Eazel

{{Short description|Software company}} {{Infobox company | name = | logo = Corporate_logo_for_Eazel,_Inc.jpeg | type = | industry = Software development | fate = Defunct | predecessor =  | successor =  | founded = {{Start date and age|1999|08}} in Mountain View, California | founder = Andy Hertzfeld | defunct = {{End date and age|2001|05|15}} | hq_location_city = Mountain View, California | hq_location_country = United States | area_served =  | key_people = Andy Hertzfeld, Bud Tribble, Mike Boich, Darin Adler, Bart Decrem, Susan Kare | products = | owner =  | num_employees = 75 | num_employees_year = 2001 | parent = | website = {{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000510014027/http://www.eazel.com:80/ | date=May 10, 2000 | title=Eazel.com}} }} '''Eazel''' was an American software company operating from 1999 to 2001 in Palo Alto<ref name="Linux in every lap">{{cite web | date=February 24, 2000 | title=Linux in every lap | first=Lydia | last=Lee | work=Salon | url=https://www.salon.com/2000/02/24/eazel/ | accessdate=March 8, 2019}}</ref> and then Mountain View, California.<ref name="nf2001">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=JT |last2=Gasperson |first2=Tina |title=Nautilus 1.0 is out, you're all fired, have a nice day |url=https://www.linux.com/news/nautilus-10-out-youre-all-fired-have-nice-day/ |work=Linux.com |date=14 March 2001}}</ref> The company's flagship product is the Nautilus file manager for the GNOME desktop environment on Linux, which was immediately adopted and maintained by the free software movement. As the core of Eazel's business model, it is an early example of cloud storage services in the form of personal file storage, transparently and portably stored on the Internet.

==History== Eazel was founded by Andy Hertzfeld in August 1999 in Mountain View, California. It had 22 initial employees and raised {{US$|12 million}} from several venture capital investment companies.<ref name="Eazel Closed"/><ref name="10 to watch"/> Initially, all the programmers worked on every aspect of the product and eventually specialized on its components.<ref name="Working at Eazel">{{cite interview | work=Stories of Apple | first=Gene | last=Ragan | interviewer=Nicola D'Agostino | date=February 20, 2018 | title=Working at Eazel – An Interview with Gene Ragan | url=http://www.storiesofapple.net/working-at-eazel-an-interview-with-gene-ragan.html | accessdate=March 8, 2019}}</ref>

The company grew from 22 employees in 1999<ref name="10 to watch"/> to 75 employees in 2001<ref name="nf2001"/><ref name="Eazel shows off Linux client"/> and was named one of the top 10 companies to watch among "earsplitting buzz surrounding Linux", by ''Red Herring'' magazine.<ref name="10 to watch">{{cite magazine | first=Scott Tyler | last=Shafer | title=10 to Watch | magazine=Red Herring | url=http://www.redherring.com:80/mag/issue79/herring100/10_to_watch/eazel.html | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000511163048/http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue79/herring100/10_to_watch/eazel.html | archivedate=May 11, 2000 | accessdate=September 28, 2017 }}</ref>

Staff consisted of former employees of many technology companies such as Apple, Netscape, Be Inc., Linuxcare, Microsoft, Red Hat, and Sun Microsystems. Mike Boich was CEO, having been a major figure at Apple and co-founder of Radius; Bud Tribble was VP of Engineering, having been software manager and a designer of the original Macintosh project; Andy Hertzfeld was a principal designer, having been a lead software engineer and a designer of the original Macintosh project; Darin Adler led development, having been the technical lead for System 7 for the Macintosh; and Susan Kare designed new vector graphics-based iconography, having designed the original Macintosh icons. Other staff included programmer Maciej Stachowiak, who was a programmer and board member for GNOME; and board member Michael Homer, formerly of Apple, AOL, and Netscape.<ref name="Linux in every lap"/><ref name="Nautilus' contributors">{{cite web | title=Nautilus' contributors | url=https://projects.gnome.org/nautilus/about.html | accessdate=September 28, 2017 | archive-date=December 18, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218114343/https://projects.gnome.org/nautilus/about.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Fortune Twilight Zone">{{cite magazine | magazine=Fortune | url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2001/03/19/299188/index.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071106074625/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2001/03/19/299188/index.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 6, 2007 | title=Welcome To Silicon Valley's Twilight Zone In the nation's mecca of technology, they say they've learned to stop worrying and love the crash. Anyone care to take a lie detector test? | date=March 19, 2001 | accessdate=September 28, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Eazel Closed"/>

Eazel's primary product was the Nautilus file manager for the GNOME desktop environment.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2000/09/15/magazine/eazel.html | author = John Ochwat | title = Eazel's Business Model | work = O'Reilly Network | publisher = O'Reilly Media | date = September 15, 2000 |accessdate = September 26, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.ofb.biz/safari/article/461.html | first = Timothy R. | last=Butler | title = Got Vision? | work = Open for Business | date = May 30, 2008 }}</ref> In developing Nautilus, the company addressed several challenges, including building complex user-facing software across multiple Linux distributions, integrating with the existing GNOME open-source community, and operating within a relatively small market for Linux desktop users. It also explored ways to generate revenue from free software by offering related services to customers.

Eazel focused on GNOME rather than KDE, partly due to concerns at the time regarding the licensing of the Qt toolkit on which KDE was based.<ref name="A Sneak Peek at Nautilus from Eazel">{{cite web | title=A Sneak Peek at Nautilus from Eazel | publisher=LinuxPlanet | date=September 8, 2000 | first=Michael | last=Hall | url=http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/previews/2285/5 | accessdate=September 28, 2017 | archive-date=October 17, 2000 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001017105246/http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/previews/2285/5 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{quote | text=One thing that's different from us and a lot of the Linux hackers is that on our team we have a lot of people with a lot experience coming up with user interfaces without any prior example. ... It's hard to decide how much to copy and borrow, how much to invent, and how to make it all consistent. ... This is an issue for the whole GNOME project. We don't want to make Nautilus this weirdo program that's different from the rest of the system. We really feel like something we've barely started on is helping ratchet up the whole community into understanding how to do better user interfaces. Right now, the numbers [of Linux desktop users] are so small, there's huge room for improvement. They're small for a reason. [Existing Linux desktop software] doesn't have the properties that would make it nice for the desktop, to make it an obvious choice. ... Some of the revolutionary work we do will not only make it possible, but compelling.|source=Darin Adler, project lead of Nautilus at Eazel<ref name="A Sneak Peek at Nautilus from Eazel"/>}}

In December 2000, Dell invested a "substantial stake" in Eazel<ref name="Eazel shows off Linux client"/> and committed to preloading Nautilus on its Linux-based desktop and laptop systems, while Eazel preannounced its core business services which were woven directly into the free Nautilus application. Described as the "network user experience", those services are the Software Catalog to aid users in locating and installing applications, and Eazel Online Storage for easily storing and browsing files via their desktop or web browser.<ref name="Eazel shows off Linux client">{{cite journal | title=Eazel shows off Linux client | journal=InfoWorld | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0zgEAAAAMBAJ&q=eazel&pg=PA10 | date=December 4, 2000 | first=Ed | last=Scannell | page=10 | accessdate=September 28, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Dell Signs Linux Deal">{{cite magazine | title=Dell Signs Linux Deal | magazine=Computerworld | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LocroCWHAO8C&q=eazel&pg=PA6 | date=December 4, 2000 | page=6 | access-date=September 28, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Review: Nautilus 1.0"/>

The company failed to successfully monetize, or to secure more funding before venture capital ran out, and the technology market changed drastically in the two years of the company's lifespan. On March 13, 2001, Eazel simultaneously launched the first release of Nautilus (version 1.0),<ref name="Review: Nautilus 1.0">{{cite web | url=http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/3094/1/ | title=Review: Nautilus 1.0: Has Eazel Earned Its Place in GNOME? | author=Michael Hall | date=March 15, 2001 | work=LinuxPlanet | accessdate=February 19, 2007 | archive-date=February 5, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205030008/http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/3094/1 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and laid off most of its 75 employees in an attempt to secure funding in its final few months.<ref name="nf2001"/><ref name="Eazel Closed"/> The company attempted to sell its core development group but ceased operations on May 15, 2001.<ref name="Eazel Closed">{{cite web | url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-257709.html | title=Consumer-Linux company Eazel closes | publisher=CNET News | date=May 15, 2001 | accessdate=January 17, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Sorry we're closed">{{cite web | title=Sorry We're Closed | url=http://www.eazel.com | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010516143837/http://www.eazel.com/ | archivedate=May 16, 2001 | accessdate=September 28, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Weiss |first=Todd R. |date=2001-03-15 |title=Eazel launches Nautilus software then lays off 40 workers |url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2591416/eazel-launches-nautilus-software-then-lays-off-40-workers.html |access-date=2023-05-10 |website=Computerworld}}</ref>

Hertzfeld arranged a meeting with Steve Jobs and most of Apple's high level management.<ref name="Working at Eazel"/> In June 2001, most of Eazel's final roster of senior engineers joined Apple's Safari team,<ref name="Gramps">{{cite mailing list | url=http://lists.kde.org/?m=104197092318639 | title=(fwd) Greetings from the Safari team at Apple Computer | accessdate=September 28, 2017}}</ref> including Bud Tribble, Lisa Melton, Darin Adler, John Sullivan, Ken Kocienda, and Maciej Stachowiak.

===Legacy=== The Nautilus file manager was received positively,<ref name="Review: Nautilus 1.0"/> and has been incorporated into GNOME since GNOME version 1.4.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gnome.org/press/releases/gnome14.html |title=GNOME 1.4 Released – Desktop Environment Boasts Power, Stability, Polish and Integration |author=GNOME |date=April 2, 2001 |work=GNOME press release |accessdate=February 19, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303113728/http://www.gnome.org/press/releases/gnome14.html |archivedate=March 3, 2007 }}</ref> GNOME has renamed Nautilus to Files and now refers to some of Eazel's early concept of "network user experience" as "cloud storage", which is provisioned by a variety of sources including the complimentary Google Drive. Files is continuously maintained by the free software movement as a centerpiece of some free Linux-based desktop environments.

==See also== {{Portal bar|1990s|Linux|Free and open-source software}} * History of free and open-source software#Desktop (1984–present) * Chandler, a defunct free software PIM app * Taligent and Kaleida Labs, previous software spinoffs by Apple veterans, via the AIM alliance

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://apps.gnome.org/Nautilus/ GNOME Files]

Category:Linux companies Category:GNOME companies Category:Free software companies Category:Defunct software companies of the United States Category:Companies based in Mountain View, California Category:Software companies based in Mountain View, California