CCR Library 3 — Lotus Magazine Profiles

From 1985 to 1992, Lotus Development Corporation published Lotus, a monthly magazine, through its Lotus Publishing Corporation subsidiary. Lotus focused on “computing for managers and professionals,” especially users of the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. Daniel Gasteiger, one of the magazine’s editors and regular contributors, even appeared on a November 1986 Computer Chronicles episode to promote his work writing about 1-2-3 macros for Lotus.

Last year I acquired several copies of Lotus from the magazine’s first two years (1985 - 1986) for an ongoing research project. In addition to covering the world of spreadsheets, Lotus also published profiles of various individuals in the computer industry, some well-known at the time and others who worked outside the public eye. I decided to scan some of these pieces and publish them here, as they may be of use to other researchers.

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CCR Library 2 — Ebook Volume 7 (1988)

Since June 2022, I’ve published compilations of Computer Chronicles Revisited posts as standalone ebooks, which are available in EPUB format on this website and the Internet Archive. Today I released Computer Chronicles Revisited, Volume 7 (1988), covering the second half of the fifth season of Computer Chronicles, which originally aired between January 1988 and June 1988.

Here is a listing of the chapters in Volume 7:

  1. The New Amigas
  2. CD-ROMs
  3. Tax Preparation Software
  4. Shareware
  5. The Commodore 64
  6. Multitasking Operating Systems
  7. Business Graphics (Macintosh)
  8. Business Graphics (PC)
  9. Input Devices
  10. Laptop Peripherals
  11. Add-On Boards
  12. Investment Software
  13. Personal CAD Software
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CCR Library 1 — Morrow Pivot Owner's Handbook

Last year, I acquired a copy of the 1984 Morrow Pivot Owner’s Handbook, the manual for the portable MS-DOS computer manufactured by Morrow Designs, which was written by John VanderWood and illustrated by Bill McCarty. Of course, Morrow Designs founder and chairman George Morrow was a longtime Computer Chronicles contributor. Morrow’s first appearance on the show was on a January 1985 program where he demonstrated the Pivot.

I’ve scanned the full manual, which you can download here or at the Internet Archive. This is actually the second edition of the manual. Notably, this edition contains several “inserted” pages with point numbers, such as “7.1” and “7.2.” This was likely done to avoid the additional time and expense of redoing the manual’s index, which in those days still had to be done by hand.

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