SpinRite (1988) 13 Utility DOS

SpinRite, by Gibson Research, is a tool that can diagnose, repair, and rejuvenate the low-level formatting and optimize the interleave of MFM and RLL (ST412/506 interface) hard disk drives. Its pattern testing ability is also useful for verifying the operation of SCSI and IDE hard drives.

• 1.x
• II
• 3.x
• 4.x
• 5.0

Grammatik (1988) 0 Utility DOS

Grammatik is a standalone grammar checker, and was possibly the first grammar checker for personal computers. Later versions were built in to Word Perfect. It competed against RightWriter.

• II
• III
• IV

The Draw (1988) 0 Graphics DOS

The Draw was a popular shareware ANSI graphics and animation editor used to make graphics for BBSes and DOS programs.

• 3.x
• 4.x

DeluxePaint (1988) 4 Graphics DOS

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

• 1.x
• 2.x

Publish-IT (1988) 1 Publishing DOS

Publish-It! is a WYSIWYG desktop publishing tool originally created by the UK based GST Software for the TOS/GEM Atari ST system. There were versions for IBM PC/GEM, Apple II, Macintosh (as "Publish-It! Easy"), and later Microsoft Windows. desktop publishing tools, it is not a full word processor, but rather imports text and focuses on high-quality formatting and printing. budget title for home users. SoftKey also released a version branded as Key Publisher

• 1.x
• 2.0

MenuWorks (1988) 3 Utility DOS

Menu Works, from PC Dynamics, Inc, is a DOS based menu program that lets you boot your computer to a friendly menu of options rather than a confounding DOS prompt. It supports mice, features custom menu creation, sub menus, automatic scanning for known programs on your hard drive, on-line help, built in file management, and a built in file search function.

• 2.x
• Advanced 2.0

Direct Access (1988) 9 Utility DOS

Direct Access is an easy to use menuing program designed to simplify access to applications on systems with many programs loaded on the hard drive. It is customizable, includes screen blanking, and includes password protection and usage logging. Later versions also detect common programs already installed on the hard disk.

• 4.x
• 5.x

Artline (1988) 1 Graphics DOS

Atline, from Digital Research, is a vector based illustration program for use in desktop publishing. It is exclusively for the GEM desktop environment. Artline is intended for use alongside the GEM Desktop Publisher.

• 1.x
• 2.0

CheckIt (1988) 17 Utility DOS

CheckIt, from TouchStone Software Corporation, is a diagnostic tool for generic PC/XT/AT compatible computers. It can perform tests on RAM, hard disks, video cards, floppy disks, motherboard resources, and I/O devices. It has an easy to use menu interface but can also run tests non-interactively. It was followed up by the product WINCheckit.

• 1.x
• 2.1
• 3.0
• LAN 2.x
• Pro 1.x

PFS First Publisher (1988) 0 Publishing DOS

First Publisher, from Software Publishing Corporation, is a WYSIWYG desktop publisher for DOS that excels at producing extremely high quality text and graphics print even using dot-matrix printers. This program originated as T/Maker Clickart. In 1991 Software Publishing Corp sold their PFS series to Spinnaker Software, where it became Easy Working Desktop Publisher.

• 2.0
• 2.01 for DeskMate
• Art
• 3.0

IBMLink (1988) 0 Communications DOS

IBMLink was a proprietary online support service for corporate IBM customers. This disk contains the client software that was needed to access this service. Contains one 360k disk image.

• 1

PC World PowerBase/Best Of Star-Dot-Star (1988) 0 Utility DOS

PC World PowerBase/Best Of Star-Dot-Star is a set of user contributed utilities and tips. These 5.25" floppy disks were distributed alongside the PC-World magazine as a supplement to their long running Star-Dot-Star column.

• Vol I
• Vol II
• Vol III
• Vol VI
• Vol V
• Vol IV

Floor Plan (1988) 0 Graphics DOS

Floor Plan, from Insight Industries, was a budget shape-based drawing tool oriented towards 2D floor layout. essential features.

• 1.1

Print Magic (1988) 0 Publishing DOS

Print Magic is a sign, card, and banner printing program, similar to Print Master. Compared to others of the time, its functionality is rather crude, lacking previews or undo.

• 1.0

DS Optimize (1988) 0 Utility DOS

DS OPTIMIZE is a disk defragmenter tool. It has a few more options than its competitors, and has a "fast" mode that does not protect against interruptions. This tool competed against Mace Utilities, The Norton Utilities, PC Tools, and many smaller defragmenter tools.

• 2.x

Lucid 3-D (1988) 4 Spreadsheet DOS

Lucid 3-D, created by PCSG, Inc. and sold by DacEasy, Inc., is a spreadsheet program for MS-DOS. The feature that sets it apart from others is that it is memory-resident, so you can bring it up on top of other DOS programs and exchange data with them. Unlike simple TSRs, however, Ludid 3D is a full featured spreadsheet. It features linking, macros, windowing, intelligent recalculation, background recalculation, and user-definable functions.

• 1.x
• 2.x

GEM Desktop Publisher (1988) 1 Publishing DOS

GEM Desktop Publisher, from Digital Research, is a GEM 3.x based Desktop publishing program. It is not as sophisticated as Ventura Publisher. It uses a VMM (Virtual Memory Manager) in place of EMS/XMS, and requires a hard disk. It can be used with GEM Artline to provide illustrations.

• 2.x

HP Terminal Program (1988) 0 Communications DOS

The "HP Terminal Program" is a terminal emulator that graphically emulates a number Hewlett-Packard and standard terminal types. This product was bundled with some early HP Vectra computers. Supports CGA, EGA, Mono, and VGA graphics. It appears to be a lesser version of HP AdvanceLink.

• A.xx

Borland Sprint (1988) 3 Word Processor DOS

Sprint is a text-based word processor for DOS that features a powerful scripting language, multiple user interfaces, exceptional speed, the ability to handle very large files, and powerful PostScript capabilities. "Mark of the Unicorn", and bought by Borland where it was renamed to "Sprint" in 1987. WordPerfect, Microsoft Word for DOS, and Multimate. preview at a time when that was clearly the way forward. However Sprint was targeted towards power users that needed advanced features WYSIWYG editors did not yet provide.

• 1.0x

Fontware (1988) 0 Publishing DOS Windows

Bitstream Fontware is a tool that converts commercial vectored fonts in to formats for use with applications such as Aldus Pagemaker running under Microsoft Windows 2. The program itself is DOS-based but the fonts it generates are for Windows.

• 2.0

Swift Paint (1988) 0 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

Popcorn Misspeller's Dictionary (1988) 0 Word Processor Utility DOS

Popcorn Misspeller's Dictionary, from Popcorn Software, is a TSR program with a popup list of commonly misspelled words. You may find a word by typing it, but it does not make corrective suggestions.

• 1.x

Relay Gold (1988) 0 Communications DOS

Relay/PC Gold is a powerful telecommunications program targeted at corporate users. It supports multiple communications sessions, scripting, file transfers, IBM 3270 connectivity, DEC Terminal emulation, and TCP/IP connectivity.

• 3.0

VersaCAD (1988) 0 Graphics Engineering DOS

First released in 1983 by T & W Systems Inc (later Versacad Corporation) and based on their earlier T-Square product, VersaCAD is a sophisticated professional object design and drawing tool for the IBM PC. It competed heavily against AutoCAD. A very in-depth history of VersaCAD can be found on Cadhistory (PDF Link)

• 5.3

The Steinman Spreadsheet (1988) 0 Spreadsheet DOS

Steinman is a small spreadsheet program originally written in 1984 for the Commodore 64 by Barbara Steinman. The Steinman Spreadsheet is "output oriented", focusing on creating customized printed reports based on your spreadsheet data. distributed by SoftDisk with their Big Blue Disk magazine.

• 1.00 (IBM PC)