Lotus 1-2-3 (1983) 59 Spreadsheet DOS

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.

• 1.x (DOS)
• 1A (PCJr Cart)
• 2.x (DOS)
• 3.x (DOS)
• Add-ins
• 4.x (DOS)

Instant Artist / Print Artist (1992) 28 Graphics Publishing Novelty DOS

Instant Artist, later renamed to Print Artist, is a greeting card and sign creation program that uses vectorized graphics. It was created by The Pixellite Group, the original authors of The Print Shop, and published in 1992 by Autodesk. It was later sold by Sierra On-line. It features a high quality set of generic reusable clip art. The clip art uses vector based technology that was also used in BannerMania.

• 1.0 (DOS)

Microsoft Works (1986) 22 Word Processor Spreadsheet Communications Database DOS

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 (DOS)
• 2.x (DOS)
• 3.x (DOS)

Harvard Graphics (1986) 17 Graphics DOS

Harvard Graphics, from Software Publishing Corporation and initially called Harvard Presentation Graphics, is a graphing/plotting/presentation creation application for DOS. It was extremely popular in the late 1980s. At release, it competed against many graphing products such as PFS:Graph (AKA IBM Graphing Assistant ), Microsoft Chart, ChartMaster, and Cricket Graph, just to name a small few. A Windows port was released in 1991, but it lost out to Microsoft Powerpoint.

• A.00
• A.01
• 2.x
• 3.x

Dr Halo (1985) 10 Graphics DOS

Dr Halo, by Media Cybernetics, is a DOS based image editor. It was sometimes distributed as a value-added tool with mice or video cards. Its image editing capabilities were fairly weak, and its main strength came from its adaptability to new hardware, positioning it mainly as an entry-level product provided with new hardware.

• II
• III
• IV

Turbo Pascal Toolbox (1985) 9 DOS CPM

The Borland Turbo Pascal Toolbox consists of several sets of sample source code for different purposes. They are designed for use in conjunction with the Turbo Pascal Compiler product. The sets include Turbo Graphix Toobox, Turbo Database Toolbox, Turbo GameWorks Tooolbox (new in 1986 with TP 3), and Turbo Editor Toolbox (new in 1986 with TP 3). Also see the Turbo Pascal Tutor.

• 1.x
• 4.0

Autodesk AutoCAD (1984) 8 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)
• r10 (DOS)
• r11 (DOS)

3D Studio (1992) 7 Graphics DOS

3D Studio, not to be confused with the later "3d Studio Max" product, is a DOS-based tool from Autodesk for creating 3d models and animations.

• 2.0
• 3.0
• 4.x

Multiplan (1983) 7 Spreadsheet DOS OS2

Microsoft Multiplan was an early 8-bit spreadsheet application for CP/M and MS-DOS with ports to numerous other platforms in the early 80s. Initially it competed against VisiCalc and later Lotus 1-2-3. A companion product, Microsoft Chart, provided graphing support. Multiplan was never ported to Windows, where it was replaced with Microsoft Excel. Excel also replaced Multiplan on the Macintosh platform.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x

BannerMania (1989) 7 Graphics Publishing DOS

Banner Mania is a banner making program for IBM PC compatible computers, enabling the user to create banners, posters, signs and logos. It can create and print multi-page banners, with 19 different fonts and effects in 16 colors.

• 1.0

Expert Paint 'n Print (1990) 7 Graphics DOS

Paint and Print, from Expert Software, is a budget drawing program for DOS.

• 1990
• 1992

Quattro Pro (1987) 6 Spreadsheet DOS Windows

Quattro Pro, initially just named "Quattro", is a spreadsheet application from Borland International. It competed against Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel, and had several advantages including tabbed sheets, and the ability to handle up to a million rows. Quattro Pro was the subject a lawsuit by Lotus, simply because because Quattro Pro copied their menu user interface, but Lotus claimed this was not allowed. This also affected The Twin and VP-Planner.

• 1.0
• Pro 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• SE 1.0
• 4.x (DOS)
• 5.x
• 5.6 (DOS)

DeluxePaint (1988) 6 Graphics DOS

DeluxePaint, from Electronic Arts, is a bitmap pixel graphics editor that was ported to DOS from the Amiga.

• 1.x
• 2.x

PFS First Choice (1987) 6 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Database DOS

PFS First Choice is a simple, easy to use integrated office suite marketed towards new users. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, graphics, database, and telecommunications. First Choice is similar to, but not as feature rich as, the standalone PFS office products. It competed against AlphaWorks/LotusWorks and Microsoft Works.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x

KeyCAD Complete (1993) 6 Graphics DOS

KeyCad Complete, from Softkey, is a low-end computer aided design and drawing tool.

• 6.0 (DOS)
• 1.0 for Windows

Framework (1984) 5 Word Processor Spreadsheet Graphics Communications Database DOS

Originally created by Forefront Corporation for Ashton-Tate and first released in 1984, Framework was an early integrated office suite for DOS. It has a built in word processor, spreadsheet, database, outliner, graphing, and telecommunications.

• 1.0
• Premier 1.x
• II
• III
• XE
• IV

Swift Paint (1988) 4 Graphics DOS

Swift Paint, from COSMI, is a very, very low end budget drawing program for both the IBM PC and C64.

• 1.1
• 3.0

Oracle Server (1991) 3 Server Database DOS

Oracle Server is an enterprise grade relational database used in many corporations. It was mainly targeted at high end server operating systems, such as IBM AIX, Sun Solaris, HP UX, Digital VMS, Linux, and Microsoft Windows NT. Oracle makes current versions of their software avaialble for download, but older versions usually disappear.

• 6

Microsoft Paintbrush (1987) 3 Graphics DOS

Microsoft Paintbrush is Microsoft's OEM version of Zsoft PC/Publisher's Paintbrush for MS-DOS. It was commonly bundled with Microsoft mice in the late 80s and early 90s.

• 2.0
• 4.0

PC Paint (1984) 3 Graphics DOS

PC Paint, from Mouse Systems Corporation, is a Macintosh MacPaint-like paint program for the PC. It was often bundled with Mouse Systems mice. Despite the similar sounding name and appearance, it is NOT related to Microsoft/ZSoft PC Paintbrush.

• 1.00A
• 2.x

Ability (1985) 3 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
• Plus 2.0

PaintShow Plus (1987) 3 Graphics DOS

Logetech's PaintShow Plus is a DOS based bit-mapped drawing program bundled with Logitech mice. Like ZSoft PC Paintbrush, Microsoft PC Paintbrush, and Mouse Systems PC Paint, PaintShow Plus clones the MacPaint user interface.

• 1.x
• 2.x

Expert Office Design (1992) 3 Graphics DOS

Expert Office Design is a simple 2d floor layout program with office-oriented elements. It is one of a series of similar budget "design" titles published by Expert Software from RiverSoft. Design, and Expert Home Design.

• 1992

Expert Home Design (1992) 3 Graphics DOS

Expert Home Design is a simple 2d layout program with home interior-oriented elements. It is one of a series of similar budget "design" titles published by Expert Software from RiverSoft.

• 1992

EasyCAD (1987) 3 Graphics Engineering DOS

EasyCAD is an easy to use, low cost, 2D CAD program targeted at casual CAD users. EasyCAD features wide range of drawing commands, and a sophisticated programming language similar to AutoCAD's AutoLISP. EasyCAD competed against other low coast 2D programs such as Autodesk AutoSketch. with many more features, but similar appearance to EasyCAD.

• 1.x