Lotus 1-2-3, a walk down memory lane and lessons learned

Lotus123-smallI recently encountered this article over at The Register that discusses how the final version of Lotus 1-2-3 just reached end of life and so is effectively dead.  This is no surprise as the product has been in a long decline; however, I cannot help but feel a bit melancholy because Lotus 1-2-3 was a killer app in the day and it is sad to see it slide into obscurity and now cancellation.

In the early days of personal computing, users and vendors were struggling to justify the existence of the complex and powerful machines like the Apple 2 or IBM PC. Just to be clear, these machines were barely more powerful than today’s desktop calculators and lacked virtually all of the advanced technologies we take for granted today; however, at the time they were cutting edge.  Out of this chaos of technology and software development emerged Visicalc which was the first spreadsheet program and was the first killer application for personal computers.  It was instantly a best seller; however, it still had significant limitations. Continue reading Lotus 1-2-3, a walk down memory lane and lessons learned