

1-2-3 would face competition from programs such as Excel and Quatro Pro that would weaken its hold on the marketplace by the late 1980s. With the opening of the Intel architecture and MS-DOS to IBM PC clones, Lotus 1-2-3 became the essential application for the 1980s PC revolution. Its day is finally done.įar faster than its competition, such as SuperCalc and Microsoft's first spreadsheet, MultiPlan, Lotus 1-2-3 would become both IBM's and Microsoft's first killer app. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer.
