Lotus Jazz is an integrated suite of

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spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

, graphics, and communication software designed for the

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. The name evokes a group of musicians who together create something larger than each of the individual players. It was released in 1985 and retailed for . The Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet was the killer application for the business-oriented

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...

, and Jazz was an attempt to recreate that success for Macintosh. With the tagline "The software Macintosh was invented for," and promoted on TV at great expense, it was poorly received by reviewers and consumers and became a high-profile flop. In 1988, Lotus was on the verge of releasing an improved version as Modern Jazz, but the project was cancelled.

Overview

Jazz shipped on four 400K 3½" diskettes: one for start-up, one containing the main program, a copy protected backup program disk, and a disk of sample files. This required the need for multiple swaps of the start-up and program or backup disks. Lotus Jazz Release 1 cannot be run from a hard drive or dual 400K floppy disk drives. If the start-up or both of the main program disks failed, the software is unusable. The

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module is integrated with the

module, allowing users dialing into corporate

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s to have onscreen reports be parsed directly into spreadsheet columns for later editing and refinement.

Reception

Lotus sold 20,000 copies of the original version of Jazz, while Microsoft sold 200,000 of

Excel ExCeL London (an abbreviation for Exhibition Centre London) is an exhibition centre, international convention centre and former hospital in the Custom House area of Newham, East London. It is situated on a site on the northern quay of the ...

. In an extensive ''

Macworld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...

'' review in 1985, Gordon McComb wrote, "It is well thought out, but has both strong and weak points." He pointed out missing features, such as macros, split windows, and linking spreadsheets together. He cited working within the tight memory limitations as a significant drawback: ''

Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format th ...

John J. Anderson John J. Anderson or J.J. Anderson (November 8, 1956 – October 17, 1989) was a writer and editor covering computers and technology. The New Jersey native was Executive Editor of '' Computer Shopper'' and ''Atari Explorer''. At the time of his ...

wrote, "There is nothing wrong with Jazz that a few healthy software revisions can't patch. Then again, not much of it is really right, either—right in the way it really should have been if it could have been." He called out the $600 price tag and the 512K RAM limit of the Mac as major issues.

Retrospective

In 2014, Lotus co-founder

Mitch Kapor Mitchell David Kapor ( ; born November 1, 1950) is an American entrepreneur best known for his work as an application developer in the early days of the personal computer software industry, later founding Lotus, where he was instrumental in deve ...

said, "We were doing business products, and a spreadsheet was an enterprise product. The Mac in 1985 and the enterprise was a complete nonstarter." He summarized some of the development and promotion mistakes:

John C. Dvorak John C. Dvorak (; born 1952) is an American columnist and broadcaster in the areas of technology and computing. His writing extends back to the 1980s, when he was a regular columnist in a variety of magazines. He was vice president of Mevio ...

blamed the failure of Jazz on the high price, copy protection, not calling the product 1-2-3, weak import/export functions, and a misguided ad campaign.

References

{{Lotus Software 1985 software Classic Mac OS software

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Office suites