Ability (1985) 4 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

ACT! (1987) 91 PIM DOS

ACT!, or "Activity Control Technology", originally from Conductor Software, and later Contact Software and then Symantec, is an easy to use business relationship management system targeted at traveling sales professionals. It can track things like billable time and expenses.

• 1.10 (DOS)

Adobe Acrobat (1993) 86 Publishing MacOS Windows Unix

Adobe Acrobat, first released in 1993, is a tool for creating portable electronic documents. Its documents retain complex formatting when used across differing systems, so that they appear identical when viewed on screen or printed to a printer. Acrobat accomplishes this by encapsulating Adobe's PostSript printer language in to a document file format and offering the ability to embed fonts that are not present on the target system.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x

Adobe Acrobat Reader (1994) 12 Document DOS MacOS

Acrobat Reader is the free software from Adobe used to read, view, and print documents created by the commercial Adobe Acrobat product. Its primary strength is that documents appear and print identically across differing systems.

• 1.0

Adobe Dimensions (1992) 9 Graphics Publishing MacOS

Adobe Dimensions was a low cost 3-d object editing and rendering program. Unlike other 3d rendering programs, Dimensions is specifically geared towards producing illustrations for print. programs, such as Adobe Illustrator or Freehand, and edited to create 3d objects. Then, instead of outputting a pixilated raster image, it outputs in postscript bezier curves, which can then be further processed by other 2d illustration packages.

• 1.0
• 2.0

Adobe PageMill (1997) 6 Publishing MacOS

PageMill, from Adobe, is a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get web page authoring tool. It was discontinued in February 2000, due to the acquisition and promotion of Adobe GoLive.

• 2.0

AdvanceLink (1987) 0 Communications DOS

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 DOS

AnyTime (1992) 0 PIM DOS

AnyTime, from Individual Software, is a personal information manager that helps you keep track of day-to-day appointments, events, and to-do items. You can keep a list of family, friends, and business contacts using the Address Book.

• 1.0

AppleWorks (1986) 9 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Graphics Communications Database MacOS Mac OS X

AppleWorks is an all-in-one Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Database, Graphics Editor, and Presentations tool. The original product was a text-based product for the Apple II. The Apple Macintosh and Windows versions were forked from ClarisWorks in 1998 by Apple. At the time, Apple was under a lot of pressure to have a direct alternative to Microsoft Office. There were serious concerns that Microsoft might pull Microsoft Office for the Macintosh from development.

• 5.x
• 6.x

Ashlar Vellum (1990) 0 Graphics Engineering MacOS

Ashlar Vellum is a CAD package for mechanical engineers and designers, that includes the ability to intelligently predict where the user wants to connect the next object. There were both "2D" and "3D" versions.

• 2.x (Mac)

Aslightly LabelPro (1991) 0 Publishing DOS

Aslightly LabelPro is a label printing utility for use in conjunction with Aslightly label products. It supports mail merge, graphics and text, postal bar codes, and includes clipart.

• 1.x (DOS)

Autodesk AutoCAD (1984) 16 Graphics Engineering DOS MacOS Unix

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 (Mac)
• r10 (DOS)
• r10 (Unix)
• r11 (DOS)
• r11 (Mac)
• r12 (Mac)

Award Maker Plus (1987) 0 Publishing DOS

AwardMaker, from Baudville, Inc., is a tool for printing nice looking awards and certificates on a dot-matrix printer from a set of about 200 templates. It lacks any print preview, so you must have the manual to know what the templates look like. This is almost identical to Springboard Certificate Maker, however it contains a different set of templates and graphics.

• 1

BannerMania (1989) 3 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

BBS-PC (1987) 2 Communications DOS

BBS-PC! is an early computerized bulletin board system for IBM PCs. It also has versions for the Amiga. It featured customizability, message boards, and multiple file sections.

• 4.x

Better Working Communicator (1987) 0 Communications DOS

Better Working Communicator, from Spinnaker Software, is an entry level telecommunications program sold alongside their "Better Working" series of applications, and included as part of "Better Working Eight-In-One". Better Working Communicator supports Macros, auto-dialing, split-screen, XModem file transfers, logging, and printing.

• 1.x

Better Working Eight-in-One (1989) 0 Word Processor Spreadsheet Graphics Communications Database DOS

Better Working Eight-in-One, from Spinnaker Software is an integrated office suite for DOS. It contains a word processor, a spelling checker, a data base, a spreadsheet, an outliner, a graphics program, a communications program and a set of desktop utilities - all in one single, consistent application.

• 2.x

Better Working Resume Kit (1989) 0 Publishing DOS

Back before there were endless web sites with endless soul crushing job application forms, one would print a paper resume and mail it to potential employers. Spinnaker Better Working is a computerized tool that can help you manage and structure complex resumes.

• 1.x

BitFax (1992) 0 Communications DOS

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.

• 4.x (DOS)

CADKEY (1988) 1 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

Calendar Creator Plus (1990) 3 Novelty PIM DOS

Calendar Creator Plus from Vermont Creative Software/Power Up, and later Spinnaker Software, is a tool for creating printed calendars with different styles and custom lists of events.

• 3.x (DOS)

Citrix Multiuser Link (1991) 4 Communications DOS OS2

Multiuser Link is a telecommunications program that Connects a PC running DOS or OS/2 to a Citrix Multiuser system via standard RS-232C serial directly or with a modem.

• 1.0

Claris CAD (1989) 0 Engineering MacOS

Claris CAD is a computer aided design program developed in 1988 by Claris Corporation in a joint effort with Craig S. Young of Computer Aided Systems for Engineering (CASE). It was based on MacDraw II and Young's earlier CAD application, EZ-Draft. Version 1 was released in 1989 for Macintosh computers running System Software 6 or later. The initial releases were plagued with bugs, especially with the bundled plotter driver.

• 1.0
• 2.0

Claris Organizer (1995) 0 PIM MacOS

Claris Organizer is an easy to use personal information management (PIM) program for the classic Mac OS. It integrates calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes in to one small lightweight application. It has a variety of flexible print option and can print mailing labels. It competed with the Apple Newton PDA. Claris Organizer was praised for its small size and well thought out interface. It was sold to Palm when Claris was broken up, and was used as the basis for the Palm Desktop for Mac.

• 1.0
• 2.0

ClarisWorks (1991) 9 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Graphics Publishing Database Windows MacOS

ClarisWorks is an all-in-one Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Database, Graphics Editor, and Presentations tool from Claris. In 1998, after version 5.0.2, ClairsWorks was purchased by Apple and re-branded under the "AppleWorks" name. It is not related to the Apple II AppleWorks product.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x
• 5.x
• For Kids 1.0