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That's wrong. I started in that era and the saying was "till Lotus won't run" even back when it was fresh.

Microsoft also put misleading error messages in Win3.1 to sabotage DRI's DR DOS product. There are email snippets of the execs planning their strategy.

It's their standard operating procedure.

They fixed around SimCity because it didn't compete with any of their offerings.

I've been in computing since the TRS-80 Model I, and I have only ever heard the "won't run" variant.

The test could work both ways, if you really think about it:

1. I vaguely remember hearing stuff like that long ago - e.g. "Lotus 1-2-3 used such low-level features of the OS (MS-DOS) and the hardware (PC) - for performance, that it would not work on PC clones that are close but not 100% compatible.

2. It could also have meant: MS-DOS clones and PC clones were different enough (even if just slightly, but in crucial ways) that Lotus would not work on clones.