The first software companies had started in the late 1960s, enabled by the System 360 platform, an ongoing legal action against IBM for "bundling" products, and by the falling prices of the systems. In 1970, IBM unbun- dled its software, except for operating systems, and settled a lawsuit with ADR, one of the first independent software vendors. At this time, several following a independent software companies became successful businesses development tools an databases such closed code model. Some provided as SyncSort, Mark iv, Culliner, and Total. Others developed application