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Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

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Re: Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

#61

Post by jhbadger »

sedatk wrote: post #15

That's a beautifully written post. Almost like a book. I love it. Also, it made me notice that how much I missed the artistry of computer magazine ads. There was something magical with the experience of reading a computer magazine that I don't experience on any media anymore. Beautiful ads was part of that experience. How the tables have turned now. That said, DOSBox's TrueType fonts threw me off. It looks great of c…

The TrueType fonts might not look like the screen fonts, but weirdly, I think it works for this use because it reminds me of "screenshots" in books and manuals from the era which weren't in general literal screenshots but were often typeset mockups of screens from the programs.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

#62

Post by kjs3 »

bell-cot wrote: post #29
gadders wrote: post #27

I used to work for Lotus, supporting 1-2-3. Mucking around with autoexec.bat, config.sys, emm386 etc to get 1-2-3 to load was fun. Lots of TSRs using up memory. The amount of times I had to tell people to create a "clean config" by commenting out most of autoexec.bat... We also had to post people floppy disks with the correct printer driver on. No downloads in those days. "What would a piece of software have to do to…

> No downloads in those days. For the 1% with the required hardware, was there a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system ?

CompuServ was used more for corporate software downloads in those days than a BBS. Companies generally don't want to rely on some random person with an extra phone line in the basement for product support; CompuServ was 'corporate BBS' and owned by H&R Block, so had biz cred. Driver downloads were pretty much the reason I had a CompuServ account, since we had a bunch of otherwise great local BBS for the other on-line things I cared about back then.

That said...files from Compuserv usually ended up on some BBS somewhere eventually, and FidoNet let you get them if they weren't on your local BBS. Maybe...if you could find them.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

#63

Post by kjs3 »

whyleyc wrote: post #10
ChristopherDrum wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. I'm not really sure how I could tackle Lotus Notes, as it requires also setting up a backend Domino server (IIRC). That level of enterprise setup strays from my purpose with the blog, as I'm evaluating the software with an eye toward modern-day usability. Maybe there's a simple way to make use of Notes that I don't know about. When I was manager of a Macintosh network in the early 2000's, we were forced…

When I worked at IBM in ‘98 Lotus Notes was the default email client for all employees - we referred to it internally as “Bloatus Goats” such was the disdain we had for it.

IBM was using Notes when they acquired us in the mid-2010s. There's probably still production pockets left.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

#64

Post by acheron »

pstuart wrote: post #59

I worked at Arthur Andersen when Lotus 1-2-3 came out. It was like crack to accountants. VisiCalc was in use but this took it to a whole new level. One of my jobs was making bootleg copies so everybody could have a copy, until the NY office was busted and they paid out enough to incentivize them to buy copies as needed. I consider this period of time to be a watershed moment for humanity: prior to this, a lot of busi…

My dad was at one of the others of the Big Eight at the time, and yeah I remember he was always slinging 1-2-3 spreadsheets.

He stuck with 1-2-3 for many years after Excel had taken the crown, but eventually gave in.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

#66

Post by bell-cot »

kjs3 wrote: post #62
bell-cot wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No downloads in those days. For the 1% with the required hardware, was there a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system ?

CompuServ was used more for corporate software downloads in those days than a BBS. Companies generally don't want to rely on some random person with an extra phone line in the basement for product support; CompuServ was 'corporate BBS' and owned by H&R Block, so had biz cred. Driver downloads were pretty much the reason I had a CompuServ account, since we had a bunch of otherwise great local BBS for the other on-line…

> ... some random person with an extra phone line ...

True. I was thinking of Ashton-Tate's IT operating an "official" BBS system.

OTOH, A-T might have gotten an extremely good deal from CompuServ, due to the cred they'd have brought it.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

#67

Post by throwway262515 »

ChristopherDrum wrote: post #8
tripthelight wrote: post #4

This is the best blog post I’ve read in the past few years. I wish I had the tenacity to do more than read 1/3 of it and skim the rest. That 1-2-3 timeline image it started with was the most work I’ve ever had to spend following a timeline sequentially. The memories. Amazing. LLMs- write like this. WRITE LIKE THIS!

Author here. Yeah, I took a risk with the timeline layout. I try to challenge myself and add a little extra spice to the posts. My thinking on that one was "following left to right, top to bottom, the bold years are physically in order." Maybe a swing and a miss. Ah well, there's always next post. "best blog post I've read in the past few years" I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! P.S. - LLMs, PLEASE DON'T WRITE LIKE ME…

> I'd like to stay a little bit unique for a year or so, if possible

You have six months, for that’s their release cycle.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

#68

Post by bombcar »

1313ed01 wrote: post #25
hliyan wrote: post #14

I keep staring at this image, hoping we could go back: https://stonetools.ghost.io/content/images/2026/02/123_001.p... Information density, no decorative UI elements distracting you from the content, and keyboard navigability.

I love the menus. Autodesk Animator from 1989 also has menus where the first letter is always unique. Also buttons and some other UI elements. I did not remember that UI convention from back in the day, but when I experienced it recently it made me sad modern GUI applications are never that well designed. Maybe it used to be common?

Software designed before the mouse could be assumed (which was surprisingly late on the PC side; Windows before 95 didn't assume it at all) always had well-thought out keyboard shortcuts (some going so far as to have a printed piece of plastic you'd lay over the function keys or the entire keyboard).

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

#69

Post by eszed »

smackeyacky wrote: post #3

When I first started my career we were selling PCs into a market where two programs were major roadblocks to windows 3.0 upsells: Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect. If you were a legal secretary WordPerfect was near irreplaceable in a market where the user had transitioned from a typewriter only 5 years ago. Non technical users who has mastered mail merge in WordPerfect would rather beat you up and leave you in the gutter…

No word processor has ever bettered WordPerfect 5.1.

Re: Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC with DOS

#70

Post by sedatk »

jhbadger wrote: post #61
sedatk wrote: post #15

That's a beautifully written post. Almost like a book. I love it. Also, it made me notice that how much I missed the artistry of computer magazine ads. There was something magical with the experience of reading a computer magazine that I don't experience on any media anymore. Beautiful ads was part of that experience. How the tables have turned now. That said, DOSBox's TrueType fonts threw me off. It looks great of c…

The TrueType fonts might not look like the screen fonts, but weirdly, I think it works for this use because it reminds me of "screenshots" in books and manuals from the era which weren't in general literal screenshots but were often typeset mockups of screens from the programs.

That's a good point. I didn't think of looking at them like that.
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