Framework, launched in 1984, was the first
office suite to run on the
PC 8086 with
DOS operating system.
ValDocs, an even earlier integrated suite, actually comparable to the original
Macintosh of 1984 and
Apple Lisa of 1982 was produced by
Epson, a complete integrated work station based on the previous
Zilog Z80 processor and
CP/M operating system with
GUI and "
WYSIWYG" typography on the monitor and printing. Framework offered all this however in the first all-in-one package to run on any PC platform. It was preceded by a few months by its close rival
Lotus Symphony. Unlike other integrated products Framework was not created as "plug-in" modules with similar look and feel but as a single windowing workspace representing a
desktop metaphor that could manage and outline "Frames" sharing a common underlying format. The initial release included about a dozen or so frame types (identified by a FRED function, @frametype). Frame types included containers which could be filled up with other frames, empty frames which could become other type of frames based on user input, formulas embedded in them or program output targeting them,
word processor frames, flat-
database frames and
spreadsheet as well as graphic frames. Later versions included a frame type that can hold compiled executable code and the current version include an external type handled by separate applications running on the host operating system.