End Of An Era: IBM Pulls Lotus 1-2-3 Software Off Life Support
Technically speaking, IBM stuck a fork in Lotus 1-2-3 over a year ago when it announced the once popular spreadsheet's EOL (End of Life). IBM picked June 11, 2013 as the last day it would market the most sought after spreadsheet program of the mid-1980s, but also vowed to continue supporting the program up through September 30, 2014, or last Tuesday.
That day has come and gone, officially marking the end of an impressive 31-year run. Think about that for a moment -- this software's been available and supported for over three decades dating back to when computers in the home were the exception, not the norm. Lotus 1-2-3 is even older than The Simpsons, the longest-running American sitcom, animated program, and scripted primetime television series, the latter of which was a record held by Gunsmoke until 2009.
But this isn't about The Simpsons, it's about saying goodbye to IBM Lotus 1-2-3 Millennium Edition, IBM Lotus SmartSuite 9.x, and Organizer, all of which have passed their end of support date. According to IBM's website, no service extensions will be offered, though let's be real, that's not likely to affect very many people at this point in time.
"Lotus 1-2-3 had a great run and I’m proud of what we accomplished at Lotus. It was a landmark product of its era and set the standards for productivity applications for personal computers for a long time," Lotus Development Corporation Mitch Kapor told ZDNet.
Lotus 1-2-3 launched in 1983 and was named after the fact that it offered users a spreadsheet, graphics package, and database manager. It was hugely successful up through the early 1990s when Windows became a dominant force, and with it Microsoft's Excel software.
That day has come and gone, officially marking the end of an impressive 31-year run. Think about that for a moment -- this software's been available and supported for over three decades dating back to when computers in the home were the exception, not the norm. Lotus 1-2-3 is even older than The Simpsons, the longest-running American sitcom, animated program, and scripted primetime television series, the latter of which was a record held by Gunsmoke until 2009.
But this isn't about The Simpsons, it's about saying goodbye to IBM Lotus 1-2-3 Millennium Edition, IBM Lotus SmartSuite 9.x, and Organizer, all of which have passed their end of support date. According to IBM's website, no service extensions will be offered, though let's be real, that's not likely to affect very many people at this point in time.
"Lotus 1-2-3 had a great run and I’m proud of what we accomplished at Lotus. It was a landmark product of its era and set the standards for productivity applications for personal computers for a long time," Lotus Development Corporation Mitch Kapor told ZDNet.
Lotus 1-2-3 launched in 1983 and was named after the fact that it offered users a spreadsheet, graphics package, and database manager. It was hugely successful up through the early 1990s when Windows became a dominant force, and with it Microsoft's Excel software.
