Lotus Organizer is a discontinued personal information manager (PIM). It was initially developed by Threadz, a small British software house, reaching version 3.0. Organizer was subsequently acquired by Lotus Development Corporation, for whom the package was a Windows-based replacement for Lotus Agenda. For several years it was the unquestioned market leader until it was gradually overtaken by Microsoft Outlook.
Organizer is notable for using the ″leather-bound personal organizer″ graphical metaphor for its user interface. It is often bundled within Lotus SmartSuite.
Status
On 14 May 2013, IBM announced the immediate "withdrawal and discontinuance of support" of Lotus SmartSuite, Lotus Organizer and Lotus 123.[1]
Organizer was a part of Lotus SmartSuite, but was also sold as a single application. The latest releases of SmartSuite did not include the current version of Organizer; it was sold separately only.
Versions up to 2 were 16-bit programs. Later versions are 32-bit programs.
Version
File format
Year
Included in
1
.org
1992
1.1
.org
2
.or2
1994
97 (3.1)
.or3
1997
SmartSuite 97
97 GS (4.0)
.or4
1997
4.1
.or4
1998
SmartSuite Millennium Edition Release 9
5
.or5
1999
SmartSuite Millennium Edition Release 9.5–9.8.x
6.0
.or6
1999
2.12
.or2
1999
Y2K Compliant, Free Distro for existing users
6.1
.or6
2003
IBM OS/2
The first OS/2 version was released in 1998. Until then, the Windows 16-bit version had been used. The last version is 1.7 from 2001. Later revisions of SmartSuite did not upgrade Organizer, although some fixes have been made.
Organizer for OS/2 uses the .or4 file format. This means that it cannot exchange data files with the later Windows versions, other than by importing and exporting data.
The features and user interface for Organizer for OS/2 are similar to that of Organizer 97 for Windows. It lacks later improvements, such as importing and exporting vCard and iCalendar files, and synchronisation with PDAs.
Mac OS
Lotus Organizer 97 GS was released for classic Mac OS in 1997 with features similar to the Windows version, including integration with Lotus Notes calendars and address books.[3]
