• mikesailin@lemmy.ml
    8·
    1 year ago

    Lotus was so intent on protecting their revenue stream from software piracy that they built copy protection into the program. If the program was copied from one drive to another, it would not run. So if one bought a new computer or if the hard drive failed, the program could not be transferred to a new drive. The first versions of the software were pretty buggy too. I always visualized a Lotus company with a few programmers and many lawyers. They finally included a floppy disk that would allow a very limited number of copies, but still a PITA.

    • Kangie@lemmy.srcfiles.zip
      197·
      1 year ago

      Boomer spreadsheet program.

      Not literally, it came out in 83 - it was the original ‘killer app’, and was behind the widespread adoption of microcomputers into business in the pre-network and internet days.

        • digger@lemmy.ca
          131·
          1 year ago

          The last release was in 2002. It’s not limited to Gen X. As an older millennial, I leaned Lotus 1-2-3 and Lotus Word Pro before I was introduced to Microsoft’s Suite.

            • spauldo@lemmy.mlEnglish
              3·
              1 year ago

              I miss Wordperfect, although I don’t miss the templates everyone had on their keyboards.

              I mostly wish Word had “show codes.”

          • t0m5k1@lemmy.world
            2·
            1 year ago

            Right but we don’t age things from it’s last release do we!

            First released in 83 when I was 9 and I played with my ZX81.

              • t0m5k1@lemmy.world
                2·
                1 year ago

                Well then, Thanks for sharing! I moved on from a ZX81 to a BBC Master (128k+dbl sided 40/80T dual disk drive) and then to a Falcon 030 in late '92. Games sounded sooo much better on the Falcon 030

                • _cnt0@unilem.org
                  1·
                  1 year ago

                  That hardware is so fascinating (in hindsight): I love that it had a hardware jpeg decoder. Fun times.

          • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            As a younger Gen-Xer, we were still using Lotus Notes for logging calls when I worked at Dell Tech support in 98-99. It sucked.

            • Kangie@lemmy.srcfiles.zip
              3·
              1 year ago

              Hahahahaha.

              I was still using Notes in 2013. Most functions had moved on, but for the government department that I was working for at the time it was essential for IM, group mailboxes, and… a specific type of diplomatic communication.

      • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
        6·
        1 year ago

        it was the original ‘killer app’

        That’d be VisiCalc from all the way back in 1979. The slam-dunk argument against Steve Jobs wanting the Apple II to be a glorified appliance with only built-in applications. A lesson he still hadn’t fucking learned by the time the iPhone came out.

        Lotus 1-2-3 was the IBM PC answer to that 8-bit microcomputer program. VisiCalc had a DOS version, but it was a deliberately identical port. Bugs and all. Lotus bought the company within two years of launching its properly modern competitor.