Ability (1985) 1 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Communications Database Windows

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.

• 1.5 for Windows

AdvanceLink (1987) 1 Communications Windows

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 Windows

America Online (1992) 3 Web Browser Chat DOS Windows

America Online was a proprietary dial-up online service that eventually grew to offerer Internet access. In the mid 1990s AOL was very heavily promoted. Every month or two, you were sure to get a free AOL floppy disk or CD-ROM in the mail. AOL originated as PC-Link.

• 1.x
• 2.x

BeyondMail (1993) 0 Communications Windows

BeyondMail is a mail program for Microsoft Windows that features the ability to create and use e-mail forms against databases, and rule-building for workflow applications. It bundles a message server handler for small workgroups.

• 2.0

BitFax (1992) 0 Communications Windows

BitFax is a basic fax program, used with compatible FaxModems. It was available for both DOS and Windows. BitFax/OCR includes optical character recognition used in conjunction with receiving fax documents.

• 2.x (Win)

BitWare (1995) 4 Communications Windows

BitWare, from Cheyenne, is a Fax program for Windows that was often bundled with modems. It also includes the BitCom terminal program. It competed against Delrina Winfax and FaxWorks.

• 3.x

COMit (1994) 2 Communications DOS Windows

COMit is a small, lightweight, and easy to use telecommunications terminal emulator for MS-DOS systems. OEMs commonly bundled it with modem hardware.

• 1.x

CommWorks (1993) 4 Communications Windows

Produced by Traveling Software, the authors of LapLink, CommWorks is a suite of communications applications including CommWorks Control Center, TS Fax, TS OnLine, and Laplink.

• 1993

CompuServe Information Manager (1989) 3 Communications Windows

CompuServe Information Manager is the client software used for accessing the CompuServe service.

• 1.x (Win)
• 2.x (Win)

Eudora Pro (1995) 0 Communications Windows

Eudora Pro, originally developed at the University of Illinois, was a very popular commercial POP 3/SMTP internet e-mail client for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh. Qualcomm also produced a free, less featured version called Eudora Light.

• 2.x

ExpressFax (1994) 0 Communications Windows

ExpressFax is a program, from the makers of WordPerfect, designed to send and receive faxes. It includes a phone book and optical character recognition.

• 3.0

FAXability (1993) 0 Communications Windows

Intel FAXability is a program for sending and receiving FAXes under Windows with compatible fax modems. It offers cover sheets, an address book, sheduling, and OCR. It came in two variates, FAXability and FAXability/OCR.

• 2.0

FaxWorks (1993) 0 Communications Windows

FaxWorks Pro, from Softnet of Marietta GA, is an efficent and user friendly fax program. It includes OCR with support for Twain scanners, and can exchange data with various Personal Infromation Managers. Many OEMs bundled FaxWorks with their modems. It competed against Delrina Winfax and BitWare.

• 3.x

Internet Explorer (1995) 92 Web Browser Windows MacOS

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.

• 1
• 2

Lotus Notes (1993) 0 Communications PIM Windows

Lotus Notes is a powerful e-mail and collaboration tool. It was heavily used by large corporations. It was sometimes criticized for its complexity and bloat. Notes is a client server tool, and uses the Lotus Domino server (originally just called Lotus Notes server). Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino competed against Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange.

• 3.x

MacComCenter (1995) 0 Communications MacOS

MacComCenter is a telecommunication program for the Apple Macintosh that includes a terminal emulator and Fax manager. MacComCenter was bundled with modems, sometimes accompanied by Smith Micro's IBM PC communication suite, Quicklink.

• 1.x

Microsoft Mail (1991) 3 Communications MacOS Windows

There were two distinct "Microsoft Mail" products. One for AppleTalk Networks, and one for PC Networks.

• 3.1
• 3.5

Microsoft Phone (1995) 0 Communications Windows

Microsoft Phone is a telephony program for Microsoft Windows. It enables your desktop PC to act as an answering machine or dialer and receive faxes. Microsoft Phone includes Microsoft Voice, which lets you control Windows using audio voice commands.

• 1.0

Microsoft Works (1986) 41 Word Processor Spreadsheet Communications Database Windows MacOS

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.

• 2.x (Win)
• 3.x (Mac)
• 3.x (Win)
• 4.0

MultiExpress Data and Fax (1995) 0 Communications Windows

MultiExpress Data and Fax 3.0 is one of a number of packages in the MultiExpress product series. This package includes MutliExpressFAX, a tool for receiving and sending FAXes, and MultiExpress Terminal, a terminal program for connecting to BBSes or mainframes.

• 3.0

NCSA Mosaic (1993) 1 Web Browser Windows

First released in 1993, NCSA Mosaic was the first really popular web browser. Unlike the original browser, WorldWideWeb on NeXT, Mosaic was available for the Microsoft Windows platform and added features such as inline graphics viewing. It was developed by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. NCSA Mosaic was distributed freely for non commercial use, but required a license for commercial business use. It was licensed by a number of third party OEMs, including Microsoft, who used it for the basis of Microsoft Internet Explorer. In 1995, its popularly quickly gave way to Netscape Navigator.

• 1

NetManage Chameleon (1993) 14 Communications Windows

NetManage Chameleon is a small and efficient TCP/IP networking stack and utility suite for Microsoft Windows. It includes an FTP client, Telnet client, E-mail client, and an NFS system for interoperation with Unix networks. Other GUI utilities include Bind, Finger, Ping, TFTP, FTP Server a TN3270 terminal emulator, Whois, and SNMP. Earlier versions ran on Windows 3.0 and 3.1.

• 3.x
• 4.x

Netscape (1994) 31 Web Browser Windows Unix MacOS

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.

• 0.x
• 1.x
• 2.x

Oracle Office (1993) 2 Communications Windows

Oracle Office 2.0 is a groupware solution from Oracle, similar to Lotus Notes or WordPerfect Office (Groupware), but uses Oracle's database as a backend and includes database functionality in addition to document processing. It featured the ability to connect thousands of users at once. This software later became "Oracle Documents".

• 2.0

PATHWORKS (1994) 5 Web Browser Communications Windows

PATHWORKS is a network client suite that enables PCs to communicate with VMS and Ultrix systems from Digital Equipment Corporation.

• 1.0 for Win95