Lotus Development will stand by Symphony, for now. (will continue to support and develop upgrades for integrated software package) (Upgrade Clinic)

It's been almost two years since Lotus Development Corp. last upgraded Symphony, and many people feared that the company was neglecting its original integrated software package. Release 3.0 may ease those fears, but it's unlikely to remove all doubts about the product's long-term prospects.

Even though Symphony continues to be the most popular high-end integrated application, the audience for such packages is shrinking, according to Internationalk Data Corp. analyst Mary Conti Leffredo. Two main forces are eroding the market: low-end packages such as Microsoft Works and Lotus-Works, which often come preinstalled on new computers, and Microsoft Windows applications, …