MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: Atari, Inc. v. Amusement World, Inc.

> Too bad VisiCalc didn’t go after Lotus because VisiCalc was really the first spreadsheet software for IBM CP/M and DOS back when IBM was entering the personal computer market.

Seriously, just stop. You’re making it worse for yourself.

There’s no such thing as “IBM CP/M” – DOS got its initial success by being the CP/M clone that IBM chose to license for the PC.

VisiCalc was originally released for Apple II computers, not CP/M or DOS. VisiCalc remained dominant on 8-bit computers in the face of competitors like SuperCalc and Multiplan. However the DOS version was really just a port of the 8-bit version and didn’t take full advantage of the PC’s memory and display capabilities. Lotus 1-2-3 effectively killed VisiCalc overnight by being designed to make the most of the PC architecture.

Lotus didn’t win the case over VP-Planner against Paperback Software. In the end, Paperback Software won, but were overwhelmed by the cost of defending themselves in court. (VP-Planner Plus also changed to menu layout to be less like Lotus 1-2-3, in much the same way that the MOS 6502 changed the pinout to be less like the 6800 than the original 6501 to appease Motorola.)