4 ms·

It's an amazing story really, this project. And, what was it about the word "lotus" back then; surely the name-as-meme bore some tremendous global significance

It's an amazing story really, this project. And, what was it about the word "lotus" back then; surely the name-as-meme bore some tremendous global significance and possibly world-horoscope-level weight. It was kind of a powerful word. And I mean James Bond was even in on it. I do look at the graphics with a bit of longing curiousity though...I wonder if I could get Lotus SmartSuite for Windows 95 running again, just to try it for nostalgia. SmartSuite was bundled with one of my first PCs (toward the end of the days when the word lotus was still kinda cool), and I still remember looking at the blank agenda (and even the paper binder-planner skeuomorphism in Organizer) and full office launcher, and just taking in the raw organizing power of those tools...a real "where do you want to go today (TM)" feeling! ("I'll play Jane's USNF for a couple hours and then eat cereal for dinner" never felt quite right to fill in on the agenda, but that turned out to be where I wanted to go today, on so many days back then)

okeuro49 3y ago
> And I mean James Bond was even in on it. What's the reference?
- Lio 3y ago
  I'm guessing it's a reference to the amphibious Lotus Esprit car used in the film The Spy Who Loved Me[1]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Esprit#In_film_and_on_television https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Esprit#In_film_and_on_te...
lproven 3y ago
> I wonder if I could get Lotus SmartSuite for Windows 95 running again, just to try it for nostalgia. I've tried it on Win11. The whole suite worked perfectly but with 1 big caveat: Win11 no longer understands the old Help file format. So, no online help. Big snag. SmartSuite 9.8 was the last edition: https://winworldpc.com/product/lotus-smartsuite/9-8 https://winworldpc.com/product/lotus-smartsuite/9-8 With the fixpak to take it to 9.8.6.1, that is the final ever release.
- themodelplumber 3y ago
  Cool that you even tried it! I was considering trying it out in Wine since I've had some dumb luck when it's configured to run as various past versions of Windows. Maybe a long shot though.
  - lproven 3y ago
    A Register reader asked me how to run 1-2-3 on modern Windows, after I wrote this: https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/friday_foss_fest_running_dos/ https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/friday_foss_fest_runn... This seemed the easiest way, and so it was. I told them how to do it; no reply. :-( IIRC Smartsuite was also supported on OS/2 and so it should be "clean" and will probably work well on WINE.

okeuro49 3y ago

> And I mean James Bond was even in on it. What's the reference?

Lio 3y ago
I'm guessing it's a reference to the amphibious Lotus Esprit car used in the film The Spy Who Loved Me[1]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Esprit#In_film_and_on_television https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Esprit#In_film_and_on_te...

lproven 3y ago

> I wonder if I could get Lotus SmartSuite for Windows 95 running again, just to try it for nostalgia. I've tried it on Win11. The whole suite worked perfectly but with 1 big caveat: Win11 no longer understands the old Help file format. So, no online help. Big snag. SmartSuite 9.8 was the last edition: https://winworldpc.com/product/lotus-smartsuite/9-8 https://winworldpc.com/product/lotus-smartsuite/9-8 With the fixpak to take it to 9.8.6.1, that is the final ever release.

themodelplumber 3y ago
Cool that you even tried it! I was considering trying it out in Wine since I've had some dumb luck when it's configured to run as various past versions of Windows. Maybe a long shot though.
- lproven 3y ago
  A Register reader asked me how to run 1-2-3 on modern Windows, after I wrote this: https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/friday_foss_fest_running_dos/ https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/friday_foss_fest_runn... This seemed the easiest way, and so it was. I told them how to do it; no reply. :-( IIRC Smartsuite was also supported on OS/2 and so it should be "clean" and will probably work well on WINE.