Unfortunately the rise and rise of the Unix workstation market seems to have bypassed Arcaid Design Systems Ltd, the Edinburgh-based computer-aided design Unix software outfit. It has ceased trading and may go into liquidation following a slump in sales that chairman Hunter Cairns attributes to the general economic downturn in the UK. A management buyout is currently being negotiated in an attempt to save the firm from total collapse. Sales are absolutely flat, says Cairns, though he believes that the firm could survive by trading solely on its existing customer base if pushed. Although Arcaid’s offices are unmanned at present, the company’s half dozen employees are understood to be working from home. Arcaid last year introduced an X Window version of its drawing-board software.
