Synergy Software

Sitting at your computer every day and having KaleidaGraph aid your productivity in many elegant ways quickly lulls us, especially the younger person among us, into believing it has certainly always been that way. Just watch the eyes of a youth widen in disbelief when you tell them that you didn’t grow up with a personal computer or a cell phone.

The company that evolved into Synergy Software began in 1983 on the wild frontier of the computer industry, and I, fortunately, was there to watch. At our company, I was not the gifted visionary. A teacher by training, it fell to me to try to translate exploding technology into words that the rest of us could understand. Although California’s Silicon Valley was dubbed the “cradle” of technology, the frontier was really anywhere that someone saw desktop computing as a potential productivity tool and tried to harness it to their purposes.

Our business actually started as peripherals, computers, and supplies, slightly ahead of the whirlwind in computer software. We were quickly drawn into the vortex and changed our name to Synergy Software. That choice of names always reflected our gratitude for the internal synergy of our talents, but also our thanks for the interest and input from our users.

One of our products was reviewed in the premier edition of MacUser; imagine that. We appeared in a circa 1988 MacConnection catalog called the President’s Catalog. It was a collection of folks trying to solve computing problems of the software and hardware varieties. They were not computer science majors, just entrepreneurs seeing opportunity, while they tried to improve life on the technology frontier. We were there along with names that have become far more recognizable: Warnock, Roizen, Shirley, Edelman, Eubanks…. to drop a few. If you find an old copy, it’s a hoot to read.
Many of the companies are gone now, swallowed up by others, or done in by the perils of fledgling businesses seeking their footing in technology’s shifting sands. One of my daughter’s favorite Halloween costumes was simply a sweat suit covered all over with the colorful trade-show buttons of all of those players who roared onto the scene in those early years, and just as quickly disappeared.

I’ve met many of you at one time or another at early MacWorld or other PC shows, or as we evolved at trade shows more targeted to various disciplines. We have always really enjoyed those opportunities to talk to our customers about what they do and how we can help. We hope that you have visited the Customer Stories section of our website where some of you have shared your stories. We are very proud of the important work that we assist. Whether you found us, or we found you, we are eternally grateful for your contributions to our products, and for your continued support.

In 1996, after many successful years in the Macintosh marketplace, a version of KaleidaGraph for Windows was launched. Many scientific magazines took this opportunity to applaud the virtues of KaleidaGraph. We thought we would share some of them with you:

“Given its small demands, it is surprising how much functionality KaleidaGraph offers.”
“It proves useful in situations where data collected via on-line instruments needs simple and immediate treatment.”
“KaleidaGraph comes with a full array of useful features that easily compete with those of more expensive plotting packages.”
“The user interface is simple and easy to use.”
“This two dimensional plotting and analysis package is very well done and contains most of the plotting features and curve fitting, statistics, and data analysis tools that you will need for many applications.”
“Quick and supportive technical support is available over the phone and by email.”
“A demo that has a good overview of the software is available free to first-time users.”
“On-screen help is complete and relevant; every screen has a help button for instant directions if the user is unfamiliar with the operation.”
“The price is about half that of competitive programs.”

Since the first copy of KaleidaGraph was sold in 1988, KaleidaGraph has remained an exceptional, easy-to-learn graphing and data analysis program with a surprisingly affordable price.

Many of you have been our customers for nearly all of the time we have been producing software: some of you a bit less. KaleidaGraph is now over 30 years old and still solid. Stay with us as we continue to grow.

– Barbara S. Maxwell, V.P.