TOPS People and Places
Celebrating The Past; Looking Forward to the Future
It's hard to believe TOPS Software is celebrating
its 20th Anniversary this year. Seems like just yesterday when we
showed the software for the first time at CAI's National Conference
in Philadelphia in the fall of 1984. We were the only software company
at that show. The software sparked a lot of interest, so I know
we were on the right track in our development. As the software neared
completion, we formed a company in the fall of 1985, and Property
Management Systems, Inc. was born.
Our first sale came in September of 1985, a Unix computer system
out of state. As with most first's the installation was a 5 day
marathon during which Kerry Wilson, our first programmer and I logged
81 hours. Whew! I don't know how we did it, but I was 20 years younger
then, so I guess that makes a difference.
As with any new business, we got to know our first 100 customers
very well. Most still use TOPS and are friends of mine to this day,
partly because I saw them often, so we had a chance to get to know
one another. In fact, in the late 1980's and early 1990's I racked
up the frequent flyer miles applying paper clips and sealing wax
to keep the software running. There was no internet updater to get
the fixes out back then. How things have changed in a short time.
I'm sitting in my office, where we have been since 1992, looking
out the window at a beautiful fall day here in Maryland. The carpet
was just replaced; as part of the carpet replacement, I had to clean
out my office. It became a real trip down memory lane. Being a pack
rat; I seldom throw anything out. You never know when you might
need something again, right?
I found a company checkbook from 1986 with a lot of expenses paid
to companies and people that I have lost track of. I found software
that dated back to the early years too, software most of you have
probably never heard of before: Dan Bricklin's Demo Package-a distant
forerunner of PowerPoint, a Peter Norton utility software with hand
pasted titles on the paper cover (the same Peter Norton who is responsible
for today's Norton Anti-Virus), Lantastic networks, the original
manual from an IBM XT PC (circa 1982), WordPerfect version 3 (circa
1988), and Real World Accounting source code. Can you remember these
things?
Computers and software were crude 20 years ago, but we thought they
were great because they replaced manual systems that took so much
time. Expectations are different now, we expect computers and software
to be more sophisticated and refined, to do everything, and, for
the most part, they do. We've come a long way.
I'm very proud of our accomplishments over these 20 years. We have
over 1800 customers managing a combined total in excess of 10 million
homes-almost 11% of the entire housing population in the US. TOPS
Software is the leading provider of software for the community association
industry by far. In fact, our market research indicates that the
combined customer base of all our direct competitors totals less
than 25% of the TOPS customer base. That tells me we are still doing
things right. We offer the best value in specialty software for
this industry.
Can we improve our product and service? Sure. To stay number one takes dedication and working hard every day, and we do.
Version 3.2.1, which everyone has probably heard about, is a terrific product. It is easier than previous versions of TOPS with many thoughtful changes, yet it offers a lot of increased functionality. You will notice a more attractive and revamped look. It incorporates many state of the art technologies. Version 3.2.1 is our best product to date. It reflects a lot of hard work from our design and programming team.
We celebrate the past, but look to the future. TOPS Software will
be your total technology solution for years to come. As new technology
becomes practical, we'll incorporate it. As practices change in
the industry, we'll adapt to the changes. Long ago we coined the
phrase "The Only Property Software (TOPS-get it?) You will ever need."
We meant it then, and we mean it now. Thanks for a wonderful 20
years. This is just the beginning.
by Jeffrey S. Hardy, President
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