Editing Commodore Plus/4 (section)

=== Application software ===
The Plus/4, unlike the C64, was equipped with a [[read-only memory|ROM]]-resident [[office suite|application suite]]. It was, however, completely inadequate for the Plus/4's originally intended market of business and professional users. In an otherwise largely favorable review of the computer, [[John J. Anderson]] of ''[[Creative Computing (magazine)|Creative Computing]]'' wrote "I would guess that the applications were whipped up in a great hurry ... I would never use the software".<ref name="anderson198412">{{Cite magazine |last=Anderson |first=John J. |author-link=John J. Anderson |date=December 1984 |title=Preview of the Plus 4, the Amiga, and Alphacom printers |url=https://archive.org/stream/Creative_Computing_1984-12#page/n219/mode/2up |department=Commodore's Port |magazine=Creative Computing}}</ref> ''[[The Transactor]]'' stated, "The word processor is barely that, the data base defiles the name, and the spreadsheet has little spread". The magazine advised users to "think of the software as an almost free bonus".{{r|evers198607}} ''[[Byte (magazine)|BYTE]]'' called the built-in software "just a tiny bit better than bad", noting that a Commodore 64 with [[Multiplan]] and other third-party software would be cheaper and much more powerful. The magazine stated that the computer "should have been called not the Plus 4, but the Minus 60".<ref name="malloy198501">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1985-01/1985_01_BYTE_10-01_Through_the_Hourglass#page/n289/mode/2up | title=Reviewer's Notebook | work=BYTE | date=January 1985 | access-date=27 October 2013 | author=Malloy, Rich | pages=289}}</ref> ''INFO'' warned that users who wanted to use the computer "for serious 'productive' work, you are in deep trouble with the PLUS/4" because of the poor software, and unlikelihood that better third-party replacements would be available.<ref name="dunnington1984">{{cite journal | url=https://archive.org/stream/info-magazine-05/Info_Issue_05#page/n27/mode/2up | title=The Plus/4 | author=Dunnington, Benn | journal=INFO | year=1984 | issue=5 | pages=28}}</ref> Better business software packages were available for equivalently-priced systems, including the C64. Since [[IBM PC compatible|IBM compatibles]] were quickly dominating the [[small business]] market, the Plus/4 had no realistic chance of succeeding in its intended use.

Further dividing the market was that once the user had created data using many of the built-in software packages, the result could only be saved to a connected disk drive{{snd}} much of the software did not support tape.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=194|title=OldComputers.com|access-date=2011-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121105026/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=194|archive-date=2010-01-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> Thus, tape-based home users, the only users who might still have been interested in the Plus/4's less-capable but built-in and instantly ready software, were shut out from the package.