Microsoft Word (1983) 47 Word Processor MacOS Unix

The Microsoft Word word processor was first introduced for MS-DOS in 1983. Its design made use of a mouse and WYSIWYG graphics. Its crude WYSIWYG/mouse support was a direct response to the Apple Lisa/Mac, and VisiCorp Visi On. Initially it competed against many popular word processors such as WordStar, Multimate, and WordPerfect. Word for DOS was never really successful.

• 1.x (Mac)
• 3.x (Mac)
• 3.x (Unix)
• 4.0 (Mac)
• 5.x (UNIX)

Microsoft Works (1986) 37 Word Processor Spreadsheet Communications Database MacOS

Microsoft Works was an all-in-one scaled-down Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Database geared towards the home user. It was released in variants for early DOS, Windows, and Macintosh. Microsoft Works competed against Lotus Jazz, FrameWork, AlphaWorks/LotusWorks, PFS First Choice, and many others.

• 1.x (Mac)

Moon Shuttle (1983) 0 Other

Moon Shuttle is an invasion style game for the Atari 400/800 computer.

• 1 (Atari)

Multiplan (1983) 1 Spreadsheet MacOS

Microsoft Multiplan was an early 8-bit spreadsheet application for CP/M and MS-DOS with ports to numerous other platforms in the early 80s. Initially it competed against VisiCalc and later Lotus 1-2-3. A companion product, Microsoft Chart, provided graphing support. Multiplan was never ported to Windows, where it was replaced with Microsoft Excel. Excel also replaced Multiplan on the Macintosh platform.

• 1.x (Mac)

NetWare (1989) 1 Other

Novel NetWare was an early and powerful network/file sharing operating system. It was first released in 1983 and supported DOS and CP/M clients and was initially unique in that it shared individual files rather than entire disk volumes. Initially servers ran on a proprietary Motorola 68000 system but quickly changed to IBM PC where it supported a very wide variety of third party hardware. It used a cooperative tasking server environment and had some advanced features usually only found in mainframe products.

• 2.x
• 3.x

NEWS-OS (1989) 0 Unix

NEWS-OS was a variant of BSD (later System version V UNIX) developed by Sony for use on their series of work stations called the Sony NEWS (Network Engineering WorkStation). This machine was a desktop replacement to VAXes in japan, created in 1987. NEWS-OS was designed specifically for use on computer networks, and had support for the TCP/IP protocol, something that wasn't commonly used back in the day but now required for today's machines. Versions 1-4 of NEWS-OS used 4.2BSD as its base. Versions 5 and 6 used UNIX System V 4.2.

• 4.x

NeXTStep (1987) 31 Unix

NeXTSTEP, from NeXT Computers headed by Steve Jobs, is a Unix based operating system designed to run on m68K NeXT workstations. It later became the basis for OS X, with APIs and concepts preserved today.

• 0.x
• 1.x
• 2.x

Norton Utilities (1983) 20 Utility Unix MacOS

The Norton Utilities is a suite of disk and system utilities designed to enhance system performance and stability. It started off as a set of disk utilities written by Peter Norton, and later was sold by Symantec. It competed against Central Point PC Tools and the Mace Utilities. In 2003, Norton Utilities was merged with Norton SystemWorks, but later split back out.

• For System V
• 1.0 for Mac

Omnis (1985) 0 Database MacOS

Omnis, from the European based Blyth Software, is an easy to use multiuser relational database for Windows, MacOS, and OS/2. It was the first database ported to Microsoft Windows, which ran on Windows 1.0x.

• 3.x (Mac)

PC/IX (1984) 1 Unix

Interactive UNIX, also known as PC/IX, and 386/ix were UNIX derivitives created for the IBM PC in the early 1980's. PC/IX was the first UNIX sold directly from IBM, but not the first UNIX sold for the IBM PC. (Venix/86 was the first.) The original PC/IX software sold was on 19 floppy disks and sold for 900 dollars. In 1985, 386/ix was introduced, later named Interactive UNIX. The last version released was 4.1.1 in July 1998 and was supported up until 2006.

• 1.0
• 2.x

Personal Newsletter (1988) 0 Publishing Other

Personal Newsletter is a simple desktop publishing tool for the Apple II.

• 2.0

PFS:File (1982) 0 Database MacOS

PFS:File is an easy to use flat file database that started off as "PFS: The Personal Filing System" on the Apple II and then ported to the IBM PC, TRS-80, and other platforms. OEM version were available from various companies including IBM. Later it evolved in to PFS:Professional File, and IBM rebranded a version as IBM Filing Assistant.

• Axx (Mac)

Photoshop (1988) 19 Graphics MacOS Windows

Photoshop is a powerful drawing and photo manipulation program for both Mac and Windows. The Macintosh version was released by Adobe in 1990, although a very small number were bundled with Barneyscan slide scanners prior to that. Photoshop contained many advanced features including layered images, advanced color control, and plug-ins. Prior to its release, many of its features were only found in high end dedicated photo pre-processing systems.

• 0.x (beta)
• 2.x

Pick Operating System (1987) 0 Other

The Pick Operating System is a multi-user database oriented operating system for the IBM PC. It includes its own multi-user database, and native applications are written in Pick BASIC. It is similar to, and competed against Thoroughbred OS. Later versions of the Pick System database and programming language were hosted under Unix or Windows instead of using its own OS.

• 1987

Plan 9 0 Other

Plan 9 from Bell Labs was a research operating system to improve on the ideas of UNIX. It was a radical revolution - everything was a file, even network sockets, and the system, while CLI based, was improved to take advantage of graphical machines.

• 1.x

Planetfall (1983) 0 Other

Planetfall, by Infocom, is a text-based interactive game where you explore an alien planet after your ship, where you are assigned to scrub floors, mysteriously explodes.

• 1983

Powerchute (1990) 0 Unix

Powerchute is a utility for use with American Power Conversion Corporation (APC) battery backup power supplies.

• 1.x

PowerPoint (1987) 4 Presentations MacOS

Microsoft PowerPoint is a graphical presentation tool that is today part of Microsoft Office. Prior to its acquisition by Microsoft, it was known as "Presenter" from Forethought Inc. These are the standalone versions. For the Office bundled versions, see Microsoft Office.

• 1.0

PrintPower (1987) 0 Publishing DOS Other

PrintPower is a tool for creating greeting cards, signs, banners, and calendars, similar to The Print Shop. It was a rather clunky low-end bottom of the bargain-barrel budget title. The later "Pro" version seems to give it a more Mac-like user interface.

• 1.x

Publish-IT (1988) 0 Publishing MacOS

Publish-It! is a WYSIWYG desktop publishing tool originally created by the UK based GST Software for the TOS/GEM Atari ST system. There were versions for IBM PC/GEM, Apple II, Macintosh (as "Publish-It! Easy"), and later Microsoft Windows. desktop publishing tools, it is not a full word processor, but rather imports text and focuses on high-quality formatting and printing. budget title for home users. SoftKey also released a version branded as Key Publisher

• Easy 2.x

Pyro (1990) 0 Novelty MacOS

Pyro, from Fifth Generation Systems, is a commercial set of screen savers that started of as a simple black and white fireworks screen saver on the Apple Macintosh. It competed against AfterDark.

• 4.x (Mac)

QNX (1982) 5 Unix

QNX is a compact Unix-like real-time operating system that was originally designed for the IBM PC and later used in embedded devices. The versions here are for IBM PC compatibles.

• 1.2
• 1989 Demo

Quark Catalyst (1985) 0 Utility Other

Quark Catalyst is an Apple II utility that enabled moving applications, including copy protected applications, from 5.25" floppy disks to 3.5" floppy disks or hard disks, and provides launcher menu shell. As of version 3.0 the user interface was revamped to mimic the appearance of the Macintosh Finder. To appease software publishers, the Quark Catalyst software itself is copy protected.

• 3.0

QuarkXPress (1986) 2 Publishing MacOS

QuarkXPress was THE standard publishing software during the 1990s. However it failed to update its product line to newer technologies in a timely manager, charged insane amounts for updates or additional features that should have been built in to the software, and became very abusive to their customers. Later versions required a parallel port/ADB copy protection dongle. They lost most of their market share to Adobe InDesign.

• 1.x
• 2.x

QuickBasic (1985) 18 MacOS

Microsoft QuickBasic, not to be confused with the lesser QBasic, was a Basic interpreter and compiler product loosely based on GW-Basic. Version 2.0 for DOS and later included an Integrated Development Environment. Microsoft also produced QuickPascal and QuickC with similar integrated environments.

• 1.0x for Mac