SoftRAM

Last updated
SoftRAM and SoftRAM95
Developer(s) Syncronys Softcorp
Stable release
1995 / August 1995
Operating system Microsoft Windows
Type System software
License Proprietary
Website syncronys.com at the Wayback Machine (archived December 28, 1996)

SoftRAM and SoftRAM95 were system software products that claimed to increase or even double the available random-access memory in Microsoft Windows without the need for a hardware upgrade. However, it later emerged that the program implemented just one compression algorithm to increase available memory, which helped only a small number of users. [1]

Contents

In July 1996, the developer of SoftRAM, Syncronys Softcorp, agreed to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that the company "misrepresented and/or failed to substantiate the performance" of the products. [2] As part of the settlement, Syncronys Softcorp offered $10 rebates for affected consumers. The primary owners of the company in 1996 were Daniel Taylor (41%), Rainer Poertner (16%), and Wendell Brown (10%). [3] [4]

In 2006, the product was rated the third "Worst Tech Product of All Time" by PC World behind AOL and RealPlayer (1999 version). [5] Around 100,000 copies of SoftRam [6] and 600,000 [7] copies of SoftRam95 were sold overall.

SoftRAM

SoftRAM was designed for use with Windows 3.1. It was launched in March 1995 and sold more than 100,000 copies. [2]

Most out-of-memory errors in Windows 3.x were caused by the first megabyte of memory in a computer, the conventional memory, becoming full. Windows needed to allocate a Program Segment Prefix (PSP) in this area of memory for each program started. Some utilities prevented DLLs from allocating memory here, leaving more space for user programs. This was a standard technique also used by other memory optimization tools. [8] SoftRAM also claimed to increase the amount of virtual memory available by compressing the pages of virtual memory stored in the swap file on the hard disk, which has the added effect of reducing the number of swap file reads and writes. [8] The software also increased the size of the Windows page file, something achievable by users who are aware of how to change relevant system settings, without the cost of additional software. [8]

SoftRAM95

SoftRAM95 was designed for Windows 95 and was released in August 1995. [2] The company sold over 600,000 copies of SoftRAM95 at a list price of USD $79.95, GBP £60, or 170 DM. [9]

When Windows 95 was launched, it was widely reported that software for the operating system would be "memory hungry," requiring at least 4 megabytes of memory and preferably 8. Syncronys positioned SoftRAM as a cheaper alternative to buying more memory for those who would otherwise be unable to run Windows 95.

FTC investigation

In December 1995, the German computing journal c't disassembled the program and reported that it did not even attempt to do what was claimed. [9] In fact, the data passed through the VxD completely unaltered so that no compression whatsoever could have taken place. The actual drivers were in fact slightly modified versions of code examples taken from Microsoft's "Windows Development Kit". Still, the program would try to pretend that it increased system resources, by silently increasing the size of the swap file on Windows 3.1 and by giving false information on the current state of the system. The program reportedly compiled with the debug flag on, so it ran slower than the original driver from Microsoft. A further test by PC Magazine revealed that SoftRAM took the same amount of time to move through systems that contained varying amounts of RAM. [10] [11] Another study by Dr. Dobb's Journal came to the same conclusions. [8]

The Federal Trade Commission began an investigation in late 1995, ultimately concluding that Syncronys' claims about SoftRAM were "false and misleading". They also asserted that "SoftRAM95 does not increase RAM in a computer using Windows 95; nor does the product enhance the speed, capacity, or other performance measures of a computer using Windows 95". [2] The investigation prompted the company to recall both SoftRAM and SoftRAM95 from the market in December 1995. Several individual customers filed suit against the company as well.[ citation needed ] Syncronys settled with the FTC [2] in July 1996. As part of the FTC settlement, Syncronys agreed to give US$10 rebates to any customers who requested them. [12] Around that time, the software was called "placebo software", [9] a program based on the placebo effect.

Bankruptcy

Syncronys filed for bankruptcy in July 1998 with $4.5 million of debt after releasing a dozen other poorly received tools. [5] [13] The company's final release, UpgradeAID 98, claimed to allow users to downgrade from Windows 98 to Windows 95, duplicating an existing feature of Windows 98 for $39.95 (equivalent to $75 in 2024 dollars). [14] A large number of its creditors were customers who had not received their rebates for SoftRAM. [12]

Syncronys replaced its board and leadership and operated under Chapter 7 bankruptcy until 2002. In 2006, the SEC revoked its securities and placed Syncronys in default for failing to file any financial reports since their 1998 Chapter 11 bankruptcy event. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BIOS</span> Firmware for hardware initialization and OS runtime services

In computing, BIOS is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the booting process. The BIOS firmware comes pre-installed on an IBM PC or IBM PC compatible's system board and exists in some UEFI-based systems to maintain compatibility with operating systems that do not support UEFI native operation. The name originates from the Basic Input/Output System used in the CP/M operating system in 1975. The BIOS originally proprietary to the IBM PC has been reverse engineered by some companies looking to create compatible systems. The interface of that original system serves as a de facto standard.

Microsoft Windows is a product line of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and sub-families that cater to particular sectors of the computing industry -- Windows (unqualified) for a consumer or corporate workstation, Windows Server for a server and Windows IoT for an embedded system. Defunct families include Windows 9x, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, and Windows Embedded Compact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows 95</span> Microsoft computer operating system released in 1995

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1, and was released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995, almost three months after the release of Windows NT 3.51. Windows 95 is the first version of Microsoft Windows to include the Modern Windows Feel Windows 95 merged Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows products, and featured significant improvements over its predecessor, most notably in the graphical user interface (GUI) and in its simplified "plug-and-play" features. There were also major changes made to the core components of the operating system, such as moving from a mainly cooperatively multitasked 16-bit architecture to a 32-bit preemptive multitasking architecture, at least when running only 32-bit protected mode applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Bob</span> Microsoft software product

Microsoft Bob was a Microsoft software product intended to provide a more user-friendly interface for the Windows 3.1x, Windows 95 and Windows NT operating systems, supplanting the Windows Program Manager. The program was released on March 11, 1995 and discontinued in early 1996. Microsoft Bob presented screens showing a house, with rooms that the user could visit containing familiar objects corresponding to computer applications, such as a desk with pen and paper and a checkbook. Clicking on the pen and paper would open the system's word processor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows 98</span> Microsoft personal computer operating system released in 1998

Windows 98 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is the second operating system in the 9x line, as the successor to Windows 95. It was released to manufacturing on May 15, 1998, and generally to retail on June 25, 1998. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid 16-bit and 32-bit monolithic product with the boot stage based on MS-DOS.

<i>ct</i> German computer magazine

c't – Magazin für Computertechnik is a German computer magazine, published by the Heinz Heise publishing house.

Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE, Windows Powered and Windows CE, is a discontinued operating system developed by Microsoft for mobile and embedded devices. It was part of the Windows Embedded family and served as the foundation of several classes of devices including the Handheld PC, Pocket PC, Auto PC, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7 and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conventional memory</span> First 640 KB of RAM under DOS

In DOS memory management, conventional memory, also called base memory, is the first 640 kilobytes of the memory on IBM PC or compatible systems. It is the read-write memory directly addressable by the processor for use by the operating system and application programs. As memory prices rapidly declined, this design decision became a limitation in the use of large memory capacities until the introduction of operating systems and processors that made it irrelevant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connectix</span> Software and hardware company

Connectix Corporation was a software and hardware company, noted for having released innovative products that were either made obsolete as Apple Computer incorporated the ideas into system software, or were sold to other companies once they became popular. It was formed in October 1988 by Jon Garber; dominant board members and co-founders were Garber, Bonnie Fought, and close friend Roy McDonald. McDonald was still Chief Executive Officer and president when Connectix finally closed in August 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Works</span> Productivity software suite

Microsoft Works is a discontinued productivity software suite developed by Microsoft and sold from 1987 to 2009. Its core functionality includes a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database management system. Later versions have a calendar application and a dictionary while older releases include a terminal emulator. Works is available as a standalone program and as part of a namesake home productivity suite. Because of its low cost, companies frequently preinstalled Works on their low-cost machines. Works is smaller, less expensive, and has fewer features than contemporary major office suites such as Microsoft Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TextMaker</span>

TextMaker is a word processor, which aims at utmost compatibility with Microsoft Word, its default document format is .docx.

SoftMaker Software GmbH is a German software company based in Nuremberg that produces office productivity software and digital fonts. SoftMaker was founded in 1989 by Martin Kotulla. Best known in Germany and the EU, SoftMaker is offering its software worldwide.

A disk compression software utility increases the amount of information that can be stored on a hard disk drive of given size. Unlike a file compression utility, which compresses only specified files—and which requires the user to designate the files to be compressed—an on-the-fly disk compression utility works automatically through resident software without the user needing to be aware of its existence. On-the-fly disk compression is therefore also known as transparent, real-time or online disk compression.

Hibernation in computing is powering down a computer while retaining its state. When hibernation begins, the computer saves the contents of its random access memory (RAM) to a hard disk or other non-volatile storage. When the computer is turned on the RAM is restored and the computer is exactly as it was before entering hibernation. Hibernation was first implemented in 1992 and patented by Compaq Computer Corporation in Houston, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SunPCi</span> Series of single-board computers

SunPCi is a series of single-board computers with a connector that effectively allows a PC motherboard to be fitted in Sun Microsystems SPARC-based workstations based on the PCI architecture adding the capability for the workstation to act as a 'IBM PC compatible' computer. The Sun PCi cards included an x86 processor, RAM, expansion ports, and an onboard graphics controller, allowing a complete Wintel operating environment on a Solaris system. The SunPCi software running on Solaris emulates the disk drives that contain the PC filesystem. The PC software running on the embedded hardware is displayed in an X window on the host desktop; there is also a connector on the edge of the board that can optionally be used to connect a PC monitor.

This article presents a timeline of events in the history of 16-bit x86 DOS-family disk operating systems from 1980 to present. Non-x86 operating systems named "DOS" are not part of the scope of this timeline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows 2.1</span> Major release of Microsoft Windows

Windows 2.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on May 27, 1988, as a successor to Windows 2.0.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows 3.0</span> Third major release of Microsoft Windows

Windows 3.0 is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, launched in 1990. Its new graphical user interface (GUI) represents applications as clickable icons, instead of the list of file names in its predecessors. Later updates expand capabilities, such as multimedia support for sound recording and playback, and support for CD-ROMs.

DOS Protected Mode Services (DPMS) is a set of extended DOS memory management services to allow DPMS-enabled DOS drivers to load and execute in extended memory and protected mode.

Virtual memory compression is a memory management technique that utilizes data compression to reduce the size or number of paging requests to and from the auxiliary storage. In a virtual memory compression system, pages to be paged out of virtual memory are compressed and stored in physical memory, which is usually random-access memory (RAM), or sent as compressed to auxiliary storage such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD). In both cases the virtual memory range, whose contents has been compressed, is marked inaccessible so that attempts to access compressed pages can trigger page faults and reversal of the process. The footprint of the data being paged is reduced by the compression process; in the first instance, the freed RAM is returned to the available physical memory pool, while the compressed portion is kept in RAM. In the second instance, the compressed data is sent to auxiliary storage but the resulting I/O operation is smaller and therefore takes less time.

References

  1. ↑ Chen, Raymond (11 November 2021). "The inside story of the outside investigation of SoftRam95". www.Devblogs.Microsoft.com. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Shapiro, Howard (July 10, 1996). "Computer Software Manufacturer Agrees to Settle Charges of Software Misrepresentation" (Press release). Federal Trade Commission . Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  3. ↑ "1996 PROXY STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 14(A) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 FOR SYNCRONYS SOFTCORP". October 28, 1996. p. 8. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Placebo forte! Was wirklich hinter SoftRAM 95 steckt". C't. 1995 (12): 100. 1995-11-11.
  5. 1 2 Tynan, Dan (May 26, 2006). "The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time". PC World . Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  6. ↑ "SoftRAM". World Encyclopedia - Wikihihi Reference. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  7. ↑ "Tech Publication". www.digitaltrends.com. 17 September 2016. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Russinovich, Mark; Cogswell, Bryce; Schulman, Andrew (August 1, 1996). "Inside SoftRAM 95". Dr. Dobb's Journal . Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Storm, Ingo T.; Persson, Christian [in German] (December 1995). "Placebo forte! Was wirklich hinter SoftRAM 95 steckt". c't (in German). Archived from the original on April 11, 2005. Retrieved May 9, 2016. English version: Storm, Ingo T.; Persson, Christian [in German] (December 1995). "Placebo plus! The truth behind SoftRAM 95". c't . Archived from the original on January 11, 2005. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  10. ↑ Seltzer, Larry (November 7, 1995). "SoftRAM95 Does Not Compress RAM In PC Magazine Lab Tests". PC Magazine . Archived from the original on February 23, 2001. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  11. ↑ Nelson, Brian (January 19, 1996). "CNN - Software allegedly doubles trouble instead of memory". CNN . Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  12. 1 2 Kanellos, Michael (July 22, 1998). "SoftRAM 95 maker in Chapter 11". CNET News . Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  13. ↑ Spector, Lincoln (August 1998). "Syncronys's BigDisk Spells Big Risk". PC World . Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  14. ↑ IDG staff writers. "PC Solutions". ARN. Archived from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  15. ↑ "SEC: ORDER MAKING FINDINGS AND REVOKING REGISTRATIONS BY DEFAULT" (PDF). SEC. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.