Computer firms are fighting to win a bigger slice of the office software market.
Microsoft is preparing its updated version of Office, to be known as Microsoft Office 97. On top of this, Corel is bringing out an all-Java version of WordPerfect Office, perhaps as early as the beginning of next year.
Lotus is the first to show what it is capable of and is pushing hard on several fronts.
Firstly, the new SmartSuite is completely 32-bit ready. The six core applications all have new architecture, according to Lotus, so they are 32-bit clean and will run faster and smoother on available 32-bit operating systems such as IBM's OS/2 Warp and Microsoft's Windows NT and Windows 95.
SmartSuite 97 will be launched in November and SmartSuite 98, presumably, will be launched a year from now.
The product, however, will have core code and technology that is not likely to change for a while. Darren Reid, desktop products marketing manager for Lotus Development Software, Asia-Pacific, said: 'All the products will look, feel and act the same.' This meant that the consistency of the interface, help menus and other features would be easy for the user to understand.
In tune with the times, SmartSuite 97 has all the hooks and helps one needs to put data on an intranet or the Internet. Mr Reid said: 'Half a year ago we had 32 people doing our Web page. Now, using our own products, we use only half a person.' The SmartSuite 97 package includes Word Pro, Lotus's word-processing package; Approach, a database package; a personal organiser; SmartCenter, a control application; ScreenCam, a multimedia tool; and Lotus 1-2-3, the spreadsheet application.