ADAPSO Reunion 2002
May 3 & 4, 2002
Monarch Hotel, Washington, DC

Workshop Descriptions

ADAPSO Conferences (Moderators, Larry Welke and Nathan Ensmenger)

These semi-annual events were heavily attended and, for many ADAPSO members, were the most significant benefit derived from their membership. Yet very little written documentation of the content of the programs has survived. Board minutes, for example, document the fact that the Board voted on the location of future conferences but include no reference to the speakers, session topics, social events or other activities that took place at the conferences. Participants in this workshop talked about the educational, networking and other benefits they derived from the conferences and why these benefits were significant enough that they were willing to spend three or more days away from their businesses twice a year to attend.

Contracts Reference Directory (Moderators, Burt Grad and Phil Frana)

The Contracts Reference Directory was a very popular program because it created a tool that ADAPSO members could put to immediate use. We are fortunate that at least one copy of the Directory has survived to be archived at the Babbage Institute. These documents have historic value because they illuminate the challenges that companies faced in trying to define their relationships with their customers in an emerging industry where there were few established precedents. The purpose of this workshop was to create a context that will help historians understand why there was a need for such a reference tool, how ADAPSO members participated in its development, and the steps that were taken to insure that the result could be applied to the needs of many different companies.

Accounting Issues (Moderators, Larry Schoenberg and Martin Campbell-Kelly)

The challenge of creating accounting standards for a nascent industry was part of ADAPSO's agenda since its beginning. One of the projects defined in its first year of existence was the development of accounting systems for independent service bureaus and, during the '60s, ADAPSO published several guidelines to uniform accounting practices for data service centers. Early software firms had difficulty in obtaining financing from banks or the capital markets because of the unwillingness of financiers to recognize the significant value of completed software products on company balance sheets because "they did not represent anything tangible." ADAPSO took up this cause in the '70s and '80s, resulting in the development of positions, policies, and procedures by the FASB and the AICPA supporting the capitalization of software in defined circumstances. During the 1980's, income statements of software firms received attention because of concerns related to revenue recognition policies. Again, ADAPSO members spent many hours in meetings of the FASB and the AICPA to present information to develop rational accounting policies. The participants in this workshop  discussed how the lack of accepted accounting practices affected their firms in an emerging industry and the role that ADAPSO played in addressing the problem.

Intellectual Property Issues (Moderators, Ron Palenski and Bill Aspray)

One of the major characteristics of the software industry has been its ongoing struggle to protect intellectual property rights in an age where technology has continuously outstripped the legal framework designed to provide those protections. One of ADAPSO's most important roles was as the industry's representative in the continuously evolving challenge of protecting the right of the owners of information-based products to control when and how they are used. The participants in this workshop talked about how their companies were affected by intellectual property issues and the multitude of ways--participation in government commissions, consumer education, litigation, etc.--in which ADAPSO addressed the problem.

Banking Litigation and Other Issues of the 1960s (Moderators, Bernie Goldstein and Tim Bergin)

The first competitive threat that ADAPSO took on was the change in banking regulations that allowed banks to provide computer processing services to their customers. Given the potential for banks to compete unfairly with independent processing services companies by tying their processing services to their banking services, ADAPSO became a strong advocate for the maximum possible separation of these services from the rest of the banking operation. This issue was pursued aggressively for a number of years through litigation and lobbying and became the basis for ADAPSO's stance against the use of existing market power and tie-in services by other industries to compete unfairly against the independent software and services companies. ADAPSO in the '60s also initiated a number of programs to provide education and support to the primarily small companies that comprised its membership. The participants in this workshop discussed the environment of the 1960s and how ADAPSO as a very young organization went about addressing their most serious problems.

Industry Image (Moderators, Rick Crandall and David Grier)

ADAPSO mounted a major program in the 1970s to get recognition in the business press which consistently ignored the computer software and services industry as independent of the hardware industry. The culmination of these efforts in a Business Week cover story on software products companies in September, 1980, was a much celebrated event. The industry has received such extensive press coverage over the last decade that it's difficult to remember that there was a time when a single article could have such importance. Participants talked about why the lack of press recognition was such an important issue for their companies and describe ADAPSO's efforts, such as the press trips led by John Imlay, to gain that recognition.

Industry Roundtables (Moderators, John Rollins and Jeff Yost)

One of the most enduring programs that ADAPSO initiated, the Roundtable program brought together small groups of industry executives that met several times a year to provide mutual assistance in the challenges of running companies in an emerging industry. Several of these Roundtables are still meeting regularly after twenty or more years indicating that the program has been extremely successful. And yet there are virtually no written records documenting it. It required no ADAPSO funding and was, therefore, never discussed by the Board. Once established, the Roundtables kept their own records of members and meeting dates so there were no files generated by ADAPSO staff. The transcript of the discussions in this workshop is likely to be the only record that will survive of how Roundtable members benefited from the program, why it has had such longevity, and what role ADAPSO played in its origin.

IBM Relations (Moderators, Oscar Schachter and Paul Ceruzzi)

Throughout the early decades of the computer software and services industry, IBM loomed large not only as a gigantic competitor but as the dominating environment in the marketplace. In its efforts to mitigate the competitive threat to the independent software and services companies, ADAPSO was involved in continuous skirmishes with IBM such as its mid-1960s attempts to prevent IBM from re-entering the processing services business via data transmission and timesharing, the successful 1972 suit to open the proceedings in the IBM antitrust trial to the public, and the IBM Relations committee established in 1976 to express industry concerns directly to IBM management. Participants in this workshop talked about the challenges of running a business in this IBM-dominated environment and the efforts that ADAPSO made to protect their interests.

Big Eight Accounting Firms (Moderators, Dave Campbell and Tom Haigh)

ADAPSO was a very early voice warning of the conflicts of interest that could arise when CPA firms offer non-audit services to their audit clients. As these firms began to expand their computer-related services, ADAPSO became an advocate for insuring that these services were clearly separated from the firms' traditional audit function in order to maintain a level playing field for independent firms offering competing services. Participants talked about how the entry of the Big Eight accounting firms into the industry impacted their businesses and the steps that ADAPSO took to maintain a competitive marketplace.

Telecommunications Issues (Moderators, Joe Markoski and David Allison)

Since 1967, when the Board passed a resolution directed to the Federal Communications Commission expressing concerns about unfair competition from common communications carriers holding government monopolies, ADAPSO has been a leader in working to insure that companies which deliver computer or data services over networks could do so in a fair regulatory and competitive environment. Participants discussed the challenges that faced these companies in the monopoly-driven telecommunications environment of the 1970s, the changes that occurred with the breakup of AT&T in 1982, and how ADAPSO worked to protect their interests as the environment changed.

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