Editing MetaComCo

{{Short description|English software company}}
{{no footnotes|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox company
| name                = MetaComCo
| logo                = MetaComCo.png
| type                = Limited
| foundation          = 1981
| defunct             = 1988
| fate                = Bankrupt
| location_city       = [[Bristol]]
| location_country    = England
| key_people          = Peter Mackeonis
| industry            = Software
| products            = BASIC interpreters<br>[[AmigaDOS]]
| revenue             = 
| operating_income    = 
| net_income          = 
| num_employees       = 
| homepage            = 
}}

'''MetaComCo''' ('''MCC''') was a computer systems [[software]] company started in 1981 and based in [[Bristol]], England by Peter Mackeonis and Derek Budge. A division of Tenchstar, Ltd.

MetaComCo's first product was an [[MBASIC]] compatible [[interpreter (computing)|interpreter]] for [[IBM PC]]s, which was licensed by Peter Mackeonis to [[Digital Research]] in 1982, and issued as the Digital Research Personal Basic, running under [[CP/M]]. Other [[computer language]]s followed, also licensed by Digital Research and MetaComCo established an office in [[Pacific Grove, California]], to service their United States customers.

In 1984 Dr. Tim King joined the company, bringing with him a version of the operating system [[TRIPOS]] for the [[Motorola 68000]] [[Central processing unit|processor]] which he had previously worked on whilst a researcher at the [[University of Cambridge]].

This [[operating system]] was used as the basis of [[AmigaDOS]] (file-related functions of [[AmigaOS]]); MetaComCo won the contract from [[Commodore International|Commodore]] because the original planned [[Amiga]] [[disk operating system]] called Commodore Amiga Operating System (CAOS) was behind schedule; timescales were incredibly tight and [[TRIPOS]] provided a [[head start (positioning)|head start]] for a replacement system.

MetaComCo also developed ABasiC for the [[Amiga]], the first [[BASIC interpreter]] provided with Amigas. MetaComCo also worked with [[Atari Corporation]] to produce the BASIC initially provided with the [[Atari ST]] in 1985: [[ST BASIC]].

The company also sold the [[Lattice C]] [[compiler]] for the [[Sinclair QL]] and the [[Atari ST]] and range of other languages (e.g. Pascal, BCPL) for m68k-based computers. MetaComCo also represented [[LISP]] and [[REDUCE]] software from the [[RAND Corporation]].

Several of the team at MetaComCo went on to found [[Perihelion Software]]. Mackeonis founded Triangle Publishing, the software publishing company responsible for creating the ''ST Organizer'' for the Atari ST and ''PC Organizer'' and ''Counterpoint'' (a [[Graphical user interface|GUI]] system) for [[Amstrad]] Computers and [[GoldStar]] computers.

MetaComCo BASIC was available on the [[Singapore Teleview]] videotext receiver.

MetaComCo was disestablished in 1988

==References==
{{refbegin|}}
* Finkel, Andy. "In the beginning was CAOS". ''Amiga Transactor''. 1988. [https://haynie.amigaworld.de/caos.html]
* Reimer, Jeremy. "A history of the Amiga", [[Ars Technica]] [https://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/amiga-history-4-commodore-years.ars/2] Oct 2007.
* Peck, Robert. [http://amiga-manuals.xiik.net/applications/ABasiC%20-%20Manual-ENG.rar The ABasiC manual]{{dead link|date=January 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}. 1985.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Portal|Amiga}}
* [https://www.atarimagazines.com/st-log/issue20/85_1_REVIEW_METACOMCO_OVERVIEW.php Overview]
* [https://nosher.net/archives/computers/percw_1986-12_metacomco Programming the 68000 by Metacomco]
* [https://www.stcarchiv.de/hc1987/11/metacomco History] (German)

{{Amiga companies}}

[[Category:Atari ST]]
[[Category:Amiga]]
[[Category:Software companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Software companies established in 1981]]
[[Category:Software companies established in 1988]]