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So Long Lotus 1-2-3: IBM Ceases Support after over 30 Years of Code

posted by LaminatorX on Friday October 03 2014, @10:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the 3-2-1 dept.

AnonTechie writes:

On Tuesday, with no fanfare, IBM closed the last chapter in the life of one of the most iconic early computer programs, Lotus 1-2-3, when it withdrew support for the final build of the software.

IBM Lotus 123 Millennium Edition, IBM Lotus SmartSuite 9.x, and Organizer have now officially all passed their end of life support date and, according to IBM's website, "No service extensions will be offered" ( http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS913-091 ) – not that anyone is seriously using the spreadsheet any more.

It's a sadly muted end for what was, at one time, the world's premier spreadsheet. Lotus 1-2-3 was one of the first applications that made IBM's original PC a serious business tool, but it fell by the wayside due to poor coding decisions, failure to adapt, and the crushing tactics of Microsoft.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/02/so_long_lotus_123_ibm_ceases_support_after_over_30_years_of_code/

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by strattitarius on Friday October 03 2014, @01:20PM

    by strattitarius (3191) on Friday October 03 2014, @01:20PM (#101372) Journal

    not that anyone is seriously using the spreadsheet

    Oh, ye of little faith in a manager's ability to cling to the way it's always been done.

    This year I had to replace probably 20+ XP computers. One of the fun ones was the manager that still had, AND USED, Lotus 1-2-3. He was fine with the change once we forced it upon him because Lotus was not compatible with Windows 7 (I have no clue if it was or not, but it wasn't getting installed under my watch).

    I was told to hold off on another computer upgrade until we switched payroll companies because there were XX years old Lotus 1-2-3 files that were used for some calculations. I guess it was easier to switch companies than the spreadsheets???

    And I am willing to be that our company was not the last hold out... they're out there! Pray you don't run across them.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 03 2014, @01:43PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 03 2014, @01:43PM (#101376)

    Not to mention that someone in the office always seemed to have "borrowed" the floppy disk reader every time you needed to reinstall the application.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 03 2014, @02:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 03 2014, @02:33PM (#101393)

    That's pretty disrespectful. You're not going to install the tool your client wants because you personally don't like the software? They're paying you to support those people. He wants Lotus 1-2-3, at least make a token effort to install it for him.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 03 2014, @02:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 03 2014, @02:57PM (#101398)

      I know that "Its for their own good" is the thinking of despots, but there really are some cases where its true and necessary, although I'm not sure there's a solid, easy answer for "Who gets to decide what is acceptable?" Forcing somebody to finally stop using a 30 year old program just isn't quite the same as forcing somebody to follow a specific religion or way of life though.

      • (Score: 2) by strattitarius on Friday October 03 2014, @04:41PM

        by strattitarius (3191) on Friday October 03 2014, @04:41PM (#101451) Journal
        Yes, forcing users to move to new software is far different from banning vi because you like emacs. This is doubly so if the software is out of support on an out of support OS.

        I would like to ban Adobe Acrobat Pro at work. It's only use is to create forms that probably should be somehow added to our computer systems so we can record the data in the database instead of being emailed around inside a PDF. But, I don't have time to keep up with all the feature requests, so I let that slide. At least until they hire me another IT person.
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    • (Score: 2) by strattitarius on Friday October 03 2014, @04:28PM

      by strattitarius (3191) on Friday October 03 2014, @04:28PM (#101446) Journal
      Wrong. I am paid to MAKE the decisions of what software our users should use, what servers we should use, and how our systems communicate with each other (and others outside the company). You seem to be confusing my business decision with a personal feeling. Or maybe there is some blurred line there... either way this is what I am paid to do and what my boss expects of me.

      Does your IT Dept really support any software that can be downloaded?
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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 04 2014, @08:30PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 04 2014, @08:30PM (#101769)

        > Does your IT Dept really support any software that can be downloaded?

        They should. There is no packaging (including disks/CDs/DVDs) to needlessly pay extra money for.

        The online 'warez' scene is STILL alive and kicking--though 'pushed' deeper underground behind paywalls, scamware, and 'hidden' online sites--IN SPITE of all the efforts of the SPA/BSA to stamp it out.

        And if the SPA/BSA somehow is successful, they can't stop organized offline 'sneakernets' and 'copy parties' unless they somehow infiltrate them with their agents/employees....

  • (Score: 1) by J053 on Friday October 03 2014, @09:43PM

    by J053 (3532) <{dakine} {at} {shangri-la.cx}> on Friday October 03 2014, @09:43PM (#101522) Homepage
    I can beat that - we still maintain an installation of DisplayWriter 3 on (1) Windows 7 machine so (1) person can maintain (1) file which uses some obscure DW3 macros that nobaody can figure out how to implement in exactly the same way in any modern word processor. Furrfu.