The Creativity of my Father, Alan C. Ashton
From My View
If someone would have asked me when I was young if there was anything special about my dad I
would have said no. I don't think that I ever viewed my dad as a creative person when I was
young. He was always just my dad, and nothing more. It was many years before I would realize
the great creative mind that my dad possessed, and had possessed long before I was ever born.
From my point of view my dad was just like every other man in that he worked to provide for
his family. My dad would play with us and go on vacation with us just like any other father.
I do have a very large family. I am the seventh child out of eleven. I am sure that it was
hard for my father to provide the needed materials to support his family, especially in the
beginning.
After Graduation
After my father graduated in 1970 with his Ph.D in computer science from the University of Utah he worked
there for two years as an associate professor before going to Brigham Young University to be
an assistant professor. It was 1972 when my father started teaching at BYU. I still was just
a twinkle in my parents eyes. It would be another six years in 1978 when I would be born.
Alan would continue to be interested with computers and music while he taught at BYU. This
is how he met Bruce Bastian. Bruce was a very talented student who was at the time the director
of the BYU's marching band. Bruce worked with Alan on a program that would allow him to see
what the marching band looked like from different views in the football stadium, such as the
fifty yard line, end zone, in a blimp, or anywhere in the stands. Alan noticed that Bruce was very smart,
and creative so he asked Bruce to join with him in pursuing commercial uses for some of his
word processing ideas. Bruce turned down some good job opportunities to join with Alan.
The Beginning Years
Alan and Bruce began work on a word processing program that would run on a general-purpose
computer. This was different from what had been in the past. At that time the word processors
used special-purpose machines and were not useable with a general-purpose computer. In 1979,
one year after I was born, They incorporated as SSI (Satellite Software International) and
began selling their editor and their word processor. Their first customer was Orem City. The city purchased a new
Datat General computer, that did not have a word processor. Alan and Bruce agreed
to write the word processor software for a very low price, if they could keep all the rights
to the software. Bruce had graduated and worked long hours in the day and in the night on the
project. Alan was still teaching at BYU where he would teach during the day and then go home
for a short while to say goodnight to his children and then go back to work at the Orem City
building until the wee hours of the night. Alan and Bruce would work early and late on the
word processor and then the secretaries would use it during the day. The secretaries would
tell Alan and Bruce what problems they were having and then Alan and Bruce would set out to
fix the problems. Little by little they customized the word processor to the needs of their
customers. The company started to get some recognition and early on the name of the company
was changed to WordPerfect.
WordPerfect
As the company received more and more recognition the demands for the word processor also increased.
They began to hire a few people to work with them. Everyone was a service representative and
would take calls from the customer. WordPerfect entered the international scene when a representative
from Data General in Finland came to Orem to see what WordPerfect was. He decided that WordPerfect
should be on their Data General computers and Bruce was flown to Finland to complete the job,
which he did. Many people wanted WordPerfect on their Data General computers.
It wasn't long
before the IBM personal computer (PC) came out. Not long after the PC came out WordPerfect had developed
a word processor that could be used on it. WordPerfect grew and grew, doubling in sales each
year. WordPerfect became one of the largest PC software companies in the world.
Motivation
Alan and Bruce were not motivated in the beginning by thinking that they would build a world
renowned company that would make a significant amount of money. They did want to earn some
extra money for their families but they also wanted to make communication easier for their
customers. WordPerfect valued their customers and their requests greatly. Customer service
was one of the hallmarks of WordPerfect. They tried to make sure that all customers who called
felt like they were helped and got their problems solved. Alan and Bruce had learned early on
how valuable the customer and their feedback were when they worked closely with the secretaries
on their first job for the Orem City. It was because they worked so hard to fulfill the requests
of their customers that WordPerfect became so well know and liked.
It is evident that Alan and
Bruce were not only concerned about money when it is seen how they treated their employees.
WordPerfect doubled in sales every year for a while. In 1986 WordPerfect made $50 million
in sales. Alan told the employees that if they could follow the trend and double the $50 million
in sales for the next year that they would send each employee and spouse to Hawaii for a
reward. Just over $100 million in sales were reached just before the end of the year and the
employees were sent on a week's paid vacation to Hawaii. Here is a picture of me with two
of my sisters when my family went to Hawaii.
WordPerfect has also been very interested in the education of the next generation. Many times
WordPerfect donated their software to the local schools. In 1993 WordPerfect
said they would donate software to every K-12 school in the U.S. or Canada which had at least
one dependent of an employee attending the school. Education has always been important for Alan.
Creativity
Now as I look back and see what my dad accomplished I realize how very creative he was. He
also just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He had ideas that were ahead
of his time. Earlier when people did their work on the computer and they needed to edit the
text it was very difficult. If a person wanted to add text in the middle of existing text they
had to open a box where they wanted to insert the text, insert the text, and then close the
box. My father didn't like having to serve the computer but wanted the computer to serve him.
He wanted to be able to insert text anywhere at any time and not have to do anything special.
When he first proposed this idea people never thought that it would work. I wonder what they
would have thought at that time if he would have had the idea of WYSIWYG that he had later on
when pictures started to be placed frequently in documents. WYSISYG stands for What You See
Is What You Get. The idea is that what you see on your monitor is exactly what it will look
like when you print it.
In order for something to be creative it has to be of value. WordPerfect has proven to be
valuable to helping thousands of people communicate better. I surely think that WordPerfect is
valuable. It is what I have used to type all of my papers for school. I am basically
illiterate
when it comes to computers except for when I need to write a paper for a class. I think that
many people would agree with me when I say that WordPerfect has been of great value. WordPerfect
has been valuable to many people for more reasons than communication. In a Deseret News article
on Friday December 31, 1999 they listed the top ten events of the century that had helped to
shape Utah County to be how it is today. WordPerfect was rated number two only behind Geneva Steel
and just ahead of BYU. There have been many companies in the Utah valley that have prospered
from a spin-off effect of WordPerfect as is shown in an article of the Deseret News October 29,
1989.
The Saga Ends, What Now
Throughout the years WordPerfect has had some fierce competition from MicroSoft. In 1994 WordPerfect
was sold to Novell along with QuattroPro in an attempt to better compete in the fierce economy.
Alan was placed on the board of directors at Novell. Unfortunately Novell didn't do as well
with WordPerfect as Alan and Bruce had hoped and Novell ended up selling WordPerfect to Corel. Alan was still
on the board at Novell but soon retired. Although my dad has retired it has only given him
more time to explore his creative ideas, serve more in his church callings, and spend more
time with his family. Not long after Alan retired from Novell he was called as a stake president
of a BYU stake which position he served in for five years. Alan has also participated as an
executive committee member in the
Lighting The Way Campaign which has successfully raised around $400 million to fund BYU and BYU
Hawaii into the future. Alan has invested in many companies and is trying to see if his creativity
and sound principles can help other companies flourish. One of the main projects of Alan and his
wife, Karen, right now is Thanksgiving Point which is located just at the point of the mountain.
As we can see although Alan is retired, in some ways he is using his creativity more than he
has ever before.
For more information on Thanksgiving Point visit
Thanksgiving Point's Home Page
Sam's Homepage
The History of Communication
Alan's Ph.D Thesis
Why This Project is Creative