When MicroFILM Reader debuted, it had several innovative features for its time. MicroFILM publishers used a special "compiler" to compress MacWrite "source" files into small files that could be quickly transferred online or across networks. MicroFILM performed its decompression "on-the-fly" as the user went from frame to frame within the MicroFILM file. Each time a file was opened within the Reader, a user-accessible index was created from the compressed text.

Bob Sanders did the majority of the coding and George Sheehy some maintenance and updating. Jerry Daniels was responsible for the product concept, design and architecture...as well as all aspects of its look and feel.

MicroFILM Reader was first published by Online Publishing Systems in 1985 and sold to Buck, Wheat & Associates in 1987. There it remains today in what is believed to be a marketing coma.