Internet Explorer (1995) 366 Web Browser Windows MacOS Unix Mac OS X

Microsoft Internet Explorer is a web browser application created by Microsoft primarily for Microsoft Windows. It was initially based on Spyglass Mosaic. At various points, Internet Explorer was also available for MacOS, Solaris, and HP-UX.

• 2
• 4
• 5

Firefox (2005) 8 Web Browser Windows Linux Mac OS X

Firefox is a web browser based on the open source Mozilla web browser. It was intended to be lighter weight and faster than Mozilla, separating the e-mail client in to the new Thunderbird product. At release, it implemented better support for web standards than Microsoft Internet Explorer. Firefox included features such as tabbed browsing and support for add-ons.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x

Microsoft Works (1986) 159 Word Processor Spreadsheet Communications Database MacOS Windows

Microsoft Works was an all-in-one scaled-down Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Database geared towards the home user. It was released in variants for early DOS, Windows, and Macintosh. Microsoft Works competed against Lotus Jazz, FrameWork, AlphaWorks/LotusWorks, PFS First Choice, and many others.

• 1.x (Mac)
• 3.x (Mac)
• 4.0

Virtual PC (1996) 43 Virtualization MacOS Windows OS2 Mac OS X

Virtual PC started off originally as an x86 emulator for PowerPC Macintosh to run MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. Connectix, the company that made it, was purchased by Microsoft. Virtual PC was then retooled into a virtualization tool for x86 systems. Microsoft discontinued Virtual PC in favor of a server-oriented virtualization product called Hyper-V.

• 1.x (Mac)
• 2.x (Mac)
• 3.x (Mac)
• 4.x
• 5.x
• 6.x
• 7.x

Thunderbird (2005) 5 Communications Windows Linux Mac OS X

Thunderbird is an e-mail client based on the integrated Netscape/Mozilla e-mail client. With the release Firefox, it was spun off in to a separate standalone product. It includes the same HTML rendering engine used in Firefox to render HTML formatted messages.

• 1.x
• 2.x

Lindows (2002) 31 Linux

Lindows, later Linspire, was an attempt similar to Corel Linux to put desktop Linux in the hands of the consumer. With a customized KDE 3.x desktop, custom applications borderline cloning the Apple iLife suite, and a primitive "app store," it was intended to be easy to use and fully functional out of the box.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.0.x
• 4.5.x
• 5.x

Xandros Linux (2003) 10 Linux

Xandros Linux is a proprietary variant of Linux that sprung up out of the proprietary Corel Linux after they sold off their Linux business.

• 2.x
• 3.x

Microsoft SQL Server (1989) 62 OS2 Windows

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.

• 1.x
• 4.x

Ubuntu (2004) 3 Linux

Ubuntu is a distribution based on Debian Linux that includes many common application programs. For a time it was considered relatively easy to use and set up compared to other distributions.

• 4.10

Watcom C/C++ (1989) 35 DOS OS2 Windows

The Watcom C/C++ is a powerful compiler for DOS, Windows, and OS/2. Its key selling point was superior cross platform support. It supported DOS, extended DOS 32-bit, Win16, Win32, and OS/2. Notably, it was used to produce the video game DOOM as a 32-bit DOS extended program.

• 8.5
• 9.0
• 10.0

Mac OS X (1997) 227 MacOS

MacOS X was Apple's replacement for their classic MacOS. MacOS X is based on NeXTSTEP, a Unix-based OS. The first consumer release also featured a new user interface appearance called "Aqua". | 1.x-6.x | 7.x | 8.x | 9.x | MacOS X | All |

• Rhapsody
• Developer Previews
• Server 1.0
• 10.0
• 10.1
• 10.2

IRIX (1998) 33 Unix

IRIX was a operating system created by SGI (Silicon Graphics Inc) that was based off of System V Unix. In addition, this OS had additional BSD elements. It's initial release was in 1988 and was designed to on MIPS processors. IRIX machines were typically used for visual effects in the entertainment industry and in the scientific community for several years after the fall of Amiga in the early 90s.

• 3.x
• 4.x
• 6.5
• 6.5.9
• Patches
• 6.5.21
• 6.5.22

Norton Anti-Virus (1990) 8 Utility MacOS

Originally written by Symantec and sold as Symantec Antivrus for Macintosh, it became part of the "Norton" branded products sold by Symantec after they acquired Peter Norton Computing. Norton Anti-Virus became a popular product on DOS, Windows, and Macintosh (SAM was renamed to NAV in 1998) and battled the then-new threat of malicious software. In 2015, Symantec unified their security product lineup under the single "Norton Security" product. It was also bundled with Norton SystemWorks.

• 6.x
• 7.x
• 8.x
• 9.x

After Dark (1989) 55 Novelty MacOS

After Dark, from Berkeley Systems, Inc, is a set of entertaining screen savers for Mac and Windows. After Dark for Windows started off as "Magic Screen Saver" for Windows 2.x. After Dark was most famous for its "Flying Toasters" screen saver. Afterdark was very popular on both the early Macintosh computers and Windows 3.0, as neither included any kind of screen saver or screen blanker that would help prevent screen burn-in.

• 1.0 for Macintosh
• 9

AppleWorks (1986) 3 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Graphics Communications Database MacOS Mac OS X

AppleWorks is an all-in-one Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Database, Graphics Editor, and Presentations tool. The original product was a text-based product for the Apple II. The Apple Macintosh and Windows versions were forked from ClarisWorks in 1998 by Apple. At the time, Apple was under a lot of pressure to have a direct alternative to Microsoft Office. There were serious concerns that Microsoft might pull Microsoft Office for the Macintosh from development.

• 5.x
• 6.x

Adobe Acrobat (1993) 60 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

Adobe Photoshop Elements (2001) 4 Graphics Windows MacOS

Adobe Photoshop Elements is the successor to Photoshop LE, a somewhat reduced, home-oriented version of Adobe Photoshop.

• 1.0
• 2.0

Adobe Acrobat Reader (1994) 16 Document DOS MacOS Windows OS2

Acrobat Reader is the free software from Adobe used to read, view, and print documents created by the commercial Adobe Acrobat product. Its primary strength is that documents appear and print identically across differing systems.

• 1.0
• 3.x

McAfee VirusScan (1995) 1 Utility DOS Windows OS2

McAfee VirusScan was a very popular and reliable virus scanner during the late 90s. Notably, they distributed a free shareware version of their product. VirusScan was often pre-loaded with OEM computers.

• 2.x
• 4.x

The Print Shop (1984) 64 Publishing MacOS

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 1.x (Mac)

Netscape (1994) 42 Web Browser Windows Unix MacOS OS2 Linux Other Mac OS X

Netscape Navigator/Communicator was the first commercial web browser, displacing the free NCSA Mosaic. 1.0 was first released in December 1994, and initially offered advanced features such as progressively rendering pages as they loaded. It quickly gained many other features and capabilities and became the most popular web browser in the mid 1990s. One reason for its popularity, it was licensed freely for personal and non-profit use, although companies were expected to pay for a license. It later competed with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari, and eventually was open sourced in to the Mozilla browser.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.0.x
• 4.0x
• 4.5x
• 6.x
• 7.x

Lotus SmartSuite (1992) 94 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations PIM Database OS2

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.

• For OS/2
• For OS2 Warp 4

StarOffice (1995) 35 Word Processor Windows OS2 Unix Linux

StarOffice, initially from Star Division GmbH is an office suite containing a word processor, spreadsheet, drawing program, and graphing program. It was later owned by Sun Microsystems and then Oracle, and spawned the open source OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Also see the earlier StarWriter

• 3.0
• 3.1
• 6.0

Mandrake Linux (1999) 10 Linux

Mandrake Linux was a highly polished and easy to use Linux distribution, originally based on Red Hat Linux with KDE. In 2005, Mandrake Linux became Mandriva.

• 6.5
• 7.0
• 9.0 PowerPack

Tru64 UNIX (1999) 7 Unix

Tru64, formerly Digital UNIX, formerly OSF/1 was DEC's UNIX product for their line of Alpha based systems. After DEC's acquisition by Compaq, it was renamed to Tru64. DEC previously had sold a BSD derivative named Ultrix for Vax and MIPS based systems. Their new UNIX on Alpha was meant to counter AT&T and Sun's SVR4 Unix. Tru64 / DIGITAL UNIX / OSF/1 is somewhat interesting in that it used portions of the Mach microkernel and BSD kernel and userland in a manner not entirely unlike NeXTSTEP or Mac OS X. Like OS X, Tru64 itself is not a microkernel system but uses Mach code in its kernel to implement threading and scheduling and possibly other features.

• 5.0
• 5.1B