 Sidekick Plus 1.0 for MS-DOS | |
| Developer(s) | Borland, Starfish Software, Motorola, Nokia |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1984 |
| Stable release | 99 (9.x)
|
| Operating system | MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, IBM OS/2, Apple Macintosh |
| Type | Personal information manager |
Borland Sidekick was a personal information manager (PIM) launched by American software company Borland in 1984 under Philippe Kahn's leadership. It was an early and popular terminate-and-stay-resident program (TSR) for MS-DOS which enabled computer users to activate the program using a hot key combination (by default: Ctrl-Alt) while working in other programs. Although a text-mode program, Sidekick's window-based interface echoed that of the Apple Macintosh and anticipated the eventual look of Microsoft Windows 2.0. It included a personal calendar, text editor (with WordStar-like command interface), calculator, ASCII chart, address book, and phone dialer. According to the prospectus for Borland's initial public offering of stock to the public, Sidekick sold more than 1 million copies in its first three years.