Inferno (1996) 2 Other

Inferno is a distributed operating system started at Bell Labs. Inferno is a descendant of Plan 9, and shares many design concepts and even source code in the kernel.

• Beta

Internet Explorer (1995) 159 Web Browser Windows Unix MacOS 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.

• 4
• 5

IRIX (1998) 24 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.

• 6.5
• 6.5.9
• Patches
• 6.5.21
• 6.5.22

LANtastic (1990) 4 OS2

Lantastic is an easy to use, low cost networking system targeted at small networks and home users. It was very popular and highly rated in the early 1990s. Unlike most LAN networking software of the time, Lantastic required only installation and minimal, straightforward, configuration. Lantastic gives users the ability to share printers and files on a hard drive or CD-ROM. It is considered a "peer-to-peer" network, as there is no need for a dedicated server. Any computer may be configured as a server as well as a client. Lantastic was also very memory efficient, using minimal DOS memory in both workstation and sever modes, enabling users to run most popular DOS applications while Lantastic was running. Lantastic supported Ethernet, ARCNET and Token Ring networks. Artisoft also sold networking kits that included both network adapters and the Lantastic software. Lantastic was avaialble for DOS, Windows, and OS/2. At the time it competed against Novell Netware Lite, and many other small LAN oriented products.

• 1.x for OS/2

Lighthouse Design Ltd Productivity Applications for NEXTSTEP and OpenStep (1995) 0 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Graphics Publishing Communications Other Database Mathematics Other

Lighthouse Design Ltd Productivity Applications is an application suite of programs for NeXT computers.

• MAY 1995

Lindows (2002) 64 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

LinkRight (1994) 0 Communications DOS OS2

LinkRight is a serial/parallel port file transfer utility for OS/2, and includes a DOS version. The included LinkRight Cloner tool copies a complete OS/2 partition including boot information. It is similar to LapLink, and can use a "LapLink" parallel cable.

• 1.x

Linux Kernel (1991) 1 Linux

Linux, originally created by the Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds, is a Unix-like operating system loosely inspired by Minix. The pivotal difference, however, was how it was licensed. Unlike Unix operating systems that remained expensive and proprietary, Linux and its source code were licensed for free distribution, with the provision that all changes or additions to the source code must also be released for free.

• 0.x

Lotus 1-2-3 (1983) 75 Spreadsheet OS2

Lotus 1-2-3 was an early spreadsheet application available for MS-DOS. It became extremely popular in the late 1980s, displacing the former leader VisiCalc. Lotus had difficulties adapting 1-2-3 to the Windows environment, and was overtaken by Microsoft Excel. Spreadsheet functionality was also included in Lotus Symphony. Later versions were included in Lotus SmartSuite.

• 2.x (OS/2)

Lotus Domino (1993) 0 Communications PIM Server OS2

Lotus Domino, originally called Lotus Notes Server, is the sever software used for Lotus Notes clients. Notes is a powerful e-mail and collaboration tool. It was heavily used by large corporations. Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino competed against Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange.

• 3.x

Lotus Improv (1991) 0 Spreadsheet Other

Improv is a spreadsheet program that attempted to re-imagine how one would create and interact with spreadsheets. It was first released in 1991 for NeXT computers, and for a time became one of the NeXT's "Killer Apps". In 1993 Lotus released Improv 2.0 for Microsoft Windows. It was not marketed as a direct replacement to Lotus 1-2-3, and 1-2-3 remained dominant until both were overtaken by Microsoft Excel.

• 1.0

Lotus SmartSuite (1992) 60 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

Mandrake Linux (1999) 6 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

MaynStream (1992) 0 Utility OS2

MaynStream is a high-end but minimalistic server backup program that only works with Maynard tape drives. There were versions for OS/2, Netware, Windows, and DOS.

• 1.x

McAfee VirusScan (1995) 14 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

MetaWare High C/C++ (1991) 6 OS2

MetaWare High C/C++ is a very robust cross platform compiler for DOS, Unix, OS/2, Windows, and Windows 32. Originally a C compiler targeting CP/M and DOS, 'Metaware High C/C++ was later extended to support OS/2 and the 80386 architecture. After the failure of Metaware it was taken over by MQX Embedded who re-targeted it at the embedded market. MQX Embedded is now Synopsys and the product is now referred as Synopsys Metaware Compiler with no OS/2 version.

• 3.2x

Microsoft Excel (1985) 36 Spreadsheet Windows OS2 MacOS

Excel, from Microsoft, is a powerful spreadsheet application for Mac, Windows, and OS/2. Excel was first released for the Mac. When it was ported to Windows 2.x, they started at version "2.0" to one up current Mac version. There was never a DOS version. Instead, DOS and 8-bit platforms used the older Microsoft Multiplan. Excel was later bundled as part of Microsoft Office

• 3.x

Microsoft Mouse (1984) 59 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.

• 8.x

Microsoft Source Profiler (1991) 4 DOS OS2

Microsoft Source Profiler is an application speed analysis tool for use with Microsoft language products. Version 1.x supports both DOS and OS/2.

• 1.x

Microsoft SQL Server (1989) 56 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

Mozilla (2002) 2 Web Browser Windows Linux Mac OS X

Mozilla is an open source web browser based on a rewrite of the Netscape web browser. Netscape Communications Corporation released the source code in 1998 with the intent that it would be used as the core of next Netscape browser. Shortly after the release, Netscape Communications Corporation was acquired by AOL. Mozilla was used for the basis of Netscape 6.x and 7.x. Mozilla (later codenamed SeaMonkey) was eventually reworked and became Firefox.

• 1.x

Netscape (1994) 44 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

NetWare (1989) 32 Other

Novel NetWare was an early and powerful network/file sharing operating system. It was first released in 1983 and supported DOS and CP/M clients and was initially unique in that it shared individual files rather than entire disk volumes. Initially servers ran on a proprietary Motorola 68000 system but quickly changed to IBM PC where it supported a very wide variety of third party hardware. It used a cooperative tasking server environment and had some advanced features usually only found in mainframe products.

• 4.x
• 5.x
• 6.x

NeXTStep (1987) 26 Unix

NeXTSTEP, from NeXT Computers headed by Steve Jobs, is a Unix based operating system designed to run on m68K NeXT workstations. It later became the basis for OS X, with APIs and concepts preserved today.

• 3.x
• 4.x

Norton Commander (1986) 120 Utility OS2

Norton Commander is a MS-DOS based file shell that was widely popular due to it's two column design. You could easily copy and move files between one folder or another, execute DOS commands and more. It competed against many other file managers including Gazelle Q-DOS and Xtree

• 1.x (OS2)