a true Mac-like GUI — was overlooked.
Fortunes started to change when an Apple Canada employee, Mark Windrim, set up a FirstClass BBS largely as an experiment. Known under a few different names before settling on Magic (a backronym for Macintosh Awareness Group in Canada), word of the new Magic BBS quickly spread through the small Toronto Mac online community. Getting onto the system proved challenging; to successfully download Mac software required the support of MacBinary, a protocol that FirstClass did not initially support. Prospective users first had to find the client program on another BBS, which were usually DOS-based and didn't normally carry Mac software. In spite of this, local Mac users heard of the system and established accounts, quickly turning it into the largest Mac-oriented BBS system in the area.
Due to the multithreaded nature of the system, the user could open multiple messages at the same time, while uploading and downloading in the background. Whereas most systems indirectly encouraged users to simply "leech" files and then leave, users waiting for downloads on FirstClass had an entire modem channel free for uploading or writing. And write they did; generally the average user posted about three times as many messages as on traditional command-line based systems. Even with a single phone line and a tiny user base, Magic soon had message volumes approaching that of major commercial services such as Canada Remote Systems and even entire networks such as FidoNet. The GUI also offered access to users who would normally never call a BBS system; the user base was about half women in a time where 5% might be more common, and represented a wide range of users and ages.
Equally strong communities formed around the other early-adopter systems. Mac users began bypassing local systems and calling long distance to use what was then the only really Mac-like BBS out there. SoftArc's sought to take advantage of this interest by offering a "BBS Special" to operators at a reduced price. During this time, some FirstClass BBS systems mushroomed to thousands of users, including the Virginia-based DigitalNation, which had hoped to become an AOL competitor, the Berkeley Macintosh Users Group's Planet BMUG and the LiveWire and Virtual Valley services operated by Silicon Valley's Metro Newspapers group.
The FirstClass software later incorporated a feature that allowed individual FirstClass sites to share conference content and private mail by allowing the servers to link together. Originally this was accomplished via dialup connections, but eventually allowed sites to link via the internet using internet connections. Apple employee Scott Converse formed the first and probably the most extensive network of FirstClass based sites in the world known as OneNet. Even today (2007) OneNet exists albeit in a much smaller form than in its hayday.
By 1994 the internet was becoming a major force, killing off most BBS systems on both the Mac and PC over the next year or so.[2] Most BBS vendors went bankrupt during this period, but SoftArc's sales into the Mac e-mail market remained strong enough through this period to allow them to weather what was becoming a "crash" essentially untouched. At the end of the BBS period sales were generally split evenly between BBS systems, educational sites, and internal e-mail systems. Licensing for commercial use was higher priced, and generated most of the company's income.
[edit] Corporate e-mail and collaboration
By the mid-90s FirstClass had evolved into a powerful solution for small-to-medium sized internal e-mail systems. The buzz generated by the BBS market and the associated user groups to help evangelize the product into companies, where it became a major e-mail platform on the Mac.[3]The system had matured to become considerably more powerful than other e-mail systems of the era, notably QuickMail or Microsoft Mail on that platform, and similar offerings on the PC. The introduction of a Windows-based FirstClass client further helped to popularize the product as a cross-platform solution. A PC server on Windows NT soon followed.
In the mid-1990s the "next big thing" in the e-mail market seemed to be groupware, which to some degree were based on LAN-based BBS systems. FirstClass was ideally suited for this new market, so the product was re-aligned as a corporate groupware solution. But there were a number of problems that limited its appeal in this role. The server could be run only on a single machine, limiting its expandability, although the use of a custom-built multitasking kernel allowed 100 simultaneous users on the 68K Macs of the early 90's and 250 users on the first Windows servers (Today, all three platforms support up to 10,000 simultaneous logins). Although a store-and-forward linking was built-in, user accounts and other information remained associated with a single server, forcing users to always log into "their" server. Additionally the look of the system was also becoming more idiosyncratic; the layout and visual polish were designed to be cross platform rather than look "native" to the client platform, and by the mid-90s the system was starting to look dated. Even so, the product was successful to some degree, besting Microsoft Exchange in number of installed users until 1997.[1]
At the same time, a battle between Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange was just starting. In order to compete with these products on a technical level, FirstClass had to add internet functionality and some sort of scripting language for automating workflows, arguably the primary feature that made Notes popular. By the time these FirstClass features were ready for widespread use, however the massive marketing machinery of Lotus and Microsoft had swung into action on the Windows side, significantly reducing the visibility of FirstClass as a groupware solution to Windows-centric customers. The Mac market simultaneously declined as Apple floundered through the mid to late 1990s, eroding the product's primary customer base. Even among those that considered the FirstClass system, the lack of a robust calendaring component during this time (until FirstClass v6 in 2001) significantly hurt the product's competitiveness.
A technically interesting and forward-looking addition to FirstClass during this period was a voice mail solution integrated with the server. The feature allows users to receive voice, fax and e-mail in their single mailbox, which can be accessed using the client, the web interface, or even an interactive voice response system. While the system is quite advanced from a technical perspective to this day, it was also expensive when compared with dedicated voice systems at the time and its introduction apparently had little effect on the product's market share.
By 1997 the company arranged a "reverse takover" by a company from Vancouver to become listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as Centrinity.
In September 2002 Open Text bought Centrinity, for a reported $19 million CDN. Open Text was developing a suite of online collaboration products through a series of mergers, and FirstClass's strong educational background fit particularly well with some of their other offerings. At the time Open Text stated their intention to integrate FirstClass into the "LiveLink" internet information collection engine, but this integration was not practical due to the architecture of LiveLink.
FirstClass maintains communication with its customers/system administrators via "FirstClass Online", the company's own internal FirstClass server, where system administrators may sign up for an account. The company encourages active and frank discussions on enhancement suggestions for and questions about the product that routinely involve the FirstClass server and client developers, technical support personnel, veteran admins, and often the principals of the company. This provides FirstClass system administrators an opportunity rarely seen in the commercial software industry: the ability to communicate their likes, dislikes and suggestions directly to the highest levels of the company and the developers that create the software.
[edit] Versions
FirstClass version 8.3 was released in 2006 and positioned as an "Integrated set of Network Applications", including 10 integrated groupware applications. This version also debuted with a much enhanced interface, featuring fully scalable, high-color 128x128 pixel icons and a look reminiscent of Microsoft Outlook.
FirstClass version 9.0 was released in June of 2007, followed by 9.1 in February of 2008. In addition to bugfixes, major new features in 9.0 included an automatic server-based and policy-driven archiving service for legal compliance purposes, full Unicode support, the ability to "layer" multiple calendars into a single view, the ability to map Contact addresses using Internet-based services such as Google/Yahoo Maps, support for SyncML-based mobile device synchronization with Calendars/Contacts/Tasks, and an instant filtering feature for all containers. Version 9.1 introduced a few new features and enhancements including improved web publishing, global signatures, improved calendaring and out of office replies; advanced search and spell checking; improved web interface.
The FirstClass Roadmap provides a near-future look at planned upcoming enhancements.
 The splash screen on a modern version of First Class Client. |
 FirstClass 8.3 Group Calendaring |
 FirstClass 8.3 Contact Manager |
[edit] Tools
Various third-party developers have created tools and applications for use with FirstClass, using the built-in FirstClass Application Services (formerly called "RAD" for "Rapid Application Development") as well as external tools that integrate with FirstClass.
FirstClass Anti-Logoff keeps a FirstClass server from logging off a Windows FirstClass client due to inactivity by simulating user activity on a regular basis. The enabling of the inactivity logoff feature and the length of the timer is a setting that controlled by the individual FirstClass administrator at each site.
The FC MEMEX is an extension to the FirstClass server that sets up digital libraries and knowledge management systems which integrate external data into the FirstClass system. The system offers powerful full text search and retrieval applications completely embedded into FirstClass. Nearly any document file format can be used with FC MEMEX. Using this application a seamless access to server side attached file servers in LAN or WAN scenarios can be realized, too. The users just see all FC MEMEX applications (e.g. search form, document browser) inside the FirstClass client on any supported platform. Business FirstClass sites use FC MEMEX to offer document access to existing files residing on company file servers. These files are often edited using non-FirstClass applications like Office suites or CAD/CAM applications. Typical educational FC MEMEX applications include the integration of mostly distributed school file servers to a single FC MEMEX based digital library without the need to establish a full fledged VPN for all students and teachers. They just use the already installed FirstClass client to get access to these digital assets.
NotifyLink provides Blackberry-like remote "push" email sync capability for FirstClass on various mobile devices. The system is currently email-only with FirstClass, but Calendar, Tasks and Notes functionality is in the planning stages.
FCSoftware is a site cataloging some freeware and shareware FCAS applications for FirstClass. Companies and organizations developing FCAS applications for FirstClass include Aptiris, Bramm Technologies, CompuPlan, CreaTECH and Kannon Communications.
[edit] Versioning controversy
Recently OpenText has stopped updating their Linux client, focusing development on Windows and Mac OS X. In an advert OpenText uses the slogan "Choose the platform that's right for you, not us"[4] even though the Linux client at June 1, 2008 was at version 8.315 compared to it's Windows equivalent being at version 9.106[5]. OpenText offers the FirstClass client in English exclusively on the Linux platform, compared to the Macintosh and Windows versions, having support for 10 other languages in addition to Canadian and British English.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Maganini, Rich; M. Stevenson and B. Edwards (2007-10-18). Chicago Public Schools Selects Open Text’s FirstClass Software for District-Wide Email, Collaboration, Social Networking. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ Statistics Generated by the BBS List
- ^ Nicholas Baran, Businesses Turn to BBSes, Byte, September 1994
- ^ http://www.firstclass.com/Divisions/Products/Supported%20Platforms
- ^ http://www.firstclass.com/Divisions/FAV13-0024FC95/?Plugin=FC&OpenItemURL=S047C50E4
- ^ http://www.firstclass.com/Divisions/FAV13-0024FC95/?Plugin=FC&OpenItemURL=S047C50E4
[edit] External links
- Official website
- FirstClass and Supporting Hardware — historical document shows a number of images from a standard FC system in 1996, as it was used as part of a series of systems being used to run Free-Net.
