Windows SDK & DDK (1986) 64 Windows

The Microsoft Windows Software Development Kits (SDK) provide sample program code, extra libraries, and documentation to aid application developers producing Windows applications. Microsoft Windows Driver Development Kits are similar sets of samples and libraries but specific to device driver development, and much more in-depth.

• Windows 1.x
• Windows 3.0
• NT 3.x
• Windows 3.1
• WfW 3.11
• Windows 95
• NT 4.0
• XP (NT 5.1)
• 2003 (NT 5.2)

Microsoft Money (1992) 64 Financial Windows

Microsoft Money is a home oriented financial management tool. It was designed specifically for Microsoft Windows, and was touted as being easier to use. At its release it competed against products such as Quicken. Microsoft Money was discontinued in 2009.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x (95)
• 97 (5.0)
• 98
• 99
• 2000
• 2002
• Sunset

Lotus SmartSuite (1992) 62 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations PIM Database Windows

IBM/Lotus SmartSuite is an office suite from Lotus software for Windows and OS/2. SmartSuite includes SmartCenter, 1-2-3, Word Pro, Freelance Graphics, Approach, Organizer, and ScreenCam.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.0
• 96
• 97
• 9.0
• 9.1
• 9.5
• 9.6
• 9.7
• 9.8

CircuitMaker (1998) 62 Engineering Windows

CircuitMaker, from MicroCode Engineering, is an easy-to-use schematic design and simulation tool. This product was discontinued in 2000 after being bought out by Altium, and is not related to the current software of a similar name.

• 6.x
• 2000

Borland C++ Builder (1996) 61 Windows

First released in 1997, Borland C++ Builder is a Rapid Application Design environment that uses the C++ language, but includes the same GUI IDE as Borland Delphi. It includes the Delphi compiler and can make use of Delphi code in C++ projects. Borland C++ Builder replaces Borland C++ product. This product was targeted at business and enterprise customers. Current supported versions are sold by Embarcadero Technologies.

• 1.x
• 5.x
• 6.x

Adobe Acrobat (1993) 59 Publishing MacOS Windows Unix

Adobe Acrobat, first released in 1993, is a tool for creating portable electronic documents. Its documents retain complex formatting when used across differing systems, so that they appear identical when viewed on screen or printed to a printer. Acrobat accomplishes this by encapsulating Adobe's PostSript printer language in to a document file format and offering the ability to embed fonts that are not present on the target system.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x
• 5.x
• 6.x

Microsoft C/C++ (1983) 58 DOS Windows OS2

This is the original standalone Microsoft C/C++ compiler for DOS and Windows - Later versions were rebranded and renumbered as Microsoft Visual C++ and were bundled with Visual Studio or the SDKs.

• 6.x

Microsoft SQL Server (1989) 58 Windows OS2

A database server from Microsoft. It was originally based on Sybase SQL Server, and the first versions were for OS/2. It was available as a standalone product and also as a part of Microsoft BackOffice Server.

• 4.x
• 6.0
• 6.5
• 2000
• 9.x

Encarta (1993) 55 Reference Windows MacOS

Microsoft Encarta was a home oriented interactive encyclopedia that was often sold with new OEM machines. Unlike a paper encyclopedia, Encarta took full advantage of being on a computer, with updates from the Internet, sound clips and movies, interactive charts and games, and good navigation.

• 1994
• 1995
• 1996
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999

PC Tools (1985) 55 Utility Windows

PC Tools, from Central Point Software, is a system and disk utility suite similar to the Norton Utilities. Central Point also produced a similar set of tools for the Apple Macintosh known as MacTools. Central Point Backup, bundled as part of PC-Tools, was also offered as a standalone product.

• 2.0 for Windows

QuickBasic (1985) 54 MacOS

Microsoft QuickBasic, not to be confused with the lesser QBasic, was a Basic interpreter and compiler product loosely based on GW-Basic. Version 2.0 for DOS and later included an Integrated Development Environment. Microsoft also produced QuickPascal and QuickC with similar integrated environments.

• 1.0x for Mac

Microsoft BASIC (1981) 53 MacOS

Although Microsoft did not invent BASIC, their founding product was a BASIC interpreter for the Altair computer. The descendants below includes Microsoft's BASIC-80 (MBASIC), BASIC-86 (pre-GWBasic), BASIC for Mac, BASIC Compiler 86/88, Basic Compiler for Mac, and Professional Development System 7.x. IBM Personal Computer Basic Compiler, GW-BASIC, QuickBasic, and Visual Basic are listed separately.

• 1.0 for Mac
• 2.0 for Mac
• 3.0 for Mac
• Compiler 1.0 for Mac

Norton Desktop (1991) 52 Utility Windows

Norton Desktop is a powerful desktop shell and file manager bundled with many additional tools. There are versions for both DOS and Microsoft Windows.

• 1.0 for Windows
• 2.0 for Windows
• 2.2 for Windows
• 3.0 for Windows

PartitionMagic (1995) 50 Utility DOS Windows

A tool from PowerQuest, and later Symantec, that enables manipulation of partitions through its own bootable media. PartitionMagic can shrink, grow, or move partitions without the need to backup and restore files in that partition. It supported a variety of file systems, and the core DOS-based parition tool fit on a bootable 1.44mb floppy disk. It was extremely popular, and made installing or removing multiple OSes much easier.

• 2.x
• 5.x
• 6.0
• 7.x

Visio (1992) 50 Graphics Windows

Visio is a flow-chart diagramming program for Microsoft Windows originally from Shapeware/Visio Corp. Visio was specifically designed as a flow charting tool rather than a generic drawing tool. It featured easy to use drag-and-drop diagram creation, and shipped with a wide variety of stencils. In 2000 Visio Corp was acquired by Microsoft. It competed with Aldus Intellidraw and Micrografx Snapgraphics and Meta Software's MetaDesign.

• 1.0
• 2.0
• 3.0
• 4.0
• 5.0
• 2000

Microsoft Entertainment Pack (1990) 50 Windows

The Microsoft Entertainment pack was a collection of 16 bit games designed for Windows 3.x. These games were developed in house by Microsoft to show the gaming ability of Windows at a time when most games were being produced strictly for DOS. The first release was in 1990 with the first pack, and the last 16 bit version released was The Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack in 1995.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Best of

Microsoft Project (1984) 49 Planning Windows MacOS

Microsoft Project is a project management chart and gantt chart generator. It is a Microsoft Office family member, and built on the Office code, although it has never shipped with any Office suite.

• 1.0
• 3.0
• 4.0
• 95
• 98
• 2000

FORTRAN PowerStation (1993) 49 DOS Windows

Microsoft FORTRAN Powerstation was a rebranding of Microsoft's earlier Microsoft Fortran product. It featured support for 32-bit DOS and Microsoft Windows.

• 1.x
• 4.x

Microsoft Mouse (1984) 49 DOS Windows OS2

These are drivers provided by Microsoft for the Microsoft BusPort, serial, and PS/2 mice. Introduced in 1983, The Microsoft Mouse is historically important as it was one of Microsoft's earliest hardware products (The other being an Apple II Z-80 CP/M card). The first Mouse for the IBM PC was actually from Mouse Systems, not Microsoft. However, most clone mice emulated Microsoft's serial protocol and DOS driver software interface. The first application designed to make full use of the mouse was Microsoft Word for DOS, and they hyped a product called "Microsoft Windows" (not released until several years later) that was to compete against the upcoming Apple Macintosh and the Mouse Systems based Viscorp Visi On.

• 7.x
• 8.x
• 9.x
• 11.x

The Print Shop (1984) 48 Publishing MacOS Windows

The Print Shop is a home oriented publisher capable of creating calendars, banners, greeting cards and other printable goods. It started off on the Apple II and Commodore 64 where it became popular for its simplicity and ease of use. From day one, it featured interactive editing, on-screen artwork/layout selection, print previewing, and a library of customizable clipart.

• 1.x (Mac)
• Deluxe (Win)
• Deluxe 1.x (Mac)
• Deluxe 2.0 (Win)
• Deluxe III
• Premier 5.x (Win)
• Deluxe 6.0 (Win)
• Ensemble III
• 2002 (Mac)

Microsoft 3D Movie Maker (1994) 48 Windows

3D Movie Maker (often abbreviated as 3DMM) is a program created by Microsoft's "Microsoft Kids" subsidiary in 1995. Using this program, users are able to place 3D characters into pre-made environments, add actions, sound effects, music, text, speech, and special effects then show these movies off to friends, family, and the world. These are saved in the .3mm format.

• 1.0

QuarkXPress (1986) 46 Publishing MacOS Windows

QuarkXPress was THE standard publishing software during the 1990s. However it failed to update its product line to newer technologies in a timely manager, charged insane amounts for updates or additional features that should have been built in to the software, and became very abusive to their customers. Later versions required a parallel port/ADB copy protection dongle. They lost most of their market share to Adobe InDesign.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 4.0

Microsoft FrontPage (1995) 44 Publishing Windows

Microsoft FrontPage is a WYSIWYG HTML editor/Cuisinart for Microsoft Windows.

• 1.0
• 1.1
• 97 (v2)
• 98 (v3)

ArcView GIS (1996) 44 Graphics Other Database Windows

ArcView, from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. is a geographical information system program for Win9x/NT.

• 3.0
• 3.3

Clipper (1990) 41 DOS Windows

Clipper, from Nantucket Corp and later Computer Associates, started out as a native code compiler for dBase III databases, and later evolved in to a full fledge database language and application development environment.

• 5.x