Lotus 1-2-3

Last updated

Lotus 1-2-3
Developer(s) Lotus Software
Initial release26 January 1983;41 years ago (1983-01-26)
Final release
9.8.2 / 2002;22 years ago (2002)
Written in x86 assembly language, C
Operating system DOS, Windows, OS/2, classic Mac OS, MVS, VM/CMS, OpenVMS, PC-98, Unix, Linux
Type Spreadsheet
License Proprietary

Lotus 1-2-3 is a discontinued spreadsheet program from Lotus Software (later part of IBM). It was the first killer application of the IBM PC, was hugely popular in the 1980s, and significantly contributed to the success of IBM PC-compatibles in the business market. [1]

Contents

The first spreadsheet, VisiCalc, had helped launch the Apple II as one of the earliest personal computers in business use. With IBM's entry into the market, VisiCalc was slow to respond, and when they did, they launched what was essentially a straight port of their existing system despite the greatly expanded hardware capabilities. Lotus's solution was marketed as a three-in-one integrated solution: it handled spreadsheet calculations, database functionality, and graphical charts, hence the name "1-2-3", though how much database capability the product actually had was debatable, given the sparse memory left over after launching 1-2-3. It quickly overtook VisiCalc, as well as Multiplan and SuperCalc, the two VisiCalc competitors.

Lotus 1-2-3 was the state-of-the-art spreadsheet and the standard throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, part of an unofficial set of three stand-alone office automation products that included dBase and WordPerfect, to build a complete business platform. Lotus Software had their own word processor named Lotus Manuscript, which was to some extent acclaimed in academia, but did not catch the interest of the business, nor the consumer market. With the acceptance of Windows 3.0 in 1990, the market for desktop software grew even more. None of the major spreadsheet developers had seriously considered the graphical user interface (GUI) to supplement their DOS offerings, and so they responded slowly to Microsoft's own GUI-based products Excel and Word. Lotus was surpassed by Microsoft in the early 1990s, and never recovered. IBM purchased Lotus in 1995, and continued to sell Lotus offerings, [2] only officially ending sales in 2013. [3]

History

VisiCalc

VisiCalc was launched in 1979 on the Apple II and immediately became a best-seller. Compared to earlier programs, VisiCalc allowed one to easily construct free-form calculation systems for practically any purpose, the limitations being primarily related to the memory and speed of the computer. The application was so compelling that there were numerous stories of people buying Apple II machines to run the program [4] (see article Killer application). VisiCalc's runaway success on the Apple led to direct bug compatible ports to other platforms, including the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore PET and many others. This included the IBM PC when it launched in 1981, where it quickly became another best-seller, with an estimated 300,000 sales in the first six months on the market. [5]

There were well-known problems with VisiCalc, and several competitors appeared to address some of these issues. One early example was 1980's SuperCalc, which solved the problem of circular references, while a slightly later example was Microsoft Multiplan from 1981, which offered larger sheets and other improvements. In spite of these, and others, VisiCalc continued to outsell them all.[ citation needed ]

Beginnings

Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.3 for DOS User's Guide; the Functions and Macros Guide is next to it. Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS - Release 2.3 - User's Guide.jpg
Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.3 for DOS User's Guide; the Functions and Macros Guide is next to it.

The Lotus Development Corporation was founded by Mitchell Kapor, a friend of the developers of VisiCalc. 1-2-3 was originally written by Jonathan Sachs, who had written two spreadsheet programs previously while working at Concentric Data Systems, Inc. [6] [7] To aid its growth both in the UK and possibly elsewhere, Lotus 1-2-3 became the very first computer software to use television consumer advertising. [8]

Kapor was primarily a marketing guru. His ability to develop his product to appeal to non-technical users was one secret to its rapid success. Unlike many technologists, Kapor relied on focus group feedback to make his user instructions more user-friendly. One example: the instructions that came with the floppy disc read: "Remove the protective cover and insert disc into computer." A few focus group participants tried to rip-off the stiff plastic envelope of disc carrier. Kapor's recognition that techno-speak instructions needed to be translated to normative English was a strong contributor to the product's popularity.

Lotus 1-2-3 was released on 26 January 1983, and immediately overtook Visicalc in sales. Unlike Microsoft Multiplan, it stayed very close to the model of VisiCalc, including the "A1" letter and number cell notation, and slash-menu structure. It was cleanly programmed, relatively bug-free, gained speed from being written completely in x86 assembly language (this remained the case for all DOS versions until 3.0, when Lotus switched to C [9] ) and wrote directly to video memory rather than use the slow DOS and/or BIOS text output functions. [10] [11]

Among other novelties that Lotus introduced was a graph maker that could display several forms of graphs (including pie charts, bar graphics, or line charts) but required the user to have a graphics card. At this early stage, the only video boards available for the PC were IBM's Color Graphics Adapter and Monochrome Display and Printer Adapter, the latter not supporting any graphics. However, because the two video boards used different RAM and port addresses, both could be installed in the same machine and so Lotus took advantage of this by supporting a "split" screen mode whereby the user could display the worksheet portion of 1-2-3 on the sharper monochrome video and the graphics on the CGA display.

The initial release of 1-2-3 supported only three video setups: CGA, MDA (in which case the graph maker was not available) or dual-monitor mode. However, a few months later support was added for Hercules Computer Technology's Hercules Graphics Adapter which was a clone of the MDA that allowed bitmap mode. The ability to have high-resolution text and graphics capabilities (at the expense of color) proved extremely popular and Lotus 1-2-3 is credited with popularizing the Hercules graphics card.

Subsequent releases of Lotus 1-2-3 supported more video standards as time went on, including EGA, AT&T/Olivetti, and VGA. Significantly, support for the PCjr/Tandy modes was never added and users of those machines were limited to CGA graphics.

The early versions of 1-2-3 also had a key disk copy protection. While the program was hard disk installable, the user had to insert the original floppy disk when starting 1-2-3 up. This protection scheme was easily cracked and a minor inconvenience for home users, but proved a serious nuisance in an office setting. Starting with Release 3.0, Lotus no longer used copy protection. However, it was then necessary to "initialize" the System disk with one's name and company name so as to customize the copy of the program. Release 2.2 and higher had this requirement. This was an irreversible process unless one had made an exact copy of the original disk so as to be able to change names to transfer the program to someone else.

The reliance on the specific hardware of the IBM PC led to 1-2-3 being utilized as one of the two stress test applications, along with Microsoft Flight Simulator, for true 100% compatibility when PC clones appeared in the early 1980s. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] 1-2-3 required two disk drives and at least 192K of memory, which made it incompatible with the IBM PCjr; Lotus produced a version for the PCjr that was on two cartridges but otherwise identical. [19]

By early 1984 the software was a killer app for the IBM PC and compatibles, while hurting sales of computers that could not run it. "They're looking for 1-2-3. Boy, are they looking for 1-2-3!" InfoWorld wrote. Noting that computer purchasers did not want PC compatibility as much as compatibility with certain PC software, the magazine suggested "let's tell it like it is. Let's not say 'PC compatible,' or even 'MS-DOS compatible.' Instead, let's say '1-2-3 compatible.'" [20] PC clones' advertising did often prominently state that they were compatible with 1-2-3. [19] An Apple II software company promised that its spreadsheet had "the power of 1-2-3". [21] Because spreadsheets use large amounts of memory, 1‐2‐3 helped popularize greater RAM capacities in PCs, and especially the advent of expanded memory, which allowed greater than 640k to be accessed.

Rivals

Lotus 1-2-3 inspired imitators, the first of which was Mosaic Software's "The Twin", written in the fall of 1985 largely in the C programming language, [22] followed by VP-Planner, which was backed by Adam Osborne. [23] These were able to not only read 1-2-3 files, but also execute many or most macro programs by incorporating the same command structure. Copyright law had first been understood to only cover the source code of a program. After the success of lawsuits which claimed that the very "look and feel" of a program were covered, Lotus sought to ban any program which had a compatible command and menu structure. Program commands had not been considered to be covered before, but the commands of 1-2-3 were embedded in the words of the menu displayed on the screen. 1-2-3 won its three-year long court battle against Paperback Software International and Mosaic Software Inc. in 1990. [24] However, when it sued Borland over its Quattro Pro spreadsheet in Lotus v. Borland , a six-year battle that ended at the Supreme Court in 1996, the final ruling appeared to support narrowing the applicability of copyright law to software; this is because the lower court's decision that it was not a copyright violation to merely have a compatible command menu or language was upheld, but only via stalemate. [25] In 1995, the First Circuit found that command menus are an uncopyrightable "method of operation" under section 102(b) of the Copyright Act. [26] The 1-2-3 menu structure (example, slash File Erase) was itself an advanced version of single letter menus introduced in VisiCalc. When the case came before the Supreme Court, the justices would end up deadlocked 4–4. This meant that Borland had emerged victorious, but the extent to which copyright law would be applicable to computer software went unaddressed and undefined. [27] [25]

Decline

A Lotus 1-2-3 box, as seen in an exhibit at the Computer History Museum in 2008 1-2-3 Floppy Disk Set.jpg
A Lotus 1-2-3 box, as seen in an exhibit at the Computer History Museum in 2008

Microsoft's early spreadsheet Multiplan eventually gave way to Excel, which debuted on the Macintosh in 1985. It arrived on PCs with the release of Windows 2.x in 1987, but as Windows was not yet popular, it posed no serious threat to Lotus's stranglehold on spreadsheet sales. However, Lotus suffered technical setbacks in this period. Version 3 of Lotus 1-2-3, fully converted from its original macro assembler to the more portable C language, was delayed by more than a year as the totally new 1-2-3 had to be made portable across platforms and fully compatible with existing macro sets and file formats. The inability to fit the larger code size of compiled C into lower-powered machines forced the company to split its spreadsheet offerings, with 1-2-3 release 3 only for higher-end machines, and a new version 2.2, based on the 2.01 assembler code base, available for PCs without extended memory. By the time these versions were released in 1989, Microsoft had eroded much of Lotus's market share. [28]

During the early 1990s, Windows grew in popularity, and along with it, Excel, which gradually displaced Lotus from its leading position. A planned total revamp of 1-2-3 for Windows fell apart, and all that the company could manage was a Windows adaptation of their existing spreadsheet with no changes except using a graphical interface. Additionally, several versions of 1-2-3 had different features and slightly different interfaces.

Lotus 1-2-3's intended successor, Lotus Symphony, was Lotus's entry into the anticipated "integrated software" market. It intended to expand the rudimentary all-in-one 1-2-3 into a fully-fledged spreadsheet, graph, database and word processor for DOS, but none of the integrated packages ever really succeeded. Lotus 1-2-3 migrated to the Windows platform, as part of Lotus SmartSuite.

IBM's continued development and marketing of Lotus SmartSuite and OS/2 during the 1990s placed it in direct competition with Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows, respectively. As a result, Microsoft "punished the IBM PC Company with higher prices, a late license for Windows 95, and the withholding of technical and marketing support." [29] [30] Microsoft did not grant IBM the OEM rights for Windows 95 until 15 minutes prior to the release of Windows 95 on 24 August 1995. Because of this uncertainty, IBM machines were sold without Windows 95, while Compaq, HP, and other companies sold machines with Windows 95 from day one. [31] [32]

On 11 June 2013, IBM announced it would withdraw the Lotus brand: IBM Lotus 1-2-3 Millennium Edition V9.x, IBM Lotus SmartSuite 9.x V9.8.0, and Organizer V6.1.0. IBM stated, "Customers will no longer be able to receive support for these offerings after 30 September 2014. No service extensions will be offered. There will be no replacement programs." [3]

User features

Charting on Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.2 for DOS Lotus 1-2-3 on PC-98 DOS chart.jpg
Charting on Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.2 for DOS
Examples of Lotus 1-2-3 macros Lotus123 Macro.JPG
Examples of Lotus 1-2-3 macros

The name "1-2-3" stemmed from the product's integration of three main capabilities: along with its core spreadsheet functionality, 1-2-3 also offered integral charting/graphing and rudimentary database operations.

Data features included sorting data in any defined rectangle, by order of information in one or two columns in the rectangular area. Justifying text in a range into paragraphs allowed it to be used as a primitive word processor.

It had keyboard-driven pop-up menus as well as one-key commands, making it fast to operate. It was also user-friendly, introducing an early instance of context-sensitive help accessed by the F1 key.

Macros in version one and add-ins (introduced in version 2.0) contributed much to 1-2-3's popularity, allowing dozens of outside vendors to sell macro packages and add-ins ranging from dedicated financial worksheets like F9 to full-fledged word processors. In the single-tasking MS-DOS, 1-2-3 was sometimes used as a complete office suite. All major graphics standards were supported; initially CGA and Hercules, and later EGA, AT&T, and VGA. Early versions used the filename extension "WKS". [33] In version 2.0, the extension changed first to "WK1", [34] then "WK2". [35] This later became "WK3" for version 3.0 [36] and "WK4" for version 4.0. [37]

Version 2 introduced macros with syntax and commands similar in complexity to an advanced BASIC interpreter, as well as string variable expressions. Later versions supported multiple worksheets and were written in C. The charting/graphing routines were written in Forth by Jeremy Sagan (son of Carl Sagan) and the printing routines by Paul Funk (founder of Funk Software).[ citation needed ]

PC version history

DOS

Real Mode (8088+)

Lotus 1-2-3 R2.2J Japanese version in action Lotus 1-2-3 on PC-98 DOS spreadsheet.jpg
Lotus 1-2-3 R2.2J Japanese version in action

These editions of 1-2-3 for DOS were primarily written in x86 assembly language.

  • Release 1 was the first release for DOS-based PCs. Introduced in January 1983. [38]
  • Release 1A in April 1983 [38] [39] Officially supported ASCII, unofficially supported the IBM extended character set (but not LICS). [40] [41]
  • Release 2 brought add-in support, better memory management and expanded memory support, supported x87 math coprocessors, and introduced support for the Lotus International Character Set (LICS). [41] [40] [42] [43] Introduced in September 1985. [38] [39] [44] The Japanese version Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2J for NEC PC-98 computers was released on 1986-09-05. [45] [46]
  • Release 2.01 in July 1986. [38] Introduced an option to switch between LICS and the IBM extended character set. [41] [42]
  • The Japanese version Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.1J for NEC PC-98 computers was released in October 1987. [47] A version Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.1J+ followed in February 1989. [48]
  • Release 2.2 brought improved speed, automated macro tools, and presentation-quality graphics. Introduced in 1989. [49] The Japanese version Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.2J was released in February 1990. [50]
  • Release 2.3 brought WYSIWYG editing to the 2.x line. Introduced in 1991. [51] The Japanese version Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.3J was released in September 1991. [52]
  • Release 2.4 added icons and additional tools, and was the last release supporting 2D (only) spreadsheets. Introduced in 1992. [53] [54] The Japanese version Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.4J was released in September 1993. [55]
  • In July 1995, Lotus released Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.5J for DOS. [56]

Protected Mode (80286+)

These editions of 1-2-3 for DOS were primarily written in C.

  • Release 3 introduced the concept of 3D spreadsheets, utilized extended memory, supported having multiple files open simultaneously, and required an 80286-based PC or higher. It also introduced support for the Lotus Multi-Byte Character Set (LMBCS). [57] [44] Introduced in March 1989. [39] [49] [57] [38] The test was performed with 16 MHz system with the 387SX-16 math coprocessor using the mortgage payment schedule file resulting 33 seconds without math coprocessor and 10 seconds with it. [58]
  • Releases 3.1 and 3.1+ [54] added WYSIWYG capabilities, the ability to swap to disk allowing for larger files (up to 64 MB), and could be run as a DOS program under Windows 3.0 and OS/2. Introduced in 1990. [59]
  • Release 3.4 added icons, improved performance, and enhanced graph capabilities, making it functionally similar to Release 2.4. Introduced in 1992. [60]
  • Lotus 1-2-3 for Home, 1992
  • Release 4 was the last release for DOS. More an upgrade to Release 3.4 than in line with Release 3 for Windows, it contains an improved interface and new features, including Version Manager, a spell checker, context-sensitive help, and cell comments. Introduced in May 1994. [61] [38]

OS/2

Windows

Win16 (Windows 3.x)

  • Lotus 1-2-3/W Release 1 was the first release for Windows, requiring Windows 3.0 or higher, was 16-bit, and was functionally equivalent to Release 3.x for DOS. Introduced in 1991. [39] [38] The Japanese version Lotus 1-2-3/Windows R1.0J was released on 1991-11-15. [64]
  • The version Lotus 1-2-3/Windows R1.1J was released on 1992-6-2. [65]
  • Release 4 was an extensive improvement that added groupware capabilities, improved integration with Lotus Notes, advanced graphics, context-sensitive menus and icons, and in-cell editing. Introduced in June 1993. [66] [38] A Japanese Lotus 1-2-3/Windows Release 4J was released 1993-07-16. [67]
  • Release 5 added additional groupware capabilities, chart maps, and improved database access. This was the last 16-bit version for Windows 3.1x, and was available as part of SmartSuite 3.1, 4, and 4.5. Introduced in mid-1994. [68] [69] The Japanese version Lotus 1-2-3/Windows Release 5J was released on 1994-09-22.

Win32 (Windows 9x/NT)

  • The 97 Edition was the first 32-bit version, requiring Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0, and had a changed interface and support for LotusScript. Introduced in 1997. [39] The Japanese-language version Lotus 1-2-3 97J was released on 1997-04-11. [70]
  • The Japanese-language Lotus 1-2-3 98J was released on 1998-06-05, [71] followed by Lotus 1-2-3 2000J on 1999-07-02, and by Lotus 1-2-3 2001J on 2001-07-27.
Lotus 1-2-3 9.8 icon.png
Icon of Lotus 1-2-3 version 9.8
  • The Millennium Edition (version 9.8) contained new functions, improved Y2K support, Internet support, and better Excel compatibility. This is the last version of 1-2-3 for any platform, and has received maintenance releases through Fixpack 2. Introduced in 2002. [39]

Other operating systems

Hewlett-Packard HP 95 LX pocket PC with Lotus 1-2-3 built into ROM HP 95LX Pocket Computer.JPG
Hewlett-Packard HP 95 LX pocket PC with Lotus 1-2-3 built into ROM

File formats

Lotus 1-2-3 file formats use various filename extensions including 123, wks, wk1, wk2, wk3, wk4, some of these may open in the desktop applications of Collabora Online, LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice, these can then be saved into the OpenDocument format or other file formats.

Reception

After previewing 1-2-3 on the IBM PC in 1982, BYTE called it "modestly revolutionary" for elegantly combining spreadsheet, database, and graphing functions. It praised the application's speed and ease of use, stating that with the built-in help screens and tutorial, "1-2-3 is one of the few pieces of software that can literally be used by anybody. You can buy 1-2-3 and [an IBM PC] and be running the two together the same day". [88] PC Magazine in 1983 called 1-2-3 "a powerful and impressive program ... as a spreadsheet, it's excellent", and attributed its very fast performance to being written in assembly language. [89]

Bugs

Lotus 1-2-3 assumes that 1900 is a leap year. This is incorrect as while 1900 is a year that is divisible by four, years divisible by 100 are not counted as leap years unless divisible by 400. [90] This bug persists today as its competitor, Microsoft Excel, still incorporates the bug to ensure compatibility with legacy Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets. [91]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multiplan</span> Spreadsheet program

Multiplan is a spreadsheet program developed by Microsoft and introduced in 1982 as a competitor to VisiCalc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spreadsheet</span> Computer application for organization, analysis, and storage of data in tabular form

A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cells of a table. Each cell may contain either numeric or text data, or the results of formulas that automatically calculate and display a value based on the contents of other cells. The term spreadsheet may also refer to one such electronic document.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VisiCalc</span> 1979 computer application

VisiCalc is the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979. It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and then prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later. More than 700,000 copies were sold in six years, and up to 1 million copies over its history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lotus Improv</span> Spreadsheet program

Lotus Improv is a discontinued spreadsheet program from Lotus Development released in 1991 for the NeXTSTEP platform and then for Windows 3.1 in 1993. Development was put on hiatus in 1994 after slow sales on the Windows platform, and officially ended in April 1996 after Lotus was purchased by IBM.

A killer application is any software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as its host computer hardware, video game console, software platform, or operating system. Consumers would buy the host platform just to access that application, possibly substantially increasing sales of its host platform.

Lotus Software was an American software company based in Massachusetts; it was sold to India's HCL Technologies in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM TopView</span> Former front-end to DOS

TopView is the first object-oriented, multitasking, and windowing, personal computer operating environment for PC DOS developed by IBM, announced in August 1984 and shipped in March 1985. TopView provided a text-mode operating environment that allowed users to run more than one application at the same time on a PC. IBM demonstrated an early version of the product to key customers before making it generally available, around the time they shipped their new PC AT computer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visi On</span> Operating environment program

Visi On is a graphical user interface (GUI)-based operating environment program for IBM compatible personal computers running MS-DOS. Visi On was developed by VisiCorp. It was one of the first GUIs on a personal computer. Visi On was never popular, as it had steep minimum system requirements for its day, but it was influential in the development of later GUIs like Microsoft Windows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VisiCorp</span>

VisiCorp was an early personal computer software publisher. Its most famous products were Microchess, Visi On and VisiCalc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SuperCalc</span>

SuperCalc is a CP/M-80 spreadsheet application published by Sorcim in 1980.

Data Interchange Format (.dif) is a text file format used to import/export single spreadsheets between spreadsheet programs.

This article presents a timeline of events in the history of 16-bit x86 DOS-family disk operating systems from 1980 to present. Non-x86 operating systems named "DOS" are not part of the scope of this timeline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows 1.0</span> First major release of Microsoft Windows

Windows 1.0 is the first major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical operating systems for personal computers developed by Microsoft. It was first released to manufacturing in the United States on November 20, 1985, while the European version was released as Windows 1.02 in May 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows 2.0</span> Second major release of Microsoft Windows

Windows 2.0 is a major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical operating systems for personal computers developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on December 9, 1987, as a successor to Windows 1.0.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows 3.0</span> Third major release of Microsoft Windows

Windows 3.0 is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, launched in 1990. Its new graphical user interface (GUI) represents applications as clickable icons, instead of the list of file names in its predecessors. Later updates expand capabilities, such as multimedia support for sound recording and playback, and support for CD-ROMs.

Sorcim Corporation was an early start-up company in Silicon Valley, founded in June 1980 by Richard Frank, Paul McQuesten, Martin Herbach, Anil Lakhwara, and Steve Jasik - all former Control Data Corporation employees working in the Language Group in Sunnyvale, CA. Jasik left company early on, to develop the MacNosy product for the Macintosh.

Software Publishing Corporation (SPC) was a Mountain View, California–based manufacturer of business software, originally well known for its "pfs:" series of business software products, it was ultimately best known for its pioneering Harvard Graphics business and presentation graphics program.

Boeing Calc was a spreadsheet package written by Boeing Computer Services, an independent subsidiary of aviation manufacturer Boeing. It had originally been developed as an in-house accounting tool, but was launched as a commercial product in April 1985 for IBM 4300 mainframes running IBM MVS and IBM PC microcomputers running DOS. The original launch price was $399 per copy for the PC version and $8,899 for a combined PC/mainframe bundle.

The Lotus International Character Set (LICS) is a proprietary single-byte character encoding introduced in 1985 by Lotus Development Corporation. It is based on the 1983 DEC Multinational Character Set (MCS) for VT220 terminals. As such, LICS is also similar to two other descendants of MCS, the ECMA-94 character set of 1985 and the ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) character set of 1987.

References

  1. ↑ Darrow, Barbara (1 February 2002), "Whatever Happened To Lotus 1-2-3?", CRN, archived from the original on 9 January 2009, retrieved 31 October 2007.
  2. ↑ Power, D. J. (30 August 2004). "A Brief History of Spreadsheets". DSSResources.com. 3 (6).
  3. 1 2 Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "Goodbye, Lotus 1-2-3". ZDNet ZDNet.
  4. ↑ McMullen, Barbara E.; McMullen, John F. (21 February 1984). "Apple Charts the Course for IBM". PC Magazine . 3 (3): 122–129. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Freiberger, Paul; Swaine, Michael (2000). Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer. McGraw-Hill. ISBN   978-0-07-135892-7.
  6. ↑ "The History of Notes and Domino", Developer Works, IBM, 14 November 2007, archived from the original on 20 January 2021, retrieved 20 December 2005
  7. ↑ Campbell-Kelly, Martin (7 May 2004), Oral history interview with Jonathan Sachs, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota.
  8. ↑ "Computerworld", Micro Software TV Ads Play to Mixed Review, Computerworld, 26 November 1984, p. 24
  9. ↑ Lewis, Peter H. (13 March 1988). "The Executive computer; Lotus 1-2-3 Faces Up to the Upstarts" . The New York Times . Retrieved 14 October 2012. Release 3.0 is being written in the computer language known as C, to provide easy transportability among PCs, Macs and mainframes.
  10. ↑ Techopedia. "Lotus 1-2-3" . Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  11. ↑ Perconal Computer Museum. "Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.4". Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  12. ↑ Springer, P. Gregory (3 June 1985). "Tandy's Magnificent Concession". InfoWorld . Vol. 7, no. 22. p. 72. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  13. ↑ Lockwood, Russ (September 1985). "Zenith Z-151; choice of U.S. Air Force and Navy". Creative Computing . p. 50. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  14. ↑ Alsop, Stewart (31 January 1994). "A public Windows pane to make compatibility clearer". InfoWorld . Vol. 16, no. 5. p. 102. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  15. ↑ Dvorak, John C. (12 May 1986). "Springtime in Atlanta Beats Fall in Las Vegas". InfoWorld . Vol. 8, no. 19. p. 66. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  16. ↑ Satchell, Stephen (27 January 1986). "The Corona ATP Is Faster Than The IBM PC AT, But It Has Flaws". InfoWorld . Vol. 8, no. 4. pp. 47, 50. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  17. ↑ Mace, Scott; Sorensen, Karen (5 May 1986). "Amiga, Atari Ready PC Emulators". InfoWorld . Vol. 8, no. 18. p. 5. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  18. ↑ Satchell, Stephen (14 January 1985). "AT&T 6300 Personal Computer". InfoWorld . Vol. 7, no. 1 & 2. pp. 49, 53–54. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  19. 1 2 Trivette, Donald B. (April 1985). "Lotus 1-2-3 For IBM PCjr". Compute! . p. 63. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  20. ↑ Clapp, Doug (27 February 1984). "PC compatibility". InfoWorld . Vol. 6, no. 9. p. 22. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  21. ↑ "VIP Professional". inCider (advertisement). Vol. 4, no. 12. December 1986. p. 171. ISSN   0740-0101 . Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  22. ↑ Barr, Christopher (August 1986). "The Twin: Slow Lotus for Less". PC Magazine. Vol. 5, no. 14. pp. 59–60. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  23. ↑ O'Connor, Rory J. (19 August 1985). "Osborne's 1-2-3 Clone: VP Planner". InfoWorld . Vol. 7, no. 33. p. 42.
  24. ↑ Markoff, John (29 June 1990). "Lotus Wins Copyright Decision" . The New York Times. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  25. 1 2 Graham, Lawrence D. (1999). "Keyboard Commands and Menu Arrangements". Legal Battles that Shaped the Computer Industry. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 63–68. ISBN   9781567201789. LCCN   99-13620 . Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  26. ↑ Gesmer, Lee T. (1 April 1995). "Perspective: Lotus Development Corp. v. Borland International". Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  27. ↑ Spence, Kristin (1 June 1996). "Lotus v. Borland: Deadlock on the Electronic Frontier". Wired. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  28. ↑ "Antitrust Division | U.S. V. Microsoft: Court's Findings Of Fact". www.justice.gov. 14 August 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  29. ↑ "Full text of Judge Jackson's findings of fact". CNet. January 2007. Section 116. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  30. ↑ "Full text of Judge Jackson's findings of fact". CNET. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  31. ↑ "Full text of Judge Jackson's findings of fact". CNet. January 2007. Section 125. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  32. ↑ "Antitrust Division | U.S. V. Microsoft: Proposed Findings Of Fact". www.justice.gov. 14 August 2015. p. section 208. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  33. ↑ "WKS File Extension – Open .WKS files", File info .
  34. ↑ "WK1 File Extension – Open .WK1 files", File info .
  35. ↑ "WK2 File Extension – Open .WK2 files", File info .
  36. ↑ "WK3 File Extension – Open .WK3 files", File info .
  37. ↑ "WK4 File Extension – Open .WK4 files", File info .
  38. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Walkenbach, John (2007). "Chapter One: Excel 2007: Where It Came From". Excel 2007 Power Programming with VBA . John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN   978-0-470-04401-8. LCCN   2006939606. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  39. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Lotus 1-2-3". University of Maryland. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  40. 1 2 Attia, Zayn 'Utbah (11 March 2015). "ASCII graphic characters, range names". Computer Tips. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016. […] Release 1A's capability to use extended graphics characters to dress up a screen was an undocumented feature. These characters allowed you to draw boxes and add special symbols on the screen. With Release 2, Lotus has assigned different meanings to these characters, the Lotus International Character Set, LICS. Any these extended characters must be erased or replaced with regular keyboard characters before the character can appear acceptable on an Release 2 screen. Release 2.01 offers an install option to use extended characters rather than LICS characters. […]
  41. 1 2 3 Schemenaur, P. J. (27 October 1986). "Firm to Debut Clone Version of Lotus 1-2-3 - Program Offers 2.0 Compatibility". InfoWorld . Vol. 8, no. 43. Retrieved 29 November 2016. […] Twin Release 2 keeps the IBM extended character set of Version 1A, rather than Release 2.0's Lotus International Character Set, which […] causes problems with commercial templates designed for Lotus 1-2-3, Release 1A. […]
  42. 1 2 Cobb, Douglas; Cobb, Steven (31 October 1988). "Spreadsheet clinic: How to adjust SuperCalc's financial functions to analyze annuities due, create flashing screen messages in 1-2-3, and access upper-level ASCII characters in Quattro and 1-2-3". PC Magazine : 411. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016. […] Unlike 1-2-3, Quattro uses the ASCII character set. By default, 1-2-3, Release 2.01, uses the Lotus International Character Set (LICS) — the same character set that Release 2.0 always uses […] you can command Release 2.01 to use the ASCII character set, just as Quattro does. […] load the install program, and select Advanced Options […] select TextDisplay […] choose Universal Text Display – ASCII-No LICS […] Now, when you load 1-2-3 using the modified driver set, the @CHAR function will produce upper-level ASCII characters […] (NB. By "Upper-level ASCII", the authors actually meant the 8-bit OEM character set.)
  43. ↑ Lee, Yvonne (3 May 1993). "HP 100LX rolled out as successor to palmtop". InfoWorld . Vol. 15, no. 18. p. 27. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  44. 1 2 "Kapitel 4. Kompatibilität mit anderen 1-2-3 Versionen - Zeichensätze" [Chapter 4. Compatility with other 1-2-3 Versions - Character Sets]. Lotus 1-2-3 Version 3.1 Upgrader's Handbuch[Upgrader's handbook] (in German) (1 ed.). Cambridge, MA, USA: Lotus Development Corporation. 1989. pp. 4-10–4-11. 302173.
  45. ↑ Edward Warner (8 September 1986). "Lotus Perseveres to Unveil Japanese Version of 1-2-3". InfoWorld . Vol. 8, no. 36. p. 9. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  46. ↑ "パソコンソフト世界最大の米ロ社上陸に揺れる、発売早々国内トップ。". Nihon Keizai Shimbun (in Japanese). Vol. Morning. 14 October 1986. p. 20.
  47. ↑ "ASCII EXPRESS: ロータスが1-2-3のバージョンアップ版とアドイン日本語ワープロ「4Word」を発表". ASCII (in Japanese). 11 (10). 1987.
  48. ↑ "表計算ソフトの新しい世界 : 第2部 徹底比較研究 : 代表的表計算ソフト". 日経パソコン (in Japanese). Nikkei Business Publications: 198. 24 July 1989.
  49. 1 2 3 Lewis, Peter H. (13 August 1989). "THE EXECUTIVE COMPUTER; Sorting Out Lotus's New 1-2-3's" . The New York Times . Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  50. ↑ "ASCII EXPRESS : ロータス、1-2-3をバージョンアップ". ASCII (in Japanese). 14 (3). 1990.
  51. ↑ "Lotus 1-2-3 Version Information". EMS Professional Software. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  52. ↑ "ASCII EXPRESS : ロータスがOS/2対応のLotus 1-2-3 R3Jを開発". ASCII (in Japanese). 14 (5). 1990.
  53. ↑ Walkenbach, John (1 June 1992). "Lotus Dresses Up 1-2-3 with Smart Icons". InfoWorld . Vol. 14, no. 22. pp. 73, 76. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  54. 1 2 Kamenz, Alfred; Vonhoegen, Helmut (1992). Das große Buch zu Lotus 1-2-3 für DOS (in German) (1 ed.). Data Becker. ISBN   3-89011-375-3.
  55. ↑ "ロータスが新版、「MS-DOS」対応ソフト―表計算のシート上で". Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun (in Japanese). 4 August 1993. p. 6.
  56. ↑ "Ｑ＆Ａ集 1-2-3 R2.5J MS-DOS対応版 発売日・パッケージ内容を教えてください" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1 October 1999. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  57. 1 2 3 Balaban, Bob (2001). "Multi-Language Character Sets - What They Are, How To Use Them" (PDF). Looseleaf Software, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  58. ↑ Intel Corporation, "Intel Math CoProcessor Pocket Information Guide", CP1-334/0591/100K/DG LH, 1991, page 8
  59. ↑ Walkenbach, John (15 October 1990). "Lotus 1-2-3, Release 3.1 Has Publishing-Quality Output". InfoWorld . Vol. 12, no. 42. pp. 91–92, 96. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  60. ↑ Walkenbach, John (15 February 1993). "Lotus updates, accelerates 1-2-3 for DOS". InfoWorld . Vol. 15, no. 7. pp. 57, 60–61. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  61. ↑ Singh, Jai (16 May 1994). "Lotus Readies 1-2-3 Upgrade". InfoWorld . Vol. 16, no. 20. p. 10. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  62. ↑ "1-2-3/G for OS/2, Release 1.1". Lotus Museum. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  63. 1 2 "Splashes 1-2-3". Graphical User Interface Gallery Guidebook. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  64. ↑ "ロータス、「1-2-3」発表、日本語版W3.0対応". Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun (in Japanese). 19 September 1991. p. 9.
  65. ↑ "ロータス、「1-2-3」最新版―書体設定など多様に". Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun . 2 June 1992. p. 6.
  66. ↑ Strehlo, Kevin (24 May 1993). "Lotus significantly improves usability in 1-2-3, Release 4". InfoWorld . Vol. 15, no. 21. p. 172. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  67. ↑ "ロータス、ウィンドウズ3.1対応ソフト4製品を投入―「表計算」など対象". Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun (in Japanese). 16 June 1993. p. 6.
  68. ↑ Conatser, Kelly (3 October 1994). "Lotus navigates steady course with 1-2-3". InfoWorld . Vol. 16, no. 40. pp. 85–86, 88, 90. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  69. ↑ Rose, Daniel. "Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.x - Lotus SmartSuite Release 3.1". Daniel's Legacy Computer Collections. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  70. ↑ "Ｑ＆Ａ集 1-2-3 97 発売日・パッケージ内容を教えてください" (in Japanese). Lotus Development Japan. Ltd. Archived from the original on 10 October 1999. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  71. ↑ "Ｑ＆Ａ集 1-2-3 98 発売日・パッケージ内容を教えてください" (in Japanese). Lotus Development Japan. Ltd. Archived from the original on 17 November 1999. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  72. ↑ "Lotus to Ship One 1-2-3 For Unix V/386 Systems". InfoWorld . Vol. 12, no. 25. 18 June 1990. p. 45. ISSN   0199-6649.
  73. ↑ Fadilpašić, Sead (29 May 2022). "This 40-year-old Microsoft Excel rival is making a surprising comeback". techradar.
  74. ↑ "New Lotus 1-2-3 Edition for SPARC systems supports real-time working". Computer Business Review. 1 July 1991. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  75. ↑ Paloma, Cindy (June 1993). "Lotus 1-2-3 Upgraded To Version 1.2". UCSD Computer Science & Engineering Computing Facility Newsletter. Vol. 4, no. 6. CSE Uptime / UCSD. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  76. ↑ "Novell and Spire Technologies Announce WordPerfect 5.1+ for OpenVMS/Alpha Systems". Novell press release. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  77. ↑ "1-2-3 for Macintosh, Release 1.0". Lotus Museum. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  78. ↑ "1-2-3 for Macintosh, Release 1.1". Lotus Museum. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  79. ↑ Benjamin, Louis E. Jr (March 1992). "Lotus 1-2-3 for Macintosh". MacUser . Vol. 8, no. 3. pp. 42–43.
  80. ↑ Benjamin, Louis E. Jr; Zilber, Jon (June 1992). "New Dimensions in Spreadsheets". Buyer's Guide. MacUser . Vol. 8, no. 6. pp. 32–40.
  81. 1 2 Barney, Douglas (4 May 1987). "Lotus celebrates with IBM pact". Computerworld . Vol. 21, no. 18. IDG Enterprise. pp. 1, 100. ISSN   0010-4841.
  82. 1 2 Barney, Douglas (4 May 1987). "Debate over host 1-2-3". Computerworld . Vol. 21, no. 18. IDG Enterprise. p. 100. ISSN   0010-4841.
  83. ↑ Chetlen, Martin (1992). Mainframe databasing with Lotus 1-2-3/M, Version 1. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN   978-0-442-01017-1.
  84. ↑ "LOTUS 1-2-3/M". IBM Corporation. 27 February 1990. Announcement Letter Number 290-104.
  85. ↑ GDDM: General Information: Version 3 Release 2 (PDF). IBM Corporation. December 2001. p. 27. GC33-0866-04. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2017. Lotus 1-2-3M, the System/370 version of Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3, has been developed by Lotus Development Corporation to be exclusively marketed by IBM in the VM/CMS and MVS/TSO/E environments.
  86. ↑ "LOTUS UNVEILS ITS VERSION OF POPULAR SPREADSHEET FOR IBM MAINFRAME USERS". DeseretNews.com. 28 February 1990. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  87. ↑ "COMPANY NEWS; Lotus 1-2-3 For I.B.M. Line" . The New York Times. Associated Press. 28 February 1990. Retrieved 9 February 2017. The Lotus Development Corporation today introduced a long-promised version of its popular 1-2-3 computer spreadsheet program for I.B.M. mainframe computers. The program, 1-2-3-M, allows personal computer users to pull data from a mainframe computer file and transfer it directly into the 1-2-3 spreadsheet... I.B.M. will be the sole marketer of the program, which is designed for use on I.B.M.'s System-370 computer line.
  88. ↑ Williams, Gregg (December 1982). "Lotus Development Corporation's 1-2-3". BYTE . Vol. 7, no. 12. p. 182. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  89. ↑ Derfler, Frank J. Jr. (March 1983). "A Program You Can Count On". PC Magazine . Vol. 1, no. 10. p. 187. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  90. ↑ "Method to determine whether a year is a leap year - Microsoft 365 Apps". learn.microsoft.com. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  91. ↑ Microsoft Corporation. "Excel incorrectly assumes that the year 1900 is a leap year". Microsoft Corporation.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.