Ashton-Tate

E171252

American company software company

Ashton-Tate was a prominent American software company best known for its dBASE database management system, which was a leading product in the personal computer software market during the 1980s.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Ashton-Tate canonical	2
dBASE	1
dBASE was a leading product in the personal computer software market	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1490816 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Ashton-Tate
Context triple: [Lotus Development Corporation, competitor, Ashton-Tate]

A. Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers was a pioneering British computer company best known for developing early personal computers and creating the ARM architecture that became foundational in modern computing devices.
B. Massachusetts Computer Associates
Massachusetts Computer Associates was a pioneering computer science research and software development company active in the 1960s–1970s, known for employing influential computer scientists such as Leslie Lamport.
C. Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus 1-2-3 is a pioneering spreadsheet software program for personal computers that became a dominant business application in the 1980s.
D. Osborne
Osborne is a surname of English origin borne by various notable individuals across history and contemporary culture.
E. Wyatt Software
Wyatt Software was a software company known for employing pioneering programmer Ward Cunningham early in his career.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Ashton-Tate
Target entity description: Ashton-Tate was a prominent American software company best known for its dBASE database management system, which was a leading product in the personal computer software market during the 1980s.

A. Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers was a pioneering British computer company best known for developing early personal computers and creating the ARM architecture that became foundational in modern computing devices.
B. Massachusetts Computer Associates
Massachusetts Computer Associates was a pioneering computer science research and software development company active in the 1960s–1970s, known for employing influential computer scientists such as Leslie Lamport.
C. Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus 1-2-3 is a pioneering spreadsheet software program for personal computers that became a dominant business application in the 1980s.
D. Osborne
Osborne is a surname of English origin borne by various notable individuals across history and contemporary culture.
E. Wyatt Software
Wyatt Software was a software company known for employing pioneering programmer Ward Cunningham early in his career.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (46)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	American company ⓘ software company ⓘ
acquiredBy	Borland ⓘ
activeInDecade	1980s ⓘ
areaServed	worldwide ⓘ
businessFocus	packaged application software for PCs ⓘ
businessModel	proprietary software licensing ⓘ
competitiveWith	Lotus Development Corporation ⓘ Microsoft ⓘ WordPerfect Corporation ⓘ linked to: Corel Corporation
coreTechnology	xBase language ⓘ
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
distributionModel	boxed retail software ⓘ dealer and VAR channels ⓘ
era	microcomputer revolution ⓘ
fate	acquired by Borland ⓘ
headquartersLocation	Torrance, California ⓘ linked to: Torrance, California, United States
historicalSignificance	one of the major PC software companies of the 1980s ⓘ
industry	software ⓘ
influenced	xBase-compatible database products ⓘ
keyProductRole	dBASE was a leading product in the personal computer software market ⓘ linked to: Ashton-Tate
locatedInTheAdministrativeTerritorialEntity	California ⓘ linked to: California, United States
locatedInTimeZone	Pacific Time Zone ⓘ
marketPosition	leading PC software vendor in the 1980s ⓘ
marketSegment	desktop database management ⓘ
notableFor	popularizing database applications on personal computers ⓘ
notableProduct	dBASE II ⓘ linked to: dBASE dBASE III ⓘ linked to: dBASE dBASE IV ⓘ linked to: dBASE
notableWork	dBASE ⓘ
operatingSystemSupport	Apple II ⓘ CP/M ⓘ IBM PC compatible ⓘ MS-DOS ⓘ
primaryProgrammingLanguageOfProduct	xBase (for dBASE) ⓘ
product	dBASE ⓘ
productType	database management system ⓘ
servedHardwarePlatform	IBM PC ⓘ IBM PC compatibles ⓘ linked to: IBM PC compatible microcomputers ⓘ
softwareCategory	business software ⓘ
softwareGenre	database management ⓘ
specialization	database software ⓘ
targetUser	business users ⓘ software developers ⓘ
usedOnPlatform	personal computer ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Lotus Development Corporation → competitor → Ashton-Tate ⓘ

Borland → notableProduct → dBASE ⓘ

linked to: Ashton-Tate

Borland → acquired → Ashton-Tate ⓘ

Ashton-Tate → keyProductRole → dBASE was a leading product in the personal computer software market ⓘ