History of Duxbury Systems, Inc. (Timeline)

Robert Mann's History of the development of the Braille Translator during the 1960's and 1970's helps orient the reader to explain how the MIT braille translator ended up at MITRE Corporation.

• 1969-1970: The MITRE Corporation team of Robert Gildea, Jonathan Millen, Reid Gerhart and Joseph Sullivan (now Duxbury's president) developed DOTSYS III, the first braille translator written in a portable programming language. DOTSYS was developed for the Atlanta Public Schools as a public domain program. Many of its algorithms would later be used in the Duxbury Braille Translator.
• 1975 (July): Robert Gildea, Anne Simpson & Joseph Sullivan met at Simpson's home in Duxbury, Massachusetts to form a partnership, having concluded that a small but viable market existed for braille software on minicomputers. Simpson, a professor at MIT and a noted specialist in algorithms for geological exploration, was the company's first president -- and owned a computer, which was rare for an individual at the time. In the ensuing months, several times a week during the wee hours, Sullivan would travel the 120 miles round trip from his home in Stow, Massachusetts to work on Simpson's Data General Nova 800, bringing the original Duxbury Braille Translator to life. Like its predecessor DOTSYS, the original Duxbury Translator was capable of translating not only contracted English (American usage) but also Latin, Italian, French, German and Spanish braille in the "grade 1" form used in American English context. Early in the following year (March 29, 1976), the business was incorporated under its present name, to reflect the "birthplace" of the Translator. Eventually, Sullivan and his wife Genevieve would buy out the interests of the other two partners, so that it became in effect the family business that it is today.
• 1976 (July): Duxbury performed its first customer installation, on a Data General Eclipse, at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• 1976 (December): Tables were developed to allow the Duxbury Translator to translate contracted Spanish Braille, working from a specification written by Mr. Carl Rogers (nee Carlos Rodriguez) of the American Foundation for the Blind, and edited by Bob Gildea. This is believed to be the first automation of contracted Spanish, and the first instance of a single Translator being used for two different contracted languages. The first installation of these tables was a few years later at the Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos (ONCE), Madrid, Spain. Pedro Zurita of ONCE, currently Secretary General of the World Blind Union (WBU), has provided specification information since that time. There is also a less-contracted form of Spanish, for which a table was later constructed in cooperation with the Comite Internacional pro Ciegos in Mexico City. (Uncontracted braille, which is possible with either table, is still used for most Spanish transcription.)
• 1977 (April): Duxbury installed its second customer installation, on a Digital Equipment PDP-11, at the Clovernook Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• 1978 (May): Tables were created for British style English Braille when Duxbury installed Australia's first computerized braille production center at the Royal New South Wales Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.
• 1979: A "microcomputer" version of the Translator was developed, using Z-80 based North Star Horizon computers running North Star DOS, a precursor to CP/M. Variations of this microcomputer system were sold for a number of years, on NS DOS, CP/M, MP/M, and even the Oasis operating system. (Around this time, the first of several tables to translate Russian braille [Cyrillic] were developed -- which was straightforward, as is true of most grade 1 [uncontracted] codes. Classical Greek and other grade 1 transcription codes have been routinely set up since then, usually for special situations.)
• 1981: Working with the South Africa Blind Workers Organization (SABWO), Ms. Lettie van Tonder, initially assisted by Joe Sullivan, begins work on Duxbury Translator tables for contracted Afrikaans and several uncontracted African languages. Eventually Ms. van Tonder's work will be taken up by Anton Zeelie of SABWO, and further work in the same area will be carried out by Christo de Klerk and Antonnette Botha at Pionier School (now the Institute for the Blind).
• 1982: Under the sponsorship of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), a microcomputer Translator was installed in Lusaka, Zambia.
• 1982: Tables for contracted Arabic Braille, thought to be the first such anywhere, were developed and installed with the Translator at the Middle East Committee for the Welfare of the Blind in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• 1985: The first MS-DOS version of the Translator was released.
• 1985: With the sponsorship of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), tables were developed for the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation.
• 1986-88: Contracted French braille tables were developed for the Duxbury Translator, under the sponsorship of the Association Valentin Haüy (AVH) in Paris, France, and with Mr. Michel Jacquin, Vice President of AVH, providing technical collaboration. The installation at AVH itself took place in April, 1988.
• 1987: Under the sponsorship of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind (Sight Savers), a Duxbury Braille Translator was installed in Nairobi, Kenya. Tables for a new grade 1 "African Braille Code" were developed to serve several peoples in Kenya and elsewhere in East Africa. Later, for the Kiswahili, these were supplanted by tables for traditional contracted Swahili (February 1988).
• 1988: The American English Tables were augmented to include the new Computer Braille Code (CBC).
• 1989: The Macintosh version of the Duxbury Braille Translator was released. The MS-DOS version was updated to include PIMBRI, a program that analyzes formatted ("page-image") ASCII text files to produce proper braille formatting without typing in codes.
• 1990: Edgar was added to Duxbury's product line. Edgar is a dots-on-screen editor with six-key input for braille transcribers.
• 1991: The "Duxbury Printing Utility" was added to the Translator and Edgar, allowing for the printing of simulated braille, with optional interline print, on certain laser and dot-matrix printers. Duxbury also released its first Windows products, the Braille Board and Braille Font. These products, and the Mac version, are designed to help in the production of architectural signs meeting the requirements of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
• 1992: DUXWP was added to Duxbury's product line, and included as part of the DOS version of the Translator. DUXWP provides a comprehensive bridge from WordPerfect files, allowing WP users to produce braille output through a menu, without having to learn Duxbury codes.
• 1994: With the sponsorship and technical cooperation of the Central Library for the Blind, Israel, tables for Hebrew Braille (working from WordPerfect Hebrew files) were developed and installed there.
• 1994: In cooperation with the National Federation of Blind Citizens of Australia, tables for Viet Namese braille were developed.
• 1995: The Windows version of the Duxbury Braille Translator was released. The DOS version was updated to include a pull down menu program, a simplified manual, on-line help screens, six-key braille editing, grade 2 French and Spanish tables, styles, a spell checker and other features.
• 1998: Duxbury moves to new expanded facilities in Westford, Massachusetts.
• 1999: (Aug) Duxbury officially buys the assets and liabilities of Braille Planet, Madison WI, marking the beginning of beautiful new collaborative development for the world of braille.
• 2004: Release of version 10.5 of DBT Win. This version contains localizations for 8 languages as well as translation software for over 60 languages. DBT Win has come a long way.
• 2011: Release of version 11.1 of DBT Win. This version contains translation software for over 130 languages. DBT Win is a truly international product.
• 2014: Release of version 11.2. There is a braille-to-print translator for almost every print-to-braille translator.
• 2018: (July) Almost simultaneous release of DBT 12.3 for Windows, DBT 12.3 for Mac, plus Perky Duck for Windows and Mac.
• present: Duxbury DBT is under constant revision. Here is the current status of Duxbury DBT.