Chapter VI : Case Study # 3 : Lotus v. Borland

1.)Go to your school’s computer lab or a PC software store and experiment with current
versions of any two of the Quattro, Excel, or Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet programs. Write a brief
paragraph summarizing the similarities and differences in the “look and feel” of these two
programs.

Quattro Pro is a spreadsheet program developed by Borland and now sold by Corel, most often as part of Corel's WordPerfect Office suite while Microsoft Excel is a commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.This is a big bonus to new users of the software who are defecting from other spreadsheet applications. In particular, you can make the choice of working in standard Quattro Pro Mode, Microsoft Excel Mode (based on Excel 2003 and earlier), or Lotus 1-2-3 Mode.

2.)The courts took several years to reverse their initial decision and rule in favor of Borland.
What impact did this delay have on the software industry? How might things have been
different if Borland had received an initial favorable ruling?

The ruling was welcomed by Borland, which would have found it extremely difficult to pay the estimated $100 million in damages sought by Lotus. The case was appealed to the U.S Supreme Court, and in January 1996, five years after the suit began, the court affirmed the appeals court ruling for Borland. The case was significant for the software industry, which had been riddled with infringement lawsuits due to ambiguities in copyright law. The ruling made it clear that software copyrights could be successfully challenged, which further discourage the use of copyright to protect software innovation. As a result, developers had go through the more difficult and expensive patent process to protect their software products. 

3.)Assume that you are the manager of Borland’s software development. With the benefit of
hindsight, what different decisions would you have made about Quattro?

As the manager of Borland's software development I should prefer to made our own words and structure of menu command hierarchy because business is always a business. Every company has its own cleverness if we could make programs or spreadsheets more reliable and easy to use unlike for Lotus 1-2-3. And also I will not sold the Quattro spreadsheet program program because I can upgrade and made a new versions of it, so I can make my own money.