This video delves into the unique history and technical characteristics of the Pick OS, a database-centric operating system developed by Richard "Dick" Pick. Originating from a 1965 U.S. Army project, Pick OS pioneered concepts like an English-like query language and a virtual machine environment, resembling modern NoSQL databases. The video chronicles its journey from TRW's GIM to Microdata's REALITY minicomputers, and later as a standalone licensed OS. It highlights Pick OS's unexpected success on early IBM PCs, providing crucial multi-user capabilities in a single-user world, leading to significant growth. However, strategic missteps by Pick Systems, including alienating licensees and a resistance to graphical user interfaces, contributed to its decline by the 1990s. The video concludes by examining the legacy of Richard Pick and the eventual acquisition of Pick OS assets by Rocket Software, noting its continued, albeit diminished, use today.
The Weird OS Built Around a Database: A Deep Dive into Pick OS
0:02 Introduction: Pick OS is introduced as a unique database software and operating system, older than SQL, UNIX, or CP/M, known for its dedicated user base.
0:29 Origins with the Army (GIM): Developed in 1965 by Don Nelson and Richard Pick at TRW for the U.S. Army's Cheyenne helicopter project, initially named "GIRLS" (Generalized Information Retrieval Language System) and later "GIM" (Generalized Information Management).
1:55 Ahead of its Time: GIM-1 featured an English-like, prose-based query language using customizable data dictionaries, allowing flexible additions of items and attributes, foreshadowing modern NoSQL databases like MongoDB.
2:50 Virtual Machine Concept: GIM was designed to run in a hardware-independent virtual software environment, a pioneering concept for its time.
3:31 Licensing with Microdata: Pick licensed his code to Microdata Corporation, who used it for their REALITY minicomputers (1973), marketing the database software as "ENGLISH."
4:31 Pick's Departure and Legal Battles: In 1976, Pick left Microdata seeking exclusive control and multi-hardware portability, leading to a lawsuit and an out-of-court settlement in 1981, granting Pick rights to "Pick OS."
5:18 Focus on Software Licensing: After an unsuccessful attempt to sell his own hardware (the Evolution system), Pick shifted to licensing the OS to hardware makers (e.g., Honeywell) due to its easy portability (95% hardware independence).
6:21 Core Features of Pick OS: The OS's strength was its database management software, "Access" (renamed from ENGLISH), featuring an English-like query language and a unique layered file structure (system, master dictionaries, data dictionaries, Pick Files).
7:30 Flexible but Unconventional Database: Pick OS used "Multivalue fields" (storing multiple items in a single field as ASCII text) and stored all data, including dates and numbers, as ASCII strings. Dates were stored as days since December 31, 1967, offering flexibility but requiring programmer-defined validation.
9:16 Pick BASIC: The OS included its own BASIC variant, Pick BASIC, which offered deep database integration, allowing programs to access any information within a Pick File.
10:52 Business Niche and User Loyalty: Pick OS, with its user-friendly data management and hardware independence, became a preferred choice for business and commercial users, inspiring fervent loyalty among its adherents.
11:50 Challenges of Fragmentation: Early licensees white-labeled Pick OS under their own brands (e.g., Mentor, Zebra), leading to a lack of central brand recognition and fragmentation due to custom modifications.
12:46 Success on the IBM PC: Pick OS found renewed relevance by offering multi-user capabilities (up to 16 users on a single PC) at a time when MS-DOS was strictly single-user, driving 40% annual growth from 1982-1986.
14:12 Strategic Missteps and Community Alienation: Pick Systems damaged trust by directly selling the profitable Intel PC port, competing with its licensees and leading to legal disputes over UNIX collaborations.
14:56 Decline in the 1990s: By the 1990s, Pick OS's market share was low (3%). It struggled due to a lack of GUI (unacceptable after Macintosh and Windows 3.0), insufficient networking/scientific features, and poor brand recognition after shifting to direct sales.
16:28 Richard Pick's Influence and Limitations: Richard Pick's vision was foundational, but his stubbornness, unwillingness to take the company public or form major alliances, and disregard for the PC's importance (despite its success) contributed to the company's lack of direction and eventual fade.
18:28 Post-Pick Era and Legacy: Richard Pick's death in 1994 led to the company's decline. It merged to become Raining Data Corp, then TigerLogic, before its assets were acquired by Rocket Software in 2013, where they remain. While many systems have been replaced, Pick OS's innovative approach to flexible data management is still noteworthy.