Goodbye, Lotus 1-2-3

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Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 21, 2013 @01:31AM from the 3-2-1-zero dept.

walterbyrd writes "In 2012, IBM started retiring the Lotus brand. Now 1-2-3, the core product that brought Lotus its fame, takes its turn on the chopping block. IBM stated, 'Effective on the dates listed below, [June 11, 2013] IBM will withdraw from marketing part numbers from the following product release(s) licensed under the IBM International Program License Agreement:' IBM Lotus 123 Millennium Edition V9.x, IBM Lotus SmartSuite 9.x V9.8.0, and Organizer V6.1.0. Further, IBM stated, 'Customers will no longer be able to receive support for these offerings after September 30, 2014. No service extensions will be offered. There will be no replacement programs.'"

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How about cutting Notes? by Cereal+Box · 2013-05-21 01:34 · Score: 4, Insightful

I'd take Outlook in a second over Notes.
1. Re:How about cutting Notes? by sizzzzlerz · 2013-05-21 01:47 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  When my company was bought, the parent company, who uses Notes, put us on Notes. Two years later, we're still fixing issues with the migration. Nobody likes this POS and that includes people in the parent company who've been using it for years.
2. Re:How about cutting Notes? by CreatureComfort · 2013-05-21 01:58 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  It wasn't Microsoft.
  
  --
  "Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet,
  Impossible means not yet done." ~~ Julia Ecklar
3. Re:How about cutting Notes? by Newander · 2013-05-21 01:59 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Corporate inertia.
  
  --
  Jesus saves and takes half damage.
4. Re:How about cutting Notes? by Rob+the+Bold · 2013-05-21 02:10 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I'd take Outlook in a second over Notes.
  No kidding. 1-2-3 dies and the abomination that's called "Notes" is allowed to live on. Tedious to use, painful to look at, the most powerful features usually not configured in a way to be useful. Die, Notes, die. Which of course is German for "The Notes, the.
  
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  I am not a crackpot.
5. Re:How about cutting Notes? by DrXym · 2013-05-21 02:41 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Probably because they've bought a site licence. Once they do that, all rational thought about switching to something better goes out the window.
6. Re:How about cutting Notes? by booch · 2013-05-21 03:54 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  What was the rational for this? Why would they continue on with such crap?
  They've fallen for the sunk costs fallacy. If they were to change to something else, they'd be admitting that they made a poor decision in choosing Lotus Notes in the first place.
  Your mistake is thinking that companies use rational thought processes when making decisions. An even bigger mistake is thinking that the people making the decisions are looking out for the best interest of the company, instead of their own best interests.
  
  --
  Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
7. Re:How about cutting Notes? by Jason+Levine · 2013-05-21 04:01 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  [DOCTOR WHO] I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. [/DOCTOR WHO]
  Years back I worked for a company that was acquired and we were forced to go to Notes (from Outlook IIRC). I found Notes to be a very intelligent piece of software. Unfortunately, it wasn't a friendly kind of intelligence that helped you out. Instead, it seemed to be a malicious sort of intelligence that would make Notes get progressively harder to use the more you tried to be productive.
  
  --
  My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Re:Will they be open-sourcing it? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-21 01:38 · Score: 2, Insightful

+1 funny.
...till Lotus won't run... by Mystakaphoros · 2013-05-21 01:42 · Score: 4, Insightful

"It ain't done till Lotus won't run."
I guess it's done.
The original /. by XB-70 · 2013-05-21 01:46 · Score: 5, Insightful

God, it brings back memories: an 8086 with 256k of RAM, 8 1/2" floppies....
Using / as the main way of navigating spreadsheets...
1-2-3 you gave me my start, not just in spreadsheets, but in computers. Thank you and goodbye, old friend.
Sniff.

--
*** Don't be dull.***
Re:Will they be open-sourcing it? by fustakrakich · 2013-05-21 01:47 · Score: 5, Insightful

It shouldn't be an option. If they refuse to sell or license it, it should be automatically put into the public domain.

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“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Re:Will they be open-sourcing it? by JDG1980 · 2013-05-21 01:50 · Score: 4, Insightful

I'd like to see an abandonware law, too. For software, anyone applying for a copyright should have to put the source code in escrow, and it would be automatically released a certain period of time (say, 1 year) after the company stops selling it.
The PC "killer application" by Alejux · 2013-05-21 01:56 · Score: 4, Insightful

Some people don't realize the importance of this software. Lotus 1-2-3 is what made the majority of people want to buy an IBM PC back in the day.
Re:Will they be open-sourcing it? by Picass0 · 2013-05-21 02:04 · Score: 4, Insightful

Interesting idea, but it could easily be sidestepped. For intance would be easy for a company to pepper their software with simple library files that do very little in terms of logic. As long as these dummy files are used in newer products they could claim "there are pieces of code in that discontinued product still in use, we cannot release the source to the public" That said, IBM has been decent about open sourcing stuff in the past and it's wouldn't suprise me to see 1-2-3 become GPL.