HOW SUITE IT WASN'T
Lotus Closing Failing eSuite
What rolled out in November 1997 as a productivity suite for network computers is now rolling into the recycle bins - Lotus will cease producing its ambitious but failing eSuite WorkPlace collection.
The company says they'll reorient eSuite resources toward collaborative computing, distributed learning, and knowledge management, a company spokesman tells ZDNet News.
Meanwhile, they'll still ship the eSuite WorkPlace 2.0 upgrade next month, but ZDNet says Lotus will support eSuite customers only through January.
A Java-based productivity suite, eSuite basically featured a small subset of Lotus 1-2-3, a small Web browser, a word processor, and various miscellaneous tools, including a presentation graphics program.
But it was aimed at network computers which never caught on themselves, ZDNet says. Lotus revamped eSuite to work on personal computers last year, by way of a Web browser, but the product still didn't catch on widely.