Now Software, then based in
Portland, Oregon, was acquired by
Qualcomm in 1997.[4][5][6] At the time of acquisition, Qualcomm reported (based on data from the company and from industry research firm Softletter) that Now Software was the "71st-largest software company in the U.S. with close to two million users" of its products.[4] Qualcomm also noted that Now Software's products had won high praise, "including Product of the Year, multiple Editor's and Reader's Choice honors and seven World Class Awards".[4] In 1999, the intellectual properties of the original company, including the name, were acquired by Power On Software, which relaunched the company and name.[7][2][8]
On August 27, 2009, the company released Now X, the successor to Now Up-to-Date & Contact.[9][10][11] Now X was rated poorly by Macworld, which called it "a program that doesn't rise anywhere near the level of its predecessor".[10]
In March 2010, the company suspended its day-to-day operations.[1][2][12]
Two of the original programmers of Now Up-to-Date, Dave Riggle and John Chaffee, moved on to found the software company BusyMac,[14] which produces the software applications BusyCal and BusyContacts, filling a similar
niche market to the one filled by Now Up-to-Date & Contact.[15][16][17]
Now Utilities
Now Utilities was a file utility product for Mac
System 7.[18][19] The first version, in 1990,[20] was named one of MacUser's "Top 100 Products for 1990".[21]
As of Version 4 (released in 1993), Now Utilities includes NowSave, an automatic document saving facility (save after a configurable number of keystrokes or mouse-clicks); Super Boomerang (puts most recently used files into a menu); Now Profile (a system information collector); NowMenus (adds subfolders to the Apple menu); WYSIWYG Menus (Font, Size, Style menus render text as they would appear in a document); and Now Scrapbook (a replacement for the
Scrapbook desk accessory).[22] Earlier versions contained AlarmsClock, DeskPicture and ScreenLocker utilities, but these were removed in version 4.[22]
^Kissell, Joe (26 October 2009).
"BusyMac BusyCal 1.0". macworld.com. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
^Colby, Clifford; Aker, Sharon Zardetto; Cortinas, Marty, eds. (2002).
The Macintosh bible (8th ed.). Berkeley, CA:
Peachpit Press. p.
508.
ISBN020170899X.
OCLC47636600. In the heady days of Mac System 7, the most powerful set of system-enhancement utilities around was Now Software's Now Utilities, a bunch of clever modules that took the Mac Finder to new frontiers. However, it fell on hard times, and promised updates for Mac OS 8 and later never seemed to happen. Some of the folks who founded Now Software went off to create a new utility maker, Extensis...
^Lee, Lisa (1995).
MacWeek upgrading and repairing your Mac. The Don Crabb Macintosh library. Indianapolis, IN:
Hayden Books. p.
513.
ISBN1568302495.
OCLC36178387. Now Software's Now Utilities has a reputation not only for cramming the maximum number of features into a reasonably priced package, but also for implementing those features well and thoroughly.
Littman, Dan; Moran, Tom (December 1992).
"Up-to-date again". Macworld. 9 (12): 177. Archived from
the original on 2018-04-18. Reviews Now Up-to-Date 2.0.
Wilkerson, Robert (20 May 1996).
"Finding a date on the Internet". PC Week. 13 (20): N1. Archived from
the original on 18 April 2018. Reviews Now-Up-To-Date Web Publisher and other group scheduling and calendaring software.