VP-Planner (1986) 4 Spreadsheet DOS

VP Planner is a Lotus 123-type spreadsheet, but featuring 3-D (paged) spreadsheets and other advances over Lotus 123. This was the subject of a lawsuit, also involving The Twin, and Borland Quattro Pro, which Paperback Software eventually won, but which sank the company.

• 1.x
• Plus 2.x

GEM Desktop Publisher (1988) 0 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) 2 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

IBM FTTerm (1986) 0 Communications DOS

The IBM PC/Host File Transfer and Terminal Emulator Program, or "FTTERM", is a resident TSR program for interactively sending and receiving files between DOS programs and a remote host. Used with IBM mainframe products.

• 1.00
• 2.00

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

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)

FastWire (1988) 0 Communications DOS

FastWire is a file transfer program that moves files between two PCs using a serial or parallel port. It is similar to Laplink.

• II

IBM Primary Editor (1988) 0 Word Processor Graphics Education DOS

Primary Editor Plus is a student's toolkit for writing and language arts activities in Kindergarten through grade eight. The program is a flexible entry-level word processor appropriate for young students or anyone who is new to word processing and computers.

• Plus 1.00

Disk-Count Software The Spreadsheet (1988) 0 Spreadsheet DOS

This is a low-end spreadsheet program from Disk-Count software, a vendor notable for their budget software titles. "This program is designed for the first time user with the capability for more advanced users. A spreadsheet is ideal for calculating any set of numbers that you normally would do by hand. Some of the uses are for preparing home budgets, calculating financial payments, tracking car expenses, and creating statistical models."

• 1.x

Samna Plus (1988) 0 Word Processor Spreadsheet DOS

Samna "Plus" is an integrated word processor/spreadsheet based on Samna Word.

• iv

Show Partner (1988) 0 Presentations Graphics DOS

Show Partner is a powerful desktop presentation graphics tool for MS-DOS. With it, you can create or edit graphics, capture screen shots, and assemble them in to an automated redistributable slide show. It supports animations, scripting, and numerous transition effects. It includes screen capture tools for DOS and Windows 1.x/2.x. Show Partner is designed to show presentations directly on your computer screen, rather than printouts or slides. CGA. However, this version supports IBM EGA and VGA. does not include automated graphing capabilities like Harvard Graphics or PowerPoint. Microsoft Mouse 6.00 driver software.

• 3.x

Spinnaker Splash (1988) 0 Graphics DOS

Splash is a VGA-centric paint program created by Spinnaker Software in 1988. Considering that VGA was only introduced in 1987 in conjunction with the IBM PS2 line, this is a pretty early entry in the VGA-compatible paint program market. pixel-level editing, an extensive internal help system, and can export images to TIFF and PC Paintbrush compatible files.

• 1988

Personal Newsletter (1988) 0 Publishing Other

Personal Newsletter is a simple desktop publishing tool for the Apple II.

• 2.0

ViaNet (1988) 0 DOS

Vianet, from Western Digital, is a cross platform peer to peer networking system that offers simplicity and ease of use. It was relatively low cost, and supports multiple network cards. Western Digital included it with their StarLAN hardware products. Network-OS, Lantastic, PC/NOS, ELS Netware II, LANsmart, DNA Networks, TOPPS/DOS DataLAN, and POWERlan.

• 3.x

CADKEY (1988) 0 Graphics Engineering DOS

CADKEY is a 2D/3D mechanical CAD (computer aided design or computer aided drafting) software application released for various DOS, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Originally released for DOS in 1984, CADKEY was among the first CAD programs with 3D capabilities for personal computers.

• 1.x

dBASE Mac (1988) 0 Database MacOS

dBase Mac, originally developed by a small company named DigiCorp and then marketed by Ashton-Tate under the dBase name, was a unique and powerful database program for the Macintosh. It featured a sophisticated graphical user interface, a procedural programming language, and the ability to access data from other databases and spreadsheets. 1.00 was released in 1987.

• 1.x

MyLabelMaker (1988) 0 Publishing DOS

MyLabelMaker is a low-end budget title that aids in making labels using your printer. It is the perfect way print cards for your Rolodex, or labels for your audio cassettes!

• 1.x

PC-Link (1988) 0 Communications DOS

This is the client software used to communicate with Quantum Computer Service's PC-Link service. PC-Link followed the success of Quantum's Q-Link service for the Commodore 64. PC-Link was the predecessor to America OnLine.

• 1988

The Office Publisher (1988) 0 Publishing DOS

The Office Publisher is a powerful high-end, yet friendly, WYSIWYG desktop publishing program created by the large Canadian publishing company Print Three and sold under its spin-off, Laser Friendly. It was originally targeted at Print Three customers so they could create content on their own computers and then submit large publishing print jobs.

• 1.x

FrontRunner (1988) 0 DOS

FontRunner, from Apex Software, is a dBase application compiler that specialized in making small, fast, terminate-and-stay-resident database applications. This makes it possible for DOS application users to call up data entry screens without the need to exit the program they are running. It supports redefinable keyboard macros, and can copy data from a DOS application screen into its database. To reduce memory usage it omits dBase's reporting and label generating capabilities. Version 1.2 and later support EMS memory usage.

• 1.x

ABstat (1988) 0 Mathematics DOS

ABstat, from AndersonBell, is a statistical package that contains a variety of statistical functions, creates graphs, features a command language, and can directly use dBase files.

• 5.x

Allways (1988) 2 Spreadsheet DOS

Allways is a lotus 1-2-3 add-in that enhances 1-2-3 by providing a graphical preview, graphs and spreadsheets on the same printed page, embedded graphic pictures, font formatting for individual cells, and enhanced cell formatting. It supports HP and PostScript laser printers.

• 1.0

Prodigy (1988) 0 Communications DOS

Prodigy was an online service that offered on-line news, forums, stock information, games, banking, online shopping, and e-mail. Its primary feature was that it used a fully graphical user interface, however it was limited to very low resolutions and slow dial-up speeds, making it impractical for displaying photographs or detailed graphical documents.

• 2.x

Expert Personal Publisher (1988) 0 Publishing DOS

Expert Software's Personal Publisher is a rudimentary (crude), desktop publishing program. It does not use a graphical user interface, more closely resembling a document processing program. It was sold as a cheap low-end "budget" title - the sort of thing one might find on the shelf at a department store.

• 2.x