5 ms·

The same thing that happened to Lotus and WordPerfect: Microsoft drove them out of business.

thrower123 5y ago
What happened to Lotus is really just sad. Selling out to IBM, who sucked every dime out, then tossing off the desiccated husk to HCL to keep it on life support and crank out an enterprise security patch from time to time.
- fred96 5y ago
  I 100% agree. I was a Notes Evangelist for + 20 years. Now I'm using Nextcloud and hope it will have a long and good life.
fred96 5y ago
Lotus was not really killed by Microsoft but by IBM...
teh_klev 5y ago
Factually not true. I suggest you grab a copy of "In Search of Stupidity by Merrill Chapman": https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Stupidity-Twenty-Marketing-Disasters/dp/1590597214 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Stupidity-Twenty-Marketing-D... Most of these companies from the 80's and 90's foot gunned themselves into oblivion or were bought by companies that ruined their products.
- petilon 5y ago
  > Factually not true. No one who was active in the computer industry in the 90s will say that. Don't care what that book says.
  - teh_klev 5y ago
    I've been active in the computer industry as a professional since the mid 80's and can tell you that most of these companies screwed themselves up through complacency, idiotic business decisions and being acquired by larger players that ballsed up their products. Their products got worse, releases delayed etc etc. I can cite one of many concrete examples which is Ashton Tate. Some young upstart with a compiler called Clipper by a company called Nantucket came and ate their lunch because dBase IV was a pile of crap. Sadly Nantuck got bought out by CA and that was the death knell. Microsoft didn't kill Clipper, CA did. Sure in the 90's (late) Microsoft may have been a ruthless operator and stole many and various cheeses, but they were low hanging fruits (apologies for the mixed metaphors) and you can't blame Gate's and co for taking advantage of idiotic commercial choices made by people who were asleep at the wheel. Sure Microsoft have abused their monopoly position during the browser wars but when it came to the old school productivity suites these older companies just weren't agile enough to protect their positions. But don't let facts get in the way of a chance to bash Microsoft. Read that book, I'll even buy you a copy.
    - CRConrad 5y ago
      > Ashton Tate. Some young upstart with a compiler called Clipper by a company called Nantucket came and ate their lunch because dBase IV was a pile of crap. Sadly Nantuck got bought out by CA and that was the death knell. While Ashton-Tate itself was, perhaps somewhat ironically in this context, bought up by... Borland.
TheNewsIsHere 5y ago
You can absolutely still buy WordPerfect. It’s alive and well at Corel, updated regularly, and is something of a cult favorite in the legal field. Lotus isn’t exactly dead. But it’s not exactly alive and well either.

What happened to Lotus is really just sad. Selling out to IBM, who sucked every dime out, then tossing off the desiccated husk to HCL to keep it on life support and crank out an enterprise security patch from time to time.

fred96 5y ago
I 100% agree. I was a Notes Evangelist for + 20 years. Now I'm using Nextcloud and hope it will have a long and good life.

fred96 5y ago

Lotus was not really killed by Microsoft but by IBM...

teh_klev 5y ago

Factually not true. I suggest you grab a copy of "In Search of Stupidity by Merrill Chapman": https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Stupidity-Twenty-Marketing-Disasters/dp/1590597214 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Stupidity-Twenty-Marketing-D... Most of these companies from the 80's and 90's foot gunned themselves into oblivion or were bought by companies that ruined their products.

petilon 5y ago
> Factually not true. No one who was active in the computer industry in the 90s will say that. Don't care what that book says.
- teh_klev 5y ago
  I've been active in the computer industry as a professional since the mid 80's and can tell you that most of these companies screwed themselves up through complacency, idiotic business decisions and being acquired by larger players that ballsed up their products. Their products got worse, releases delayed etc etc. I can cite one of many concrete examples which is Ashton Tate. Some young upstart with a compiler called Clipper by a company called Nantucket came and ate their lunch because dBase IV was a pile of crap. Sadly Nantuck got bought out by CA and that was the death knell. Microsoft didn't kill Clipper, CA did. Sure in the 90's (late) Microsoft may have been a ruthless operator and stole many and various cheeses, but they were low hanging fruits (apologies for the mixed metaphors) and you can't blame Gate's and co for taking advantage of idiotic commercial choices made by people who were asleep at the wheel. Sure Microsoft have abused their monopoly position during the browser wars but when it came to the old school productivity suites these older companies just weren't agile enough to protect their positions. But don't let facts get in the way of a chance to bash Microsoft. Read that book, I'll even buy you a copy.
  - CRConrad 5y ago
    > Ashton Tate. Some young upstart with a compiler called Clipper by a company called Nantucket came and ate their lunch because dBase IV was a pile of crap. Sadly Nantuck got bought out by CA and that was the death knell. While Ashton-Tate itself was, perhaps somewhat ironically in this context, bought up by... Borland.

TheNewsIsHere 5y ago

You can absolutely still buy WordPerfect. It’s alive and well at Corel, updated regularly, and is something of a cult favorite in the legal field. Lotus isn’t exactly dead. But it’s not exactly alive and well either.