[ghaff]

As I very vaguely recall the initial iteration(s) of the Windows version of Lotus 1-2-3 weren't great. The real killer though was probably Microsoft's bundling into Microsoft Office. That cemented the use of the entire suite of Microsoft products even when, at a given point in time, they may not have been best in category.

As I recall, Lotus made some purchases to try to follow the same strategy but it was too late by then.

There were also the attempts at fully integrated products like Symphony and Framework (Ashton Tate) but the loose coupling really won the mass market.

[bboreham]

Lotus went straight to OS/2, because Windows was a toy. Oops.

Around 1991 they had an all-new cross-platform super-product under development, but it crashed and burned and they had to plough on with 123.

I did a lot of the low-level GUI coding for the Open Look and Motif versions of 123. Fun times.

[spitfire]

Would that be Lotus Improv? I used Improv and Quantrix on NeXTStep. Quantrix on OSX is still a secret weapon of mine.

[bboreham]

I don't think so. They all had code-names - 123 for Windows was Rockport; Improv was Back Bay and the one I'm talking about was another place, but the exact name escapes me.

I believe Improv was written in Objective-C while the one I mean was in C++.

[slededit]

C++ is impressive for 1991. Excel was still K&R C at that time.