4 Point Graphics (1983) 0 Graphics DOS

First released in 1983 by IMSI (International Microcomputer Software, Inc), 4 Point Graphics was one of the earliest drawing and animation programs for the IBM PC. It competed against a drawing program called PC Crayon.

• 1.x

8086 Forth 83 (1984) 3 DOS

This is an implementation of the Forth 83 programming language for 8088/8086 computers running DOS. Forth contains many unique features and paradigms not found in modern languages.

• 2.1.0

86-DOS (1981) 25 DOS

86-DOS is a "quick and dirty" operating system clone of CP/M created by Seattle Computer Products for their 8086 S-100 systems. It was later bought by Microsoft and used as the basis for IBM PC-DOS and MS-DOS

• 1.00

Ability (1985) 7 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Communications Database DOS

Originally released in 1984 by the Canadian company Xanaro that went bankrupt, and then by Migent, Ability is an integrated office suite for DOS that includes word processor, spreadsheet, database, telecommunications, business graphing, presentation graphics capabilities, and built in file management. It features good integration between the different components, with the ability to import, share, and dynamically update data between them. It was advertised as a very easy to use and a quick to learn system.

• 1.0
• Demo
• 1.2
• Plus 1.0

ACT! (1987) 5 PIM DOS

ACT!, or "Activity Control Technology", originally from Conductor Software, and later Contact Software and then Symantec, is an easy to use business relationship management system targeted at traveling sales professionals. It can track things like billable time and expenses.

• 1.10 (DOS)

AdvanceLink (1987) 1 Communications DOS

AdvanceLink is a terminal emulator that integrates with the HP NewWave desktop. It has built in scripting tools and features specifically for communicating with HP 3000, HP 9000, and HP 1000 hosts. It can emulate HP 2392A, HP 700/94, HP 700/92, HP ANSI, and DEC VT100 terminals. It appears a lesser version of this product was bundled with early Vectra computers under the generic name of "HP Terminal Program"

• for DOS

Alpine Tram Ride (1987) 1 DOS

Alpine Tram Ride, from Learning Technologies Inc, is a children's educational game for the IBM PC. Given a tram ride full of animals, the player must guess which animal is in which car.

• 1.x (IBM PC)

Arborist Decision Tree Analysis (1985) 1 Database DOS

Arborist(TM) Decision Tree software, from Texas Instruments/Integral Quality, is a general purpose tool for decision analysis. It features a graphic user interface for decision tree construction, decision tree evaluation, and decision tree analysis. Arborist Decision Tree software is not complicated to use, and it is not restricted to an area of decision problem analysis. Its ease of use makes it convenient and effective to analyze many problems that previously were not cost effective to analyze.

• 1.x

Arity Prolog Compiler (1986) 6 DOS

The Arity Prolog Compiler is an implementation of the Prolog language. It features a compiler that creates high speed executables in addition to an interpreter. It competed against the less expensive Borland Turbo Prolog.

• 4.x

AST SuperPak (1983) 7 DOS

The AST SuperPak is a set of drivers intended for use with AST's SixPackPlus and RAMpage memory cards. It includes clock, ram disk, disk caching, and print spooler software.

• 4.x
• 5.x
• 6.x

Autodesk AutoCAD (1984) 22 Graphics Engineering DOS

AutoCAD, from Autodesk and first released in 1982, is a powerful Computer Aided Design tool. It was, and still is, often considered the standard for CAD tools. Primarily for the IBM PC platform, it was ported to x86 machines with higher video resolutions such as the Zenith Z-100 and NEC APC. Intermittently, versions for the Macintosh appeared. Later versions use a dongle copy protection.

• 1.x (DOS)
• 2.x (DOS)

Automenu (1987) 1 Utility DOS

Automenu is a sophisticated commercial menuing system that lets you control your computer using custom menus, rather than using DOS commands. It features small, compact memory usage and built in help.

• 4.x

AutoSketch (1987) 17 Graphics DOS

AutoSketch is a 2D vector program sold by Autodesk. Unlike artistic drawing programs, AutoSketch is specifically geared towards engineering applications. Although not as powerful as AutoCAD, it can work with 2D AutoCAD files. Autodesk also produced AutoCAD LT, a higher end 2-D drawing program. But unlike AutoSketch, AutoCAD LT was based directly on AutoCAD and worked similarly.

• 1.x (DOS)

Award Maker Plus (1987) 1 Publishing DOS

AwardMaker, from Baudville, Inc., is a tool for printing nice looking awards and certificates on a dot-matrix printer from a set of about 200 templates. It lacks any print preview, so you must have the manual to know what the templates look like. This is almost identical to Springboard Certificate Maker, however it contains a different set of templates and graphics.

• 1

Back-It (1986) 1 Utility DOS

Back-It, from Gazelle Systems, is a fast and compact hard disk backup utility. It was sometimes part of OEM system bundles. It was kind of low-end, and changed backup formats between releases but otherwise did what it was supposed to do.

• 2.x
• 3.x

Bank Street Writer (1984) 5 Word Processor DOS

Bank Street Writer is an easy to use word processor intended for beginners and educational use. It was very popular on the Apple II, but also had ports for Atari, Commodore 64, MSX, Macintosh, IBM PC, and IBM PCjr.

• IBM PC
• Plus

BASIC Development Tools (1987) 7 DOS

This is a development library, from Sterling Castle, Inc., for BASIC that includes a screen builder for developing entry forms, a data manager database, a window manager that provides windowing functions, and a help message system.

• 3.1

BBS-PC (1987) 2 Communications DOS

BBS-PC! is an early computerized bulletin board system for IBM PCs. It also has versions for the Amiga. It featured customizability, message boards, and multiple file sections.

• 4.x

Better Working Communicator (1987) 0 Communications DOS

Better Working Communicator, from Spinnaker Software, is an entry level telecommunications program sold alongside their "Better Working" series of applications, and included as part of "Better Working Eight-In-One". Better Working Communicator supports Macros, auto-dialing, split-screen, XModem file transfers, logging, and printing.

• 1.x

Boeing Calc (1986) 1 Spreadsheet DOS

Boeing Calc was a spreadsheet package written by Boeing Computer Services, an independent subsidiary of aviation manufacturer Boeing. It had originally been developed as an in-house accounting tool, but was launched as a commercial product in April 1985 for IBM 4300 mainframes running IBM MVS and IBM PC microcomputers running MS-DOS. Boeing Calc was notable for introducing the concept of 3D spreadsheets. Often Boeing Graph was sold alongside Boeing Calc.

• 3.00E

Boeing Graph (1987) 4 Presentations Graphics DOS

Boeing Graph is a graphing program for the IBM PC that specializes in producing high quality 3D plotted graphs. It was sold as a companion product to Boeing Calc.

• 2.00

Bookshelf (1987) 19 Reference DOS

Microsoft Bookshelf is a CD-ROM based multimedia reference tool from Microsoft, including a dictionary, thesaurus, quotations, atlas, and other types of references. Some versions were included and integrated with Microsoft Office, albeit sometimes stripped down.

• 87

Borland Reflex (1985) 7 Database DOS

Borland Reflex, first released in 1984 by Analytica and bought by Borland, is a flat file database system with a fully graphical user interface and built in graphing. The Macintosh version of Borland Reflex]was based on the Macintosh database product Interlace from Singular Software.

• 1.x

Borland Turbo Basic (1987) 18 DOS

Turbo BASIC is a version of Basic sold by Borland. It features an IDE similar to later Turbo Pascal/C products. After Borland stopped selling it, it was purchased back by the original author and continued under the name PowerBASIC. Borland also released a set of Turbo Basic Toolboxes

• 1.x

Borland Turbo C (1987) 33 DOS

Turbo C is an Integrated Development Environment and compiler for the C programming language from Borland. First introduced in 1987, it was noted for its integrated development environment, small size, fast compile speed, comprehensive manuals and low price. After 2.0 it this product was replaced with Borland Turbo C++. It competed against, Microsoft Quick C and was generally considered faster and more successful.

• 1.x