After four years at Merrill, I moved back to New York to take a position with the Macmillan Publishing Company. As soon as I arrived at Macmillan, the managing editor of the math department asked me to review two software titles that were being developed for a new elementary math series. The developer was a large, well-established software development company in the Midwest. It was known for handling data processing for large corporations, and this was its first venture into educational software.
All Macmillan knew was this: it wanted software to accompany its math series, something that the sales force could use as an edge against competitors. Since Macmillan was unsure of what it wanted, and wasn’t sure what could be accomplished in a certain time frame for a given amount of money, and since the developer had no experience with educational software, the results were two poorly designed programs that had primitive graphics, little content, little usefulness, no educational value, and cost far more than they were worth.
I suggested that Macmillan just cut its losses: let’s find another developer; let’s come up with a format that fits well with the textbook series; let’s come up with a format that lets us develop lots of content at little cost; let’s produce something that has some pizzazz, and solid educational value.
The result was 40 titles, rather than two. And those 40 titles were developed for slightly more than half of what the two titles were going to cost. The quality was far superior. The graphics were the best available at that time, and they were entertaining. Best of all, this software really helped children learn math.
