Lotus 1-2-3 was THE program for PCs in the DOS era. WordPerfect was a close second, followed by dBase and then maybe Flight Simulator.
When magazines reported, or OEMs advertised, that a particular computer had "100% IBM compatibility", generally there wasn't like a formal benchmark for this. It basically meant that the PC versions of Lotus and Flight Simulator ran fine on the machine.
I was trying to get across it was one of the juggernauts of the day. A program normal people knew about if you knew the names of any computer programs.
Perhaps it was the most popular for home users, I don’t know. I was far too young in its heyday.
WordPerfect was the go-to in the legal profession. Among other advantages, its "Reveal Codes" feature was an enormous help in making sure documents were formatted correctly, which was essential in law, as courts often have specific formatting requirements for filed documents.
Microsoft Word not only lacked Reveal Codes, it mocked it in an Easter egg in Word for Windows 2.0. Tells you what you need to know about Word, basically.
I remember when I first heard the legal profession still used WP like 2 decades after its heyday. It was a real surprise.
But if you’re going to have a niche market, that’s a pretty good niche. They care about formatting a lot and have a lot of money to spend if it helps them enough.
When magazines reported, or OEMs advertised, that a particular computer had "100% IBM compatibility", generally there wasn't like a formal benchmark for this. It basically meant that the PC versions of Lotus and Flight Simulator ran fine on the machine.