Elektrine lite

← Feed

@stonetoolsblog@mastodon.social

Post #668292

2026-03-06 23:04 UTC

🪨 Lotus 1-2-3 on the PC w/DOS 🛠️ Did you know that #Lotus123 is still referenced in Microsoft #Excel documentation to this day, but not #visicalc I finally spent some time getting to know VisiCalc's literal killer. When I struggled to get a chart made, I turned to the only one who could help me: an AI. From 1986! #retrocomputing #spreadsheet https://stonetools.ghost.io/lotus123-dos

Replies (5)

  • @dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz 2026-03-07 00:05

    @stonetoolsblog@mastodon.social [I accidentally originally made this a standalone post rather than a reply to you, so sorry for the repeat:] > When I struggled to get a chart made, I turned to the only one who could help me: an AI. From 1986! I will pretend you mean the AI was from 1986, and I am suitably impressed! But seriously, this sounds like a good use case.

    Open ##2345407

  • @CGillanders@mastodon.ie 2026-03-07 07:08

    @stonetoolsblog@mastodon.social omg I had forgotten so much of this. I was just out of college in the early 90s and worked for a while with a firm doing the transition from text to wysiwyg in 123. The CFO refused to have his pc equipped with a mouse, his muscle memory for the entire 123 environment was total. He’d likely not have appreciated the comparison but I thought he was a financial touch typist. It really did allow for input at speed of thought, no delay between idea and execution.

    Open ##2345412

  • @amoroso@oldbytes.space 2026-03-07 16:20

    @stonetoolsblog@mastodon.social Have you seen this? https://unsung.aresluna.org/kapor-had-projected-first-year-sales-of-1m-but-did-53m-instead

    Open ##2345413

  • @greatquux@mastodon.social 2026-03-08 14:18

    @stonetoolsblog@mastodon.social this is the post we've all been waiting for! can't wait until we get to WordPerfect

    Open ##2345415

  • @raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie 2026-03-28 11:32

    @stonetoolsblog@mastodon.social I used SuperCalc (CP/M and DOS) after Visicalc on the Apple II. Then Cracker for a while before Excel on Windows. Later Open Office, then Libre Office and Gnumeric. I still use Gnumeric though I have LibreOffice. Excel 2003 works on WINE and 2007 sort of works on WINE. I hardly ever used Lotus 123 and Wordperfect (Wordstar CP/M & DOS, NewWord, MS Word then LibreOffic). I didn't use dBase much. Used MS-SQL rather than Access.

    Open ##2345416