Corporate History

MacKichan Software, Inc. (pronounced "ma·KEE·kun") is a small software development company with a tradition of fine products for scientific publishing.

In 1981, we incorporated in New Mexico as Triad Computing, Inc. We released the T3 word processor, a landmark DOS product, in 1984. The company was renamed a year later as TCI Software Research, Inc. In 1988 we began working to develop a scientific word processor that incorporates the beautiful typesetting produced by LATEX with the ease of entering mathematics using natural mathematical notation. We announced Scientific Word in 1992.

In 1993, we retained our name but sold the company to Brooks/Cole Publishing, a division of International Thomson Publishing. In 1994, we announced Scientific WorkPlace, which combines the capabilities of Scientific Word with built-in computational capability. 1996 saw the unveiling of Scientific Notebook, which provides computational capability within attractive documents for users who don't need typesetting capability.

In 1998, Triad Computing co-founder Barry MacKichan and Lynda MacKichan repurchased the assets and renamed the company MacKichan Software, Inc. We have had offices in Poulsbo, Washington, and in Las Cruces, New Mexico since that time. In 2009 we added a third office that is administrative in Santa Fe, NM. Washington state remains our corporate headquarters.

Throughout our history, we've worked hard to upgrade our products. Version 5.5 added 2D and 3D plot animation in Scientific WorkPlace and Scientific Notebook, and enhanced your collaborative ability with the addition of a new LATEX import filter and support for pdfTEX in Scientific WorkPlace and Scientific Word. HTML export is supported in all our word processing programs.

The journey to Version 6 has been difficult and long. Not only was the total rewrite necessary since we needed to put our products on new architecture (Mozilla), but also this was a major undertaking for our small company. Numerous corporate, financial, and personnel challenges had to be met as well.

Patti Kearney's death in September 2013 was a huge loss to us personally, and to the company. Patti had been our marketing director and our graphics designer since 1999. In a small company each employee is a key player. Because of our loyal and dedicated staff–most have worked together for 16 years or more–MacKichan Software now brings to you Version 6 of all three products. Scientific WorkPlace, Scientific Word, and Scientific Notebook are now available for both Windows® and Mac® machines as downloads from the Internet.

Our loyal customers and distributors have seen us through to this release, and we are grateful.

We continue to be MacKichan Software, Inc.–supporting scientific creativity since 1981.