Diskeeper Corporation
Encyclopedia
Diskeeper Corporation is the name of a software company based in Burbank, California
, founded in 1981. The company's current name is derived from its flagship product, Diskeeper
, a file system
defragmentation
software package for Microsoft Windows
and VAX
. The company was formerly known as Executive Software International, Inc., and was founded on July 22, 1981 in Burbank, California
by Craig Jensen.
The company has placed on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies in multiple years. It was listed in Software Magazine's Top 100 Independent Software Companies in the World. Strategic partners include Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Microsoft Corp.
Its competitors in the defragmentation software market include the free open source JkDefrag
, Raxco Software
, O&O Software
, and Symantec
(via Speed Disk in its Norton Utilities
and Norton Systemworks
product families).
, the company's namesake, which prevents fragmentation
before it happens; V-locity Virtual Machine
, a platform disk optimizer designed to eliminate virtual disk I/O bottlenecks, maximize virtual server speeds, and free up Hard Drive space; and Undelete, which offers protection from and recovery of accidentally-deleted files.
The company also has several technologies such as HyperFast, a solid state drive optimizer, HyperBoot, a boot-time optimization technology, and InvisiTasking, which enables any process
to run completely invisibly in the background.
In 1995 they were asked by Microsoft to develop products for their Windows NT system before it was released. One of Microsoft's original source code licensees, they broke into the Windows market with the resulting defrag product for Windows NT.
He is the author of The Craft of Computer Programming (New York: Warner Books, 1985) ISBN 9780446381475.
and a member of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises
(WISE), an international membership organization whose members use the management technology of L. Ron Hubbard
, founder of the Church of Scientology
. He has stated that his employees are schooled in Hubbard's management technology, with courses that include Effective Leadership, Executives and Ethics, Executive Basics and Management by Statistics.
Jensen attributes much of his success in business to the use of this technology, saying "I attribute [our] success directly to the management technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard. Simply put, I couldn't have done it without his help."
In 1991, the company (back then Executive Software) denied Ciba-Geigy technical support for the VAX version of Diskeeper after learning that Ciba-Geigy makes Ritalin, a drug opposed by scientologists (see also Scientology and psychiatry
).
In 2000, the inclusion of the functionality of the Home version of Diskeeper in Microsoft Windows 2000
's Disk Defragmenter was the subject of an investigation by the German Federal Office of Security in Information Technology (BSI), which looked into whether Diskeeper poses a security threat to users by spying on users. In Germany the law bars state and federal governments from doing business with a member of the Church of Scientology, a government policy that has been criticized by the US State Department in 1999 and in a 1998 UN Report as discriminatory and government-condoned harassment. A Microsoft spokesman stated that Microsoft had extensively tested Diskeeper for security breaches and found the tool had no ability to store and transmit data on users, and there was no data transfer involved in its processes, but bowed to pressure, allowing users the option to remove it.
On November 5, 2008, Diskeeper's former CIO, Alexander Godelman, and Automation Planning Officer Marc Le Shay jointly filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court for improper dismissal. In the complaint they allege that the company required training in Hubbard Management courses, which are based on the management technology of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, as a condition of employment, and that failure to comply was cause for their dismissal. The plaintiffs cited this as a violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act
and requested an injunction against the delivery of the courses at Diskeeper. On January 27, 2009, Diskeeper filed a motion to strike
the proposed injunction, citing, without conceding that Hubbard Management Technology is religious in nature, legal precedence of religious based practices in business being protected by the First Amendment. On February 18, 2009 the motion to strike was granted and the proposed injunction removed from the case. On June 24, 2009 the case was dismissed in its entirety.
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, founded in 1981. The company's current name is derived from its flagship product, Diskeeper
Diskeeper
-Further reading:#...
, a file system
File system
A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...
defragmentation
Defragmentation
In the maintenance of file systems, defragmentation is a process that reduces the amount of fragmentation. It does this by physically organizing the contents of the mass storage device used to store files into the smallest number of contiguous regions . It also attempts to create larger regions of...
software package for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and VAX
VAX
VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
. The company was formerly known as Executive Software International, Inc., and was founded on July 22, 1981 in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
by Craig Jensen.
The company has placed on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies in multiple years. It was listed in Software Magazine's Top 100 Independent Software Companies in the World. Strategic partners include Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Microsoft Corp.
Its competitors in the defragmentation software market include the free open source JkDefrag
JkDefrag
MyDefrag is a freeware disk defragmenting utility for Windows. JkDefrag was developed by Jeroen Kessels from 2004. The major change between JkDefrag and MyDefrag is the inclusion of a scripting language. This permits control of all the algorithms and techniques used in MyDefrag...
, Raxco Software
Raxco Software
Raxco Software is a Maryland based developer of Windows and OpenVMS softwarerecognized foremost for its defragmentation products, chiefly PerfectDisk. Other utilities range from backup software to disaster protection for consumers and the corporate sector. Other products provide functionality for...
, O&O Software
O&O Software
- Products :The company develops and sells software products for data management and security. The first product O&O Defrag was released in February 1998...
, and Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
(via Speed Disk in its Norton Utilities
Norton Utilities
Norton Utilities is a utility software suite designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer. The current version 15 of Norton Utilities Premier Edition for Windows XP/Vista/7 was released December 27, 2010....
and Norton Systemworks
Norton SystemWorks
Norton SystemWorks is a discontinued system utility suite by Symantec. It expanded the tools found in Norton Utilities, and added other Symantec software titles, primarily anti-virus, and later backup software for the high-end versions.-Norton NT Tools:...
product families).
Products
The company sells and supports three software products: DiskeeperDiskeeper
-Further reading:#...
, the company's namesake, which prevents fragmentation
Fragmentation (computer)
In computer storage, fragmentation is a phenomenon in which storage space is used inefficiently, reducing storage capacity and in most cases reducing the performance. The term is also used to denote the wasted space itself....
before it happens; V-locity Virtual Machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
, a platform disk optimizer designed to eliminate virtual disk I/O bottlenecks, maximize virtual server speeds, and free up Hard Drive space; and Undelete, which offers protection from and recovery of accidentally-deleted files.
The company also has several technologies such as HyperFast, a solid state drive optimizer, HyperBoot, a boot-time optimization technology, and InvisiTasking, which enables any process
Process (computing)
In computing, a process is an instance of a computer program that is being executed. It contains the program code and its current activity. Depending on the operating system , a process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that execute instructions concurrently.A computer program is a...
to run completely invisibly in the background.
Company history
The company was founded to serve VAX/VMS platforms. Because the product allowed companies to defragment without shutting their systems down, its original customer base was Fortune 500, Fortune 1000, government agencies, air traffic control, NASA and others with mission critical systems or systems that needed to be running 24/7. In the early 1990s, Diskeeper was the best-selling third party software product for Digital Equipment Corporation business computers. The company, then named Executive Software, placed on Software magazine’s list of the Top 100 Independent Software Companies. It also placed on the Inc 500 Fastest Growing Companies four years in a row.In 1995 they were asked by Microsoft to develop products for their Windows NT system before it was released. One of Microsoft's original source code licensees, they broke into the Windows market with the resulting defrag product for Windows NT.
Founder
While studying electrical engineering at Northwestern University in 1968, Craig Jensen took a night job as a computer operator to learn the computer. He went on to become a developer of advanced operating systems for early technology pioneer Applied Data Research, and in 1974 moved to Data General Corporation. He founded Executive Software in 1981 "with an early personal computer and a box of file folders in his kitchen in Hollywood".He is the author of The Craft of Computer Programming (New York: Warner Books, 1985) ISBN 9780446381475.
Scientology and Diskeeper
The corporation's CEO, Craig Jensen, is a member of the Church of ScientologyChurch of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
and a member of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises
World Institute of Scientology Enterprises
World Institute of Scientology Enterprises is an organization affiliated with the Church of Scientology that educates and assists businesses in the use of management methods and techniques developed by Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, such methods and techniques being, like all of Hubbard's...
(WISE), an international membership organization whose members use the management technology of L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
, founder of the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
. He has stated that his employees are schooled in Hubbard's management technology, with courses that include Effective Leadership, Executives and Ethics, Executive Basics and Management by Statistics.
Jensen attributes much of his success in business to the use of this technology, saying "I attribute [our] success directly to the management technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard. Simply put, I couldn't have done it without his help."
In 1991, the company (back then Executive Software) denied Ciba-Geigy technical support for the VAX version of Diskeeper after learning that Ciba-Geigy makes Ritalin, a drug opposed by scientologists (see also Scientology and psychiatry
Scientology and psychiatry
Scientology and psychiatry have come into conflict since the foundation of Scientology in 1952. Scientology is publicly, and often vehemently, opposed to both psychiatry and psychology. Scientologists view psychiatry as a barbaric and corrupt profession and encourage alternative care based on...
).
In 2000, the inclusion of the functionality of the Home version of Diskeeper in Microsoft Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
's Disk Defragmenter was the subject of an investigation by the German Federal Office of Security in Information Technology (BSI), which looked into whether Diskeeper poses a security threat to users by spying on users. In Germany the law bars state and federal governments from doing business with a member of the Church of Scientology, a government policy that has been criticized by the US State Department in 1999 and in a 1998 UN Report as discriminatory and government-condoned harassment. A Microsoft spokesman stated that Microsoft had extensively tested Diskeeper for security breaches and found the tool had no ability to store and transmit data on users, and there was no data transfer involved in its processes, but bowed to pressure, allowing users the option to remove it.
On November 5, 2008, Diskeeper's former CIO, Alexander Godelman, and Automation Planning Officer Marc Le Shay jointly filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court for improper dismissal. In the complaint they allege that the company required training in Hubbard Management courses, which are based on the management technology of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, as a condition of employment, and that failure to comply was cause for their dismissal. The plaintiffs cited this as a violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act
California Fair Employment and Housing Act
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act , codified as Government Code §§12900 - 12996, is a powerful California statute used to fight sexual harassment and other forms of unlawful discrimination in employment and housing.-Scope:...
and requested an injunction against the delivery of the courses at Diskeeper. On January 27, 2009, Diskeeper filed a motion to strike
Motion to strike (court of law)
A motion to strike is a legal motion given by one party in a trial requesting the presiding judge order the removal of all or part of the opposing party's pleading to the court. A motion to strike is also used to request elimination of all or part of a trial witness's testimony...
the proposed injunction, citing, without conceding that Hubbard Management Technology is religious in nature, legal precedence of religious based practices in business being protected by the First Amendment. On February 18, 2009 the motion to strike was granted and the proposed injunction removed from the case. On June 24, 2009 the case was dismissed in its entirety.