14 Minutes of Productivity (DOS Applications on PCEM)

While the PC-AT systems were getting much more common in the home setting going into the 90's, they were still largely a very expensive proposition. As such, they were still generally found within the corporate setting. Not surprisingly, most of what people would have ran on these computers would have been productivity applications, as that what drove the demand of these computers.

DOS word processors like Microsoft Word and WordPerfect were able to incorporate support for VGA/SVGA applications, along with WYSIWYG capabilities. WordPerfect in particular provided a rich preview mode that supported a vast array of various SVGA video adapters. With full preview support, WordPerfect became popular within the field of desktop publishing as well, with its support for fonts and various typefaces.

For those who simply needed a office suite and no more, Microsoft Works would fulfill that purpose. With a general purpose word-processor, database, communications package, and spreadsheet, one could get plenty of work done with it.

The MS-Works spreadsheet, like most spreadsheets of their day, supported the Lotus 123 format, which was the universal format of the day due to the dominance of 123 on the PC platform. However, others would challenge that dominance. Borland released Quattro Pro, a very powerful and capable spreadsheet which was not only compatible with the 123 file formats, but with its automated macros as well. The program layout could be customized. There was a batch file which conformed Quattro Pro to work exactly like 123, including its layout and keystrokes. Not surprisingly, Lotus Software didn't take well to this, and they sued Borland for copying its look-and-feel. This case would drag on for a few years. By the time the case concluded, Windows became the dominate platform, with Microsoft Excel dominating.

Harvard Graphics allowed people to commit PowerPoint sins before PowerPoint! The presentation program allowed its users to create rich charts and graphs which could either be printed or displayed on a projector.

These programs ran very well on PCEM. PCEM is emulating a PC with a 40MHz AMD 386 processor, 4MB's of RAM, Tseng ET4k SVGA video adatper, and a SoundBlaster 2.0 audio adapter. MS-DOS 5.0 is installed, along with Microsoft Word 5.0, WordPerfect 5.1, Microsoft Works 3.0, Quattro Pro 3.0, and Harvard Graphics 3.0.