Alan C. Ashton
American businessman
Alan C. Ashton (born May 7, 1942) is an American computer scientist. He is the co-founder of WordPerfect Corporation and a former professor at Brigham Young University (BYU). Ashton worked for a time with Novell after the company bought WordPerfect, and subsequently founded Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah.
Career
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ashton began his work in computer science at the University of Utah, studying computing and music in the early 1970s. In 1977, Ashton began work on word processing when he created a specification for an improved console-based word processor. His specifications outlined various innovations at the time, including continuous documents, function key shortcuts, modeless editing, and primitive WYSIWYG formatting. Ashton and his student Bruce Bastian incorporated Satellite Software International in September 1979, which later became the WordPerfect Corporation. In 1987, Ashton left BYU to serve full-time as president and chief executive officer of WordPerfect Corporation.
Ashton, Bastian, and W. E. "Pete" Peterson ran WordPerfect as a triumvirate; Ashton and Bastian each controlled 49.5% of the company, and Peterson controlled 1%. While Ashton was the titular head of WordPerfect, Peterson ran the day-to-day operations, and was frequently misinterpreted as the head of the company by the press.
The public source identifies “Alan C. Ashton” as american businessman. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alan, Ashton and American.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alan C. Ashton”, the useful work is to connect “american businessman” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q92713. VIAF identifies the subject as 49010003. The Library of Congress control number is no2007080328. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942, 1977, 1979 and 1987.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Alan C. Ashton”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Alan C. Ashton primary sources, Alan C. Ashton archive and Alan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alan C. Ashton”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Alan C. Ashton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.