Lotus Magellan was a groundbreaking DOS-based

MS-DOS

MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...

 desktop search

Desktop search

Desktop search is the name for the field of search tools which search the contents of a user's own computer files, rather than searching the Internet...

 package, conceived and developed by Bill Gross and released in the 1980s by Lotus Development Corporation, most famous for Lotus 1-2-3

Lotus 1-2-3

Lotus 1-2-3 is a spreadsheet program from Lotus Software . It was the IBM PC's first "killer application"; its huge popularity in the mid-1980s contributed significantly to the success of the IBM PC in the corporate environment.-Beginnings:...

.
Despite its legendary effectiveness, Magellan was not particularly successful in the marketplace, likely due to the smallish hard drives of the era, and today is generally forgotten.

Operation

Running under DOS, Magellan would scan the directories and files on a drive or floppy diskettes and create a master index. It was aware of all the various current formats and provided the ability to view files without launching the original applications that created them. Its most powerful feature was fuzzy searching, that connected files by relative frequency of keywords, allowing the user to organize related data no matter where or in what format it existed on the user's computer.

Given this "semantic view" of the user's file system, Magellan not only exposed "hidden meaning" from disparate data, but also facilitated the actual movement of files and directories into a better physical organization. Advertisements that ran for Magellan at the time promised to "Get all your ducks in a row" and showed a picture of a line of obedient rubber ducks.

Fate

Magellan was one of several significant developments from Lotus Software (i.e. "1-2-3", "Notes" and office software for the Apple Macintosh) that, despite significant usefulness and market share, failed to keep the company from becoming another brilliant also-ran. Lotus was acquired by IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 in 1995. The old DOS Lotus software Magellan, Lotus Agenda

Lotus Agenda

Agenda is a DOS-based personal information manager, designed by Mitch Kapor, Ed Belove and Jerry Kaplan, and marketed by Lotus Software.Lotus Agenda is a "free-form" information manager: the information need not be structured at all before it is entered into the database...

, HAL

HAL

-Companies and organisations:* HAL Computer Systems, a defunct computer manufacturer* HAL Laboratory, a Japanese video game developer* Halliburton, by NYSE ticker symbol* Hamburg America Line, a shipping company* Hawaiian Airlines...

, and Lotus Manuscript

Lotus Manuscript

-External links:**...

have since been released as freeware.

External links

• Lotus Magellan software depositary