Happy 20th Anniversary, Office Accelerator®!

Oct. 15, 2010 - PRLog -- Torrance, CA - Twenty years ago, Office Accelerator burst onto the scene as the first Windows Address Book to integrate with Word and WordPerfect.  The Accelerator menu, which appears in the menu bar of the Word Processor, has been creating custom letters, labels, envelopes and faxes for the last 20 years.  Today, Baseline Data Systems, the developer of Office Accelerator has customers in almost every industry and country.  The flexibility of the product has made it popular with large and small companies and individuals.

“When Office Accelerator debuted in 1990, we were one of a handful of Windows Address Books. With the exception of Office Accelerator, none remain on the market. At that time, Microsoft Outlook did not even exist.  Office Accelerator is a classic product in every sense of the word.  It has withstood the test of time because it solves fundamental business problems that have not and will not ever go away. It also is known for being incredibly reliable”, says Chris Furgis, President of Baseline Data Systems.

A Unique Product Style All Its Own
From the beginning, Office Accelerator has been unique in its functionality.  Office Accelerator was the first contact manager to directly link to Word and WordPerfect for creating documents.  This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Accelerator menu.  PC World called Office Accelerator, the best Mail Merge product ever.

20 Years of Loyal Customers
Much of Office Accelerator’s success can be attributed to the thousands of Office Accelerator users who profess unconditional loyalty for this product.  Many people, like Jerry Kekos of Denver Colorado, use Office Accelerator to run their business.  Jerry has a successful business, NIFA (National Institute of First Assisting) where he trains hospital operating room staff.  “I have used Office Accelerator for over 15 years to help track and market to my leads.  I would be lost without it”, says Jerry.  Notable companies that have used the Office Accelerator software include: IBM, Viacom, NFL, Executive Offices of the White House, Bayer Corporation and Merc & Co.  

A Software Phenomenon
Over the past 20 years, Office Accelerator has become one of the most widely accepted contact managers of all time. Only a small percentage of companies make it to their 20th birthday and even a smaller percentage of technology companies reach this mile stone.  The following dates were important in the evolution of Office Accelerator.  Included are Baseline Data Systems’ licensing deals with Softkey and DayRunner.

1991 - Office Accelerator 1.0 introduces the Accelerator Menu for Microsoft Word
1992 - Office Accelerator 2.0 introduced – first retail product
1992 - Accelerator Menu for WordPerfect and Ami Pro
1992 - Office Accelerator 2.1 introduced – first networkable version
1994 - Info Accelerator 3.0 debuts – includes calendar, backup and duplicate removal utility
1994 - Office Accelerator is demonstrated to an impressed Bill Gates at BDS’s booth at Spring Comdex
1996 - Softkey Address Book Plus - US and UK versions is released
1996 - Softkey Instant Address Book is released
1997 - QuickNotes and CIT Tool Bar is introduced
1998 - Day Runner Calendar, Contacts and Notes Software is released
1999 - Day Runner 411 software is released
1999 - Day Runner Loony Tunes Address Book and Calendar is released
2001 - Office Accelerator CRM introduced – supports both Access and SQL databases
2002 - Office Accelerator 9.0 retired – last retail packaged product
2004 - Office Accelerator CRM 12.0 – supports SQL databases only
2004 - Office Accelerator Desktop Mobile Sync feature added
2005 - Office Accelerator CRM Web Service introduced
2006 - Office Accelerator Mobile - oamobile.com  (Full Web Client) is introduced
2008 - Office Accelerator Wireless BlackBerry Sync App released
2010 - Office Accelerator Outlook Sync for MS Office 2010 64 bit and Click-to-run released – industry firsts

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About Baseline Data Systems, Inc.
Baseline Data Systems located in Torrance, California, has developed award winning software products and services for over 20 years. The flagship product, Office Accelerator, a full featured contact manager, has won numerous industry awards and has sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide.