Abstract
STAR ®is a multi-user text management software package designed for in-house use, without programmer support. It runs on Sun Microsystems computers, under UNIX, and on Alpha Microsystems computers, under the Alpha Micro Operating System (AMOS).
The first copy of STAR was installed in September 1982, in a chemical company in Illinois and, since then, copies have been purchased by a wide variety of organizations–libraries, information centers, records centers, museums, archives, research centers, law firms, and publishers.
Many of the users are very well known in the international information community, e.g., the U.S. Library of Congress and Oxford University Press. The most recent purchaser is the Royal Armouries, Tower of London.
This paper describes how and why STAR was developed, how it evolved, and why it serves such a wide variety of purposes in illustrious user organizations.