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.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Friday October 03 2014, @07:50PM
I remember when we used to judge the compatibility of IBM PC clones by two criteria:
1. Did it run Lotus
2. Could it handle a Hercules Graphics card.
If both the above mentioned worked then you were getting a clone you could be pretty sure was compatible with IBM's PC. Of course there was always "Can it run Microsoft's Flight Simulator" but that didn't matter as much in a business environment. That being said I can't remember if running FS answered number 2 above. Probably....