TSR

XyWrite II

XyQuest, 1983 · IBM PC · word processor

The editor newsrooms refused to give up. There are no menus: you press F5, type a command on the CM line, and press RETURN. Formatting is stored in the file itself, in guillemets, where you can see it. Ours has the three-line header, nine windows, define-and-move blocks, search and change, a virtual C:\XY\ disk, and a typesetting pass that pages the document with running heads.

CM
PRMPT F5 = CM line    F1 = help              Ln 1  Col 1  W1 I
‖····▶···1▶····▶···2▶····▶···3▶····▶···4▶····▶···5▶····‖
«FC»«MDBO»INTERNAL MEMORANDUM«MDNM»◄
«FL»TO:     All editorial staff◄

Run XyWrite II

Lotus 1-2-3

Lotus Development, 1983 · IBM PC · spreadsheet

The program that sold the PC. Press / and the menu appears on the second line of the control panel, with the next level of choices explained on the third — you learn it as a sequence of letters and stop reading the screen. Ours has the formula engine (@SUM, @PMT, @VLOOKUP, @IF, ranges, absolute references), cell formats, copy and move that adjust references, insert and delete that rewrite formulas, /Data Sort, /File to a virtual C:\123 disk, and character-mode graphs.

A1: [W18] 'ACME WIDGET CO.  1983 OPERATING BUDGET   READY
      A             B        C        D        E        F  
  3 Region            Qtr 1    Qtr 2    Qtr 3    Qtr 4     Year
  4 North            12,500   13,100   14,250   15,900  $55,750
  9 Total            44,800   46,450   51,000   55,850 $198,100

Run Lotus 1-2-3

WordPerfect 5.1

WordPerfect Corp., 1989 · IBM PC · word processor

Blue screen, no visible interface, and Reveal Codes underneath it — the one people still describe as the last word processor that got out of the way.

Norton Commander

Peter Norton Computing, 1986 · IBM PC · file manager

Two panels, a function-key bar, and a command line at the bottom. Every file manager since has been an argument with this one.

Turbo Pascal 5.5

Borland, 1989 · IBM PC · development environment

Edit, compile and run without leaving the screen, and an error that put the cursor on the exact character. It fitted on one diskette.