SAPIEN Technologies

Phase 3: Our own thing

While he still lived in Germany, Alex Riedel had been publishing a shareware Windows based editor (what goes around, comes around) called ARIS Edit. SAPIEN struck a deal with Alex to use the source code from his product as the basis for SAPIEN?s first product.

Now, the Windows programming editor market was already pretty saturated at this point. So we had to create a niche within which we could shine. At about the same time, Microsoft was working on a smaller scale version of VB, called VBScript. We got wind of it and decided that this was where we were going to make our mark. Create an editor that was targeted at system administrators who would be using VBScript to manage their systems. After a year of R&D and with the addition of other stuff for the admin that ?did it all?, (web development, etc.), PrimalScript 1.0 was born.

Of course, creating a product and actually getting people to buy that product are 2 very different things. The long, slow process of getting people to recognize the advantages of scripting and using a tool geared towards scripting was just beginning.

From 1998 onward, our goals were three-fold: 1) produce a great product, 2) educate the market about the product and 3) offer the best customer support we could. Using these three goals, PrimalScript steadily grew into a solid and established product. As part of our goal to educate consumers, SAPIEN brought in Don Jones to create and direct our education and training division. With myself as CEO, Alex Riedel as CTO and Don Jones as Director of Education and Training, we established SAPIEN?s four cornerstones: software, education, community and publishing.

Software: Obviously PrimalScript is our core product and it will continue to evolve to support new technologies and the demands of our users. In addition to PrimalScript and PrimalScope (our stand alone script debugger), expect to see other products which will round out and expand our commitment to system administrators and everyone for whom scripting is a core part of their job description. More information about PrimalScript is available at http://www.primalscript.com. PrimalScope information can be found at http://www.primalscope.com.

Education: With the recent addition of Jeffrey Hicks to our staff, SAPIEN?s corporate and independent training classes are now taught by more of the IT industry?s top names. Be prepared to see more of Don, Jeff and others training IT personnel around the country. We also continue to produce classes on disk and maintain on-line training resources for IT professionals. You can get more information about our script training offerings at http://www.scriptingtraining.com.

Community: Our online community has grown tremendously in the last year. In addition to our company and product based sites, we continue to maintain and grow http://www.scriptinganswers.com, the premiere scripting solutions site. We have also created a scripting focused search site called http://www.searchscripting.com. And of course you are already familiar with our blog at http://www.sapien.com/blog. In addition to these websites, we also do a monthly scripting podcast. Listen in at http://feeds.feedburner.com/ScriptinganswerscomAudioNetwork.

Publishing: SAPIEN Press is an exciting new venture for us. With in house writing talent like Don Jones and Jeffery Hicks, how could we NOT launch a book publishing division. Well our first book, Windows PowerShell: TFM (that?s right, as in RTFM!) by Don Jones and Jeffery Hicks, has gone to press and will be available at Amazon or our online store (http://www.scriptingoutpost.com) within a couple of weeks. Soon thereafter, ADSI

Scripting: TFM by Cade Fassett will be going to press. Also look for PrimalScript 4: TFM to go from just an e-book to an actual printed manual. To keep abreast of any new titles coming from us, check out the SAPIEN Press web site at http://www.sapienpress.com.

So it has been a wild ride, one that I would not trade for anything! The people I have had the good fortune of meeting, working with and becoming friends with as well as seeing something amazing come to fruition has had an indelible impact on my life. With the team that we have put together here at SAPIEN, I expect to see even more incredible things happen and look forward to the next 20 years!