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Lotus 1-2-3 moves into that great recycle bin in the sky

The name Lotus 1-2-3 may not mean much to you now, but mention it in front of geeks of a certain age and they'll be transported back to an era when IBM ruled supreme and people could aspire to own hard drives without selling their firstborn. IBM acquired the creator of that venerable spreadsheet software back in '95, and pulled the plug on sales last year when it became painfully clear that 1-2-3 was never going to come out on top again. Now, with the support window officially closed, let's just take a moment to remember an old stalwart that just passed into that digital ether that awaits all abandoned software. Lotus 1-2-3 first came to be some thirty years ago where it filled a niche left open by unambitious competitors like Visicalc (from whence Lotus founder Mitch Kapor came) and soon became one of the reasons to own an IBM PC. Alas, when you're on top, there's only one place to go. After defending its crown from a slew of eager competitors for years, Lotus 1-2-3 eventually became a footnote in the annals of computer history after Microsoft's Office came along and dominated the late '80s and beyond.